From my book 'Angels of a Lower Flight':

I removed my fanny pack from around my waist and placed it under the mother's head so that her cheek did not rest on the filthy concrete floor. I returned to the baby, Ti-Judith, and peeled away the diaper that stuck between her teeny legs.  It was laden with thick yellow liquid.  I changed her diaper and cleaned her the best I could without water.  The little girl's lips were cracked, and her long narrow feet and hands were skin-covered bones.

Ti-Judith died the next day.  That was seventeen years ago and little has changed for many children in Haiti since then.  Some would say things are worse: the population of Port-au-Prince has exploded while the city's infrastructure has crumbled.  Haiti suffers from a history of broken governments and failed policies.  The country has been hit over and over by hurricanes, and suffered the catastrophic earthquake in 2010.   With so much to rebuild on such a shaky foundation, many international aid workers find themselves wondering if there is any hope for a new Haiti.

The outlook is particularly bleak for children with disabilities.  Shunned by the voodoo culture as spiritual curses, children born with disabilities are either hidden away or abandoned to die horrible deaths.  Lost and forgotten, these children need and deserve support and advocates.  Geo-political debates, theories and solutions continue to be bantered about, but each day, children suffer.  Yet, with a stable, healthy, loving environment, children can not only survive--they can thrive.  

This belief led me to found Mercy and Sharing soon after my first visit in 1994.  We now care for over 5000 children and elderly through our programs and projects.   We continue to operate a school in Cité Soleil for 187 students and 50 adults in a literacy program.  

In recent years, Mercy & Sharing has grown as the needs of Haitians have grown.  

* We now maintain three orphanages for healthy and disabled children, two additional schools, seven feeding programs and a community clean water program.   

* We provide food, medical care, shelter, education and vocational training to kids in one of the worst places on the planet.  

* When we bring in an abandoned or orphaned infant, we are committing to raising this child - for at least eighteen years.  We have no brilliant plan - we just work really hard and really smart.

Yes, the Haiti of tomorrow must free itself from international aid and stand on its own with a solid government and market driven economic solutions.  The Haiti of today has children who dream about that tomorrow.  Mercy & Sharing provides the tools they need to lead Haiti towards that brighter future.

Change will only be sustainable if economic and social behaviors are altered to ensure better outcomes for the next generations of Haitians.   When children have what they need to live today and dream about tomorrow - then there is always hope for a better Haiti.

I invite you to learn more about what we do, and where we are going.  We offer real hope, and real opportunity.

The camp seemed different from my first visit in the winter of 2009. Now there were about twice as many mud houses crammed into the ten-acre space, and the sweltering August heat had baked them all into cracking mounds of dirt. The shivering, sick children who we had taken to Kabul hospitals that winter now ran barefoot alongside our vehicle, peering in the windows to see who was coming; curious because the outside world no longer came here to try to help.

 
Sickness, disease, and insufficient prenatal care continues to threaten the lives of the camp children. Fighting, violence, and killing is now commonplace in the hardscrabble lives of the desperate camp inhabitants, and Kabul citizens and NGOs are afraid to get close. Due to the lack of jobs, teenage boys are now steadily recruited to return to Helmand as day laborers harvesting poppies, and many have become addicted to opium. Women’s rights are non-existent.

Generations of illiteracy and isolation in Helmand, combined with anti-American/anti-Western sentiment from the war, brainwashing from the Taliban, the hardships of displacement, and the trauma of non-stop violence have developed into a explosive combination. This camp is now one of the many breeding grounds for extremist ideology and anti-American brainwashing. It is a malignant cancer growing at an alarming rate.

 
It’s 2011. Ten years since the beginning of the War on Terror.

 
Our van finally rolled to a stop, and three teenage boys wearing maroon dress shirts and black pants suddenly emerged from around the corner of a mud wall. They looked confident, determined, proud, and very out of place against the bleak backdrop of the camp. Zerwali, Lalai, and Aga Wali quickly piled into the van and we drove off while a group of little kids looked on in curiosity at these boys who were clearly “going somewhere.”

After we drove a few blocks, Zerwali pulled out his cheap Chinese cell phone (the life link for much of the Third World) and showed me a photo that had just been sent to him. Looking at the tiny screen, I studied the image of a man sitting on the ground wearing a black turban, black robes, and accessorized by a Kalashnikov assault rifle; classic Taliban fashion. Through the translator, Zerwali explained that the Talib had left a message for him: “I know you are communicating with Americans, and when I find you I will kill you.”

 
I sat quietly for a moment. “Are you scared?” I asked him.

 
“No,” he replied.

 
I sat and thought for another moment. “Angry?” I asked.

 
He paused. “Very,” he answered.

My mind was racing with questions: What are we doing here? What am I doing here?  Should I take the boys back to the camp right now? Why did I decide to give up my old career in fashion to start CCC again? I couldn’t remember anything. My whole life suddenly seemed like a blur.

 
As I racked my brain for answers, I reflected back to that day in December 2009 when this crazy odyssey began; where a brief and random visit to the IDP camp to collect information for our Afghan school curriculum led to a series of extraordinary encounters and circumstances that would lead us directly into the heart of this mysterious and dangerous world. A world where foreigners, military—or even most Afghans-- have never gone before. It was a day that began with the discovery of hundreds of critically ill camp children and a father’s desperate plea to save his dying son, and led to an emergency medical mission where our CCC team helped hundreds of these children get hospital treatment…thanks in part to CNN coverage of our story and an outpouring of financial support from Americans worldwide.

Because of that unprecedented event, the camp elders had a temporary change of heart about Americans (whose bombs displaced them from their homes in the first place), and led to their request for CCC’s help in getting their people jobs. Establishing this “relationship” allowed us to organize a vocational training project where six camp teens would start businesses making and selling fuel briquettes in return for communication (via a Kabul-based videographer) with the Americans who sponsored them.

 
Unfortunately, however, we soon discovered that generations of illiteracy, ignorance, and fear couldn’t be fixed quickly or easily. The elders and parents were scared of losing control of their kids who were learning things that they didn’t understand. Their children were venturing out into a new world of ideas and influences (similar to the fears of American parents whose kids were more savvy with computers than they were, or were exploring Internet chat-rooms and meeting strangers, or texting their friends in their own ‘language’) and they ultimately sabotaged the project.

 
But an interesting surprise was revealed when these boys--who had caught a glimpse of the outside world through their contact with the sponsors--decided that they were tired of being illiterate and having their lives in the hands of others who now knew less than they did. They told me they didn’t want to harvest poppies like their older brothers and friends, they didn’t want to get hooked on opium, and they didn’t want to be another generation living in an IDP camp. Instead, they asked for my help in getting them into a real school. A school far away from the camp.

 
This was one of those moments in life where we all had to stop, pause, and ask ourselves the hard questions. Would the potential benefits outweigh the risks? Would interfering in another culture in this way cause more harm than good? There was no question it would be dangerous, but the boys believed they had nothing to lose. I had to agree that they were already living in the middle of the worst-case scenario on earth.

 
We soon found out that even the local Kabul schools were too fearful of the hardcore IDP community to allow the boys to attend, so we decided to move forward cautiously and started Bridges Academy; an independent school where at-risk Afghan youth could start by learning basic literacy and math. For the past six months, these brave boys have discreetly slipped out of the camp every morning (into the dusty little van) to come to our humble classroom, and return back in time as not to attract too much attention. In only one semester, these boys have become more educated than centuries of their predecessors.

 
But although they were learning to read and write, we discovered that the roots of illiteracy ran much deeper. Through our daily interaction, we found out that these boys knew nothing of the world. I mean nothing! They were unaware that the earth was round, they had never heard of globes, or maps, or even countries. They had never heard of birthdays, calendars, or time. They knew nothing of Afghanistan, and, even worse, the anti-American brainwashing that had permeated their world was mind-boggling.

Their entire community of tens of thousands believed that Americans were infidels who lived in a bizarre, underwater world (seriously!), and we didn’t know who our own family members were. They believed that American parents didn’t know who their own children were, and that marriage was non-existent. Once we discovered how little these guys knew about the world, and how naïve they were, it became understandable how easily the Taliban could recruit uneducated Afghans to hate Americans. Illiteracy and ignorance were the Taliban’s best friends….and the current illiteracy rate in Afghanistan was close to 70%.

 

Although the world has an overwhelming situation on our hands, this was the heart of CCC’s mission. So we rolled up our sleeves and got to work. First we enrolled 12 American superstar teens (who had participated in our Afghan school curriculum) to be a part of the first ever “U.S.-Afghan Young Ambassador Camp” with the Bridges Academy boys. In August, I flew to Kabul to run the Afghan side of the camp and communication exchange with the Afghan boys.

For two weeks, both the U.S. and Afghan teens would study important aspects of Afghan culture and history; the Silk Road, the Mughal Empire, architecture, poetry and science. For two weeks, my Afghan partner Abuzar and I would teach the Afghan boys about the world, and take them around Kabul to explore museums, gardens, parks, and historical sites, as well as skateboard parks, rock climbing walls, and tae kwon do classes. Experiences they could never have imagined in their wildest dreams. And for two weeks they would begin to learn about the real America...from American kids.

 
Each day they learned something new about the world, their country, their history, and themselves. Each day they made video reports that I sent to their American counterparts to learn from. Each day they watched incoming video reports from the American teens that were also studying the Afghan history, visiting museums, skateboarding, studying tae kwon do, and teaching them about American life.

Each day the two groups talked, listened, laughed, and became friends. In the end, the Afghan boys discovered that Americans were not the dangerous infidels that they had been warned about. They discovered that girls as well as boys could be educated! They were committed to their own education in a whole new way, and eager to help bring more students to Bridges Academy. And the American kids discovered that with their resources they had the power to help tens, hundreds, or perhaps thousands more vulnerable Afghan kids attend Bridges Academy.

 
No wonder the Taliban was so mad.

 
This week marks the 10th anniversary of the attacks on America by the terrorists hiding in Afghanistan. It’s the 10th anniversary of the day that Americans realized life would never be the same again. It’s also the 10th anniversary of the day we resolved to never let something like that happen again, but despite ten years, thousands of lives, and trillions of dollars trying to stop these enemies, on the first day of my August trip to Afghanistan the Taliban shot down a helicopter killing 30 Navy Seals, and on the last day of my trip the Taliban infiltrated and bombed the British Council in Kabul. The people who hated us ten years ago haven’t stopped hating us.

They are still terrorizing and killing, and it’s hard to have hope that this problem is fixable. But today I have hope because our CCC Young Ambassadors are engaged, and they are taking on the Taliban to fight for their friends. It’s personal now. In order to get more vulnerable Afghan kids into Bridges Academy, these American kids are organizing everything from concerts to nationwide walk-a-thons. They are creating curriculum for schools, and are engaging students in community-sponsored read-a-thons. They are creating art exhibits, social media campaigns, and more. Talk about leadership! And their Afghan counterpart campers, Zerwali, Lalai, and Aga Wali, are helping them with everything from making kites and crafts for the American kids to sell at fundraisers, to leading the way for other little kids at the camp to safely attend Bridges Academy as well.

These kids have seen the reality of the world. They have real information. They have put a human face to their “enemies” and have turned them into friends. They are no longer content to follow the propaganda stirred up by others, or wait for governments and militaries to do all the work. They are no longer on the sidelines of life. They are in the game, and they are leaders.

 
Suddenly I remembered why I was here. This was what Children's Culture Connection was about. Kids creating peace in the world—together. Not just a slogan; the real thing.

 
“So,” I finally asked Zerwali, “how did you respond to the Talib who threatened you?”

 
“I told them that even you, as an Afghan, don't help me as much as these American friends help me,” he said. “They send me to school and educate me. All my brothers tell me to go to Helmand to harvest poppies, but I am not going. What did all our ancestors who were in Helmand do? Did they become a doctor, an engineer, a police officer? They became nothing. Now I am studying and I will not let it go until I become a doctor, an engineer, or something. I prefer learning even one lesson to harvesting poppies. Back in Helmand many of my friends there are on drugs. I won't go there so that I won't turn to an addict, too. I will stay in Kabul, and continue my education as long as my American friends support me. You can kill me if you want.”

These brave kids are our hope for a peaceful future. Please keep Zerwali, the other boys, and the entire Bridges Academy/Young Ambassador program in your thoughts and prayers.

Reading to Kids is a grassroots organization dedicated to inspiring underserved children with a love of reading.  Our mission is motivated by a landmark 1985 study, conducted by the National Commission on Reading, which found that “the single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children.”  Our volunteers read aloud with skill and enthusiasm.  Experiencing and internalizing the joy of reading gives children the foundation necessary to succeed academically, opening the doors to a better and brighter future. 

Reading to Kids began in 1999 with a small group of volunteers, teachers, and administrators at Gratts Elementary School who designed an interactive and fun program that emphasized learning and reading.  The first reading club at Gratts involved just eight volunteers and twenty children. Since its inception, Reading to Kids has expanded to seven Los Angeles area elementary schools, and 12,822 volunteers have donated their time on reading club Saturdays, collectively accumulating over 113,500 volunteer hours.  We have donated 17,660 books to our partner schools’ libraries and this October one of our participants will receive the 100,000 prize book!

Reading clubs take place on the second Saturday of every month.  If you are interested in reading to kids please visit our website readingtokids.org. 

The facilitators are young Filipino professionals and college students who comprise the Catalysts for Peace volunteer wing of the non-governmental Asia America Initiative. “We often think of peace as something too big or too difficult,” said Bai Rohaniza Sumndad-Usman, 28, AAI Philippines country director. “But it’s the positive attitude that each of us possess that is the foundation for peaceful change.”

In many parts of the world, violence caused by intolerance has led to tragic results.  In the Philippines, the partnership between AAI as organizer and facilitator, funding by the Norwegian Foreign Ministry – a mediator of peace talks between Filipino the elected Government-- support from civic organizations such as Rotary Clubs and Jaycees, companies like Chartered Bank and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) and charitable organizations such as the Playa Foundation, spreads the seeds of understanding, appreciation, and coexistence. 

AAI Founder and President, Albert Santoli, is a physically disabled war veteran and a father of three daughters.  He believes that sustainability of peace and democracy in an increasingly chaotic world is best served by the empowerment of youth from across the cultural and social spectrum.  “Through understanding each other’s hopes and dreams, they may become friends and life-long stakeholders in building bridges of peace and their communities’ future,” he says.

“When we first requested assistance from the Government of Norway, our principle focus was on the peace process between Christians and Muslims in Mindanao war zones,” Santoli recalls. “But as a statement of gratitude for the kindness of the Norwegian government and people, in 2010 we expanded our programs into the mountainous areas which are the main habitat of the leftist guerillas who recruit young tribal children to be 'child soldiers.' We utilize health, educational opportunity and livelihood training as a means of generating hope as the sustainable foundation for reconciliation.”

At the two-day Caravan event, 40 young people representing Muslims, Christians, and Indigenous People (IP) shared personal and group experiences to enable them to become Catalysts for Peace— inter-faith role models to help overcomes to heal and unite a fragmented nation. 

A Muslim youth, Alrashid Abdulmunat, 24, said, “I only heard about the IP’s [indigenous people] before the Caravan.  I also thought Christians hate Muslims.  But I have learned that they are kind and don’t have bad intentions toward Muslims and IP’s.  In the Holy Quran, Almighty Allah instructs that peace cannot be achieved if all the tribes are not included.”

The participants, who were of diverse ethnicities, ages, and religions, were divided into five groups: A, M, I, T, Y. They participated in games created by Asia America Initiative’s Filipino staff that promoted interaction and learning about each other.  Jassan D. Batalang, 19, said, “The peace caravan wouldn’t be memorable if it wasn’t fun. We smiled and laughed a lot ... already a sign that we were at peace with each other.”

In peace building, AAI stresses that peace must begin within one’s self.  “If a person doesn’t know the essence of his or her religion, he may become violent. That is why intra-faith is important,” said Alnasser L. Kasim, chair of the Young Moro Professionals Network (YMPN) who spoke on 'Islamic Faith.'  Brother Mark Joseph Purugganan, a seminarian at the San Jose Seminary who spoke on 'Christian Faith,' said some people could misinterpret what their religion was actually teaching them.

Marlon T. Jinon, AAI programs and resource mobilization coordinator, emphasized differences in religion should never be the cause of conflict. “It is greed, lack of awareness, and misunderstanding of our very own religion and culture, and the religion and culture of other people that fuel vicious cycles of war in the world.”  He added,   “It is ineffective to try to make peace with the world or within a nation before making peace with one’s self, family, and neighbors.”

Jason Roy Sibug, president of Tuklas-Katutubo, a national organization of young indigenous tribal leaders, said the youth should rid themselves of prejudice. “When you don’t have it (prejudice) towards other cultures and religions, there can be harmonious relationships. Do not associate a person’s act with his/her religion and do not generalize. The next step is to share (this attitude) with your family, friends, and community.”  Sibug, 30, a Manobo, founded Tuklas-Katutubo when he was 17. He said IPs accounted for 13 million or 10 to 15 percent of the total Philippine population.

The youngest participant, nine-year-old Joshua Siddayao, said, “I thought Muslims were cannibals, but now I know they are not.”

Through sharing hopes and fears, the participants celebrated commonalities. Jasmin P. Tosay, 17, was teary-eyed as she reflected, “We’re not just Lumad or Muslim or Christian, we are all human beings.”

AAI Director, Bai Sumndad-Usman emphasizes, “Being a Muslim, Christian, or IP is in itself; because all our creeds essentially call for peace. We can all be peace advocates in our own spheres of influence. The peace process is intergenerational. It is a shared responsibility.”

“We are exceptionally grateful to all our local and international partners for believing that peace is indeed possible,” states AAI’s founder Santoli. “The hatred caused by prejudice and cultural and religious rivalries is a global tragedy.  The July, 2011massacre of youth leaders by a deranged gunman in Norway deeply saddened us.  We intend to dedicate our Peace Caravans of 2012 in memory of the Norwegian youth leaders who perished at Utoya Island. 

Many of our Catalysts for Peace and Caravan volunteers and student participants have witnessed or have been subjected to violence caused by ignorance and hatred.  They know what it is like to be a refugee within one’s own homeland. In light of our shared experiences, we strongly agree with the sentiments spoken by Norway's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg: "The best response to terror and political violence is to strengthen our fundamental values of democracy, humanity, more openness and even more humanity." 

"The Peace Caravan program was created by interfaith youth staff and volunteers of the Asia America Initiative who live on the front line of intercultural conflict. They are proving that becoming a 'catalyst for peace' is not limited by one's age or societal status.  To make a difference in this world is shaped by each person's heart and determination."

We were surrounded. The smell alone threatened to churn my stomach. The smell of dried sweat was so intense that the impact was not that much different from vomit. But who would dare pass out in the midst of all those bodies pushing at each other, inching their way to get as close as possible to us, with hands grabbing, grasping in the empty air, taking a chance that they might get hold of anything, anything at all that we had to give?

Then there was a clamor that seemed to envelop us.

"Ako kuya, ako, wala pa (I, brother, I still haven’t been given anything)."

"Ano iyan (What’s that)?"

"Ako wala pa. Wala pa ako (I still have nothing)."

"Ako pahingi (Please give me)!"

"Dito, dito naman! Lagi na lang diyan (This way please! It’s always given that way)!"

"Ang daya naman! Wala pa nga ako e! (Not fair! I still haven’t been given my share!)"

All shouted in the same volume: very loud and getting even louder. Looking over the small throng threatening to crush us, I was overcome with fear, then pity. What else would cause such undignified scrambling for food except extreme hunger, extreme necessity?

"Teka! Teka!" I took advantage of my forceful voice and commanding presence. "Hindi dahil mahirap tayo at gutom, hindi na natin kailangang mag-asal tao. Pumila tayo at ipakita nating kaya nating magbigayan at bigyang respeto and isa’t isa. Walang mawawalan, mayroon para sa lahat (Wait! Wait! We may be poor and hungry but we need to act as good people. Let us line up and show that we can respect each other. Everyone will have his share. We have enough for all)."

With the help of the volunteers who came with me, we succeeded in putting some order into the crowd.

I watched as the children in their ill-fitting dirty clothes reluctantly fell in line. It reminded me of the children in Don Bosco Makati lining up to go to class except that these smelly, filthy, unruly children were not inside a secure and clean campus in the early hours of the morning. Rather they were in the public park, near the breakwater at the back of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), where their families had settled as squatters in the worst human conditions, and it was nearly midnight.

When a semblance of order had been achieved and the children were all lined up, we started with a prayer before distributing the simple fare we had prepared for them– some candies, juice, sandwiches and water.

A few sandwiches and candies, these were our ticket to gradually break into the tight circle of this community.

When I finally accepted the assignment with street children as a call coming from God, the first thing I had to acknowledge was I did not know what to do. But whatever it was, I wanted to do it well.

So to get first-hand knowledge of where they were coming from, I sought out the children – in parking lots, behind fast-food chains and restaurants, near motels, in waiting sheds and yes, in cemeteries. I sought them at all hours, but found them mostly during the unholy hours between midnight and dawn.
Seeing how their almost inhuman conditions have seeped into their behavior as they scramble for a little simple food moved me. There must be something more we can do other than just alleviating their hunger once in a while.

It was then that possibilities for helping them in a more sustainable manner played in the corners of my mind. The question that remained was ‚How?β€›

The Lord seemed to answer me right then through the simple question of a boy.

"Sino po kayo? At sino sila? (Who are you? And who are they?)," pointing to the volunteers who came with me. "Pari ako, taga-Don Bosco. At sila ang mga tumutulong sa akin. Kasama ko sila (I am a priest from Don Bosco. And they help me. They came with me.)," I replied gently.

"Don Bosco?" The boy scrunched his eyes as he repeated the name. "Don? Sino po yun? Siguro mayaman yun ano? Kasi Don siya e (Don? Who is he? He must be rich, because he is a ‚Donβ€›)."

I laughed. "Hindi siya mayaman. Taga- Italy siya at duon, ang ibig sabihin ng ‚Donβ€› ay pari. Matagal na siyang patay pero sumusunod kami sa yapak niya (No, he wasn’t rich. He was from Italy. In Italy, Donβ€› is a priest. He is no longer alive but we follow in his footsteps)." I explained. "Dahil nuong buhay pa siya, minahal niya, inalagaan,at pinaaral ang mga batang kapus-palad hanggang sa makamit nila ang magandang kinabukasan. Mahirap lang din siya pero mabait at masipag (During his lifetime, he loved, cared for, and sent poor children to school for them to have a bright future. He was poor too but kind and hard-working)."

There was the answer to my question, coming straight from my own mouth. I am a priest of Don Bosco and he seemed to be reminding me, guiding me through this little boy what I need to do: care, education, love. Not just for a while, pansamantala, but for the long haul, until they have attained a better future.
Suddenly, I felt a small, fragile, bony body lean trustingly against my leg.

"Sana maraming pari gaya ng Don Bosco na iyan (May there be more priests like Don Bosco)."

Tuloy Don Bosco Street Children Village
Vision:
Street children redeemed from HELPLESSNESS and EMPOWERED to choose right.
Mission:
We aim to be a Center of Excellence in the reintegration of street children into mainstream society through a comprehensive program of caring, healing and teaching.

Contact Information:

Tuloy sa Don Bosco Streetchildren Village, Alabang Zapote Rd. cor. San Jose, Alabang, Muntinlupa City, PhilippinesTel. Nos. (63-2) 7750683, 7750484 and 7750485 Telefax No. (63- 2)7750483e-mail fr_rocky@yahoo.com Website http://www.tuloy.org

As I got older I remember thinking how overwhelming the world was becoming. At the end of middle school I no longer wanted to buy toy horses I once adored in the glass window. My parents were no longer tyrants that ruled my world because I knew that their truths about reality did not mean they were my truths.

I was growing up.

My perception of truth became really fuzzy after studying at the Arava Institute in Israel. I only heard one side of the Arab Israeli conflict, and was blown away when I delved into the heart of the generational, political, and religious conflict. The more I learned the more complex and confusing information became.

The first information overload occurred when I attended a lecture by Avi Melamed around the 25th of November in 2010. An Israeli native and fluent in Arabic, English, and Hebrew, Mr. Avi Melamed worked for the government and held counter-terrorist intelligence positions. He was a Senior Advisor to Mayor Ehud Olmert and Mayor Teddy Kollek and now is the Founder of Feenjan-Israel Speaks Arabic. This nonprofit initiative uses the internet as a communicative tool to connect Israeli and Arab societies.

It was Mr. Avi Melamed who enlightened me that education does not always heal ignorance. Osama bin Laden was a well-educated civil engineer who became a leader of the terrorist organization, al-Qaeda.

Mr. Avi Melamed pointed out that radicalization has increased with the internet. The World Wide Web fuels jealousy and subjectivity along with opportunity and connectivity. Mr. Avi Melamed stated to his American and Israeli audience that some Muslims see opportunities on the internet and, “…they see gaps between them and you. Gaps that grow and accelerate...” Like a raging forest fire, jealousy destroys everyone and everything.  

By creating divisions in religions, cultures, and social classes it is much easier to hate and ultimately kill each other. Mr. Avi Melamed stressed that a minority of Muslims are extremists and that majority of Muslims are ordinary people.  “Extremism gives people an objective and meaning” with suppressed tension, the “internet [can] trigger” violence. Once people believe in a concept it is almost impossible to talk them out of an idea or action, so “generating death is a way of life to these groups…” Mr. Avi Melamed dishearteningly pointed out the youngest suicide bomber was only eight years old.

It made my stomach wrench.

My hand shot into the air. Mr. Avi Melamed eyed me, giving me permission to speak. “How did everything get so twisted? How…has information become so manipulated?” I gasped like a fish out of water. Mr. Avi Melamed turned squarely to me. I remember the tightness in his face as he responded. “Anyone can pick through history and justify actions. Jews and Christians did the same thing.” I remember how his answer hit me like a bucket of ice water. I remember thinking, Surely he is mistaken! There is no way that Jews have murdered and brought such shame onto their religion and culture.

Now I know better. Everyone has done wrong. Everyone has the capability to kill. Everyone is capable of anything if they believe in a purpose greater than themselves.

During and after my experience at the Arava Institute I developed an obsession for understanding. I read articles that countered my perceptions and spoke with people that opinions differed from mine. I even had a discussion face to face with legislators of Hamas, an arguably terrorist organization.

Searching for different truths and perspectives, I decided to embark on a journey to Turkey with my friend Yosra, whom I met at the Arava Institute. I am an American Jew and she is a Jordanian Muslim. I feel natural when I wear T-shirts and shorts during the summer and she feels normal, modestly covered head to toe in hundred degree weather.  We get along because we respect each other.

That was until we had our disagreements. It began when Yosra read an excerpt of the Quran to me: “Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but he was one inclining toward truth, a Muslim [submitting to Allah] and he was not of the polytheists” (al-Imran 3:67). I felt attacked that the Quran audaciously stated Abraham was not a Jew. To me Abraham was the first Jew, a Hebrew. His descendants were the makers of the twelve tribes of Israel. Immediately we delved into a heated and snippy argument, unearthing dark emotions through our perceptions of truth and religious texts.  

Our conversation led us to the 1967 war. Yosra believes that Israel invaded Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan. While I believe that Israel was invaded because Egypt cut off supplies to Israel. I could not keep the strain from my face and Yosra undoubtedly saw this since I wear my emotions on my face:

“You know Sarah it won’t be easy for you. Not many people are willing to learn about the other side.”

“Yes, the truth is never easy to hear…” I led, not sure where this was going.

“The historians are rarely right…”

“Of course, history is always written by the victors…” I say with incoming dread. Consciously I tell my body to relax. Is she insinuating that what I have been taught and believe is a lie?

“The way to the truth is not easy. It is not a straight road and it is ugly. Just when we were talking about the 1967 War, you believe that Israel was invaded while I believe that Israel was invading Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan.” Yosra shakes her head. “It is because I face it and I know what my side has done. No one wants to admit that their side has done wrong. It is shameful. It wasn’t me who committed those actions…it was the generations before…”

I breathe deeply before I respond, “I understand what you are saying. We have to recognize that no side is completely right. And that we have to look to the future in order to move forward. We will become stuck if we focus on the past.” I painfully grate the words from my mouth as I grind my teeth.

Despite our political disagreements, Yosra and I are open to dialogue. How you create change is by beginning that conversation, opening your eyes to different stories other than your own. Look at Mr. Avi Melamed, as mentioned before, his nonprofit, Feenjan-Israel Speaks Arabic. Just hours before his lecture on the 25th of November, Mr. Avi Melamed via the internet, spoke with a 45 year old Egyptian. In this constructive dialog, Mr. Avi Melamed was able to discuss about the positive and negative aspects of Israeli society, and what individuals can do to build bridges between the different cultures, religions, and political affiliation.

We must construct our own truths in a healthy and responsible way. Truths free of resentment, jealousy and hatred.  Break the shackles of our history and focus on the future. Break free of our parent’s, religious, and cultural truths and see the actual truths, that we all are human. No one wants to bring suffering to loved ones. Everyone wants to love and live in peace. So what is holding us back? What is our limiting factor? It is the perceptions of truths passed through the generations. These truths are not fabricated to the individual because the pain our ancestors, parents, siblings are real. But we must let it go otherwise our constructed truths will deconstruct our world as we tear each other apart.

The older I get the more I realize all adults are still children, just a little bigger, wealthier and crueler. People do not like to forgive each other and hate admitting their mistakes. Jealousy and insecurities grip religions and countries everywhere. When you are insecure you do not want to know the other side of the story, for the fear that you might have done wrong. People shut down when fear, anger, and frustration are in their systems.

As a child, my mother taught me, “Be a duck when someone hurts your feelings. Like water rolls off the duck’s feathers, let their harsh words roll off your back.” It is time that we honor the lessons learned from our childhood playground: don’t let bullies ruin your day and play nicely with others.

In an effort to provide more information about how high school students fare in a particular state, the Alliance for Excellent Education has created state reference cards for all fifty states and the District of Columbia that provide statistical snapshots of high schools in each state, including data on graduation rates, college readiness, academic achievement, and teachers' salaries. Where applicable, statewide numbers are compared to the national average and include national rankings.

To demonstrate the impact that high school dropouts have on a particular state, economic impact fact sheets have also been created for every state and the District of Columbia. These fact sheets help policymakers and the public understand the extent of the economic costs to society of an educational system that serves so many students poorly. It also provides an overview of the potential economic benefits that a state could enjoy were it to invest in a high school system that prepares all high school students for graduation and success after high school.

National and state figures are good to have, but how does your local high school measure up? The Alliance also maintains a Promoting Power database that provides information on the majority of the nation’s high schools. Promoting power is a good indicator of high schools’ graduation rates. If your local high school has a promoting power of less than 60 percent, it is very likely that it will have an unacceptably low graduation rate by state and national standards.

Access the Alliance's state-by-state publications.

To access more information, national data is available.

High school graduation rates and estimated non-dropouts for the Class of 2011 come from Diplomas Count 2011.

Muslim, Moro, Manobo, Igorot, Christians. Utter these words and stereotypes, biases, prejudice, and discriminatory impressions are sure to follow. We are all guilty. Many of us have been either victims or perpetrators of labeling according to ethnicity and religion.

“Behave or a Moro will take you away and sell you off,’’ parents would tell their misbehaving children. “You’re like a Badjao,” is often told to kids who like to play with dirt.

STANDING PROUD – Young lumads get together to embrace their cultures and promote equality and peace. (Photo from http://richardyulo.multiply.com)

Even in schools, bullies ridicule their Igorot or Manobo classmates, even cruelly calling them “unggoy na walang buntot (monkeys without tails),” or their Muslim classmates for not eating pork, or associating them with groups such as the Abu Sayyaf.

As a result, children learn to harbor hatred and generalize members of a group. Some even defend themselves with physical violence.

Psychology proves time and time again that childhood is a crucial time for the formation of life-long values and characters.

This is the guiding principle of the non-government organization called Asia America Initiative (AAI), as they started their peace caravan last year.

AAI aimed to make young people understand and appreciate diversity through interaction and sharing when it gathered 40 young Muslims, Christians, and Indigenous People (IP) last October in Benguet State University (BSU), La Trinidad, Benguet. Facilitating were the young professionals and student volunteers of AAI Catalysts for Peace, in partnership with the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP).

Struggles of the minorities
The majority rules in a democratic country. But in a true democracy, the minority has the same rights as the other citizens.

Jason Roy Sibug is the president of Tuklas-Katutubo, a national organization of young indigenous leaders in the Philippines.

He reveals that some indigenous people or acceptably called “lumad,” do not assert their identity because of the wrong perception about them. “They are either referred as backward, or supporters of the National People’s Army (NPA), ever discriminated in social opportunities such as employment, and subject for humiliation in media,’’ Jason remarked.

Common street terms used to describe them are wild tribes, pagan, primitive, uncivilized, ignorant, beggar, and tagabundok, Jason added.

“We are beyond our gongs and attire. We’re not just performers,” lamented Jason, who is a Manobo. He added that lumads number to 13 million, or 10 to 15 percent of the total Philippine population, not including those who write Christian or Muslim as their religion.

He related that some young Manobo students are discouraged to go to school. “They are called Manobo instead of their names.”

But for Jason who founded Tuklas-Katutubo at the age of 17, being an IP is a solution itself. For instance, the organization believes in Balik Tribo programs, hence, it opened an IP-led school in North Cotabato. It is an alternative education for day-care and elementary IP children and is being handled by IP teachers. It is accredited by the Department of Education.

Moreover, Jason divulged that for the lumads, peace is neither about silence nor the absence of bullets. “There can only be peace when we have our own land, basic needs, and absence of discrimination and exploitation.”

Meanwhile, Alnasser L. Kasim, the chairman of the Young Moro Professionals Network (YMPN) and the speaker on Islam faith, said that the situation of the IPs is not far from the Muslims who only form five percent of the country’s population.

“We thought we Muslims are the most marginalized sector in the country.”

A Muslim participant, Alrashid H. Abdulmunat, 24, disclosed, “I just knew about IPs now. I thought Christians hate Muslims but I found out they’re kind and they don’t have bad intentions to Muslims and IPS. Every religion is important and their unity. In the Holy Quran, Almighty Allah mentioned the tribes or ‘qabail’. Peace cannot be achieved if the other tribes are not included.”

Volunteers as social doctors
For Arjie Aguas, 23, a registered nurse, a simple smile and a thank you wash all his sacrifices away as a volunteer.

Sweetheart Peralta, 18, a student in University of Caloocan City, said that volunteering is also a venue to learn and develop skills.

“If my parents were still alive, I am sure they’ll be proud of me for helping in an NGO,’’ said Mercy Gaddi Villarba, 19.

Moreover, working in an NGO is like being a social doctor, or a culture broker. “It entails greater responsibility because everything that you do will stay in the minds and hearts of the people for a lifetime,” said AAI Programs and Resource Mobilization associate Marlon T. Jinon, 23.“Our problems related to peace, he said, are way beyond what the government can handle. All of us in the civil society must do our responsibilities.

Don't be afraid of soldiers
The Peace Caravan link and mobilize various organizations. Aurelio Ravancho Jr. Ujebon, 36, of the 7th Civil Relations Group of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said that people must not be afraid of soldiers who help in maintaining peace. “Nakikidigma kami sa pagtulong. Hindi iyong pakikidigma na may namamatay.”

The Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Assistant Chief of Staff for Civil Military Operations Jose Demar A. Pauly put in that no organization is complete. Human resource is the best resource that organizations must share.

As for Bai Rohaniza Sumndad-Usman, 27, the AAI Philippine country director, creating positive change that leads to peace requires not just teamwork but collaboration and an inter-generational approach.

Peace is indeed a shared responsibility.

Let us plant it in our own yards.

The "perfect storm" of international economic, social, political and environmental calamities is creating an increasingly difficult environment to sustain humanitarian responses. Governments and international institutions lack the resources with or without input of non-governmental organizations. In response to the urgent needs, Asia America Initiative's humanitarian and peace building programs are expanding despite the "impossible" conditions.   We have little government funding and no input from U.S. Government. Our success, however, is due to our willingness to accept the sacrifices and to build unselfish team efforts within our organization and with local and global partners.  

 
Our emphasis on accountability, consistent effort and building trust with local communities has tapped the idealism and energy of youth volunteers who have been our saving grace. We have learned that social entrepreneurship can involve private companies in ways where they can share material resources rather than money. During August 2011 we are conducting three substantial programs involving education and environmental awareness, conflict mediation between Christians and Muslims and Cancer Treatment and livelihood training for women and children from dramatically impoverished communities.
 
BUILDING A CULTURE OF PEACE THROUGH EDUCATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS:
 
The AAI Peace Caravans have received increasing support, although modest in scope, from business and civic organizations in Manila.   On August 5, 2011 Standard Chartered Bank employees teamed with AAI staff to conduct a day of fun workshops at Maharlika Elementary School where each overcrowded classroom lacks basic school supplies for an average of three daily shifts of 65 students per teacher. The bank also donated 5 computers to the school to enhance all-around learning activities. Many of the children are from "squatter" families who fled Mindanao and live in makeshift huts surrounding the community mosque. They are lucky to have one meal per day.
 
 INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW DAY FUN RUN HOSTED BY PHILIPPINES ARMED FORCES:
 
The Human Rights office of the Philippines Armed Forces organized a public awareness and inter-agency team building run at their Headquarters at Camp Aguinaldo on August 12, 2011. AAI sent our "impromptu" marathon team including Muslims and Christians to participate in the event. We were joined by soldiers, members of the Philippines Red Cross, the National Commission on Human Rights, and the private GroupAid organization.
 
CANCER TREATMENT FOR THE POOR:
 
In August 2011, AAI has entered into a Global Challenge listed on the GlobalGiving.org social networking web site. This program provides life saving medicines for 20 children and 30 women afflicted by cancer, especially mothers and grandmothers with cancer whose families earn less than $5 per day. The program includes an art component to instill positive attitudes, love and care. In addition, the program also provides essential literacy and basic livelihood training to help the women to overcome dire poverty and whose unexpected survival can inspire their communities.  By surviving, and experiencing Hope, mothers will inspire their children. Adult literacy and education will enable surviving women to provide better lives for their families. For children living in dire poverty without their mothers or grandmothers, the influence of violent crime and militant extremism is a constant temptation. This holistic program intends to empower entire communities.
 
At the time of this mailing, we have met 3 of the 4 criteria required to be permanently listed on the GlobalGiving.org web site. In order to achieve permanent partnership, we still need slightly more than $1,000 in contributions to qualify. These funds will be used specifically to purchase medications required by the children. You are welcome to assist us by sending contributions of any amount to the Global Giving link.

AAI

The mission of AAI is to deter terrorism and severe poverty by promoting peace and prosperity in conflict-ridden communities. We believe that international security and respect for human dignity are inseparable. Our field programs create sustainable local models for the international community to emulate.

You didn't shy away from controversial issues -- many of you wanted to hear about teachers' rights to unionize and collectively bargain, the impact of charter schools on our communities, and how we can do more to reward great teachers. Watch the brief video I recorded for you answering the most popular questions:

I hope this video will spur on more conversation and dialogue, and I encourage you to talk with your family and friends about these important issues. We welcome your comments and feedback on this video and the issues raised in it. Also, we couldn't include all the questions in one video, so I encourage you to "Like" StudentsFirst on Facebook so you don't miss the videos to come. Thanks for your continued dedication to putting students first.

Trudy Steuernagel had not missed a day of work without notice in 33
years. So when the Kent State professor did not show up to her class on
the morning of January 29th, 2009, something was clearly very wrong.

Concerned colleagues called police after trying and failing to reach her by
phone, and so officers were sent to her house to investigate. They were
to discover Trudy unconscious, battered and bleeding on her kitchen
floor. She never regained consciousness.

The letter that she wrote, discovered after her death, offers some insight
into the agonizing conflicts she faced leading up to this day. It seemed
to her that she had to choose between her son’s future wellbeing and her
own safety.

"To whom it may concern:

"If this letter has been opened and is being read, it is because I have been
seriously injured or killed by my son, Sky Walker. I love Sky with my whole
heart and soul and do not believe he has intentionally injured me. I have
tried my best to get help for him and to end the pattern of violence that
has developed in this home. I believe my best has not been good enough.
That is my fault, not Sky's. Numerous people know about the violence
and many have witnessed it. We have all failed Sky. I do not want him to
be punished for actions for which he is not responsible.

"Trudy Steuernagel."

Joanna Connors, a reporter for Cleveland’s local paper, The Plain Dealer,
covered the case in depth, and she spoke to the sheriff in charge in
addition to scouring the case files. Her writing described how the trail of
blood from Trudy’s body led to a more chilling discovery. For it led to
her teenage autistic son, Sky Walker, shoes bloodied, rocking back and
forth in distress on a mattress in the basement. In a violent outburst he
had beaten his mother to death. The police report revealed that she had
suffered broken ribs, a collapsed lung, a damaged eye socket, head
trauma and multiple bite marks.

What sort of son could savage his own mother in such a way? Sky Walker
asked for his mother every day from his cell, and continues to do so in
the institution where he now resides. Bloated by his medication, unaware
of his own strength and stature, mentally retarded and severely impaired
by autism, he does not understand that Trudy is not coming back, let
alone that he was responsible. This is not a vicious murderer. This is an
individual, a family, failed by the state. Connors described the dilemma
that she faced in covering the tragedy, saying, “it’s the secret that they
[mothers of violent autistic children] don’t want out because they don’t
want their kids to be stigmatized. But that doesn’t help all the people
who are trying to deal with these behaviors alone.”

Surely there are mechanisms in place to protect parents from situations
like this? Why was Sky, a 200lb man who required 24-hour supervision,
living at home in the sole care of his aging mother and not in a group
home facility? The answer to this question is highly complex and only
scratches the surface of the inadequacy of services that adults with
autism are contending with nationwide.

The IDEA, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act mandates that state
governments provide education for all developmentally disabled up until
the end of their 21st year. Then comes graduation. For many parents in
the autism community, this day of supposed celebration is in fact the
saddest of their lives so far. For from this point onwards their son or
daughter is effectively abandoned by the state. Nothing is mandated in
terms of services for adults with autism, and though agencies exist,
eligibility does not mean entitlement.

At present, there are approximately 2 million autistic people in the United
States, and prevalence is only increasing. Only 20% percent of those,
studies suggest, are currently over the age of 22. A total of 383,399
autistic children of today are projected to be in need of adult services in
2023 – a number roughly equal to the current population of Minneapolis.

The predicted cost of care for this proliferating adult autistic population
by 2023 conservatively stands at 27 billion dollars. This figure is equal to
the 2011 proposed national budget for Nigeria. All Americans will bear
the cost, and so even to conserve the contents of their wallets the general
public needs to take an interest in adult autism as a social issue. Linda
Davis, mother to a 22-year old autistic son, whose husband helped to
compile these statistics, writes in her column for the Washington Post
that “if a town were created to house this group of people and their
caregivers -- for you can't separate the two -- it would exceed the
population of all but six U.S. cities. If they formed a state, it would have
four electoral votes. “ But these individuals don’t want electoral votes,
they simply want sufficient housing and day programming to keep them
safe and stimulated.

In New Jersey alone, the waiting list for housing is in excess of 8000
individuals. In recent years, the prevalence of autism has soared, with
national estimates of 4 in 10,000 in the 1990s compared to 1 in 110 in
figures from 2008. And the rises show no sign of slowing down. The
already overwhelmed Division of Developmental Disabilities is risking
meltdown.

A nationwide emergency placement system exists by which individuals
who pose a serious risk to their families are given immediate housing,
bypassing the waiting list. So did Trudy spurn this escape route and
endure years of violence and fear? Connors asks this same question,
asserting that Trudy was “obviously a very bright and very active and
concerned mother and yet there were alternatives that she wasn’t even
looking at, and the question is why. She was very afraid of institutions.”

Karl Taro Greenfeld, author of “Boy Alone: A Brother’s Memoir”, writes
movingly for Time magazine about his experiences growing up with an
autistic brother, Noah, now in his 40s, and his experiences of residential
care help to illustrate why concerns about institutionalization persist.
“When we arrived, we were shown the room … that Noah would share
with three other boys. My parents signed some paperwork … including
one that allowed the use of "aversives" — hits, slaps, spankings. My
mother was crying. Noah … didn't know this was forever; he didn't even
know he wasn't coming home with us. Driving away felt like a crime.
That was the first of half a dozen residential placements for Noah. Some
were better than others, but none of them was a place you would want to
put your own child.”

Perhaps most concerning for a mother such as Trudy was the response
the Greenfelds received when Noah became violent, “they told us the
choice was ours: either more drugs or a transfer to another ward in the
facility where the most dangerous and criminally inclined autistic adults
were housed.”

To imagine her son housed among criminals, effectively a lifetime prison
sentence in a high-security institution was unbearable for Trudy. For
autism is not degenerative, but a lifespan condition nonetheless. Autistic
individuals have a life expectancy comparable to the general population,
which leaves thousands of parents terrified about what awaits their
children once they die.

Another dilemma for Trudy was cost. Bill Steuernagel, her brother,
revealed to Connors that she had found a facility in Virginia that she
liked, but it was private and charged an entry fee of $58,000 in addition
to a $3,000 monthly rate. On top of this it had no locked facility, and so
Sky’s anger had to be controlled before he could even be placed there.
Trudy Steuernagel lived on edge, had to barricade herself apart from her
son, willing to endanger her life in order to buy herself more time to find
the services that her son needed, and the dollars to fund them. Trudy was
determined to secure the highest quality of care for Sky, however long it
took.

In a rare moment of disclosure, in "Just a Conversation," a piece for the
student newspaper at Kent State University where Trudy worked,
published, in 2008 she wrote:

“I couldn't be a friend to anyone because I physically and emotionally
could not be there for them. I had no patience with good and decent
colleagues who told me how busy they were. Busy? Try spending an
evening sitting in a closet with your back to the door, trying to hold it
shut while your child kicks it in."

Connors explains, “there is a Medicaid program- you go to the top of the
list for getting in-home care. In fact where Sky is now and will be forever
is really a facility designed for where people get out of hand and can go
short term for 30, maybe 60 days. If you can’t demonstrate police
intervention and so on then you’re on your own and it’s really expensive.
The place where he is now is really expensive, it costs $460 dollars a day
to keep him where he is.” But the police intervention came too late for
Trudy and Sky.

A lifetime estimate of the cost of caring for a child with autism is within
the range of 3.5 to 5 million dollars. It is common for parents to spend
their life savings in search of treatments and housing for their children.
Chantal Sicile-Kira, who will soon begin the search with her son Jeremy
for his own place explains, “if all else failed, basically, I would just leave
this house for him, and I would go and live in a tent on the beach.”

Even emergency placement is not the lifeline that many might think. For
a large number of these children end up in large institutions. Others are
in temporary housing until a placement is found, and carers are given
little information about their history, medical or otherwise.

And this lack of information can have devastating consequences. Quite
apart from the horrific but thankfully relatively few cases of institutional
abuse, inadequate understanding of autism’s behaviors or knowledge of
appropriate ways to handle individuals who become distressed can be
similarly damaging. Little-publicized stories of deaths occurring in
institutions due to inappropriate restraints or otherwise are well known in
the autism community. Ginger Taylor, mother to 10-year-old Webster
and his younger brother Chandler, who is eight and has severe autism,
writes a blog entitled “Lives Lost to Autism”, a painful record of such
autism-related deaths due to institutional neglect, aggression, murdersuicides
and other causes. Jonathan Carey’s story, a 13-year-old boy
who died in an institution, is one such devastating cautionary tale.

Michael Carey, describes the events that led to the loss of his son, for
whom he has created a memorial foundation; “Jonathan went into a
state-run residential facility. A year and a half later, on February 16,
2007, while away on a trip, Lisa and I got the most horrible news any
parent could ever get. “Last night Jonathan stopped breathing and he
could not be revived”. Lisa and I both buckled to the sidewalk under the
grief. We later received a call saying that two men have been arrested and
charged for improperly restraining Jonathan to death. “

The case of Jonathan exemplifies many of Trudy’s greatest fears for Sky.
For even she, who had raised her son and indulged him in his daily
rituals, could not always keep him calm. She understood that every night
her son needed to cut fruit snack wrappers into tiny pieces and sprinkle
them around the house, Connors learned from the sheriff who saw to Sky
in his jail cell. s. She knew that the wrapper had to be from a strawberry
flavored variety. She knew that when her son said “Dairy Queen” he was
unhappy. “Short neck giraffe” was an expression of joy. Sometimes she
struggled to cater to these routines. How was a care worker ever going to
grasp all of this? And would they bother to try? Even as she worked to
accommodate her son’s ritualistic needs, his aggression still spiraled out
of control. Improperly restrained, her son could injure himself or even
die.

So how are parents dealing with the frightening reality that, if action is
not taken, there could be more and more Trudy Steuernagels?
Barbara Fischkin read Trudy’s tragic story with particular horror. For only
a year ago she had been in a similar situation. Her son Dan was placed
on the emergency list at age 15. “The state considered that Dan was too
hard for us to have at home. I didn’t want him to go anywhere at 15 but I
knew if I didn’t put him on the list he wouldn’t get in anywhere in his
20s.” She explains that the school district suggested institutionalization,
which she balked at. “Their view was that it was too hard, and that they
would rather spend even more money putting him into an institution.”

Barbara recounts how, living at home as a teenager “Dan had
aggression…[caring for him] took a great deal of everything, he was
aggressive, he was fighting people, he was hurting people, he was
hurting me, he was incontinent at night, he was having bowel accidents
during the day, and yet trying to live the life of a kid.”

The AHRC, a non-profit organization, bought a house in Baldwin, New
York, renovated it and created a home for Dan and three others with
developmental disabilities. It is staffed 24 hours a day, all the
housemates are on social security, and their pantry is stocked using the
food stamp allowance each receives. The men work during the day, and
at night make dinner together and enjoy a range of leisure activities such
as bowling or going for ice cream. But Dan was one of the lucky ones.

As parents continue to age, and their autistic children continue to “age
out”, and the frightening prospect looms; what happens when emergency
placement requirements exceed available resources? The only solution
seems to be to regress and reopen large institutions, negating all the
gains that have been made from deinstitutionalization.

Carol Markowitz, Chief Operating Officer of the Eden Autism Institute,
which is a special needs school in West Windsor, New Jersey, explains
that she has similar fears for the future of Eden ACRE projects- A
Community Residential Experience. The Adult Services branch of the
Eden program, these are a collection of 11 group homes and 4
supervised apartments providing 24-hour supervision and care for 74
autistic adults. She explains, “the biggest issue I see in the future for
Eden is maintaining a balance between extending care to a greater
number of people and ensuring that we do not become an institution. We
don’t want to compromise the quality of care.”

So what about these lucky parents whose child’s number comes up?
Sadly, even a group home placement is not always a happy ending. For
the conventional group home model is not always suitable for autistic
people. There is a need to tailor services to suit the unique needs of this
population, since, as Kim Stagliano points out, there is the issue that
“the effects of autism are so much more severe on sociability and
behaviors that the group home situation of managed but slightly
independent living may not be appropriate If a man is in a group home
and throws a chair through a window when he gets angry, he’s not going
to be able to remain in a home. And I hear about this stuff happening.”

Then, although the route is somewhat more convoluted, the individual
still ends up in an institution.

Greenfeld writes, “The seemingly benign term community care, when it is
invoked by conservative state representatives in domed capitols, is too
often a code word for budget-cutting. The concept of moving the autistic
into loving group homes where they will be taught or looked after is
Edenic but inadequate to society's needs. For the high-functioning, such
assisted-living situations are a better alternative than institutionalization;
for the low-functioning, the concept is often better than the reality.”
Though independence is certainly a goal for autistic adults, housing
options must accept that there are limitations to their self-sufficiency.

Linda Davis, mother to 22-year-old autistic son Randy, explains, “we
were told that we would not get funding at the group home level because
our son is high-functioning. He would be placed in a shared living
model, which is basically foster care for adults. He would be in a semiindependent
apartment, which quite frankly we don’t like.” Her concerns
are understandable as she describes the incidents that occur on a daily
basis that would put Randy at risk through the lack of supervision in such
a living situation.

“He vacuums, but you have to watch the vacuum for the light when the
bag is full because it could start a fire, but he never watches the light. So
he vacuums, but he has to be supervised. What happens if a stranger
comes to the door? He is a complete innocent.”

New Jersey’s autism prevalence rates are higher still than national
statistics. As opposed to 1 in 110 nationwide, 1 in 94 individuals in New
Jersey is autistic. Carol Markowitz, director of Eden Autism Services in
Princeton, New Jersey, offers some insight into why the statewide
statistics are so high. “There are likely to be environmental factors.

There are genetic predispositions, and environmental triggers. Parents
also move here. In some states, all autistic children are in the public
school system. In New Jersey, there are a lot of private schools, and
highly developed early intervention programs.” One visit to the Eden
Autism Institute, a special needs facility in West Windsor, New Jersey, is
enough to see the exemplary provision for school-age autistic children
that draws parents to the state:

Kelvin is working away happily in the kitchen, peeling carrots and
potatoes with remarkable speed. Periodically he will yell “OUCH!”,
pretending to have cut himself, and grin cheekily, looking up to see who
he has fooled. “Such a jokester, I’m a jokester”, he repeats cheerfully.
At 17, Kelvin is enrolled in the Eden autism institute’s vocational
preparation program, and this its one-of-a-kind culinary arts program.

Work opportunities in the culinary sector had never been thought
possible for the autistic population until one man, Larry Frazer, chef and
parent to a 26-year-old high-functioning autistic son, asked why not.
He scoured the Internet for 6 months, browsing ergonomic knives, similar
pilot programs and information he could find that might enable illiterate,
non-verbal autistic students to follow a recipe and escape the tedium of
janitorial work or shredding.

Larry was previously employed as executive catering chef for Princeton
University but had volunteered at the Eden Institute since his son was
diagnosed there 20 years ago. He explains, of his radical switch from
dining club to the Eden setting, "I'm a big advocate for adults with autism
now, because they fall through the cracks,” Realistically, there are a few
reasons why others might shy away from the task. Kelvin, for all his
light-hearted joking around, has both a severe autism and Tourette’s
diagnosis. His physical tics, such as sudden jerky arm movements and
knee bends, combined with his wielding a peeler or knife make for a
nerve-racking experience. So why take the risk?

Frazer explains, "it's one of the biggest secrets in this country, that there
are no services, or very little, (for people with autism who are over 21),
and there's a zillion-year waiting list to get into group homes. And
parents -- what do they do? This has been on my mind for years now,
and this is another way to try and help solve that problem." Larry is
giving these adults a valuable skill that could boost their employability
and allow them to contribute to the cost of their care.

Paradoxically New Jersey residents are essentially somewhat
disadvantaged as a result of its exceptional education services. By
attracting parents from other states, the waiting lists for housing and day
programs are only growing longer.

***

There is an old saying in the autism world, “If you’ve met one person with
autism, you’ve met one person with autism.” This refers to the
profoundly different ways in which autism affects each person. There are
huge disparities in levels of functioning, and there cannot be a “onesize-
fits-all” policy.

Chantal Sicile-Kira looked on proudly as her son made his
commencement speech at graduation. Jeremy had passed the California
High School Exit exam on his first attempt, graduating with a 3.75 GPA,
and was heading to MiraCosta College. Any mother would be proud, but
there was a special sense of vindication for Chantal, since Jeremy was
diagnosed with autism and doctors told her to “find him a good
institution”. She explains, “I was told to find a good institution for him,
and I have. It’s called college.”

Jeremy is non-verbal, and communicates by means of a computer that
translates what he types into speech. What he writes is extremely
eloquent, and he showcases his talents writing for the student
newspaper. He also has a book contract. There is very little that he
cannot do. Jeremy would only need help with some keyboard skills and
turning the computer on and off, in addition to some encouragement to
stay on task, and he could successfully complete his book. But obtaining
a job coach to assist him has been a struggle in a climate of
overstretched, need-based services.

Jeremy’s needs are modest, and very different to those of Sky Walker,
which make it clear that there need to be services to serve every level of
functioning. It is not a “one-size-fits all” situation, nor can higher
functioning adults be ignored, for the effects of their disability are just as
real and often frustrating. Davis cited statistics calculated by Catherine
Boyle, President of Autism Housing pathways, an organization dedicated
to providing information, support and resources for families looking for
housing in her home state of Massachusetts, where the Department of
Disability Services only serves those with IQ of 70 or below (on average,
41% of those with ASD). Between 2008 and 2011, the DDS in the
Central Middlesex Area provided 24 hour residential to an average of 4
individuals turning 22 per year, multiplying this by 23 area offices implies
an average of 92 people turning 22 per year who receive residential
services, or 15% of those turning 22 served by DDS. 124 people with
autism, assuming that prevalence stays at the current rate, which it will
not, turn 22 each year who will not receive housing. A hierarchy of need
is understandable, but currently those whose needs are less severe are
often simply not being served.

In much the same way as the housing needs of autistic adults vary widely,
but exist regardless of the level of impairment, their employment
interests and capabilities require a similarly individualized track. Few
such tracks exist. One possible reason for funding cuts to day services
for vulnerable groups such as the elderly and the disabled is the belief
that they will be unable to contribute to society.

Sicile-Kira argues, “if the unemployment rate is the same for the past 20
years they should look at why is this not working and come up with a
different model. They should have mentors in junior high and high
school. Lots of kids with autism have obsessions with certain topics. If
you have kids that are really interested in certain topics, find out what
they can do with these topics, find adults with the same interests, and
figure out how to make a career out of these interests. “

For example, Danny Fischkin is non-verbal and does not enjoy
socializing. He also has a short attention span. So he works three
different jobs, two gardening placements and another working with
animals, with enjoyment and success. The Autism Society of America, in
their paper, “A Call to Action” urging immediate rectification of the
critical shortage of services, insists, “People with autism don’t need
wheelchairs, artificial legs, or a guide dog. Their prosthesis is people.

Many—even most—need job coaches in order to be employed in
integrated work settings. Staying on task, having appropriate workrelated
behavior (not making loud yawning noises, responding properly
when approached by others, not spending 20 minutes in the restroom
washing hands because of obsessive compulsive behaviors, not engaging
in loud self-talk, managing anxiety) are typically the major issues with
which a well-trained job coach can assist someone with autism or
Asperger’s to become a good employee. Once they are comfortable in
the job, they often receive accolades from employers.” Autistic adults are
very much employable with the right guidance.

Three months ago, in response to both a visible gap in services and the
requests of the Adults With Autism Task Force, an organization set up in
2007, an Office of Autism was created to centralize the vastly confusing
web of outlets for funding and services. To give some idea, in 2006,
89% of adults with autism in New Jersey lived at home with their parents,
and less than 13% were attending day programs according to statistics
from the New Jersey Center for Outreach and Services for the Autism
Community (COSAC).

According to the New Jersey Division of Developmental Disabilities, there
has been a 186% increase in the number of people with autism applying
for services since 1999. Combine this with a financial crisis and its
accompanying budget cuts and there is little hope for improvement.
A mother, speaking anonymously as part of the New Jersey Adults with
Autism Task force, sums up her acute fear and vulnerability in the face of
decimated budgets and gaping holes in adult services.

“I stand here today, as my son, who is now an adult, prepares to exit the
educational system in three short months and I am absolutely terrified of
what our future holds… when I look out into the adult services world,
what do I see? I see no funding, no services, no day programs, no
supports for employment, no appropriate health service, no access to
transportation and ridiculously long waiting lists for residentials.”

Tragically, for some parents, the fears and hopelessness about their
children’s futures have already proved too much. Daniel McLatchie, a
stay-at-home father devoted to his autistic son, 22-year-old Benjamin
McLatchie, shot him dead with a rifle before turning the gun on himself.
Police reports reveal that he left two notes: one expressing fear about his
son's future care, the other with financial information for his wife.

Ginger Taylor admits that, in recording a case such as this on her blog,
she skims the article, because it is too painful to read. She says, “it is
happening now that parents who love their kids, and are committed to
their kids, who really celebrate them get to the place when they really
don’t see any hope. There is a huge fear- what happens to my child
when I’m dead, and what happens if my child is put in an institution?
Because there are horrible stories of abuse coming out of these
institutions.”

A study conducted involving mothers of autistic adolescents and adults
found that most had vastly-reduced production of cortisol, a stress
hormone, due to prolonged exposure. In effect, these parents had been
under so much stress for so long that their bodies’ chemical responses
had been blunted. The body had given up. If a parent who has lived
with the aggression, or the bowel accidents, or the myriad other
behaviors that accompany the disorder experiences stress levels of this
magnitude, workers with insufficient understanding or experience of the
condition are likely to be overwhelmed.
.

This is likely a factor in the strikingly high turnover rates for employees in
services for the developmentally disabled.

According to the National Direct Service Workforce Resource Center, ment
al health and developmental disability residential programs have a 50% tu
rnover rate. Carol Markowitz, Chief Operating Officer of the Eden Autism
Institute in West Windsor, New Jersey, explains that her principal desire
for increased funding is “just to pay our staff that little bit more to make
them stay. We train them up, and then they move on. It is expensive.”

**********

Kim Stagliano, mother to three school-age girls with autism, has already
experienced a breach of trust by those entrusted to look after her
children. But she is still facing the reality that she cannot keep her
daughters with her forever. “As their mom, I’ve always said that my
children can stay with me until the day I die. My kids will not want to live
with mom and dad forever. It’s a normal part of growing up.” Quite
apart from her daughter’s rights to enjoy as much independence as they
are capable of, Kim has to worry about the reality of transition after she is
gone. She asks, “Can you take a woman who is now 58 years old and has
lived with her parents her whole life- what happens to her if suddenly she
is put in another place?” This is not an avenue that she wants to explore.

Her youngest daughter Bella was victim to physical abuse by the aide on
her school bus, and was unable to communicate this to her parents. And
so the abuse was allowed to continue until Kim and her husband were
able to identify the perpetrator. Kim explains, “Mark and I have never
heard Bella speak - she's said a few words, has a couple she can repeat.
But imagine nine years and you've never heard your child's voice. It
stings. Can't lie. It sure does sting.” And there is no time that it stings
more than when it prevents a mother from protecting her child.

Bella, only nine years old at the time, had always enjoyed school but
began to return home on an almost daily basis visibly agitated and
crying. On several occasions, she had considerable bruising to her hands
and even sprained fingers. Kim and her husband tried desperately to
work out the source of her injuries and distress. Video footage from the
school bus was to provide their answer. Jennifer Davila, 24, the aide
assigned to Bella to accompany her on the bus, was charged with multiple
counts of assault on a disabled person.

Kim describes footage from the bus surveillance cameras in which when
she leaves the bus Davila is heard saying, "Goodbye mom". Kim explains,
“you see her reaching and touching Bella, and hear her screaming in pain.
Every parent knows what their child sounds like when they scream, and
this was a scream of agony.”

This is a case of horrific misconduct, and is very troubling to parents who
place their trust in the school authorities and other service providers.
Kim maintains a rational attitude, and explains, “It is a concern and I
don’t see it diminishing in any way shape or form because the people
who are hired to care for the elderly and the special needs population
typically- they aren’t paid like baseball players- these people are
underpaid under educated. People aren’t graduating from Princeton and
going to work as a home help aid with the autism population. It’s not
that these are bad people but they are maybe overworked, underpaid,
undertrained, and frustrated.”

The US Department of Human Services projects that between 2003 and
2020 the need for direct support professionals will grow by 37%, but the supply of
workers who have traditionally filled this role will increase by only 7.2%.
This figure is concerning, but is perhaps testament to the rare
temperamental characteristics that allow workers to succeed in working
with a population who can be unpredictable, aggressive and socially
inappropriate.

While autism prevalence was 1 in 2,500 only 20 years ago, and is now
thought to be close to 1 in 100 and climbing, surely this is an epidemic
of critical proportions? A tidal wave of adults with autism is on the verge
of “aging out” of the education system, and will further incapacitate
already embattled services. Why then is it so little publicized, and why
are reporters not warning of the impending “autism epidemic”?

The normalization of autism by the media is thought to play a role in
both fuelling widespread ignorance of the condition and of allaying
concerns of spiraling rates. Kim Stagliano, whose memoir about raising
her three daughters is painfully honest and spares no detail, however
unsavory. Her attitude is one of transparency to inform the public. “At
the end of the day, if we can move awareness beyond the ads featuring
bright-eyed, healthy-looking kids with a voice-over saying “Your child
has a better chance of being diagnosed with autism than playing major
league baseball” and into the harsher realities of autism, we’ll help
people at both ends of the spectrum,” she says. Her suggestion?
“How about a photo of a bedroom with the walls smeared with poop,
mattress on the floor, and a twelve-year-old boy punching holes into the
walls as his parents (mom with a bloody lip) try to calm him”. This is
likely to shock and appall. It certainly won’t warm hearts but, then again,
autism isn’t “cute”. This is what needs to be conveyed in order to alert
the public to the seriousness of the epidemic. Linda Davis wrote in her
column for the Washington Post, “I understand that no one wants to look
at a child and imagine the clunky, in-your-face adult he or she will
become or think about the stares he or she will induce. When I look at my
pudgy 22-year-old son, Randy, still sweet-faced but so obviously
disabled, I cannot locate the blond cherub he used to be, gripping his
stuffed brown bear. “. If autism is not “cute””, adult disability is even less
endearing.

Autism is no secret- you hear plenty about the children, but no one is
talking about the adults and Linda believes that part of the challenge is a
very cultural problem. “Americans have a hard time accepting death and
disability reminds us of death and of our own vulnerability. People pour
their money into finding a cure, but just as cancer is not one disease, I
don’t think that there is going to be one magical elixir invented
somewhere down the road that will make every autistic child a normal
boy or girl.”

Carol Markowitz observed, “Lots of parents say to me that since the
movie Rainman, the reality of autism has not been presented. Maybe it’s
because they don’t think it’ll make a good movie or a good TV show.”

And it is not only residential care deficits that are so problematic. The
adults who exit the system need to continue to learn additional self-care
and employability skills and maintain those they have already learned to
have a chance at self-sufficiency. Christopher Manente is the Senior
Program Coordinator for the Douglass Developmental Disabilities Centre
at Rutgers University. His program provides day services for adults with
autism, and he is the man behind a new initiative, “Men With Mops”, a
cleaning business staffed by autistic adults. After years of operating at a
deficit, the project turned over a profit of $1000 dollars this year, in a big
victory for the employability of developmentally disabled individuals,
even with scarce funding. Carol Markowitz explains, “for adult services,
we receive about $28,000 per individual. That is less than half what they
receive to attend public school.” This dramatically increases staff: client
ratios, and since many autistic adults need a one-on-one job coach, their
employment opportunities are very much restricted.

It is hugely difficult to keep programs like Manente’s afloat. “The funding
for services drops off so dramatically after 21. Until then, services are
dealt with by the regional school district. Nothing changes with their
needs between 20 and 21, only funding,” he says. A non-verbal adult
who cannot communicate his needs does not “grow out” of this at 21.
Manente continues, “it’s like if you fell down the stairs and broke your
leg. You would need physical therapy to stop scar tissue for developing.
It’s like giving you three quarters of the amount of therapy that you need
and then stopping you from having the rest.” In spite of financial
troubles, his day program works tirelessly to find employment for its
clients, despite vastly inadequate funding from the DDD. And with great
success. 20 of the 21 men his program serves are currently employed.
This rate of 95% dwarfs the meager 15% nationally of adults with
developmental disabilities in the workforce.

Linda Davis, mother to 22-year old autistic son Randy, speaks with
candor about the reality of the employment opportunities for this
population. Though she accepts that institutions, though necessary in
some cases, are far from ideal, she explains, “I fear that we’ve gone to
the opposite extreme with integration. The truth is, it is extremely
difficult to find employment for people with autism, even part-time, even
volunteer, and even when they are very well behaved. The reality is that
the community does not open its arms to this population. They have
behaviors that are more difficult, and less socially acceptable, and it’s
very difficult to get people to give them a chance. There isn’t a lot of
real, meaningful employment.”

This is why she is spearheading the SAGE Crossing Foundation, a series
of farm programs for autistic adults in which they are involved in feeding
the animals, cleaning the stables, making fresh produce and even some
craft projects. The ultimate goal is to raise enough money to purchase a
property, and begin operating as a residential farmstead, with day
programming included. The program is adapted to meet the needs and
capabilities of each individual, and she explains, “we want to create a
community where there is real meaningful work going on everyday. You
don’t have to manufacture activities on the weekends when the day
programs are closed, because animals always need to be fed.”

The current mission is to introduce the community to the program, and
show them the ways in which they can benefit. Linda explains that there
are also some common false preconceptions that need to be dispelled,
“I think that there’s a prejudice when you say the word farm. It triggers a
flashing red light in people’s heads- farm means institution; it means a
return to keeping people away from society and escalating abuse. It
absolutely doesn’t. It’s not just farming and animal care, living a
healthier lifestyle is important, but we’re also talking about the arts,
making crafts that can be sold at the farm. So it’s a very contemporary,
very green creative model community that we’re talking about that would
integrate the community. For instance it would share athletic space with
the community.” SAGE programs are worlds apart from
institutionalization, providing meaningful employment and a safe
environment for autistic adults while allowing them to contribute to and
welcome in the wider community

Such a model would eliminate transportation costs to day programs,
estimated to cost up to $10,000 dollars per person each year, in addition
to providing tangible benefits for the outside community. Farmsteads
could exist in suburbia in the same way that group homes do, since
farming can be done on as little as 2-3 acres of land. Indeed, Linda
hopes that the green model can even serve as a learning classroom for
students in the local community, with the disabled population leading the
way and serving as an example of sustainable and healthy living. It is
inventive, parent-driven models such as these that will be the future of
adult autism services. Now the government needs to recognize and meet
the demands of this social issue, but with innovators like Linda Davis at
the helm, the future of the crisis may not be as bleak as current figures
would suggest.

She makes the prudent and pragmatic suggestion to government officials,
human services providers and parents that “while you’re looking for that
cure for autism, let’s look after the people who are here, and who are
here to stay.”

Bishops, CRS Say Proposed Foreign Aid Cuts are ‘Morally Unacceptable,’ Call for Balanced Adjustments across Entire Budget

WASHINGTON— The foreign assistance appropriations bill proposed by a House subcommittee “makes morally unacceptable, even deadly, cuts to poverty-focused humanitarian and development assistance,” said Bishop Howard J. Hubbard of Albany, chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on International Justice and Peace, and Ken Hackett, President of Catholic Relief Services (CRS), in a letter to the House Appropriations Committee.

“These cuts will undermine integral human development, poverty reduction initiatives, and stability in the world’s poorest countries and communities,” they said in their July 29 letter. “They could also weaken our long-term security, since poverty and hopelessness can provide a fertile ground for the growth of instability, conflict and terrorism.”

While acknowledging the difficult challenges Congress faces in addressing the national debt and controlling future deficits, Bishop Hubbard and Hackett added that “our nation must be fiscally responsible in morally responsible ways.”

They singled out as especially egregious cuts to funding for agricultural assistance for subsistence farmers, adaptation to climate change for vulnerable communities, medicines for people living with HIV/AIDS and vaccines for preventable diseases, assistance to orphans and vulnerable children, disaster assistance in places like Haiti, peacekeeping to protect innocent civilians in troubled areas such as Sudan and the Congo, and support to migrants and refugees fleeing conflict or persecution in nations such as Iraq.

Bishop Hubbard and Hackett urged Congress instead to put everything on the table, including defense, revenue, agricultural subsidies, and fair and just entitlement reform.  If the foreign assistance budget must be cut, they urged that critical poverty-focused development and humanitarian accounts and other programs that assist the poor around the world be spared.

“The budget is a moral document that should give priority to those who are poor and vulnerable at home and abroad.  This bill reduces foreign operations appropriations by 2%, but poverty-focused international assistance by over 13% in addition to last year’s cut of over 8%.  This is not a balanced, moral approach to budget reductions,” the letter said.

Bishop Hubbard and Hackett also expressed support for language in the bill supporting restoration of the Mexico City policy, which bars federal funding to groups that perform or promote abortion, and for preserving the Helms amendment (which prohibits U.S. funding for abortion) and the Kemp-Kasten provision (which prohibits support for organizations involved in programs of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization). 

The full text of the letter may be read at: www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/poverty/poverty-focused-assistance-letter-to-House-2011-07-29.pdf

This idea, though small at first, began to grow. The “Pass It On” billboard campaign, featuring heroes of our time, is now seen in nearly every community along America’s highways, in airports, and on Times Square. Thousands of schools around the world also use the posters to communicate positive messages to youth. Some of these heroes include Muhammad Ali, Wayne Gretsky, Winston Churchill, Mother Teresa, Gandhi, Albert Einstein, Kermit the Frog, Shrek, Whoopi Goldberg, Jane Goodall, Michelle Kwan and other remarkable individuals.
 

The TV PSAs showcase moments in our everyday lives where values play a part. Each one incorporates popular music to help lift the messages and make them relevant to the audience. These TV spots are now seen in over 200 countries around the world. The award-winning artists and writers who have donated their music include: David Foster, Celine Dion, Josh Groban, Diane Warren, Aretha Franklin, Randy Travis, Amy Grant, Kenny Chesney, Garth Brooks, Steppenwolf, Backstreet Boys, Frank Sinatra, and many others.
 

Our values are selected with the hope that most individuals would find these values universal, encouraging, and inspiring. The Foundation acknowledges that each person has a unique lens through which he or she views the world. Naturally there are religious, nonreligious, political, and cultural views that give meaning to our lives. Our objective is to provide a wide spectrum of values without any intended agenda or slant and provide an uplifting message around each one.
 

We want the stories we share about the positive actions and values of others to serve as inspiration for someone to do one thing a little better, and then pass on that inspiration. A few individuals living values-based lives will collectively make the world a better place.
 

All of the materials produced by the Foundation for a Better Life can be found at Values.com  including: TV spots, billboards, radio spots, podcasts, inspirational quotes, and more. Also, you can submit an inspirational story or highlight your everyday hero. You can even create your own billboard! No matter what, there is something for everyone at Values.com to get inspired and “Pass It On."

Because values are worth more when we pass them on, The Foundation for a Better Life chose these values to share with you... Pass It On!

 

Values. No matter where we live, we live by values.

• Commitment <http://www.values.com/teaching-values/commitment>
• Common Ground <http://www.values.com/teaching-values/common-ground>
• Courage <http://www.values.com/teaching-values/courage>
• Dedication <http://www.values.com/teaching-values/dedication>
• Friendship <http://www.values.com/teaching-values/friendship>
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• Love <http://www.values.com/teaching-values/love>
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• Responsibility <http://www.values.com/teaching-values/responsibility>
• Character <http://www.values.com/teaching-values/character>
• Live Your Dreams <http://www.values.com/teaching-values/live-your-dreams>
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• Overcoming <http://www.values.com/teaching-values/overcoming>
• Stewardship <http://www.values.com/teaching-values/stewardship>
• Foresight <http://www.values.com/teaching-values/foresight>
• Live Life <http://www.values.com/teaching-values/live-life>
• Volunteering <http://www.values.com/teaching-values/volunteering>
• Persistence <http://www.values.com/teaching-values/persistence>
• Soul <http://www.values.com/teaching-values/soul>
• True Beauty <http://www.values.com/teaching-values/true-beauty>
• Drive <http://www.values.com/teaching-values/drive>
• Practice <http://www.values.com/teaching-values/practice>
• Passion <http://www.values.com/teaching-values/passion>
  

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Yesterday we explored several Mosques and Churches. Today it is my turn, with my lead we scope out the only Jewish Museum in Turkey. We stop at our hotel receptionist for directions. “Jewish Museum?” She laughs, never hearing that one before. My cheeks burn red. Surely she cannot tell I am Jewish but I fix my eyes on the floor just in case. Yosra comes to my rescue and asks about Karakoy Square because that is where the museum is. The hotel receptionist points, explaining it is only a ten minute walk away.

Once at Karakoy Square, Yosra and I stop and stare at each other. There is nothing but side shops, cars zooming, and curious men staring at us. Determined to find where the Museum is, I scan the stone buildings and overlook the surrounding Mosque minarets.  Nothing.  Before I give into disappointment, I begin walking in a determined direction. A small sign with orange writing catches my eye: “museum.” I pick up my pace. “I don’t think it’s here…” I hear Yosra say as she tries to keep up.

My eyes try to stay focused in the direction of the sign, despite the cluttered shops and distracting bright colors. I turn around a bend and march with excitement down an alleyway where I see another barely visible sign up ahead. “There!” I run up a marble staircase with Yosra close behind, and face a man in uniform. I become suddenly shy. I do not want to give away my Jewishness, least I would bring unwanted attention to myself.   Seeing my hesitation the man points, “The Jewish Museum is right through here.”  Relieved, I realized we have found the museum.

Yosra and I pass through iron gates and are welcomed by another guard. He looks through our bags and motions for us to walk through a metal detector.  I began to wonder if the Museum is hidden on purpose. The excitement that coursed through me transitions to surprise and hostility. From the back of my mind surfaces a scary idea. There are people in this city willing to hurt me because I am Jewish. They do not care that I am American or that my best friend is a Sunni Muslim from Jordan. All they judge is my religion.

“We were so lucky to find this place.” I whisper as we enter. I pause and admire the 340 year old synagogue that was converted into a Museum in 2001. I turn on my heels, noting how intimately the Museum nestled herself in a cluster of buildings.

“It is very nice in here…” Yosra trails off catching sight of a magnificent dome. “This is a really good thing!” Yosra smiles, “I love how this museum is right next to all these buildings. It shows that the synagogue was a part of the community and accessible for everyone. I don’t understand why the museum is so hidden.”

“Because of people.” My eyes harden, “If some people realized that this museum is dedicated to Jews…they might get violent.” My lips part, noticing how every window in the synagogue is covered. Like a secret treasure afraid to reveal itself to the outside world. My eyes gravitate to the only uncovered lone window, a multi-colored stained glass that reveals no hint of Jewish ancestry.

“I don’t think that is why.” Yosra protests with her hands on her hips. “I do think it is hidden on purpose, but who should I blame? Turkish people?  The Turkish Jews? The signs to this museum were so vague and unprofessional. They have to announce this place to everyone, so everyone can learn. At least the signs should be more respectful. This is not just a museum but a Jewish museum. This was a synagogue. It is in a holy place!”

I pinch my lips, not entirely convinced. I touch my bare neck, naked without my necklace. With the Middle East on political and religious fire, it makes sense that anything Jewish in this region would want to keep a low profile. An image of May 15^th, Naksa Day, flashes in my mind. I remember how Syrian President Bashar al-Assad exploited the Palestinian’s plight, wanting to divert attention from the Syrian antigovernment riots. Knowing the pro-Palestine protestors would die, President Bashar al-Assad encouraged people to rush the Israeli border. More lives lost means the cycle of hate-fueled conflict grows; and generalizations and judgments become stronger. Recently, I helped educate my Muslim friends that not all Jews live in Israel. Moreover, it is possible to be Jewish and not agree with everything that the Israeli government does.  

I spin in a circle with my neck cranked back. I see chandeliers and the long Corinthian columns.  My eyes travel up to the ceiling and become lost in the gold stars gazing back, as if warmly welcoming back a Jew from foreign lands.

I feel at peace, almost a strange sense of comfort of being home. I reach back and allow my thick curly hair, genetically traced from my Jewish Heritage, to tumble past my shoulders. For the first time while in Turkey I am not afraid people might recognize me as Jewish.

My smile broadens, seeing Yosra by the holy arc, admiring the Torah’s royal attire, “What’s this?” As I approach, my heart jumps in excitement. I feel so privileged to have the chance to teach my Muslim friend about Judaism. We have had countless opportunities to share the details of each other’s spiritual paths. But being in this museum, with the Torah’s alter so apparent, it is inspiring for both of us.

“This,” I point to the maroon cloth embellished with yellow and golden emblems, “Is the covering for the holy parchment that is attached to two scrolls.” My finger presses against the barrier glass, “This is a decoration for the Torah. The whole idea is to mirror the Torah’s inner beauty but it doesn’t compare to the beauty of the Torah’s teachings.” 

We walk down together from the altar and travel upstairs. “This is where the women sat.  Remember how I told you that at Mount Sinai when Moses left to get the 10 Commandments and the men lost faith and built a golden calf?” Yosra nods, remembering our discussion. “The women had no part in the calf’s creation, and in that moment women became spiritually superior to men. Today men become distracted so easily even by the sound of a woman’s voice or by the way she looks. Having separate sections is to respect the women. It can be frustrating to try and pray when some man is staring at you.”

Yosra laughs, “Same in Islam!”

“We are cousins after all.” I grin, taking her hand I lead the way to the basement. We walk over to a female manikin, dressed in an antique Turkish Jewish garb. I watch how Yosra stands next to the figure. Both are dressed modestly and their hair is wrapped up in a scarf identically. We make eye contact and laugh at our discovery. I meander around the room and a particular plaque catches my eye. I motion to Yosra to come over while I read aloud:

“…Jews have been influenced by Muslims, with whom they share the same land, not only in art but also in their everyday life…”

“This makes me so happy and sad!” Yosra leans over and continues reading.

“Why?”

“I am so happy that we have so many things in common and how we lived together. But it makes me so sad how people are so silly today. They don’t understand how things used to be. People just don’t realize…”

“We were a part of the same community” I finish her sentence as she grins with approval. I watch Yosra’s focus turn to another plaque.  “That’s the most important prayer in Judaism. Sh'ma Israel-”

“I know.” Yosra presses her eyebrows together in memory. “Sh'ma Yis'ra'eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad.”

My jaw drops. “Where did you learn that?!” I jerk my head back.

“I asked Tsvet” Yosra says with a shrug. I smile, remembering our mutual friend from the Arava Institute. “I wanted to learn it because it is the most important prayer in Judaism. We have a similar prayer in Islam. How God is one, and how God does everything to you for a reason. God surrounds you.”

I tilt my head back in laughter as I sling my arms around her in a hug. “Never stop surprising me!”

We enter the gift shop and to my delight I find a necklace that has the Sh'ma Israel prayer in Hebrew letters; however it is impossible to tell it was Hebrew to the untrained eye.  Yosra and I look at each other and start giggling. Immediately I buy it and clasp it around my neck. We meander around the gift shop and Yosra pauses at a collection of ladino Jewish folklore songs, which were playing in the museum. I can tell she is interested so I take a cd off the shelf and pay for it. “I love this music!” Yosra smiles as she admires the cd cover. “I cannot wait to listen to it.”

When we exit the building I clasp her shoulder. “Thank you for coming to the Museum with me. It means a lot.”

Yosra stops, her dark beautiful eyes steal me in place. “This was the highlight of my trip. I didn’t go to the museum just because of my Jewish friend.” Yosra eyes me playfully. “When I was in Egypt I went to another Jewish Museum. I just care to learn about the culture and traditions. It was a learning experience for both of us. It was a sharing experience.” Yosra stretches her arm across my shoulders as we begin walking.  “This was the highlight of my trip because I was with you. It was our responsibility to find this place. Even the hotel receptionist didn’t know where this museum was! I wanted you to share a part of your culture with me. I know it means a lot to you. It made me so happy to see you when you found this place.”

My lips part in surprise and gratitude. “And it was my highlight to be able to share it with you. This is how we create change.” I round my shoulders back, comfortably showing off my new necklace. Yosra smiles, because she knows what my necklace represents.

Beyond our school building, the ways we set up classrooms and cafeterias, use school buildings after the bell, create learning opportunities outside the classroom, and display student work in halls and on walls speak volumes about our learning cultures. Educators with limited or no financial resources who are committed to transforming the learning culture can use student input, research, creativity, and ingenuity to guide the re-creation of learning spaces. Although some communities have the luxury of building new schools, many others have had to retain design elements from the first half of the last century. And most of us remember design fads that have come and gone because they weren't effective.

How can we transform learning environments so that students learn better, teachers teach more effectively, and schools become spaces to intentionally develop the whole child? Join the conversation as we combine research, practice, and common sense with creative approaches to shaping the structures that facilitate or inhibit our ability to teach across disciplines, learn in and out of the classroom, address different learning styles, and support both active and passive learning. Listen to the most recent Whole Child Podcast, featuring three guests with diverse experience creating learning environments that help ensure students are healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged. Read the Whole Child Blog to hear from guest bloggers, and dive deeper into the latest research, reports, and tools on the school environments topic page.

Creating and Reflecting Opportunities

What would a school look like if it focused on creating opportunities for students to contribute meaningfully to a growing global body of knowledge around pertinent high-interest topics that help improve society both online and off? In "Open Campus, Open Network, Open Possibilities," ASCD's Walter McKenzie paints a vivid picture of how many schools have begun to create a highly engaging and flexible learning environment.

Guest blogger and educator Andrew Miller describes two schools that have created physical structures that reflect the culture and facilitate continuous, seamless, and transparent learning in "Matching Physical Structures to Learning and School Culture." Learn how these schools use their physical spaces to communicate a message that students come first, school is a safe place, and innovative learning takes place throughout the day.

Designing New Learning Environments to Support 21st Century Skills

In this free book chapter, education reformer Bob Pearlman uses research and experience to outline how physical learning environments can and should be catalysts for learner-centered pedagogy that optimize the way students learn. Several examples of schools that have created innovative learning environments further illustrate the power of linking pedagogy and space.

Report from the National Summit on School Design: A Resource for Educators and Designers

This report identifies the best practices, challenges and trade-offs, and real-world examples for eight recommendations for 21st century school design excellence. From making learning spaces flexible, healthy, and comfortable to considering nontraditional options for school facilities and enhancing learning by integrating technology, each recommendation redefines what a school can and should be.

The Language of School Design: Design Patterns for 21st Century Schools

The experts from DesignShare share 25 school design patterns that represent a range of design principles that define best practice. These designs can be altered and combined to further meet learning objectives. In contrast to the traditional linear view of school design, these patterns were created to reflect the realms of human brain and experience.

"All the kids want the pedagogy to change from being teacher-led, whole-group instruction to something that is much more student-centered that has students really being the ones who are doing the work. They want environments where they can do the work, whether it's individually or together."
—Bob Pearlman, a 21st century schools consultant, on the June/July Whole Child Podcast

The Abraham Path Initiative envisions uncovering and revitalizing a route of cultural
tourism that follows the path of Abraham and his family some 4000 years ago across the
Middle East. It begins in the ancient ruins of Harran, in modern-day Turkey, where Abraham
first heard the call to "go forth." It passes through some of the world’s most revered cultural,
historical, and holy sites, ending in the city of Hebron/Al-Khalil at the tomb of Abraham.
With Abraham as a venerated patriarchal figure for Islam, Judaism, and Christianity—
monotheistic religions whose adherents have so often clashed--the potential unifying power
of this conception has attracted a remarkable range of supporters from around the world.

From an intriguing notion crystallized at Harvard in 2004, William Ury and his
colleagues have negotiated this idea into a concrete reality involving varying levels of
support and/or active country organizations in Syria, Turkey, Jordan, Palestine3, and Israel.
If completed, it would eventually extend to encompass Abraham’s travels to and from Egypt,
Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. With the endorsement of the U.N.’s Alliance of Civilizations, over
three hundred kilometers of the Path have now been opened to a growing number of travelers
ranging from student study groups to Syrian President al-Assad walking a stretch of the path
with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. With an annual budget that exceeded a million
dollars in 2008 prior to the economic downturn, its major financial contributors hail from
diverse faiths and 18 nations. As it takes fuller shape, the Path variously serves as a catalyst
for sustainable tourism and economic development, a platform for the energy and idealism of
young people, a beacon for pilgrims and peacebuilders, as well as a focus for seemingly
endless media inquiries from reporters, producers, documentary film-makers, and writers
keen on telling its story to audiences worldwide.

In late August 2009, Executive Committee Board members of the Abraham Path
Initiative (“API”) gathered for a Boulder, Colorado retreat. In the shadow of its rugged
peaks, this group pondered the most important issues facing their improbable quest to
uncover the footsteps of Abraham. They grappled with urgent questions of fundraising in a
time of severe economic stress, the appointment of a new Executive Director, whether the
organization’s headquarters should move from Boulder to a Middle Eastern location, and the
like. Near the sixth anniversary of the first glimmerings of the Path in Ury’s imagination,
they also felt it would be useful to refocus on the vision, founding, and evolution of their
entity. What had been their key choices so far? Were they right? Looking forward, which
were the most critical strategic questions? What choices should be reaffirmed? Altered?

A scant few weeks later in Cambridge, Massachusetts, an informal group of
academics from fields as disparate as negotiation, social enterprise, archaeology, law,
psychology, and economics gathered for different but complementary purposes. Intrigued by
various aspects of this inchoate initiative, they sought to identify and frame some of the most
interesting research questions raised by the Abraham Path as well as opportunities faculty
and student involvement. Participants were variously interested in the Path’s implications for
a range of topics, including, but hardly limited to:

• The characteristics and prospects of very long-term, decentralized negotiation
  strategies across borders and cultures, and in the face of an array of barriers,
• The anthropological role of Abraham in the “cultural memory” of those in the region,
• Inter-religious activities and dialog processes contributing to conflict resolution and
  peacemaking,
• Social enterprise and entrepreneurship,
• Sustainable tourism and economic development,
• The archaeological record and quest for exploration and preservation along the Path,
  and
• Most broadly, of what class(es) of phenomena is the Abraham Path a member? What
  interesting generalizations might be sought? And how?

Hosted by the Harvard Negotiation Project, the conference was organized to
brainstorm and sharpen key questions in these and other areas. Participants hoped to learn of
other’s interests and to explore opportunities for the seemingly insatiable appetite for
involvement of faculty, students, and others in Path-related activities. As background and to
inform these and other discussions, this paper offers raw material for analysis in the form of
an interview-based description of the Path from multiple perspectives. The sections that
follow explore several topics:

1. The Inspiration: Stories of Abraham (pp. 3-5)

2. Origins And Early Stages Of The Abraham Path Initiative (pp. 5-10)

3. Overcoming Barriers and the Path’s Current Status (pp. 10-18)

4. Negotiating and Developing the Path in Different Countries: Turkey (pp.19-23),
Syria (pp. 23-25), Jordan (pp. 25-27), Palestine (pp. 27-29), and Israel (pp. 29-30)

5. Some Strategic Themes and Questions (pp. 30-32)
Three supplementary sections flesh out the core narrative by 1) describing the API
Board, staff, and major donors (Exhibit 1, pp. 33-35); 2) discussing some of the
organizational challenges faced by the API and its responses to them (Exhibit 2, pp. 35-37);
and 3) including a document from the API appealing for financial support as a “social
venture opportunity” (Exhibit 3, pp. 37-39).

1. The Inspiration: Stories of Abraham

The name Abraham translates variously to “father of many nations” or “high father.”
Although there is no definitive historical or archaeological evidence that Abraham actually
lived, Muslim, Christian, and Jewish traditions all recognize the story of Abraham and claim
it as a canonical text. Abraham’s story is also a part of numerous folktales, village traditions
and local mythology. The Path links the places where Abraham is remembered to have
passed and thus is based, as Ury puts it, “on anthropological reality” or “cultural memory.”
Even the casual visitor following the route of Abraham’s legendary pilgrimage, will find a
disproportionate number of men and boys named “Ibrahim” and “Abraham” in his honor.
Hospitality to the stranger is often prefaced by the expression, “in the name of Father           Abraham/Ibrahim.” The story of Abraham is, in anthropological terms, one of the world’s most             widely shared origin stories, shared by over half of humanity. Many versions of the  story exist,               the most widely recognized of which are in the Book of Genesis/Bereshit and in the Koran.

In the (Jewish) Torah/(Christian) Old Testament, for example, the story of Abraham
begins in the city of Ur--the ruins of which are located in contemporary Iraq--where he was
known as “Abram.” In these texts, God calls upon Abram to leave his father’s house and go
to a place “which I will show you” (or, in an alternative translation, “where I will show you
yourself.”).

Although already an old man, Abram gathered his household together, demonstrating
his trust in God by embarking upon an exploration into the unknown. In doing so, Abram
became, in the biblical record, the first pilgrim. Abram and his family decamped first to
Harran before moving further to the land of Canaan. As a shepherd, Abram would have
traveled with livestock along the Path, probably following water sources. To escape famine,
he moved again to Egypt, Be’er-Sheva and then to the area of Hebron where he is believed to
have died.

In Hebron, Abram received a second and more definitive call from God. This
time God directed him to found a nation, recognizing only a single deity. Abram entered
into a covenant with God who promised Abram and his wife, Saraii, innumerable progeny.
As Saraii, Abram’s wife, had not been able to bear him children, she persuaded Abram to
impregnate her servant, Hagar, whose children Saraii would then regard as her own. Ishmael
was born of Hagar and assumed to be the fulfillment of God’s promise.

When Ishmael was born, Abram and all the males of his household marked their
devotion to God, by undergoing circumcision. As a further symbol of his pledge, God
changed Abram and Saraii’s names to Abraham and Sarah. Later, visiting strangers to
Abraham’s encampment – revealed to be angels of the Lord – renewed God’s promise to
provide Abraham with a son born of Sarah. Thus, when Abraham was a hundred years old,
Sarah gave birth to Isaac, in what was the second fulfillment of God’s promise. Sarah,
however, became jealous of Hagar, fearing Ishmael’s competing claim to Abraham. She
persuaded Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael into exile. In a final test of Abraham’s faith,
God called Abraham to a fearsome task – this time to offer Isaac as a human sacrifice on
Mount Moriah, only to stay his hand at the last moment, and then replenish anew his promise
to Abraham’s descendants.

Islam’s story of Ibrahim differs from the Jewish and Christian version in several
important respects although the narratives of Ibrahim’s travels are roughly commensurate
with those ascribed to Abraham. Muslims venerate Ibrahim as one of the four most
important prophets – indeed, with the exception of Moses, no prophet is more referenced in
the Koran. In the Koran, Ibrahim honors Allah with his devotion. In one particularly
important story, also told in the Jewish tradition, Abraham is thrown into a fire by King
Nimrod for challenging the King’s belief in idols, only to be rescued by an angel sent by
God. God does not stop there, but also turns the fire into water and the logs of the fire into
fish.

This ancient story is geographically depicted in the central park in the city of Urfa, in
present-day southeastern Turkey. In the park there are two pillars that sit atop the hill
overlooking the city. These two pillars are said to be the place where Abraham was
catapulted by Nimrod toward the fire below. In addition to Abraham's birth cave that lies in
the park itself, two long reflecting pools, teeming with sacred carp, complete the heroic story.
The Koran does not specify which son Allah asked Ibrahim to sacrifice. Some
Muslim scholars have determined that Ibrahim put his knife to Ishmael’s neck. As such, the
Koran celebrates Ibrahim as the first man to submit, joyfully, to the will of God.
Thus, Jews and Christians trace their ancestry to Abraham through Isaac, while
Muslims lay claim to Ibrahim through Ishmael. The story of God’s test of
Abraham/Ibrahim’s faith bears testament to this division. Importantly, the story of
Abraham/Ibrahim also embodies a vision of transcendence. The Biblical text, for example,
suggests that Isaac and Ishmael enjoyed a rapprochement, coming together when Abraham
died to mourn at his grave.

For Ury, their father’s legacy lies in this account of reconciliation. Ury was moved
by this ancient story and, with his colleagues, decided to experiment with its potential for
healing. The Abraham Path Initiative was founded in the belief that the activity of walking
side-by-side could create opportunities for collaboration and communication that had eluded
other efforts in the Middle East. Ury believed that the symbolic act of walking in Abraham’s
footsteps could be a step towards a reunion of the often-warring members of the patriarch’s
modern, three-branched family. While so many issues bitterly divided the region, the path of
Abraham held the promise of physically representing common, even sacred, ground.

2. Origins and Early Stages of the Abraham Path Initiative

One summer evening in August 2003, a group of old friends gathered for an informal
dinner in Boulder, Colorado to discuss the Middle East. All the dinner guests were engaged
in professional work promoting peace and intercultural understanding. Elias Amidon and his
wife Rabia Roberts had just returned from the Middle East, where they had been organizing
interfaith pilgrimages. William Ury, co-founder of the Harvard Negotiation Project and coauthor
of the best selling negotiation handbook, Getting to Yes was also at the dinner. At the
time, he had been working as a third party in a bitter dispute between President Hugo Chavez
and his political opponents in Venezuela that threatened to turn into civil war, as well as an
advisor to a peace process in Indonesia aimed at ending a 26-year-old civil war that had
killed over 10,000 people.

The dinner guests were alarmed by political developments in the Middle East. In
March 2003, the United States had invaded Iraq and violence had escalated in the region.
Reflecting on unresolved conflicts and escalating tensions between the West and the Muslim
world, the friends met to consider what they might do as concerned citizens with professional
expertise working in conflicts at the people-to-people level.

Some twenty-five years before, Ury’s negotiation career had started in the Middle
East. In the late seventies, while Ury was a graduate student at Harvard studying
anthropology, he had worked with Roger Fisher to formulate negotiation process advice used
by the American mediators in the 1978 Camp David peace process. Ury later spent several
months in the region interviewing Palestinians and Israelis. He used these stories to
contribute to a guide for negotiators to the intricate issue of Jerusalem, laying out the
interests and options of the various stakeholders, and their competing claims to the city.
With Roger Fisher as the senior figure and his contemporary, Bruce Patton, Ury
helped to found the Harvard Negotiation Project, later to become a core element of the
Program on Negotiation, a Harvard-based, interuniversity consortium.

Soon after, Ury’s professional work turned from the Middle East and towards reducing nuclear           tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. As a consultant to the White House Crisis
Management Center, he played a role in persuading the two rivals to dramatically upgrade
the “hotline” – an old Teletype machine – with nuclear risk reduction centers in Washington
and Moscow focused on averting accidental nuclear escalation. During the middle years of
his career,

Ury continued to follow from afar the ongoing strife in the Middle East, while
writing further bestselling books such as Getting Past No and the Power of a Positive No, on
negotiation-related topics. Like others working in the region, Ury believed that a different
future for the Middle East was a precondition to a sustainable world. Along with colleagues,
Ury had been exploring the role of the “Third Side”4 in places like Aceh, Indonesia, and
Venezuela as a means of mobilizing communities within and surrounding conflict regions to
transform deadly conflict into constructive conflict and collaboration in which many different
constituencies have a voice in their future.

For Ury, the prospect for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East seemed to founder on the              basic issue of identity. As a social anthropologist, he had long been interested The Third Side,                  as Ury defined it, was a form of conflict transformation directed at empowering communities
to appreciate that they have a say in the violence within their borders, and voice with which to          combat it.

in the issue of identity and the importance of symbols. Behind the conflict over land and
power was a struggle over what Ury called “story.” Muslims, Jews, and Christians each held
distinct and conflicting stories about the land and the history that defined their identities. At
the center of each of these accounts was the common experience of exclusion, trauma, and
the desire of a people not to be further humiliated. From a conflict resolution viewpoint,
these stories highlighted the interests out of which perceptions and positions had calcified.
Ury thought that if identity stories underlay suffering, perhaps a story that engaged identity in
a concrete and practical fashion might over time be powerful enough to create a new opening
for reconciliation.

During the evening over dinner with his Boulder friends, Ury observed that the
current war was being staged in the ancient land of Mesopotamia, where Abraham, the
common forefather of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, heeded a call from God to go forth
and found a new nation. Ury asked: Why not try to inspire the re-creation of the route that
would retrace the journey of Abraham? What if a permanent pilgrimage route could be
revived based on a commonality of cultures, rather than the conflict among them?
Conceivably, Ury speculated, the Abraham Path could become part of the emerging
sector of responsible tourism, which creates collaboration that gives back to local
communities and benefits the local population from the business generated by tourists.

The Path could also draw from the wider tradition of meditative excursions like the Camino de
Santiago de Compostela, a collection of medieval pilgrimage routes across Europe,
beginning for many at St. Jean Pied de Port in France and culminating in the city of Santiago
de Compostela in Spain. Indeed, concerted regional and European efforts to revive the
Camino in recent years, especially in Spain, had been accompanied by a dramatic increase in
pilgrims and other travelers with correspondingly positive economic impacts along its route.
In recent years, tens of thousands of people have annually walked, biked, or otherwise
traveled up to 800km on this pilgrimage.

Perhaps the nascent Abraham Path might find inspiration as well in the vision of
Benton MacKaye who in 1921 conceived what is now known as Appalachian Trail. Only
fully realized a half-century later, generations of its backers negotiated innumerable
challenges and setbacks to piece its various sections together on a permanent basis by 1971.
The Appalachian Trail now spans some 3500km from Springer Mountain in Georgia to
Mount Katahdin in Maine (and continues into Canada as the International Appalachian
Trail). Some thirty clubs and multiple partnerships have been forged to maintain the trail for
the stream of hikers that annually make some or all of the trek.

Very long-term negotiations had also been required to advance the vision of the
European Union. From the post-World War II conception of Jean Monnet, union had fitfully
proceeded from the European Coal and Steel Community, Euratom, the Common Market,
and so toward monetary and, increasingly, effective political union. Was the formation of
the E.U.—involving decades of public and private negotiations, energized by a vision of
unity—an instructive, if grandiose, analogy for the Path?

In short, could the concept of the Abraham Path, if articulated persuasively, prove
compelling enough as a “focal idea,” perhaps like the modern revitalization of the medieval
El Camino de Santiago de Compostela, the creation of the Appalachian Trail, or the
formation of the European Union? Could the idea of uncovering the steps of Abraham and
his family millennia ago serve to animate and organize the countless efforts and decades of
negotiations that would be necessary to overcome the barriers to its realization?
After the Boulder dinner and increasingly inspired by the potential of the concept,
Ury asked Elias Amidon and Rabia Roberts to raise the idea of the Abraham Path with their
Syrian and Jordanian friends and colleagues during their next trip to the region.

Ury also emailed Susan Collin Marks, Executive Vice President of Search for Common Ground, an
expert in conflict management in South Africa and a long-time friend, asking what she
thought of the idea. He also pitched the Abraham Path to his long-time colleague Joshua
Weiss, who holds a Ph.D. in conflict studies from George Mason University. Both were
affiliated with the Program on Negotiation, an inter-university consortium of Harvard
University, Tufts University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Simmons
College School of Management.

Weiss remembers when Ury first mentioned the Abraham Path to him as they walked
through the Rocky Mountains during one of Weiss’s tri-annual visits to Boulder where Ury
lives. Weiss recalled: “The initial thing I remember is that I saw it as a huge endeavor and
challenge but one that was worth taking on for the potential impact. I also recall thinking
that while most efforts in the Middle East skirt the notion of religion, this was attempting to
go to the heart of the matter and embrace it in a unique, affirming, manner. We would later
learn how difficult and powerful that was.”

Amidon soon emailed from Syria, saying that the concept of a journey in the
footsteps of Abraham had captured their imagination. A prominent sheik, he reported, called
it, “the idea of the century.” Ury spoke with Jewish and Christian religious leaders who also
encouraged him to take the idea forward. As Ury and his colleagues held consultative
meetings with civil society representatives, religious leaders, and at universities, in the
United States and abroad, Joshua Weiss recalls that their intention was to listen to the
response the project received as a kind of litmus test for moving forward. Along with
enthusiastic reactions, Ury understood the skepticism they often encountered: “I had a similar
reaction at first. And I thought, this is fine for other people to do, but it’s not my line of work.

As I reflected on the potential of the idea and started to get bits of resonant feedback from
others, the idea grew on me. It made me think maybe there is something here. The question
for me, still, was discerning whether this was mine to do – or not. That wasn’t easy. What
did this have to do with negotiation? I soon came to appreciate that it had everything to do
with it.”

Ury and his colleagues came to see in Abraham/Ibrahim’s story a kind of “source
code” that was uniquely sensitive to the hopes and dreads of those living in the region. Ury
believes that the twin wounds at the heart of conflict in the Middle East are exclusion and
scarcity: “Ishmael feels excluded. Hagar feels excluded. Sarah felt excluded. Isaac probably
felt excluded. It’s the story of the human family. The Palestinians feel excluded. The
Israelis feel excluded. Muslims feel excluded, Christians feel excluded, and Jews feel
excluded.”

Ury recognized that the innovation he wanted to sponsor was to redefine the strife
among nations as one of a family conflict. The Abraham Path, Ury thought, could be seen as
an attempt to put a physical frame around the conflict. Within this frame, the story of
Abraham could serve as a kind of antidote, redefining the parties as kin, and function as a
symbol of respect and hospitality stretching across boundaries and borders, focusing on
common interests, and giving value to the other. If realized, the Path could literally be
common ground in the region, a vessel for hope, a vehicle for mutual encounter, and an
engine of economic development at the village level.

“I’ve always admired Gandhi,” Ury says with the smile that some consider to be his
trademark. “[Gandhi] was a master of strategic symbolic action. What would Gandhi do in
this situation? So many of the negotiations in this region founder on the whole issue of
identity. The Abraham Path allowed us a way to take identity into account at the heart of
what we were doing.” For Ury, walking the path of Abraham makes the traveler a part of the
story in the Middle East: “People learn through the stories that move them, so if one could reenter
an old story, and re-tell it in a way that is relevant for today and tomorrow, it might be
possible to begin heal the old wounds.”

Drawing on his negotiation background, Ury saw the conflict in the Middle East as
very much stuck in a zero-sum trap. “If one side gives the other land, it would have less land.
What is needed are ‘game-changers,’ and the Abraham Path might over time become just
that.” For the Path has the potential to add positive-sum elements to the mix. “If I give you
respect, I don’t have less respect. In fact, you’re more likely to give me respect,” as Ury puts
it. And if cultural tourism along the Abraham Path succeeds in one country, it is likely to
increase the number of tourists in the other countries as well.

The Abraham Path Initiative itself began to take shape in 2004 as Ury, with a
cooperative of scholars, religious leaders and negotiation specialists, began to study the
possibility of the Path and how it might come into being. Harvard University provided key
institutional support. The Global Negotiation Project at the Program for Negotiation at
Harvard Law School served as the Abraham Path’s organizational home for the study process
in the early years. The Global Negotiation Project provided early funding along with a grant
from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, which had previously supported Ury’s work, and with
time, office space, and materials from the Program on Negotiation.

For some time, Ury and Weiss had studied various uses of the “Third Side” through
the Global Negotiation Project. The Third Side, as they defined it, was a form of conflict
transformation directed at empowering communities to appreciate that they have a say in the
violence within their borders, and voice with which to combat it. Ury and Weiss began, at
first, to conceptualize the Abraham Path as a type of Third Side activity. Weiss described the
Abraham Path as a “non-political tool to get countries and people working together. It’s the
interaction of many sectors of society that can help to build relationships and break down
stereotypes.” Ury saw Abraham as the symbolic “Third Side” of the conflict in the Middle
East, the reminder of a larger whole. Ury also viewed the Abraham Path as a cultural
memory project and as such, it made sense that it should come out of a university, a place of
ideas.

In 2004, the API commissioned a study at Harvard to look at the feasibility of such a
project and to examine the concept of Abraham as a potential unifying figure. It was
undertaken by two Harvard Divinity School students, Rachel Milner and Stephanie Saldana;
the latter would become the first in-country coordinator in Palestine. The two students
produced a 60-page report on many potential aspects of the project, including scriptural
references, places of crossover between the text, and the possibility of Abraham becoming a
rallying figure. In addition, Joshua Weiss and Kimberlyn Leary, a PON-linked faculty
member at Harvard Medical School, organized a small group of students interested in Third
Side Initiatives, including the Abraham Path Initiative. The papers that focused on the API
analyzed the possible role of water and the role of women along the path while another group
assessed the role of mystics. The students’ work culminated in a small conference and a
monograph on research on the Third Side. Enthusiasm for the concept slowly grew a wider
circle of involved people.

Of course, skeptics and geopolitical barriers loomed large. Susan Collin Marks
thought the project had genuine resonance and spoke to the longing to find a way through the
conflict among Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Yet after consultations with a number of
people in the region where she had spent years on various initiatives, she reported
considerable doubt to Ury: “I was working in the West Bank and Gaza with both Israelis and
Palestinians. Their concern at a minimum was how this could be doable when one could not
even cross many borders in the area.”

Ury admits that working in the Middle East carried the attraction of “by reputation,
the deepest, darkest conflict” and offers the chances “to dive into the sea of intractability and
perceived impossibility to see what just might be possible.” Ury was not unmindful of the
concerns expressed by Marks and others, but for him, this only underscored the need for an
out-of-the box project. Perhaps only an unexpected, paradoxical intervention – gathering
people to take a walk – could gain traction in the Middle East, which had grown weary of the
multitude of peace projects brought from the outside. But Ury had come to believe in the
gifts the Middle East has to give to the world – for example, in the face of all these
challenges people there maintain an unyielding commitment to hospitality, a sacred
obligation to the stranger, a tradition that is associated with Abraham. “The Path could
become a way for people from around the world to come pay their respects and express their
gratitude to the villagers living in the Middle East who have maintained over the centuries
the heritage of Abraham of treating the stranger as sacred guest, an inspiration that the world
very much needs today.”

3. Overcoming Barriers on the Way to the API’s Current Status.

Early on, Ury and his colleagues crystallized three barriers to the Path’s development
beyond the evident challenge of building an effective organization and raising substantial
resources. As Ury put it, “the first was a knowledge barrier to help individuals and
communities see how they could use Abraham’s story to advance transformative change.”

This was an especially critical question for strife-torn communities that were wary of new
international interventions, after so many others had failed. The story of Abraham as a
unifying figure himself had already been incorporated into a number of dialogue and
reconciliation initiatives, particular in inter-faith contexts.

But even if the Abraham Path were appropriately framed and accepted as a viable
means to enhanced collaboration, there was no consensus that pilgrimages of this sort could
be feasible in the region. The second barrier lay in establishing the credibility of the Path’s
vision, specifically the belief that pilgrims could safely undertake Abraham’s journey and
that such journeys could spark real economic development. Abraham’s ancient trek crosses
the sovereign soil of at least six, possibly as many as ten, nation-states, some of which do not
formally recognize one another. Checkpoints, travel restrictions, and the threat of terrorism
further impede movement. Local communities, national governments, as well as
international visitors need to see the Path’s vision as credible, not merely appealing.

To its proponents, the Abraham Path rests on the assumption that effective kinship in the Middle East requires a context of what Ury calls “enoughness” and prosperity: “until economic development expands the pie, it will be difficult to divide up the pie in equitable ways.” Ury believes that shared prosperity requires those in the region have access to aninclusive umbrella identity. He believes that tourism could be the cornerstone of thisinclusive identity. Former API Executive Director Tyler Norris notes, that in the MiddleEast, “safety is judged by my village. You hand off the traveler to the next person’s village,and that’s how the traveler moves through. We have a stake in each other’s well being, because if my hand-off doesn’t go well, neither does yours.” Establishing the credibility of these beliefs, however, among key players was a challenge. The third barrier was the lack of trust in the motives that animated the Path.

Conspiracy theories tend to run rampant in this part of the world. The most innocent of
initiatives can easily be made into a scrim onto which stakeholders can project their own
fears and dark imaginings. With the United States at war in Afghanistan and in Iraq, work
projects with any kind of American brand in particular were likely to be suspect.
Ury and his colleagues decided that for the Abraham Path to emerge, they needed to
demonstrate that these barriers could be addressed and even overcome. Given the
widespread skepticism about the feasibility and safety of crossing borders, Ury and several
colleagues who had continued to travel to the region, determined that the time was ripe to
take along a group to show the Path could indeed be traveled. In November 2006, a group of
25 people from ten different countries undertook a two-week bus journey, traveling from
Urfa in Turkey – where many believe Abraham to have been born – and Harran – where he is
believed to have heard the call to go forth – to Aleppo, Damascus, Amman, Jerusalem,
Bethlehem and finally to Hebron/Al-Khalil, where Abraham is believed to be buried. The
purpose of the trip was to introduce the idea of the Path and explore possible interest in it. In
four countries along the way, Ury and his colleagues convened broad consultative meetings
with government leaders, religious figures and local officials simply to present the concept
and to listen and learn from those who were already living on Abraham’s ancient path.

From this set of experiences, the API grew, with a vision of a prosperous and
peaceful Middle East, connected through the hospitality and respect widely associated with
Abraham. The API is a non-political, non-sectarian organization open to and honoring all
cultures and faiths. Its mission is not mainly seen as creating a new path, but rather helping
people to rediscover an ancient path. “We are simply dusting off the footsteps,” Ury likes to
say. “Keep in mind,” Weiss emphasizes, that “the Abraham Path itself is distinct from the
Abraham Path Initiative.”

The API is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado (where Ury lives), with academic
activities centered at Harvard, and with several regional, in-country organizations responsible
for ground operations. It has established international support teams, in-country
organizations, and community-based planning processes in a collective effort to build
awareness of the Path, to facilitate demonstration projects illustrating the potential of the Path
to contribute to economic development, and to carry out the diplomacy necessary to ensure
the opening, development, official support, and long-term sustainability of the Path. Since its
formal inception in 2007 as a non-profit NGO, the API has grown and now has offices in
Ankara, Amsterdam, Beirut, Bethlehem, Boulder, Cambridge, Jerusalem, Oxford, Paris,
Sanliurfa, and San Paolo.

[See Exhibit 1 for a description of API’s Board, staff, field teams by country, and
major financial donors. For those with a special interest in some key challenges and
dynamics of building and growing the API as an organization, Exhibit 2 offers a more
detailed account of its development over time.]

Its partners include, among others, the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, the
Harvard Negotiation Project, Engineers without Borders International, the World Heritage
Alliance, Outward Bound International, the United Nations World Tourism Organization,
and Bethlehem University, Sabanci University, and Ben Gurion University. Key Middle
East leaders as well as Nobel laureates have endorsed the API while donors to the
organization have come from eighteen nations. Senior API staff have calculated that over a
hundred million people worldwide had been exposed to the Abraham Path through
various positive media events, including international media stories, television
programs, and the web.

Weiss believes that the Abraham Path Initiative’s affiliation and academic partnership
with Harvard’s Program on Negotiation played a critical role in its early growth and
credibility, particularly in the Middle East. Norris describes Harvard University as providing
the “good housekeeping seal of approval” for the project, especially in this notoriously
suspicious region. Without it, he believes that Abraham Path might have engendered even
more distrust: “As one of the oldest major academic institutions in the world, with perhaps
the greatest brand, it buys credibility in a no man’s land. It creates operating room and time
so that we can be known and help build an accurate portrayal of what we are trying to do.”

By the spring of 2009, five major travelable segments of the Path had opened,
totaling 310 kilometers. The API has sponsored study tours and walks, for example,
between the ancient Turkish city of Harran and Sanliurfa (40 km). Travelers may also walk
along a route called the Syrian Cultural Walking Trail from Deir Mar Musa to Damascus (80
km), and between the Jordanian municipalities of al-Ayoun to Ajloun (30 km). An additional
section of the trail has been mapped to Mount Nebo but is not yet available to walkers. A
section of the Path has been opened in Palestine from Nablus to Jericho and on to Betin
(biblical Bethel) (70 km). Several successful youth exchanges in Jordan and Palestine
have been held. Finally, in addition to shorter stretches, there is also a segment (60 km) from
Be’er-Sheva to the city of Arad in the Negev desert in Israel.

So far, over a dozen subsequent tours and walks along parts of the Path have taken
place by groups from the Kellogg Fellows to local university students to international student
exchanges. In 2008, approximately 250 people walked the Path. In the first half of 2009,
some 650 persons have walked on routes that the Abraham Path has either opened or has
played a role. The long-term goal is that a 5000km Path will be travelable in all the places
where Abraham is believed to have journeyed, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, and
Lebanon.

From the start, API staff members have been careful to cultivate the understanding
that the Path was already in existence, as it has been for thousands of years. Consequently,
the work of the Abraham Path Initiative lay in working with its partners to ready the ancient
Path for travelers. Opening segments of the Path involves a process of community
organizing, village by village, engaging local leaders, tourism officials, and governments in
the idea of the Path, to determine if the Path is right for their community. “We had to
relinquish any sense of control or ownership from the beginning,” says Ury, “Our goal is
capturing the human imagination with the possibility for mutual respect.”

For example, Raed Saadeh, Vice-President and former President of the Palestinian
Hotel Association, CEO of the Jerusalem Hotel, and API board member, described the fairly
elaborate process of rooting the path in a number of Palestinian villages. “First, the
Palestinian team needed to identify key stakeholders such as the village council or the
leadership of the municipality, women’s groups (who might offer hospitality services and
handicrafts), and local small businesses such as restaurants and guesthouses that would serve
Path walkers. In a low-key manner, we introduced and explained the concept of the
Abraham Path to these groups and helped them see its potential advantages for them. We
thought of ourselves as forming an umbrella entity with these stakeholders on behalf of the
Path through their village. We also identified other influential people in the village or
municipality such as elders in important village families or clans. It was vital to ensure their
familiarity with our plans and to address their concerns as we went along. On an ongoing
basis, we zig-zagged in conversations between these key people and the other stakeholders, a
process that inevitably takes time.”

Saadeh continued, “To coordinate efforts and identify projects to enhance the path
(e.g., mapping, rest areas, trail clearing and marking), we relied on a planning group, whose
membership had many members in common as we worked in different villages; planning
group partners included, for example, Bethlehem University, the Palestine Wildlife Society,
the Siraj Center (a cultural tourism organization), and Rozana (a cultural heritage society).
To ensure real results from the planning group process, we also formed an implementation
group asked to implement an identified project or task. The implementation team is a virtual
structure that includes people, locally based contractors and organizations, as well as staff
with proven records of performance. We’ve worked to come up with a business model that
gives continual incentives to stakeholders to support the path; for example, we’ve tried to
define appropriate fee splits (for guided walks on Path segments) among the guide, hotels,
and other stakeholders. Thus far, the Palestinian team has carried out this kind of process in
several villages or municipalities such as Awarta and Douma. It takes a long time, with
many difficulties along the way, but these villages now feel that they ‘own’ their piece of the
Path and have a real stake in its overall success.”

[Note: the Path’s negotiation and development to date in the various countries of the
region is detailed in Section 4 of this paper. There is no better way to really “get” the
reality, opportunities, and challenges associated with the Path’s development than to
carefully peruse these remarkably different accounts of actions by API staff in each of
Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, and Israel.]

At the heart of the Abraham Path is the experience of walking, just as Abraham and
his family did. The Path is being mapped so that those who wished to travel by motor coach,
car, camel, donkey, or bicycle may do so as well. Small teams of local surveyors have used
Global Information Systems (GIS) – accessed by Global Positioning Systems (GPS) -- to
locate old trails and dust them off. Beginning in 2008, Google Earth software has made it
possible for virtual travelers to do an initial “flyover” of key sites along the Abraham Path
(http://www.abrahampath.org/virtual.php), making a cyber version of the Path accessible to
anyone with an Internet connection. Plans were in the works to geotag significant
Abrahamic sites along the virtual Path, for interested parties to research and describe,
constituting a sort of virtual guidebook that could grow over time as different people
contributed to the lore.

As host committees and organizations have emerged in different cities and countries
in the Middle East, so too have groups of “friends of the Abraham Path” in different cities
and countries around the world. Perhaps the most important of these chapters is the one that
formed in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in the middle of 2006.5 The Brazilian friends of the Path,
organized with an office and staff, have sponsored Brazilian scholars and youth to travel the
Path. In July 2009, they organized a 6K race through the city center of Sao Paulo as a
“virtual” Abraham Path, in which more than 2000 runners participated with major streets and
tunnels blocked off, the Mayor (of Lebanese descent) and other dignitaries walking past a
series of API billboards (with pictures of Urfa, Aleppo, Beirut, Damascus, Jerusalem, and
Hebron/Al-Khalil) along the route, the presidents and staff of the Hospital Sirio-Libanes and
Hospital Albert Einstein walking together, live helicopter and media coverage, etc. Brazilian
chapter members have built important diplomatic connections, offered critical financial
support, and garnered significant media to bring attention to the Path. Notably, together with
the United Nations endorsements, the close involvement of the Brazilians has helped to shift
perceptions of the Initiative from an American-supported effort to a global one. This global
5 More recently, a chapter has just been initiated in England. There are early conversations                     about chapters forming in the Netherlands, Spain, and Germany.

Another kind of Brazilian contribution offers more granular insight into how the
groundwork for potential future expansion of the Path is being laid. In a May 28, 2009 email
to Board members, William Ury described some useful steps by Salim Schahin, a Brazilian
Board member, on a recent trip to the region:

Friends,

We had some good news today from our friend and board member Salim
Schahin! As you may know, he has recently been elected President of the Brazil-Arab
Chamber of Commerce and has, in this role, proved an extraordinary ambassador for
Abraham's Path. A few highlights from his recent trip to the Middle East:

• Salim met with the Chief of Protocol of the Ministry of Foreign Relations of
Saudi Arabia, who was very positive about the idea of Abraham's Path -- one
good step towards winning the blessing of the King. He mentioned that there is
an ancient trail in Saudi Arabia that goes up to Syria, something worth
investigating.

• He also met with Amr Moussa, Secretary General of the Arab League, who
some time ago, thanks to Salim, gave us a letter expressing a positive attitude
towards Abraham's Path. Mr. Moussa continued to express positive sentiments,
while remaining concerned about the political situation, particularly the
settlements in Palestine.

• Salim also met with the Syrian Minister for Expatriate Affairs and gave him
materials about Abraham's Path. The Minister suggested he meet with Mr.
Kuzbari, our friend in Vienna, who is a good friend of the Minister.

• In Cairo, Salim also talked about the Path with the Egyptian Ministers of
Commerce and Petroleum, who are interested in promoting tourism.

• Finally, Salim got a call from his friend, the Jordanian ambassador to Brazil,
remembering that Salim had given some materials about Abraham's Path to
King Abdullah on his visit some months ago to Brazil. The Ambassador said that
King Abdullah has given his blessing to Abraham's Path, and that the King
would like to meet with Salim. This is promising news indeed!

So deep gratitude to our friend Salim!

William

In a number of U.S. communities as well, including Cincinnati, Austin, Dallas, and
Santa Barbara, groups of Abraham Path supporters have emerged and organized “Abraham
walks,” often traveling by foot together from a local church to a mosque and to a synagogue.
These walks not only build awareness of the Abraham Path, but enable people to participate
who would not otherwise have the opportunity to travel to the Middle East. In this sense, the
API staff sometimes see their creation as “omni-local.” In these communities, Path events
have served, for example, to build bridges and break down walls of misunderstanding and
misperception between different faith communities.

As a social enterprise venture, the Abraham Path Initiative aims to enable a
sustainable business platform for tourism and economic development. Tyler Norris notes
that when the Path is fully developed, the presence of travelers will create demand for
products and services. This demand will stimulate local entrepreneurship, generate income
and create jobs in villages along the Path that host travelers. As this cultural tourism grows, it
will create incentives to restore and preserve historical sites and encourage environmental
stewardship. When it is fully operational, API staff believes that it will become an
educational and recreational resource for the local community as well as for visitors. Thus,
the Abraham Path may be described as many things at once. In appealing to potential
financial supporters, a December 2008 document, articulately detailed the many facets of
investing in the API as a “social venture opportunity.” [See Exhibit 3, where the contents of
this document are reproduced.]

In a very real way, the Path does not exist “out there.” It is constituted by the act of
walking along routes with deep cultural and historical meaning and through the
collaborations relating to hospitality that are made possible. This distinction is a crucial one
to Ury and his colleagues. For even though the physical trails lie within the sovereign
territory of many nations, the Path itself cannot truly be “owned” by any government,
constituency, and certainly, not by the API itself. The Path’s real stakeholders, in Ury’s
view, are the villagers through which the Path goes as well as those who journey on it.
Experiences of the Path. API staff and those who have walked segments of the path
often describe singular experiences. Visitors on the Path are able to engage with local
traditions – food, music, and handicrafts – and experience the hospitality for which the
Middle East is legendary. By virtue of allowing time and a venue for these exchanges, “the
Path offers the opportunity for little successes, and breakthrough moments,” says Essrea
Cherin, API’s board coordinator, who spent four years on a pilgrimage around the world
herself before joining the API (starting in Los Angeles and ending in Hiroshima). Tyler
Norris, a senior advisor to the Abraham Path Initiative, is a partisan of walking trails: “We
do encourage going by foot, if possible, because it slows people down, so that they can
experience the people and the landscape and the culture.” Ury himself has always been
drawn to walking, which he sees as inherently collaborative: “There’s something about
having a conversation side-by-side, actually physically moving in a common direction.”
Essrea Cherin notes that the Abraham Path invokes the ritual of host and guest. By
definition, these engagements require collaboration: “Too many times we sit down and say
‘We need to collaborate.’ The Abraham Path offers the opportunity for people to collaborate
and that makes it different.” In creating the conditions for what Ury terms, “transformative
hospitality,” travelers on the Path can change the way they experience the Middle East.

Senior Adviser Tyler Norris calls the Abraham Path a “citizen exchange movement,” with an
expectation of transformative hospitality extending beyond co-existence: “It hinges on an
opportunity for a world in which people of all faiths and walks of life can live in harmony,
with a just and equitable peace.”

For those living in the Middle East, the experience may be of a different type.
Stephanie Saldana is an American scholar who served as a researcher in the Path’s earliest
incubation stage at Harvard, who later spent a year on a Fulbright fellowship in Syria,
became the coordinator for the Path in Palestine, and now serves as a senior adviser in
Palestine. Saldana is particularly attuned to the importance of building credibility. She notes
that in Palestine, for example, the Path already belongs to the community and is a way of
telling their story: “Abraham is familiar. They are reclaiming the story of Abraham that has
been taken away by the conflict. The Path is a way of showing the world, and themselves,
that Abraham was a Bedouin who wandered as their ancestors wandered. For the Palestinian,
walking the Path, in a situation where are checkpoints everywhere, the Path is a symbol of
freedom.”

Saldana also notes that for those not living in the Middle East: “The Path is the
chance to discover your own calling when you move outside of your comfort zone as a
traveler, and put yourself at the mercy of others in this land of hospitality. It is a way of
becoming vulnerable and somehow being born a new. In the Bible, Abraham receives a new
name and that’s a way of losing yourself to begin as a new person with greater
understanding.” In this way, Tyler Norris underscores that the Abraham Path is an
opportunity to create a more accurate story about the Middle East in a post 9/11 world where
“fear and concern push away the other and render music and culture into symbols of the
enemy rather than emblems of a rich civilization.”

Some challenges. As the Abraham Path Initiative evolved, it has retained its
distributed, organizational structure. This meant that its activities are spread among Boulder,
Colorado, Cambridge, and the cities in which in-country coordinators were operating.
Among the dilemmas the organization faced was one of leadership. Should the leadership of
the Abraham Path Initiative be concentrated in Boulder with its founder, in Cambridge, the
site of early, critical institutional support, or in the field, with the men and women working
on the ground to help communities to realize the potential of Abrahamic hospitality? If the
in-country operations were to be autonomous, to what extent did values and policies need to
be aligned and coordinated? Or should a shift occur toward the region?

Ury believes that it is critical that the Abraham Path be configured as a series of local
projects, arising out of a community’s intrinsic interests, rather than be imposed in any way.
He was prepared for the fact that the Abraham Path Initiative’s idea of what a Path might
look like or how it might work would be superseded by the local community’s direction or
inspiration. Ury knew this very likely would mean that the Abraham Path in a given country
might not – at least, for some time – be viewed as linked with the Abraham Path elsewhere,
because of political tensions. The policy against “normalization” in several Arab countries,
for example, made it highly unlikely that Abraham Path activity in Arab countries would
easily intersect with initiatives in Israel. It was not critical to Ury and his colleagues if the
walking routes were even called “the Abraham Path” or went by some other name so long as
they could establish the architecture that could inspire communities and enable
transformative hospitality. This proved to be very important in Syria, for example, where the
Abraham Path Initiative was engaged in supporting the opening of the “Syrian Cultural
Walking Trail.” In Palestine, as well, the turn to local wisdom about hospitality and ancient
traveling routes proved to be more auspicious to mapping the path than some of the
professional expertise the Abraham Path Initiative had at its disposal.

Staff and friends of the Abraham Path Initiative have reflected about the proper
balance between US based operations and in-country partners. Elias Amidon, for example,
appreciates that the Abraham Path Initiative is keen to shed the sense that an American
consortium holds the concept. He is concerned that the organization will cede too quickly to
countries that are reluctant to link their routes to the larger Abraham project. But he is also
sensitive to the ambiguity that exists with respect to the Path: “To whom does the Abraham
Path belong? Does it belong to the ancients? Or is it Bill’s project? Does it belong to the
Board, to the staff or to the people in the region? But what if the people in the region barely
know about it? Does it belong to the people who will walk or to their children, and future
generations?”

Tyler Norris also expressed some discomfort with the idea that in-country operations
could become wholly independent of the international NGO. He supports Ury’s notion of
shared leadership, but believes that it would be beneficial if key values of local partners were
aligned with those of the international organization, if local groups wish to be affiliated with
the Abraham Path Initiative. Norris, for example, speaks of a system that allowed some
guides to become “preferred providers” or “licensees” of the Abraham Path Initiative,
enabling some quality control. Weiss make something of the same argument, suggesting that
the leaders of small group tours and the early travelers see themselves as “ambassadors”
whose conduct is crucial to the development of both the Abraham Path and the Abraham
Path Initiative.

Another challenge: the Abraham Path Initiative has been approached by over 20
documentary film producers with a film now being planned to begin in the coming year.
Clearly, the idea has moved from an appealing concept to a reality on the ground. For
example, the positive media the Abraham Path Initiative has garnered means that Ury and his
colleagues must decide how much of their attention to devote to building further international
publicity and how much of their focus should remain on in-country development of the Path.
At a moment in the organization’s history where the Abraham Path Initiative has gained
attention and mobilized for future growth, changed economic circumstances mean that it is
must contend with how to mobilize this capacity in the context of having fewer resources and
uncertain prospects regarding fundraising.

Despite a four-fold increase of travelers on the Path, the global recession has had a
significant impact on the organization. Weiss reports that the organization is now understaffed
and has had to reduce its budget by almost one-half. The engagement of the staff,
however, means that in-country teams have stepped forward and are redoubling local efforts
to secure funds. If in-country donors provide increasing support to the Abraham Path
Initiative, they may well expect an additional share in the direction and decision-making of
the international organization. Weiss believes that the next few years will be crucial for the
Abraham Path: “The irony is that just as the Path is ready to take off and do so much more,
we have to contend with having less. That said, we are making tremendous progress step by
step and that is really the key to the sustainability of the Path over the long term.”

4. Negotiating and Developing the Path in Different Countries

Imagine for the moment the task of actually negotiating a segment of the Path in one
of its potential host countries. What would it take to move from vague concept to physical
and social reality in that country? Sustained success would require twin feats: earning onthe-
ground village commitment as well as official government approval, generally from the
tourism ministry. How should these twin processes be undertaken and related to one
another?

At a regional level, should negotiations be opened in many countries simultaneously,
or with the choice, in which country would be most promising for initial focus? Once there,
who should be consulted, on what basis, seeking what specific commitments, over what time
period? What moves should be made to prepare the ground and deal with inevitable
challenges or setbacks?

To be a bit more specific, what would be the elements of the best approach in a
country like Syria, ruled autocratically and with suspicious security forces monitoring
Syrians and, especially, outsiders with possibly sinister intentions (like opening up a path that
might be walked by Zionists or that could lead to a surreptitious link to Israel)? If Syria
became an official supporter, would that specially help negotiations in other Arab countries
of the Path? By contrast, at official and unofficial levels, the Israelis initially seemed to be
keen on quickly developing the Path in Israel and had deeply knowledgeable experts
committed to the concept, especially Avner Goren, one of the countries’ most experienced
archaeologists. Should the emphasis, then, be on harvesting the “low-hanging Israeli fruit?”
Would that choice make it harder or easier to proceed with other countries? How about
Turkey? Jordan? Palestine?

Such questions had engaged the board and staff as they began to take action in the
region. And, of course, there were longer-run issues. Geopolitics had dictated at least quasiautonomous
in-country entities, at least for the present. However, should these in-country
organizations be structured to enable a more or less regional, integrated whole? In reading
the following sections detailing with the very different country-by-country processes, keep in
mind the potential relationships among the individual country efforts to realizing the overall
conception.

a. Negotiating and Developing the Path in Turkey. The first section of the Abraham
Path to be officially launched was in Turkey. Turkey is a secular democratic republic located
in the southwestern corner of Europe. It was established after the fall of the Ottoman Empire
in the aftermath of World War I. Its culture and traditions are a unique blend of East and
West, with the Bosporus Strait demarcating its European and Asian parts. Turkey has
become increasingly aligned with the West, although it retains close cultural, political, and
economic ties with the East. Turkey itself is in an internal struggle for its identity -- between
the secular governing principles Kemal Ataturk, the father of the nation, espoused, and a
more religious Muslim populace that is challenging the nature of the republic. This
secular/religious issue is at the heart of many issues in present day Turkish society and would
play an important role in the introduction of the Abraham Path to the country.

In December 2004, Bruce Allyn (Ury’s old Harvard colleague from their earlier joint
work in the Soviet Union), Emran Akhtar (a friend of Ury’s from Pakistan), and William Ury
made an early visit to Urfa and Harran to consult and explore the possibility of reviving the
ancient route of Abraham. (Allyn and Ury continued across the border into Syria where
together with Elias Amidon, they explored the possibility with Syrian experts from across the
civil society spectrum._

How to frame their intentions posed a challenge. Of course, much of the original
impetus for the Abraham Path Initiative had emerged from the concerned parties desire to
foster a just peace during a time of war and heightened international conflict. Since many in
the Middle East were wary of new social interventions, would tourism and economic
development offer a better point of entry and better suit the needs of those in the region?
These questions came to life for Ury and his colleagues as they moved forward.

During this December 2004 trip, Ury and his friends decided to organize a small
meeting of interested parties in Urfa and Harran in the fall of 2005 in order to initiate the
process of reviving the ancient route. In addition to discussing the practical matters of
organization, the friends of the Path planned to take a symbolic short walk from the ancient
arch in Harran, from which Abraham is believed to have set forth on his journey. Out of
respect to the Islamic tradition, Emran Akhtar proposed that this initiating meeting and
ceremony take place at the time of Quranic Night of Power, one of the most auspicious
moments in the Islamic calendar. Akhtar hoped the event would set the right tone for the reawakening
of this ancient path.

The meeting was held in Urfa and Harran in October 2005 and involved about fifteen
to twenty people from Turkey, Syria, the United States, and Brazil. While the meeting was
very productive and the walk and prayer were deeply moving, one small incident that took
place underscored the sensitivities. After one dinner hosted in a local person’s home in the
small village, some members of the group began an invocation of gratitude and honor to
Ibrahim in Arabic. The owner of the home, who happened to be the mayor of Harran’s
brother, grew alarmed because he did not understand the ritual and was afraid he might be
held responsible for the strange behavior of foreigners. Arzu Yilmaz, a Turkish Ph.D.
candidate at Ankara University from Ankara who first met Ury through her university mentor
during one of his first visits to Turkey provided crucial reassurance to the mayor’s brother by
explaining the intention behind the event. It was an indication that smoothing the path to
mutual understanding, not only between different cultures, but between city and country,
might take some work.

In November 2006, Ury returned with the first study tour consisting a delegation of
some 25 people from 10 different countries, to retrace the footsteps of Abraham from Urfa
and Harran to Hebron, from Abraham’s remembered birth cave to his death cave, from
‘womb to tomb’ as Ury put it. In nearby Urfa, Ury and his colleagues met with the Mayor of
Harran and learned that a torrential flood had just occurred, leaving several hundred people
without drinking water and significantly affecting his community. When the traveling group
asked if and how they could help, the Mayor indicated that drinking water would be most
welcome. Ury decided on the spot to help, using private funds to purchase a truckload of
bottled water: “how could we not, being there as we were at that moment. There was no quid
pro quo expected or anything like that. It just seemed like the right thing to do since the very
place we had come to honor was in dire need at that moment.” Because of flooding in the
region, the Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey came to Urfa to view the damage. Upon
learning about the consultations and Harvard’s involvement, he came to the meeting and
endorsed it with a quote that opened the door to further conversation (“We’re interested to
learn more.”).

At the study tour meeting in Urfa, further issues – one in particular -- emerged that
would cause the project significant challenges. In preparation for the meeting, some of the
Initiative’s early partners in Istanbul, via Amidon’s previous relationships, suggested that the
Armenian Patriarch, a Turkish citizen resident in Istanbul who enjoyed good relations with
the Turkish state, should be invited. After all, the Abraham Path was about inclusion and
healing of old wounds. Unfortunately, the presence of the Patriarch in Sanliurfa caused some
significant concern among many citizens as to the true nature and intention of the project.
Relations between Turks and Armenians in Sanliurfa were still sensitive and not nearly as
well-developed and positive as those in Istanbul. Rumors abounded: was the secret purpose
of the API here to work on Turkish-Armenian relations? The study tour left an uneasy city
with many unanswered questions and significant concerns.

The in-country coordinator for Turkey, Arzu Yilmaz, commented how occasions like
these became important learning moments for Abraham Path Initiative. She noted, for
example, that in Istanbul the Armenian Patriarch’s presence might have been more readily
accepted, but not in smaller more traditional communities where there had once been a
significant Armenian community (and where she felt that the presence of Armenian clergy on
the street might be seen as a signal Armenians intend to pursue reparations). “One of the
challenges is to realize the boundaries are not just between countries, between the West and
the Middle East, but within countries, often along the lines of modernization.”

Yilmaz helped the API staff to appreciate that in the Middle East when a project is
described as “international,” it is often understood to mean it is American: “You are
undertaking an American project in the Middle East while the United States is at war with
Iraq.” She also said, “it might have been normal for the Abraham Path to get in touch with
religious groups, but Turkey is a secular country, and when anyone gets in touch with a
religious group, it can be viewed as a provocation, and the government may get angry.”
Weiss candidly acknowledged the complexities of the Patriarch’s visit. It was the
host committee of Turkish colleagues that had suggested inviting the Armenian cleric, but
they were from Istanbul...not from Sanliurfa. As had become evident, those two Turkish
places had very different worldviews. API staff simply had not realized just how sensitive
the situation still was in the southeastern part of the country. Weiss commented: “The early
implementation phase was not done nearly as well as it could have been. In the end, this was
our responsibility and we made it very challenging for locals to support the project in that
phase.” Although the Abraham Path had created a host committee in Turkey prior to the
Sanliurfa event, there was no one from Sanliurfa itself on the committee. Despite these
missteps, the Initiative continued to make progress in Turkey. This experience speaks the
staying power of the project: “We’ve endured some challenging blows due to our
mistakes and yet the project is still standing.”

Later, Ury, Weiss, and Yilmaz realized they needed to engage the community in
Sanliurfa quickly. Yilmaz suggested she go and met with the mayor and governor. She did
and carried the message back to the Abraham Path that if they wanted their project to work,
they would have to do a better job of listening to the local leaders. Weiss described the
Initiative’s collective response as: “OK we understand, tell us what we need to do. The
Mayor and Governor explained the importance of tourism to the area and suggested that
framing in these terms be used going forward because the people in Sanliurfa would
understand it. Emphasize that the tourist angle and show it to be true, they explained, and
you will gain the people’s trust and confidence.”

In May of 2007, Weiss, Yilmaz, and Daniel Adamson, Director of Path Development,
went to Sanliurfa for a key meeting with representatives of the Governor, Mayor, and civil
society representatives. At that meeting the three expressed regret for the way things had
transpired and that they were really here to listen to them and to have them take the lead with
the Initiative supporting them. Yilmaz explained that this was a key moment for the project
in Sanliurfa but certainly not the end of the concerns.

In November 2007, the Abraham Path sponsored a tourism conference and trek in
Sanliurfa and Harran, Turkey. Weiss attributes the success of this event to Yilmaz’s efforts
on behalf of the Path:

“A lot of the credit for that goes to Arzu. She gained their trust and she's a city
girl, you know, a Kurd again in a realm where there's tenuous relationships.
She was magical in terms of getting the trust of the governor and the vice
governor. Things had been fluid. One minute they were right behind us and
the next minute, they couldn't support us. In 2007 in November, we had 170
people come to the tourism conference. 100 people did the trek. We’d also
planned a concert but we cancelled because a few days before, some Turkish
soldiers were killed and the local hosts thought that it would not be a time to
celebrate and so we did not that out of respect. Part of the purpose was to try
to change the image of the project there. We got tremendous publicity. The
Ministry of Tourism paid for eight international journalists to come. There
were seven national stories written, 25 local stories, TV spots, and thanks to
our Brazilian colleagues we had a Brazilian TV company called Globo come
and air a 4 minute segment on Fantastico (the equivalent of 60 Minutes in the
United States) on Christmas Eve in Brazil which was watched by close to 40
million people. And so we got a tremendous amount of publicity. I was
surprised that we succeeded at reformulating the project. We had made so
many mistakes.”

In digesting this set of experiences, API staff were learning how to work effectively
with their partners across the political and religious spectrums. Ury believes that the
paramount issue is one of trust. The Abraham Path, he notes, as been labeled by some as an
American conspiracy, a British conspiracy, a Kurdish conspiracy, an Armenian conspiracy,
and even a Puritan conspiracy after a local journalist in Sanliurfa discovered that the Puritans
had founded Harvard University.

Prior to the Sanliurfa tourism conference, the Abraham Path Initiative had been the
subject of threats from a small group of locals who opposed the initiative. Part of this
opposition was due to the geopolitical situation at the time, which saw the United States and
Turkey at odds over the handling of the Kurdish issue in northern Iraq. Furthermore, the US
House of Representatives had just passed a non-binding resolution stating they believed that
the situation in the early twentieth century between the Armenians and Turks should indeed
be labeled a genocide. Anti-American sentiment simmered among some in the local
population. Threatening emails were sent to members of the Abraham Path Initiative staff.

In the face of continuing conflict about the Initiative presence in the area, Weiss conferred
with Ury about how they should proceed. Ury asked for Weiss’s opinion. Weiss reported
that Yilmaz told him that the governor and mayor had acknowledged that there were threats
but promised to do their best to provide security. Weiss recalled telling him: “We have to
trust our partners. We’ve sought partnerships, saying we would take the lead from them.”
And Bill said, “fair enough.” Weiss continues, “So we went and while there were some small
protests, everything went off without a hitch despite there being some tension in the air. It
was good lesson that you have to put your money where you put your mouth.”

To illustrate: On the first night in Sanliurfa, the in-country staff became worried when
an unknown young man showed up at Ury’s hotel, asking for his whereabouts. Amazingly,
the hotel front desk clerk gave the man Ury’s hotel room number. As a precaution, the staff
changed Ury’s room in the hotel. Later that night Ury returned to his room to discover a
mysterious unmarked cardboard box in his room -- only to find out that the box contained a
gift from the Governor of Sanliurfa.

b. Negotiating and Developing the Path in Syria. Framing the objective of Abraham
Path also proved critical in Syria, an Arab country that attained independence, via French
mandate in 1946. Since independence, several attempts had been made to overthrow the
government, resulting in a state that has been controlled by Emergency Law since 1962. The
country’s current president is Bashar al-Assad who succeeded his father in 2000. Syria’s
population is ninety percent Arab, mainly Sunni Muslim, although the military is under the
control al-Assad’s minority Alawite sect.

As in Turkey, as the Abraham Path Initiative was developing its vision and
establishing networks on the ground, it expected that one of its first natural constituencies
would be faith communities. This focus, again, was largely due to Elias Amidon’s
connections as a Sufi Pir who had led pilgrimages to Syria for many years. During a visit to
Syria in 2004, Amidon had expected that religious groups would welcome the Abraham Path
Initiative, which they initially did. As the idea of Abraham’s Path seemed to be gaining more
traction, however, unexpected problems arose. Amidon explained: “The dominance of
religion in the region has created a turf battle. Any engagement inevitably provokes
questions and illuminates social hierarchies. Who’s dominant? Who is recognized? Who is
in charge? We found a project like ours was a wonderful juicy bone. Everyone wanted a bit
and was upset if the other got it.” In Syria, for example, early conversations about the
Abraham Path became unwittingly entangled in a pre-existing feud between two rival Imams
who also happened to be brothers. Amidon remembered: “At first we thought we could
make nice and say to everybody “we can belong to all of you.”

However, the Imams were allied with rival factions within the Syrian parliament, which                  proceeded to take sides.

Amidon acknowledged that the Abraham Path Initiative’s effort at a balanced approach
reflected a Western, American bias that didn’t take into account the prevailing culture.
Daniel Adamson was a hiking guide working for a private company in England when
he met Elias Amidon at the Deir Mar Musa monastery in the desert some 50KM from
Damascus. Adamson, who done considerable work in the region, had developed a deep
affection for Syria. Amidon invited him to become part of the project and Adamson was
charged with exploring the possibility of opening the Path in Syria. Working out of a hotel in
Damascus, Adamson adopted what he believed would be a “low key approach” to capacitybuilding,
engaging in informal conversation with a range of local influentials about what
would be required on the ground to build support for the Abraham Path.

Adamson’s low key and seemingly innocent, exploratory conversations with Syrian
colleagues nonetheless attracted the attention of the Syrian authorities, who expressed
concern about his efforts and intentions. Suspicion was such that in 2005, Adamson arrived
in Damascus and was denied re-entry into the country. He received clearance to re-enter
Syria in November 2006 to participate in the Abraham Initiative’s first study tour and by
2008 was given visas once again.6 He believes that this is an indication of very conscious
API efforts at trust building and an outcome of the affirmative diplomacy that has transpired
since those early incidents.

In Syria, the Abraham Path Initiative has ended up with a model that reflects the
realities of the political milieu. As in other partner countries, the Abraham Path initiative
functions as a catalyst and convener, raising money and brining in staff at the invitation of
local hosts to open path segments in each country, and arrange for positive media when
travelers begin to walk. The goal of the organization is enable Path development in
countries in the region and then allow country partners to shape the Path to suit local needs.
In Syria, it has taken time for these efforts to bear fruit.

6 Diplomatic efforts by the Brazilians were significantly helpful in altering the perceptions of the project in
Syria and with the Arab League.

Weiss notes that after Adamson’s experience in Syria, it became apparent to a number
of people in the Abraham Path Initiative that, without President Assad’s approval, the project
would languish. How might this approval be gained?

For much of 2007, Weiss acknowledges that “we were stuck” until David Lesch, an
American scholar of Syrian politics, on the faculty of Trinity University in San Antonio,
Texas, interceded on their behalf. Lesch’s involvement came by an unlikely series of events.
One day in Jerusalem Weiss was talking with then-Palestinian Coordinator Stephanie
Saldana who suggested that Weiss acquire a copy of Lesch’s book The New Lion of
Damascus: Bashar al-Assad and Modern Syria. Lesch’s book was one of few Westernauthored
books about Assad available in Damascus, which Weiss realized meant that it had
received President Assad’s approval. Weiss read the book with interest and for clues on how
to break the logjam.

After finishing the book Weiss decided to call Lesch, explain the initiative, and ask
for his help. Weiss sensed that Lesch saw the value of the project. After a few calls, Weiss
asked the scholar if he would be willing to discuss the Abraham Path during his next meeting
with the Syrian president. Lesch agreed. In May 2007, Lesch spoke with President Assad
again and mentioned the project to him. Assad liked the idea and recalled previous internal
conversations about enhancing tourism in Syria and the possibility of creating a Syrian
Cultural Walking Trail. In November 2007, during another meeting between Lesch and the
president, Assad indicated that he would welcome advice from the Abraham Path Initiative
about how to create such a walking trail. Assad tasked the Ministry of Tourism to work with
the Abraham Path Initiative. In December of 2008, President Assad and former US President
Jimmy Carter unofficially inaugurated the Syrian Cultural Walking Trail by walking a short
segment together. At this point, the Syrian government has indicated their intention for the
trail to remain a stand-alone project.

The Abraham Path nonetheless considers the opening of a Syrian route an important
development. Weiss notes: “[we knew that the Syrian trail] wasn’t designed to connect with
anything anywhere else. At some point, maybe, it will connect to the Abraham Path, but that
isn’t ours to say.” “We will have done our job, says Tyler Norris, “when we are out of a job.
I hope one day my daughter can say, ‘I’m going to Syria’ and there’s a Lonely Planet guide
to the Abraham Path, and she can make her own trip.”

William Ury views gaining credibility as one of the most significant challenges in                            development work of this kind. Reflecting on the Turkish and Syrian experiences, he                              indicated that “We’ve been told that we were being too ambitious, that the project is not
safe, and that we would never be accepted by the governments in the region.
‘Are you crazy? You’re going to get tourists to come to a war zone? Even if it
is a good idea, it’s not doable. But we arranged a study tour [in November
2006)] showing it was possible because after all we did it. We have now have
letters of support from almost every government in the region. We have
validation from the United Nations [Alliance of Civilization]. It’s still such a
small innocent project, in its infancy, but it’s taken seriously enough now that
it has even been the subject of a cabinet meeting in Syria where the Syrians
discussed what their position should be on the Abraham Path.”

But trusting local partners and gaining credibility has also meant reconfiguring
relationship with other partners. Although not an interfaith initiative per se, the Abraham
Path began with the intention of engaging faith communities as part of their approach. After
sponsoring programs in Turkey and Syria, it became clear that the Abraham Path could gain
far greater traction by focusing its efforts on cross-cultural exchange, tourism, and economic
development – the aspects of the project the people in the region desired. Weiss believes that
governments in the region are eager for tourism. The Abraham Path’s potential to deliver
travelers to their countries is a major factor behind their support for the initiative.

c. Negotiating and Developing the Path in Jordan. Jordan, an Arab country in
southwest Asia, shares its borders with Syria (to the north), with Iraq (to the northwest),
Palestine and Israel (to the west) and with Saudi Arabia (to the east and south). It is ruled by
a constitutional monarchy with a representative government. The Hashemite royal family
traces its ancestry to the family of the Prophet. The current, King Abdullah II, is Westerneducated.
Since assuming the throne in 1999 after the death of his father, he has consistently
has steered his country to closer relations with the West, despite pressure from within the
country by proponents of Arab nationalism.

In addition to his work in Syria, Daniel Adamson had been charged with developing
the Abraham Path in Jordan. Adamson went to Jordan after Syria because the organizers felt
Path development should pose the fewest challenges in the current climate. The thought was
that Adamson and his colleague, Mahmoud Twassi, could begin the painstaking mapping
process on the ground. The two had considerable success doing this. After a year or so of
working on the path they had conducted a landscape survey on 120 KM and detailed
mapping on 30 KM. This early work in Jordan did indeed seem promising to all involved.

Adamson and his colleagues were also working in Jordan to build partnerships at the
local level and with institutions in Jordan, universities and government departments. In
2008, the Abraham Path was able to sponsor a study tour with students from Leeds
Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom with students from Jordan’s University of
Yarmouk. The Abraham Path brought the students to the northern highlands where they
stayed two weeks in a local village hosted by local people. The visit culminated with a
festival celebrating the landscape and cultural heritage of Jordan. The festival generated a
considerable amount of positive media, including a front-page story in the Jordan Times.

This youth exchange demonstrated a kind of tourism in which the local people, rather
than being service providers, assumed the role of hosts and guides – showing the students the
landscape, welcoming them into their homes, teaching them about the traditions and stories
of the area. Designed and led by the local friends of the Abraham Path in the host villages,
this exchange demonstrated potential economic benefits of tourism, introduced the new
concept of cultural tourism based on community interaction and rural life, and contributed
towards building support for the project at local level. For the students who joined the
exchange, it was an experience of walking together, sharing, and learning about another
culture which, Adamson observed, had a profound and positive impact on their
understanding of the world and their future lives. The event also helped to establish the
importance of youth exchanges and volunteer service projects to the opening of the Abraham
Path.

The festival at the end of this exchange also attracted unwanted controversy in the
form of protests by the Muslim Brotherhood and other groups who thought that the Abraham
Path might be a political or religious project connected in some way with Israel. (These
groups also pointedly challenged the Path in political forums.) This was an obstacle which
caused real concern to the organizers of the festival, but local governmental authorities
supported the event and made sure that it passed off without any disturbance.

The real challenge raised by this incident is the fact that support for the Abraham Path
– at every level, from the governmental to the local – is vulnerable to rumor and
misunderstanding, and can be threatened by ill-informed, vocal, influential opposition to the
project. In such a highly sensitive area of the world, the conditions create a background of
fear and insecurity that make trust-building central to the success of the project. API staff and
friends have had to strive hard to counteract these suspicions at local level but, despite these
challenges, believe that they have established broad and enthusiastic support among key
community leaders, local officials, and families in the area. Interestingly, some members of
the Muslim Brotherhood changed their negative perceptions after they visited the villages,
spoke with residents, and heard their positive views about the Path.

Follow-up assessment of students from Leeds and Yarmouk Universities participating
in the student exchange activities rated their engagement extremely favorably. Student
comments included: “I’ve become more confident. In the past, I wouldn’t talk with anyone
who I thought was even a little different from me. Now I talk to all kinds of different
people;” “The experience made me a global citizen – it makes you feel the Otherness that we
have in us.”

To date the path in Jordan has yet to overcome all of these political challenges at
national level, and is still lacking a clear governmental endorsement of the project. At local
level, however, the path seems to be flourishing in the local communities.7 In the first part of
2009, some 600 people have walked the path in Jordan with 20 local families registered as
host (for home stays and meals) and earning income.

d. Negotiating and Developing the Path in Palestine. “Palestine” is the name known
since the time of Rome to land that sits between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River.
In contemporary usage, the “Palestinian Territories” refer to two discontinuous regions, the
West Bank and Gaza Strip that have been ruled by the Palestinian Authority since the Oslo
Accords of 2003 and by the Hamas or the Islamic Resistance Movement, since their surprise
victory in 2006 elections. The West Bank and Gaza Strip are home to some four million

7 To counteract negative impressions fostered by potential enemies of the Path, different actors have interceded on the Initiative’s behalf to varying degrees of success including the Brazilians and members of the other Abraham Path country teams.


In this context, gaining trust has been at the forefront of opening the Abraham Path in
Palestine. Although those working on Abraham Path Initiatives in the region must always
choose how to sequence their activities due to the sensitivities of other countries pertaining
to, for example, the role of Israel, these concerns are especially paramount in Palestine.
Stephanie Saldana, now a Senior Advisor in Palestine, described the difficult choices she
faced, when she was in-country coordinator, in trying to mobilize Path development in a way
that is true to the work at hand:

“There were issues when we had the first study tour [in 2006]. There was a
meeting in Bethlehem, with interfaith groups and very political leaders who
were members of Hamas and Fatah. It was very difficult, very tense, and I was
very confused… I didn’t think there was anyone in the room could help us to
build a path. I thought there was disconnect from the real nuts and bolts of
doing the job. So I decided to scrap everyone who was in the room and start
from scratch. Since I didn’t know anything about building a path of any kind,
I went out and looked for people who did. We put together a group of
partners involved with wildlife, tourism and cultural history. At the end of
seven or eight months, we had the Palestinian team.”

Saldana believed that the project’s success depended on cultivating the leadership of
Palestinian partners. Rather than have the outsider or foreigner (in this case, Saldana herself)
function as director, she considered herself only the project’s coordinator, obliging all
decisions would need to be made by the Palestinians themselves. This required the partners
to grapple with the tensions existing among them. Saldana described:
“For example, partners told me that people don’t want to share work because
they are very territorial, because they are worried about their own area of
expertise will be taken away. There were also tensions about including
partners from different areas because the different clans from different
villages wanted to have control and were reluctant to give up control to people
from other cities. There were also political tensions with Fatah who wanted to
include the ministry of tourism and those who didn’t want to work with the
ministry of tourism. The political context became manifest in the day-to-day
workings of the team. The team became a microcosm of the conflict itself.”
Saldana noted that her husband, Frederic Masson, now the in-country coordinator for
Palestine, is especially gifted at working with Palestinian colleagues:

“He gives all the partners the feeling of really being recognized.
Unconsciously, outsiders tend to favor the partners who most resemble us, the
ones who speak English very well, who can write good English reports, who
work at English-speaking universities. In community outreach, the people
who are likely to be effective will be the exact opposites, the people who
don’t speak English very well, who seem normal, pedestrian because that will
be very easily received and respected and understood by the local population.
He had a real gift for finding local people and going to them constantly with
decisions to make sure they fit in the culture.”

Saldana believes that Masson’s flexibility is due to the fact that he was not trained as
an academic and so is less risk averse. Because he sees failing as inevitable part of learning,
he is willing to take risks others shun. As an example, Saldana remembered that when
mapping the Path in Palestine, she gravitated to experts who advised that the route go
through cities, rather than directly from the north to the south along Abraham’s original
trajectory, because the mapping process it would be too difficult. Masson reached out to his
Palestinian colleagues, sought their counsel and followed their advice. Led by his Palestinian
colleagues, he went to the villages, met with the important people there and then asked,
“How do we get to the next village?” The result is a 50-kilometer path offering access to
communities along the way. (Their village-level approach was described in more detail
above.)

Susan Collin Marks sees this same ingenuity and creative facility distributed
throughout the Abraham Path. She observes that those associated with the Path on the
ground are extremely sensitive. Joshua Weiss thinks that time and readiness play a crucial
role in this project and that is for the teams in each place to decide the point at which a
particular action is warranted. In other words, the situation has to ripen naturally. For that to
happen, those on the ground, not outsiders, need to decide that they are ready. Weiss believes
that before people whose identities have been challenged may be brought together, it is
necessary for them to shore up their own identities so that they are strong enough to face the
other, rather than retreat to default settings based on history and stereotype. The Abraham
Path in-country teams are willing to underwrite the time necessary for this to happen and to
let a natural approach, devoid of pressure, emerge in a functional manner.

In Palestine, Stephanie Saldana has wrestled with such challenges. She has
recognized that the leadership challenge for her lay in acknowledging hard truths that
sometimes seemed at odds with the original conception of the Path:
“There was a very early moment when well-intentioned friends of the Path
Initiative came to Israel, and they were meeting with Israelis, and they told me
-- ‘Oh, you should meet this woman. She’s very interesting. She’s worked
with Palestinians in the past and she could the help the project progress.’ I
basically had to say, ‘I have friends who are Israeli in my private life, but that
has nothing to do with the Abraham Path. I will not bring Israelis into the
discussion of the Abraham Path. If the Palestinians ever want to meet with
Israelis, than they can bring that up themselves and I’m happy to coordinate
that, but I will not have a situation in which we have Israelis waiting on the
wayside in case the Palestinians are ready.’ I thought there was a tension in
which Palestinians were being made to feel that they were working on a
tourism project but the international organization was still keeping the feeling
that they were working on a peace initiative. And I had to draw a line very
clearly which is that there will not be a double standard. We’re working on
tourism initiative, and if the Palestinians should ever want to develop this into
a peace initiative, then I’m happy to help them with that.”

Tourism in Palestine is beginning to gather greater momentum after a downturn
during the 2007 war between Israel and Hezbollah. In July 2008, Palestine hosted the first
international youth walk in the newly opened 50km section of the Path through the heart of
the West Bank. Masson and his colleagues have forged relationships with key influential
partners, including those from the Ministry of Tourism. The Palestinian team has sponsored
local walks for people of all ages and had over 100 people on the path in the first half of
2009.

e. Negotiating and Developing the Path in Israel. With a number of sites related to
Abraham, including the well in Be’er Sheva, the ancient area known as Garar, and the area
around Dan, Israel has much to honor when it comes to Abraham, the person known as the
father of the Jewish people. This, coupled with the prominent and central story of Abraham
in the Torah as well as other local traditions in Israel, including the Bedouin--who also hold
the tradition that Abraham is their forefather--makes the path a potentially powerful concept
in this country.

With unofficial support from the Ministry of Tourism, the Municipality in Be’er
Sheva, and Ben Gurion University, the path in Israel is slowly coming to life. And like the
other places, the path in Israel has seen its share of challenges. The primary issue confronting
the Path comes from the geopolitical context: how quickly and prominently can the Path in
Israel develop while also keeping all the other countries on board, given the broader
atmosphere of distrust and strained relationships.

The Israeli Path’s slower pace of development is also partly due to a lack of
resources, actions on the part of the Director and his team, and disputes over how best to root
the project in a manner that reflects and honors the diverse nature of the communities in
Israel--Jews, Christians, Muslims, Bedouins, and Arabs--in their relationship to
Abraham/Ibrahim.

Early on in the project, during the study tour, the Initiative received the advice from a
former diplomat to begin work away from the Green Line. The strategic thinking behind this
approach was to build something tangible and concrete that the Initiative could have as proof
of concept before moving to the more sensitive areas of the region. So, logically, the
Initiative began in the Negev due to the importance of Abraham in Be’er Sheva --where he is
believed to have settled and dug a well--and its proximity to Hebron where he was laid to
rest.

In early 2007, the Initiative engaged renowned Israeli archeologist and guide Avner
Goren to lead the effort. Goren was made famous by is work with Bruce Feiler in the PBS
special “Walking the Bible,” which was based on Feiler’s bestselling book of the same name,
and for which he also heavily depended on Goren’s encyclopedic knowledge in Israel and
throughout the region. Goren’s resonance with the project and his understanding of the
strategy being used has been invaluable to the overall success of the project.

Since that time, Goren and a colleague have delineated a 60 km trail from Be’er
Sheva to the city of Arad. The path winds through the city of Be’er Sheva, passes the famous
archeological site of Tel Sheva and Bedouin and Falahin (Arab farmers) villages. The first
full Israeli walk is planned for the fall of 2009.

5. Some Strategic Themes and Questions

As members of the Executive Committee of the API Board approached their August
meeting, they began to think seriously about some strategic themes and questions, including:

The evolution of the enterprise over time? With the Abraham Path Initiative (API)
serving as the means to enable the realization of the Abraham Path (AP) itself, at least
two broad shifts were contemplated: 1) a shift of the center of gravity and emphasis
from the API in North America to AP-linked activities in the Middle East, and 2) a
possible shift—over time--from largely autonomous in-country organizations
developing “their” Paths to a somewhat more regionally integrated entity. Were these
the right shifts, and, if so, how best could they be managed?

The right organization and governance? There are at least three emerging
organizational entities: the international “center,” the in-country operational entities,
and the supporting organizations in countries like Brazil and the UK (“Friends of the
Abraham Path”). What should be the right structure and governance among these
entities? With an eye toward its likely evolution, should the API be thought of as the
headquarters with country branches? As a holding company with national
subsidiaries? As a franchisor whose franchisees have more or less autonomy? As a
loosely coupled collection of strategic partner entities in North America and the
Middle East? In the right organizational structure, what functions are best
centralized? Devolved? Where should decision rights for various classes of choices
best be lodged?

Parallel v. sequential emphasis? With a sharp retrenchment in funding and varying
progress in different countries, were the organization’s resources spread too thinly
over too many in-country organizations? While the long-term goal of a
comprehensive Path throughout the region was unshakeable, should scarce resources
be more focused on one country such as Palestine, Jordan, or Syria? Were actual
results on the ground—a successful “demonstration” project—the most potent
“selling” tool for to get the rest of the Path up and running?

Scope and nature of API actions to create the AP? So far, the Initiative has mainly
acted to enable the creation of the Path in countries of the region, but has not sought
to become, for example, a tour owner/operator. Are there clear lines between
activities the API will itself undertake and those it will leave to others, but perhaps
catalyze? Where and on what terms should it partner with other entities?

“Open source” v. hierarchy to create the AP? With sharply limited resources when
measured against the challenge of creating the Path, how could the Initiative stimulate
and channel the keen interest of the many people in and out of the region who may
wish to contribute to the Path’s development in different ways (e.g., from cash
contribution, to working physically on a segment, to researching a site)? How could
eager volunteers contribute without over-burdening the already stretched international
and in-country staffs? To what extent should an “open source” model—like
Wikipedia, Burning Man, or software projects such as Mozilla (Firefox)—be pursued
in which a center heavily stimulates and coordinate efforts of others?

The Path as platform? As now contemplated, the Path itself is intended to enable
travel and economic development. Is it best designed for these kinds of specific
purposes or more as a platform for as-yet-unrealized activities by groups not yet
envisioned? If so, how?

Funding? So far, the API has relied heavily on large donors, with some smaller
donors and online initiatives. It is currently focused on gaining foundation support. Is
this the right financial model, especially given the sharp economic downturn? Should
the API depend more on revenues from walkers, licensing fees, royalties from
potential strategic partners, or something else? How can potential funds from
governments and multilateral institutions be tapped, especially for supporting cultural
tourism and economic development?

“Air” v. “ground” activities? More than twenty proposals for documentaries have
been received by the API. The keen appetite of reporters, producers, documentary
film-makers, and writers to produce programs on the Initiative and the Path could
lead to a potentially disconnect: major media coverage that stimulates worldwide
demand to walk the Path, while in-country organizations struggle to make the
fledgling Path an on-the-ground reality. How can this tension best be managed?

Risk management? What are the biggest risks to the successful development of the
AP and how can they best be managed? A terrorist incident? Damaging rumors
about the nature or “secret” purposes of the enterprise? Persistent efforts to frame the
enterprise in terms that have not resonated with, or have even offended, the interests
of local sponsors and supporters (e.g., peace, interfaith dialog) versus the framing that
has mainly attracted local support (e.g., economic development, tourism, youth)?
Insensitive actions by travelers (e.g., efforts to convert others)? Having the name
(“Abraham Path”) or other intellectual property hijacked or stolen for purposes
inconsistent with the vision?

The Name? Should the enterprise continue to be known as “The Abraham Path
Initiative” and the route as “The Abraham Path?” Is “the” a bit exclusionary? Should
it be more possessive, like “Abraham’s Path?” Inclusive of Sarah and Hagar? Ought
the “Initiative” suggest more of a network, like “Friends of Abraham’s Path—Brazil”
or “Friends of Abraham’s Path—International”? Or something else?

As Executive Committee members pondered these and other strategic questions,
Harvard Conference participants would soon try to frame the most interesting topics
for research as well as opportunities for faculty and student involvement afforded by
the uncovering and revitalization of the Path.

Exhibit 1: API’s Board, Staff, InCountry
Teams, and Major Donors
Board of Directors
• William L. Ury, Chair and Co-Founder, Co-Founder of the Harvard Negotiation
Project, USA
• Susan Collin Marks, Vice Chair, Senior Vice President, Search for Commmon
Ground, South Africa
• Elias Amidon, Pir of the Sufi Way International, USA
• Paul Gray, Co-Director, Richard Gray Gallery, USA
• Lord Leslie Griffiths, Baron Griffiths of Burry Port, United Kingdom
• René Guitton, Editor, Author, and Publisher, France
• Amir Mahallati, Former UN Ambassador, Harvard Fellow, Iran
• Jamil Mahuad, Fellow Harvard Negotiation Project and Harvard Kennedy School
• Raed Saadeh, Vice-President and former President of the Palestinian Hotel
Association and CEO of Jerusalem Hotel, Palestine
• Salim Schahin, Owner, Grupo Schahin and President Arab Chamber of Commerce,
Brazil
• James K. Sebenius, Professor at Harvard Business School, Director Harvard
Negotiation Project, USA
• Deena Shakir, Harvard University valedictorian 2008, Georgetown Graduate student,
Iraq/USA

Note: bold type denotes member of the Executive Committee
Management Team:

Managing Director/Acting Executive Director – Joshua Weiss
Director of Communications – Daniel Adamson
Director of Strategic Development and Planning – Branwen Cale
International Teams
Senior Advisor – Tyler Norris
Grant Writer – Cate Malek
Communications Consultant – Anisa Mehdi
Administrative Assistant – Anisa Black Mallon
Board Development & Executive Administrator to William Ury – Essrea Cherin
Organizational Consultant – KJ McCorry
AP Brazil – Martha Leonardis and Fernando Latorre
AP United Kingdom – Dr. Max Farar

ABRAHAM PATH - FIELD TEAMS
Turkey
 Country Manager – Ms. Arzu Yilmaz
Version 3.9 Copyright 2009 by James K. Sebenius 35
Local Distinguished Representative– Dr. Mehmet Oymak
Local Coordinator – Lami Huyurli
Syria (Friends of the Syrian Cultural Walking Trail)
Senior Advisor – Dr. David Lesch
Consultant – Osama Al Nouri

SCWT Project Executive: His Excellency Dr. Saadalla Agha Al Kalaa, Syrian Minister of Tourism                                                                                       

SCWT Project “Focal Point” Mr. Bassam Barsik, Ministry of Tourism
Jordan

Country Director – Ramez Habash
National Field Coordinator – Mahmoud Al Twaissi                                                                             Women’s Outreach Coordinator – Suhair Ismail
Distinguished Advisor: Senator Akel Biltaji
Palestine
International Field Coordinator – Frederic Masson                                                                                Local Field Coordinator – Hijazi Eid
Distinguised Advisor: Raed Saadeh
Women’s Outreach Coordinator: Areej Jafari
Israel
National Director – Avner Goren
Local Coordinator – Rami Haruvi
Distinguished Advisor: Ambassador Avi Shoket
Egypt
Consultant – Heba Aziz
Saudi Arabia
Consultant - Anisa Mehdi
Lebanon (Lebanon Mountain Trail)
Liaison: Karim El-Jisr, Ecodit Liban
Major Financial Donors:
Financial contributions at many levels have come from over donors in 18 countries; major
contributors who have given in excess of $50,000 include:
Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation (Saudi Arabia)
The Feffer Family (Brazil)
German Development Fund (“DED”, Germany)
The Harvard Negotiation Project at Harvard University (US)
Mr. David Rockefeller (US)
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund (US)
Mr. Salim Schahin (Brazil)
Alan B. Slifka Foundation (US)
The Sir Halley Stewart Trust (UK)
William and Lizanne Ury (US)
Mr. John Whitehead (US)

In kind contributions have come from the public, private and not for profit sectors in each
nation of the path.

Exhibit 2: Key Aspects of API’s Organizational Evolution

Early on, the Abraham Path Initiative also partnered with the Association of Global
New Thought, an organization devoted to spiritually minded activism. Barbara Fields, the
Executive Director of that organization was a member of the early study group. Other
members included Elias Amidon and Rabia Roberts, Bruce Allyn (Ury’s old Harvard
colleague from work in the Soviet Union), Emran Akhtar (a friend of Ury’s from Pakistan),
Jim Kenney who ran an interfaith network in Chicago, Brother Wayne Teasdale, a long-time
practitioner of interfaith dialogue from De Paul University, and researchers based at Harvard.

At the start, the Abraham Path Initiative functioned as a grass-root entity, operating
more-or-less by consensus. William Ury’s leadership, however, is mentioned frequently as a
key factor in the ethic of responsiveness that is described as being “baked into” the
organization. Ury’s colleagues universally acknowledge the important role he has in holding
the vision for the organization and in mobilizing the talents of others. Arzu Yilmaz, incountry
coordinator for Turkey, notes that Ury’s capacity for deep listening is at the heart of
his ability to be effective. Elias Amidon notes that Ury’s talent includes acknowledging
everyone who is at the table, and ensuring that they are indeed heard.

Ury is deeply intuitive and improvisational in his approach to his work. He is willing
to change in mind. With that flexibility, course corrections are frequent. Colleagues have
sometimes had the experiences of implementing one of Ury’s ideas only to have to
backtrack, when they realize he had only been musing or brainstorming and hadn’t really
settled on a particular trajectory. In general, there is little criticism of Ury. People know
what he does for the project and they consider him to be an extraordinary figure. His
optimism is infectious. Colleagues describe their connection to him as coming from the heart.

Like all organizations scaling up, the Abraham Path Initiative had its share of
growing pains. One very challenging factor was the virtual working structure of the project –
with people spread literally around the globe. As a result, it was not uncommon for staff
members to exchange upwards of 60 emails a day partly because the desire to retain a model
of decision-making by consensus required everyone to be kept in the loop. Staff struggled to
accommodate to growth but also recognized this problem came with the nature and scope of
what they were doing. As Weiss explained:

“Doing this work is messy. These kinds of projects are messy. People
struggle with that. They would like it to be more orderly. But we often have
to be reactive because the circumstances around us are changing constantly
and we have little control over a lot of it. It’s messy on the inside because it is
messy on the outside. We’re constantly trying to bring a bit more order to the
chaos we are managing. But the messiness mirrors what we are doing.”

Ury’s Executive Administrator, Essrea Cherin values Ury’s patience and the way in
which he “keeps the doors of the tent open,” allowing people whose talent can’t be utilized
by the organization to realize this themselves, and “fall away naturally.” Other of Ury’s
colleagues, no less appreciative of his special talent with people, note that this same tendency
complicates organizational efficiency: “Sometimes we have just needed to let people go.
Sometimes Bill is being magnanimous and courteous and he leaves the door open. But when
Bill Ury says, ‘in the future, there will be another role for you,’ people think there’s a real
opportunity, when there is really not.” Over time this has improved and people who have
moved away still see themselves as friends of the Path.

In June of 2006, the Abraham Path Initiative was ready to make changes to its
organizational structure. Martha Gilliland was brought into the organization to do fundraising.
Weiss and Gilliland were to share the role of managing the organization so that
Ury’s time could be available for strategic direction. Gilliland had been a university president
and was well versed in development and comfortable with fundraising. Both Weiss and Ury
hoped that Gilliland might be able to manage fundraising independently. Gilliland, for her
part, tried to educate the Abraham Path Initiative about how fund-raising typically works,
including how indispensable Ury would be to the process and the long-time frame required to
cultivate high wealth individuals as donors. She admired her new colleagues although was
surprised that the organizational infrastructure was not yet in place to pursue a capital drive
of any real magnitude. Ury’s colleagues were aware that fund raising of this type held little
personal appeal for Ury, although he recognized its importance. It was Gilliland who first
approached Ury with the recommendation that the Abraham Path hire a single Executive
Director. To ensure that the organization understood her motives, Gilliland told Ury she
would not accept the position of Executive Director herself.

During the summer of 2006, as the organization prepared to grow, Weiss initiated the
steps for the Abraham Path Initiative to incorporate as a nonprofit organization.

Securing the tax exemptions that come with nonprofit status would be a crucial component
for fund-raising. Part of the logic for seeking this status was to protect the relationship with
Harvard so that the activities not traditionally associated with a university could be separated
out and handled by the NGO. That left the Global Negotiation Project to focus on more
academically appropriate work related to the Initiative such as student exchanges, research,
and conferences. In July 2007, the Abraham Path Initiative became a 501c3 entity in
Massachusetts and organized as an international non-governmental organization whose
purpose is to support the development of the Abraham Path. This shift in the organization’s
status was an important turning point. Although it remained affiliated with Harvard’s
Program on Negotiation, the Abraham Path Initiative would now develop its own footprint.

In the span of two years, the Abraham Path Initiative had grown in size and scope, from a
budget $400,000 to approximately one million dollars. Much of the early fund-raising had
been done by Ury and came from different sources including individuals and some
foundations that had already been familiar with Ury’s work. The Abraham Path Initiative
now had developed small offices in Turkey, Palestine, Jordan and Israel and hired incountry
coordinators who were in dialogue with officials and local partners about
opening up path segments in these countries.

In May 2007, Tyler Norris was appointed to be the organization’s new Executive
Director. He brought with him an extensive resume in social entrepreneurship and building
organizations, and a portfolio of considerable international experience, including helping to
initiate a national park system in Tajikistan. Ury agreed to became the Chairman of a four
person Board.

During the first months of Norris’ tenure, he traveled extensively to the Middle East
and succeeded in building bridges between field operations and the international
organization. Some in the Abraham Path Initiative admired Norris for his strong start. Others
were concerned about the pace of growth, expressing reservations about the organization’s
capacity to meet the promises Norris was making. Norris and Ury continued to work out the
boundaries of their professional roles, with Ury exploring what kind of presence he wished to
have as the Board’s chairman.

The Abraham Path Initiative looked to be at the start of a significant growth trajectory
when the global economic downturn upset plans. The organization now faced acute financial
challenges and was forced to reconfigure itself in light of the changed funding environment.
Weiss reports that the Abraham Path Initiative’s operating budget contracted by nearly
$400,000. In December of 2008, by mutual agreement, Norris transitioned to the voluntary
role of Senior Advisor.

Exhibit 3: Social Venture Opportunity Appeal
December 5, 2008
Challenge & Opportunity — Establishing Worldwide Understanding & Trust
Humanity faces no greater challenge than the widening divide between the West and the Muslim world. Fear, mistrust and violence continue to limit opportunities for shared understanding, respect and prosperity.

The solution to deep mistrust of the “other,” based on lack of knowledge and a common experience, is direct human connection.

From global leaders to local townsfolk there is a worldwide call to heal division, promote understanding and
create new opportunities for working together. With the election of a new President in the United States,
Americans have demonstrated their desire to change the way the U.S. relates to the rest of the world. King
Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has launched an inspiring interfaith initiative through the United Nations, which he
hopes will contribute to healing divisions and promoting stability. These movements are restoring connection and renewing conversation, but there is still much work to be done to turn these opportunities into real progress.

The Abraham Path Initiative stands uniquely positioned to address this global challenge in a positive, uniting and compelling way. The Abraham Path changes the conditions of the zero-sum game that has been played out through generations of humiliation, where one party’s gain is perceived as the other’s loss, and their loss as the other’s gain. By leveraging positive assets already present globally and in the Middle East, the Abraham Path is a symbolic game-changing project that offers a new framework for building trust and prosperity between peoples.

Vision — A Connected Humanity & Peaceful, Prosperous Middle East
The Abraham Path Initiative envisions an integrated, thriving, prosperous and peaceful Middle East, where
tourism is the driving engine for human connection, inspiring and sustaining widespread mutual respect and understanding. The Abraham Path Initiative imagines a world connected through the values of Abraham, where people walk side by side and step by step toward a shared future, experiencing together justice, faith, respect, friendship, and hospitality.

Abraham’s journey into the unknown and his encounters with others inspired a lasting tradition of sacred
hospitality in the Middle East which continues to this day. Abraham’s journey reveals the essence of human
connection and reminds us that we are all one human family.

Mission & Method — Opening the Abraham Path

The mission of the Abraham Path Initiative is to connect humanity by opening a cultural route of tourism across 10 countries in the Middle East, including Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Israel, Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, and, for Muslims, to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

The Abraham Path leverages three existing assets that are unique to the region, which connect the human family through a common story—Abraham, a common meeting place – the Path, and a common experience – walking side by side. Its great power lies in making intangible connections tangible. These assets are:

1. Common Story: The Abraham Path reawakens Abraham’s inspirational journey throughout the
world, inspiring both new and existing travelers to re-trace Abraham’s footsteps – crossing borders, making
friends, and discovering the shared values of justice, faith, respect, friendship and hospitality.

2. Common Meeting Place: The Abraham Path is an outstanding cultural itinerary that connects
some of the most revered world heritage sites and ancient holy places, and will join over 5,000 kilometers
of scenic walking trails through the heart of the Middle East. Beautiful rural landscapes and villages inspire
tourists to “get off the bus” and directly meet the people of the region in an experience of hospitality and
friendship. With 38 million tourists already coming to the region each year, the initiative is well positioned to channel this existing interest towards a more connected cultural experience.

3. Common Experience: The Abraham Path utilizes the region’s surge in tourism to facilitate the
travel of people along the path. Tourism growth rates in the Middle East are currently the highest in the world, averaging 7 percent a year, with Jordan and Syria growing at 15 percent. In 2006 the UNWTO reported the Middle East tourism industry brought in $148 billion dollars to the region.

Obstacles & Strategic Actions — Recognize, Demonstrate & Engage

The Abraham Path Initiative overcomes three obstacles to its creation. First, many people don’t know the
Abraham Path exists. Second, many people don’t believe the Abraham Path is possible or that it is safe.

Third, some people don’t trust the opportunity due to the ongoing cycles of fear and suspicion. The Abraham Path employs three corresponding strategic actions that overcome these obstacles and leverage the existing positive assets. These actions establish the powerful story, place and experience of the Abraham Path across the world.

• Recognize and promote global awareness of the Abraham Path and activate worldwide support
through launch events, captured by the global media in film, print, television and web-based
technology.

• Demonstrate the efficacy and powerful potential of the Abraham Path as a worldwide
destination and regional platform for economic and social development. The initiative will open
pilot segments, hold high profile walks and events, collaborate with NGOs to run community-based projects
and youth entrepreneurial programs, and partner with tour agencies, tour operators, and universities to
facilitate the flow of travelers down the path.

• Engage in diplomacy and facilitate partnerships, through international support teams, national
partnerships, and community-based planning processes, which ensure the long-term sustainability and
ownership of the path.

Benefits — Sustainable Economic & Social Development

The people living along the path not only have the opportunity to share their culture and traditions with visitors, but they receive direct economic benefit. Naima, a partner in the Palestinian village of Kufer Malek, runs an informal co-op in her community that produces beautiful traditional crafts. But with no access to a market, she is unable to sell any of her work, which lay accumulating dust in a garage. The Abraham Path brings tourists directly to her village, giving her a chance to make a living off of her art.

For visitors, the opportunity to experience the unique hospitality of the Middle Eastern people can be a
transforming experience. Kathy Hearn, a recent traveler on the Abraham Path in Syria writes, “I experienced how important it is for Americans to travel – particularly to the Middle East. The impressions that our media give us about this region are one-sided and incomplete. They never capture the hospitality and generosity that characterize the huge majority of people here.” The Abraham Path benefits organizations as well as individuals.

Tour operators partner with the initiative because they receive an attractive product that increases their customer base. The path also leverages the work of other social service and development NGOs. The Abraham Path enables them to serve communities in a more effective way, ensuring the long-term sustainability of their work.

Results & Successes — 100 Million People Reached & 3 Segments Opened

The Abraham Path Initiative has made rapid, concrete progress over the past two years. The initiative has
received key endorsements from leaders both in the Middle East and the international community, including
various Ministries of Tourism and Culture, the United Nations and Nobel Peace Prize winners. In the last 12
months, the initiative has opened three pilot segments totaling 200 kilometers, launched highly successful
international youth exchanges in Jordan and Palestine, and hosted an international tourism conference in
Turkey. Positive media attention to the path has been remarkable, reaching more than 100 million people in 20 countries around the globe.

Organization & Partners — World Class Institutions

The Abraham Path Initiative was founded at Harvard University by Dr. William Ury who is one of the world’s
leading experts in conflict resolution. API’s partners include the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations,
Harvard Negotiation Project, Engineers Without Borders International, World Heritage Alliance, Outward
Bound International, Kellogg Fellows Leadership Alliance, Bethlehem University, and Sabanci University,
among many others throughout the Middle East. The Abraham Path Initiative engages with national Ministries of Tourism, Culture and Foreign Affairs in all the countries the path travels through.

Impact — Sustaining Peace, Prosperity & Justice

The Abraham Path’s ability to connect humanity on a global scale is incomparable. The Abraham Path will
activate a global population that is both connected through and transformed by the Abrahamic values and
principles of justice, faith, respect, friendship and hospitality. As a tangible connector of the human family, the Abraham Path will be a place of shared futures and a worldwide symbol for a more just, prosperous and
peaceful world. As millions of travelers visit the Abraham Path physically and virtually, connections will be
made, friendships formed, antiquities preserved and businesses created.

YouthMovements.org will launch later this year, providing young people and youth-serving organizations with a tool to effectively share information about their projects, to promote projects and initiatives collaboratively, and to help track and celebrate the collective progress being made worldwide to tackle the world's most challenging issues.

"After a decade of serving young people making a difference in their communities through our network, we're excited to facilitate the creation of an online hub of youth-led initiatives across the globe," said Jennifer Corriero, Executive Director of TakingITGlobal. "YouthMovements.org will connect key organizations working to support young people in their efforts to improve the world, helping to amplify the support they provide and the lessons being learned through their engagement with youth."

The need to meaningfully include young people in understanding and coordinating the global response to the challenges of our time has been established through efforts like the United Nations International Year of Youth, which concludes on August 12th. As the number of young people around the globe continues to grow, issues such as unemployment impact young people in increasing proportions. One need not look any further than the discontent and strife that set the stage for the Arab Spring to see the incredibly profound need and call for change delivered through a movement fuelled by people-power. Successful change - whether it is in the realm of politics, law, the environment or the academy - is a process that relies on effective collaboration.

"YouthMovements.org is a transformational idea that will strengthen and celebrate youth leadership around the world," said Jeff Coates, Strategic Initiatives Associate for Knight Foundation. "The initiative will inform youth-friendly policies and make it easy to identify and support effective youth-led community projects in any area."

The initiative will hold a meeting on the Future of Youth Movements, in Spring 2012, to bring together stakeholders across sectors to explore how Youth Movements can be made most effective.
Young people and youth-serving organizations interested in participating in this exciting new initiative can register online to receive more information at youthmovements.org.

TakingITGlobal (www.tigweb.org) provides innovative global education programs that empower youth to understand and act on the world's greatest challenges. Often described as a "social network for social good," the award-winning tigweb.org is available in 13 languages and offers a diverse set of educational resources and action tools intended to inspire, inform and involve. Since being founded as a charity by two young Canadians in 2000, 30 million people have accessed the website to learn, grow and realize their potential.

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation (www.knightfoundation.org) supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. We believe that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged.

Checking pollution advisories could become a vital part of your pretravel planning along with checking the weather and stopping the mail if the House of Representatives votes for more than 40 pollution provisions this week.

Simply put, the House could put future vacations at risk in order to keep Big Oil and coal interests happy. It plans to vote on the Interior Environment FY 2012 Appropriations bill, H.R. 2584, which is chock full of provisions that would prolong pollution of the air, water, oceans, and lands of your favorite vacation destinations.

Any one of these special interest provisions in H.R. 2584 is enough to wreck a vacation. Taken together, they are an unprecedented assault on public health and public lands all hidden in an annual spending bill—which is why President Barack Obama promised to veto it. Here's how these provisions will impact 10 of America's favorite vacation spots, with the appropriate section of H.R. 2584 included in parentheses:

Grand Canyon National Park

 

Uranium mining

The threat: One million acres around the Grand Canyon would be opened up to uranium mining, threatening the pristine canyon and polluting the drinking water source for more than 25 million Americans. (Sec. 445)

 

With close to 5 million visitors a year, the Grand Canyon National Park offers camping, raft trips, hiking, and guided tours of one of the Seven Wonders of the Natural World. A provision in the bill would allow mining companies to develop new mining claims that could begin just a few miles away from some of the most popular locations in the canyon. If developed, these claims could severely change the area's landscape and pollute the Colorado River.

 

Photo: flickr/alanenglish

Puget Sound

Slower cleanup

The threat: The bill would cut funding for the implementation of Washington State's Puget Sound Action Agenda by 20 percent, hindering cleanup efforts. (Title II)

 

Vibrant islands, trails, and plenty of water activities make Puget Sound a dynamic vacation spot for all ages. The 2011 Updated Puget Sound Action Agenda targets five threats to the sound, including land development, shoreline alteration, runoff, wastewater, and floodplain degradation. A 20 percent funding cut would lessen the crucial protection measures outlined in the new agenda. Failure to protect the water and surrounding area could sully visitors' experience.

 

Photo: flickr/alin-moni

Big Bend National Park

Scorching heat waves

 

The threat: Record heat and severe drought are searing Big Bend and the rest of Texas this summer. Such scorchers could become much more common if carbon dioxide pollution continues unabated. The bill would block EPA from reducing heat-trapping greenhouse gases from power plants, motor vehicles, and other sources. (Secs. 429, 431, 453)

 

This summer's Texas-size heat wave will fry visitors to the park that many value as "three parks in one " because of its mountain, river, and desert environments. In addition to an unpleasantly hot visit, the increased risk of forest fires due to the heat and drought has forced Big Bend to close some of its backcountry campsites, including Blue Creek and Lower Juniper Zones.

 

Photo: flickr/heyyu

Grand Teton National Park

Bulldozers near the park

 

The threat: Drastic cuts to the Land and Water Conservation Fund would stall efforts to acquire and protect land adjacent to Grand Teton, putting the picturesque area at risk for real estate or other unsightly development. (Title I)

 

This park is just one of the dozens of special places that could be harmed by an 80 percent cut to the Land and Water Conservation Fund. LWCF uses royalties from the sale of offshore oil and gas in federal waters to provide crucial funds to repair and improve parks and other protected places. It also pays for land acquisitions that expand their size and increase their resilience. This bill eviscerates LWCF funding from $301 million last year to $62 million. No new protection efforts, such as that in Grand Teton, will occur without additional resources.

 

Photo: flickr/chuqui

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Smoggy skies

The threat: The bill threatens to obscure visibility and pollute the air in the Smokies by preventing the EPA from monitoring and improving air quality innational parks and wilderness areas under the Regional Haze Program. Another provision of H.R. 2584 halts the reduction of air pollution that travels hundreds of miles and plagues eastern parks like the Smokies and Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. ( H. Rept. 112-51, p. 72)

 

The Interior bill would make the Smokies a little smokier-and unhealthier.The Smokies are the most visited national park in the United States, and it is known for its astounding wild flowers, hundreds of miles of trails, and of course its cloud-covered peaks. Hazy pollution could obscure the mountains, contribute to acid rain, and increase respiratory ailments among visitors.

 

Photo: flickr/simpleman007

The Great Lakes

Alien species attack

The threat: H.R. 2584 would slice the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative nearly in half, hindering pollution cleanup, wetlands restoration, and efforts to fight invasive species. (Title II)

 

The Great Lakes are the largest fresh surface water system on Earth and provide many outdoor activities for all seasons. This includes ice fishing in the winter to sailing, swimming, and beach combing in the summer. Those looking for good fishing may end up with only the invasive Asian carp that threatens to overwhelm the Great Lakes' sport fishery.

 

Photo: flickr/eldan

Chesapeake Bay

More pollution

 

The threat: The Chesapeake Bay Program faces more than $4 million in funding cuts that could slow reductions of nutrient pollution, chemical contaminants, and air pollution. Fishing pressure combined with pollution, diseases, and other stressors have already damaged the populations of many signature Chesapeake fish and shellfish, and these cuts could significantly impede efforts to improve water quality and rebuild stocks. (Title II)

 

Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States, with approximately 17 million people living in the watershed. President Obama highlighted the importance of restoring the Chesapeake Bay in 2009 by issuing an executive order for the EPA to take bold action to clean up the bay. Now lawmakers are pushing for cuts that could hinder restoring water quality, managing fisheries, protecting watersheds, and habitat restoration.

 

Photo: flickr/sail_captain

California's Beaches

Surf’s Sewage’s up

The threat: A 40 percent funding cut to sewage treatment programs will leave California beaches contaminated with human waste and industrial pollutants. (Title II; Sec. 433)

 

California's signature beaches are threatened by a provision in the Interior bill that drowns nearly half the funding for sewage treatment programs. This will make it very difficult to reduce the state's storm water drainage, which washes domestic sewage and other pollutants into the Pacific Ocean and the San Francisco Bay. Local surfers already know it's not safe to go back in the water after a big rain , and these funding cutbacks pose a serious health threat to residents and vacationers on California's coast, which a Natural Resources Defense Council analysis ranked No. 22 out of 30 states for beach water quality. The study found that the 400 California beaches were under swim advisory or closed due to contamination for a total of 5,756 days in 2010.

 

Photo: AP/Laura Rauch

Minnesota Fishing

Mercury rising

The threat: Airborne mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants, industrial boilers, Portland cement factories, and other sources will continue to contaminate fish in Minnesota and elsewhere. (Sec. 462)

 

Mercury causes severe developmental disabilities, deafness, and blindness with prenatal and infant exposure. The chemical can lower fertility rates and raise chances of heart disease in adults. Mercury fish consumption advisories due to mercury exist in every state but Minnesota holds the record with 1,039 freshwater advisories this year, far surpassing any other state. In the land of 10,000 lakes, children and women who are pregnant or lactating are warned to limit their consumption of the walleye-the state fish-to once per month. The bill would prevent the EPA from issuing and enforcing standards to reduce mercury and other toxic air pollutants from coal-fired power plants and Portland cement production.

 

Photo: flickr/gomattolson

Your Backyard

Endangering our children

The threat: The sum effect of these and other pollution provisions in the House Interior and Environment Appropriations bill threaten clean air and clean water throughout the nation, exposing our children to sewage, dirty drinking water, mercury, smog, pesticides, and other pollutants. (H.R. 2584)

 

This bill would shred the environmental safety net, designed to make our water drinkable, our air breathable, and our land habitable. For instance, the EPA's proposed mercury and air toxics reductions for power plants would prevent 120,000 asthma attacks and 4,500 cases of chronic bronchitis. But the bill prevents the EPA from setting pollution reductions standards to clean our air and water. This puts our children and the places where we love spending time with them at risk.

 

Photo: istockphoto

To protect our future summers-and our health and well-being-the House of Representatives must reject this outrageous sneak attack by oil, coal, and utility companies. Otherwise we will suffer from wet, hot, dirty American summers for years to come.

We soon drove into Walla-Ji, got out to walk because of the road quality, and went a short way to Abed's Farm where we would spend the rest of the day.  It was about 11:00am, the tall trees all around gave me the first taste of what was like deciduous forest air that I have had  in some time; I've been in the desert for the past year, learning about peace and the environment in the Arava Valley.  Coming up to the 'center' of the farm, a platform with a date frond roof in the shadow of the dividing wall, the hills of the Palestinian Territories were before us, with olive trees and kale spread across the small growing area. 

Abed is a soft-spoken, well-tanned Palestinian with an easy smile.  He lives in a cave.  It has a metal roof that is technically illegal and is the size of a large walk-in closet.  His day goes something like this: wake up early, work the land, when it gets hot some friends come over to eat, drink coffee, and play drums; then, when they leave in the early evening Abed goes back to work until the light is gone.  He has infrequent electricity due to power to the region being cut regularly.

Abed told us his amazing story, about how he has been pressured to leave his cave, his land, but won't.  How he's an inspiration to the region, how he survives in a more sustainable way than most of the world.  We ate some of the best felafel and hummus that I've had in my travels, and then went to work.  Mixing our labor with the soil, I felt as though I'd become a part of the story.  Looking up from weeding my olive tree for a moment I looked around:  I saw the wall, I saw the green hills, and I took in the fresh air.  It occurred to me that I was working the fields of Palestine.  It occurred to me that I, an American Jew was working beside a Palestinian farmer in his home - trust; I was grateful, filled with a sense of place and poise, knowing that things were well for me, that life could be much worse.

But for Abed, things could be better.  We stopped at a bit after 2:00pm where drums and coffee were waiting for us.  I danced, there is photo evidence of it that promises embarrassment should I one day run for political office - but I think those that might vote for me would appreciate what was happening in this place - it was people taking a stand, rising up against fear and against limits.  Tourists are afraid of bombs and kidnappings, Abed and his friends from losing their homes, these are both real threats.

But we can do something about it: "We" as Westerners can tell of the injustice seen to all that we know.  Nobody, not Israel, not anyone, wants this man to suffer.  We can raise awareness.  This is my story and I'm telling it.  If you've gotten this far you now know it.  Go and learn, see for yourself, tell the story, and, act on it.

We bought fresh olive oil from our new friend, but were given far greater gifts.  Thanks Abed.

Why ruin a good thing, right?

But we were taken aback by the number of small personal care products manufacturers who raised concerns about the Safe Cosmetics Act, which would give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority to ensure that personal care products are free of harmful ingredients and that ingredients are fully disclosed.

Tens of thousands of Americans run small personal care product businesses—making everything from soap to hand cream. Many of the owners of these companies have experienced health issues from personal care products they used themselves, experiences that inspired them to make some of the most healthy products on the market. Quite a number of these companies had been supporters of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics—the co-producer of our movie—with many signing the Campaign’s Compact for Safe Cosmetics pledge.

In response, our partners at the Campaign launched a year-long effort to understand the concerns of these small personal care businesses. Campaign staff held in person meetings and organized phone calls. Rather than dismiss the criticism as the work of a small but vocal group or impugn their motives, the Campaign listened and brought their suggestions to the bill authors.

Then this spring, the sponsors of the Safe Cosmetics Act—Representatives Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin—went to work to come up with a version of the bill that addressed small business concerns, which centered around the proposed FDA registration process and fees, which the mom and pop shops felt would overwhelm their businesses. The result is the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011, which exempts businesses with under $2 million in sales from registering and exempts businesses with under $10 million in revenue from the fees mandated in the bill but still ensures that cosmetics ingredients are safe for consumers, workers and the environment.

It turns out the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics’ hard work is not only good politics, it’s good news for all of us.

Current law—if you can call a bill last updated in 1938 ‘current’—allows the cosmetics industry to make its own decisions about what’s safe. The FDA can’t require companies to assess cosmetics ingredients for safety and can’t require that all the chemicals in cosmetics are disclosed to consumers. It can’t even require product recalls—as we recently learned when a popular hair straightener, called the Brazilian Blowout, was found to contain dangerous levels of formaldehyde.

Still, if the small business support for this year’s bill is any indication—not to mention the almost 800,000 views on The Story of Cosmetics over the past year—the public is ready to give the beauty industry a makeover.

This week, shortly after the bill was reintroduced, the 1,600 members of the Handcrafted Soapmakers Guild released a statement supporting the bill, as did a major ingredient supplier, Wholesale Supplies Plus. Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, the top-selling natural brand of certified Fair Trade soap, issued a press release calling on Congress to pass the bill, and the WS Badger Company has penned the helpful piece, “Five Reasons Why the Safe Cosmetics Act Makes Sense for Small Businesses”. Look for more business support coming soon.

If you’re ready to help, you can urge your Member of Congress to support the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011 and share The Story of Cosmetics with your friends.

As the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics knows, we’re going to need all the help we can get!

HH King Abdullah II of Jordan
 

World Interfaith Harmony Week was initiated by H.M. King Abdullah II of Jordan, and last year the UN unanimously agreed that it should be adopted as an annual event to be observed during the first week of February. Dedicating one week a year to the work of interfaith groups highlights the efforts of those whose work often goes unnoticed, and offers a platform which encourages groups and individuals to become aware of each other and forge partnerships. World Interfaith Harmony Week has received letters of support from around the world, from those of many different faiths, and from those of none.

Sarah Brown: What have been the greatest challenges to World Interfaith Harmony Week?

Aftab Ahmed: The greatest challenge was the UN Resolution. King Abdullah II of Jordan first proposed it at the UN General assembly in September 2010, and then it was formally presented by HRH Prince Ghazi just over a month later. To have it passed without even a vote shows how much effort was spent to get all aboard. With this mandate, acceptance of the idea is much easier because of the feeling that it is not someone's personal agenda, or that it belongs to one group or another; it really belongs to everyone, and so there has been no opposition.

SB: I've heard people suggest that interfaith initiatives 'preach to the converted', and only attract interest from those who are already committed to working with all people of good will. Can you respond to that criticism?

AA: I would tend to agree with that, but it's not just a negative thing. Preaching action to the converted is just as important as preaching to the unconverted. I believe that there are many more people of goodwill in the world than those of illwill, But the actions of the latter are having a disproportionate impact on our lives, and this is partly because those of goodwill are in the camp of the 'silent majority'. We hope that this initiative will galvanise these people to speak up, and take action. Also, we need to show the forces who are against this message of peace that we can be organised and well-resourced. Finally, these initiatives do convince people who are sitting on the fence to join the cause.

SB: Have any of your initiatives been aimed at children or schools?

AA: There are three major initiatives which we have been associated with, namely: 1. the Amman Message [released by H.M. King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein in Amman, Jordan in 2005] , 2. the Common Word [a document sent by 138 Muslim scholars, clerics and intellectuals in 2007] and now 3. the World Interfaith Harmony Week . These ideas have been used in schools both nationally and internationally. We hope that this continues to grow and that the messages of all three initiatives are heard by as many people as possible.
 

SB: Have you had any responses from, or dealings with, members of the different faith communities in Israel and Palestine?

AA: There was a very positive response from President Mahmoud Abbas to King Abdullah II's letter about WIHW. Also, we have had His Beatitude THEOPHILOS III Patriarch of Jerusalem support us by giving a speech at the Baptism Site event which was hosted by HRH Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad during the WIHW. We have also had various Israeli organisations organise events in both Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
Theophilus

SB: How would you like to see WIHW develop over the coming years?

AA: Obviously we would like its message to reach as many places of worship and schools as possible. Further, we hope that people from all walks of life get involved. We hope that the 'silent majority' realise that they must speak out and act, and stop the hijacking of our societies by 'loud minority' voices. It is a platform from which people of goodwill throughout the world can host a small event and know that they are part of a huge movement. The only resource that is needed is that of goodwill, and of that there is ample supply in the world; I am sure of that. It just needs to be encouraged.

SB: Do you support the work of Children of Peace?

AA: Children of Peace is working towards the noblest aim one can have in this life - peace. I fully support their aim of promoting peace between the different communities of the Holy Land.

Those of us that survived the second deselection process piled into a chartered two-engine prop plane in Bozeman and headed for the second part of our adventure.  We were off to spend a month in Mexico and test our ability to speak Spanish.

I was part of the group that was left off across the Rio Grande from Nogales, and the other half proceeded on to El Paso.  We already had our instructions.  They had given each of us a small amount of money and told us what our destination was.  We were told to travel in smaller groups of no more than 5-6, and we had three days to make it to a United Nations Center in Patzcuaro, just south of Guadalajara.  They suggested buses as the means of transportation, but did not tell us where to catch the bus.  If we didn’t we didn’t make it in three days, we were automatically deselected.

We formed our little group, crossed the border, found the bus terminal and we were soon seated in a Cuatro Estrellas bus heading south.  We pretty much lived on that bus for the next 24-36 hours (my memory is foggy there), sleeping on the bus and eating something wherever the bus made its regular stops.  We tried to strike up conversations with the people along the way, and we were amazed at the number who had never heard of the United States and had no idea of where it was. One certainly could not make that statement in today’s world.  
 

When we reached Mazatlan on the west coast of Mexico, we had traveled about three-quarters of the total distance we needed to go, so we decided to splurge on a seaside hotel, take a swim and sleep in a real bed.  It turned out to be another one of those never-to-be-forgotten experiences for me.
 

I had been a swimmer all of my life, probably since I was five years old.  I had experience in swimming pools, small and major lakes, as well as fast flowing rivers.  Most of all I was very physically fit.  While I had never been in the ocean, it didn’t seem to be a big deal to me, and I walked right out to where the waves were beginning to break.  I tried to dive through one of those waves but I caught it at its strongest point, and it slammed me violently to the bottom, and the undertow began to drag me out to sea.  I had enough presence of mind not to fight it, and waited until its strength lessened and then headed upwards to get some air.  I did manage to get a small gulp, but there was also another one of those big waves ready for me as well, and I was again slammed violently to the bottom.  I again did not fight the undertow, and waited for my chance to surface, but I was thinking all that time, that I would not be able to withstand a third wave. God must have been watching over me, because I was able to get my head above water and then ride the waves back to shore.  I crawled up on the beach, and did not return to ocean swimming for a long time.
 

We made it to Patzcuaro in good time, as did all of our colleagues, and we settled into a United Nations training facility that was not being used at the time.  The first and the third weeks were dedicated to learning more Spanish, in the classroom, and by visiting various nearby places and using it.  During the second and fourth weeks were sent out individually to preselected villages and towns, where we lived with a local family.  The girls, and the guys whose Spanish still needed a lot of help, were given some easy assignments.  Some of the rest of us were given more challenging places to spend the week, far away from cities and towns.  I didn’t know this until I reached my destination.
 

I was ushered into a jeep and the only thing I really knew is that I was going away for a week, and I was expected back at the U.N. Center on such and such a day.  Since my Spanish was still very elementary, I didn’t understand much else.  After traveling on a paved road for about 45 minutes, we took off on a dirt road for another 20 minutes or so until we reached a small village where I was let out.  There were a handful of adobe homes with an unpaved basketball court in the middle.  I was lead to a house on the corner, a place that sold an assortment of canned foods, etc, and told that this is where I was to stay.  I was to eat in another house, and all the finances had been taken care of. And then they left without any further instructions.
 

The only other thing I knew is that I was suppose to try and blend in and do whatever my hosts were doing.  Well, the crops (corn mostly) had already been planted, they didn’t need weeding and they weren’t ready to harvest, so they were mostly drinking.  There couldn’t have been more than 100 people in the village, so it was very difficult for a gringo (which I don’t think they had ever seen before) to “blend” in.  On the first afternoon, we played a lot of basketball, and they liked that because they had never seen anyone as tall as me, and the height of the baskets was such that I could easily dunk the ball.
 

The room that they had allotted to me was bare, except for the cot where I placed my sleeping bag, and it was fine except for the bed bugs or similar that attacked me every night. I had been given some bug spray, however, which saved the day.
 

The food was very eatable, albeit unvaried.

When I went to the other house for breakfast, I was served an incredibly great cup of coffee, which was made simply by dumping ground up coffee beans into boiling water.  The rest of the breakfast included the best refried beans I have ever had in my life, a fried egg and a banana.  That menu was the same for lunch as dinner as well, all five or six days I was there.

 
I somehow made it through the days ahead, but I got physically tired trying to speak Spanish and trying to understand what they were saying.  I would retreat very often to my room and take a rest from it all and plan my exit.  Every day I would ask someone “if there was only one road out to the main highway”, as I had not been paying any attention on the way in.  The answer was always “si”.
 

When the day finally came for my return to civilization, I was off at the crack of dawn with my backpack firmly secured.  It was unfortunately raining, but in my own mind, it was a great day.  The roads were muddy and slick, but I was making pretty good time and thinking I would reach the paved road soon, that is until I ran into the first fork in the road.  As it turned out there was only one way out (true enough), but there were many different roads.  The Gods were with me again, though, and my exit was easy.  Once I got to the main road, I flagged a bus, and I was soon back to the Center.
 
 

In many ways the exit from this Mexican village symbolizes my entire adult life after college.  Upon graduation I could have taken the path that led to being a CPA with a large accounting firm in the Midwest, marriage, a family, and comfortable living and friendship with persons I had grown up with.  However, had I taken that path, I would not have learned Spanish and a spattering of other languages.  I would not have traveled the world around and met so many interesting people with different backgrounds and ways of thinking.  I would not have had the opportunity to know what real poverty is, nor would I have had the great satisfaction of lending a helping hand to those same individuals.  I thanked God for leading down the correct road out of that Mexican village, and I thank him every day for helping choose the correct path in life.

The second trip to the village was a bit more relaxed, as part of the time was spent in a larger town where everyone went to celebrate the Mexican independence day.  Nevertheless, these two experiences left me with considerable doubt about whether I really wanted to go to Ecuador.  I did not believe that I would be able to stand that type of lifestyle for two years.  I found out later that I was one of 2-3 people who were given the toughest tests to see what we were made of.  My living conditions in Ecuador, while not luxury, were not as severe.
 

There is much more to say about Patzcuaro, its beautiful lake, the handicrafts and the people, but it is not germane to the objective of my memoirs.

Most Americans tell pollsters they know little or nothing about Islam. Today, however, America’s security and the vibrancy of our democracy depend on Americans learning about Islam and understanding this religious tradition that is becoming an ever more visible part of our religious and civic life.

Conservatives such as Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin are undertaking a widespread and well-orchestrated effort to paint all Muslim Americans as a potential threat, and even aliens in their own country. They and other conservatives are circulating wildly inaccurate views of Islam. Their take on the religion is distorted and poses a threat to our national security. What’s more, the marked increase in Islamophobic rhetoric coincides with the midterm-election campaign season, raising serious questions about its political intent.

Since the fall of 2009 the Faith and Progressive Policy Initiative at CAP has been engaged in a Young Muslim American Voices Project that attempts to lessen the gap between public misperceptions of Islam and the reality of the rich and varied lives of young Muslim Americans. We’ve worked with a talented and diverse group of young Muslim-American leaders to educate the public through video, written pieces, Twitter, and online interviews.

We are expanding the project this year and increasing our efforts to push back against Islamophobia by promoting practices that have proven effective in combating extremism. We are working with young Muslim leaders in specific policy areas such as immigration, the environment, national security, arts and culture, and more. And we are connecting these leaders with CAP policy experts to learn from their work and help strengthen their efforts.

Here are some of the thoughts and views of the young Muslim-American leaders in our project excerpted from their writings and interviews. Together they comprise a list of 11 things the American public should know about Islam. Their voices are the “real Islam” in America and the best antidote to the toxins promoted by those who know little or nothing about authentic Islam and who may have a political bias.

1. “Instead of seeing an Islamization of America, I am witnessing, and indeed consider myself a part of, the Americanization of Islam.”

- Asma Uddin, attorney at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and founder and editor-in-chief of Altmuslimah.com

“Islam exhorts us to help those who are in trouble. … Humanity comes first.”

2. “Osama bin Laden's worst nightmare [is] an Islam that is pluralistic, that is tolerant, that is interfaith-oriented, and that is seeking peace.”

- Sohaib Sultan, Muslim life coordinator at Princeton University and author of The Koran for Dummies

3. “There’s always a preconceived notion that when you say ‘Muslim’ you’re thinking South Asian, Pakistani, Indian, or Arab; but in fact the majority of American Muslims are native born. … Many times you’ll ask young Muslims where they’re from and their first response is, ‘America.’”

- Safiya Ghori-Ahmad, foreign affairs officer at the State Department in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor

4. Muslims raised millions to help Haiti after the devastating earthquake. “Islam exhorts us to help those who are in trouble. … Humanity comes first.”

- Wajahat Ali, playwright, attorney, and journalist. His blog is at Goatmilk.

5. “[T]rue piety” for Muslims is not only right ritual, but also “belief in a set of foundational articles of faith and good works.”

- Rami Nashashibi, executive director of the Inner-City Muslim Action Network, reflecting on a passage from the Qur'an, Sura 2:177, for Ramadan

“Islam is a faith, something that is internal. … So how can you identify who a Muslim is unless you know that person?”

6. “I want to represent what the hijab [headscarf] really is about—that a woman should be taken for her mind and intellect, for her contributions to the world rather than just for her body. The symbolism of the hijab as a tool of modesty, a tool of equality, and empowerment was very powerful and led to my decision.”

- Edina Lekovic, director of policy and programming for the Muslim Public Affairs Council

7. “Muslim identity is not monolithic. I use the phrase ‘putting a face to it’ because that is what we need to do. Islam is a faith, something that is internal—a relationship, a mindset, a worldview. So how can you identify who a Muslim is unless you know that person?”

- Hazami Barmada, founder and president of the American Muslim Interactive Network, or AMIN, and social entrepreneur

8. Muslim Americans “worry that fear and divisive rhetoric will be used to undermine the mutual trust and cooperation that has been painstakingly built over the past two years between American Muslims and law enforcement agencies.”

- Wajahat Ali

9. “The idea of justice is central to Islam and while we may not hear about them in the news, many Muslims are proactively living out that core value through their work as environmentalists, community organizers, and public advocates. Muslim Americans are just as invested in our country as every other American.”

- Zeba Khan, writer and new media consultant for nonprofits

“Muslim Americans are just as invested in our country as every other American.”

10. “Muslims see plants and animals much like other faith traditions, especially indigenous traditions, as being fellow worshipers or seekers. They are in this constant state of remembrance, so that we can go back to nature to re-inspire us—to be whole again. Those are all Koranic concepts around faith and the environment.”

- Mohamad A. Chakaki, doctoral student in the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at MIT and senior fellow with the Environmental Leadership Program

11. “I have been grateful for being an American because to me that has always meant an enshrined freedom to worship, to assemble, to be a Christian, a Jew, or Muslim, without calling into question one’s citizenship.”

- Faisal Ghori, founder of MUPPIES and principal at Middle East Ventures

Young Muslim Americans, in their own voices, are telling their fellow citizens that there is a distinctly American Islam emerging—particularly from their generation—that is tolerant, creative, questioning, green, interfaith oriented, concerned about keeping our country safe from violent extremists, and supportive of women. Indeed, what you need to know about Islam from these young people is that mutual trust and cooperation among Americans of all faiths is our greatest security in the world today.

Our nation’s innovation and competitive drive in the 20th century powered the U.S. economy to global leadership, helped win two World Wars and one Cold War, created unprecedented and broad-based economic prosperity, and established the technology that enabled the conquest of the moon and today’s Information Age. Today, this same engine of innovation is in serious jeopardy as we look across the competitive landscape of the 21st century.

Though the U.S. economy is slowly recovering from the Great Recession of 2007-2009, more than 23 million Americans remain unemployed or underemployed. Creating new job opportunities remains a top-tier economic challenge, particularly in manufacturing, where job skills are higher, the pay is better, and export opportunities are the greatest. The United States remains the world’s largest manufacturing nation, a position it has held for more than a century, but China is poised to claim this global leadership by 2016, and by some estimates, China has already surpassed the United States.

For decades, the manufacturing sector supplied millions of Americans with stable, well-paying jobs and sustained our country’s ability to innovate and stay ahead of the curve in advanced technology. Yet in recent years, U.S. companies found many reasons to shift manufacturing overseas, among them lower labor costs and environmental standards. But increasingly they are also drawn to foreign government subsidies to attract investment, and the need to be closer to rapidly growing foreign markets. This not only costs jobs but also, as the Harvard Business Review points out, it costs our economy’s ability to make high-tech products and invent new ones. Offshoring manufacturing is undermining America’s global economic position and competitive edge.

Compounding this threat to American competitiveness in coming years are the increasing risks that U.S. businesses will face from global warming. The consequences of global climate change will deliver real, and potentially very large, economic costs. For instance, the uncertainty around how climate change will affect precipitation patterns, which is just one piece of the overall climate puzzle, could cost the U.S. economy as much as $2 trillion and up to 13 million jobs over the next 40 years, according to a recent study conducted by Sandia National Laboratories.

America also suffers from a confused planning environment for infrastructure and economic decision making, which makes it difficult to move forward on any comprehensive plan to bolster sustainable economic growth. Congressional inaction on climate legislation and policies to deploy clean and efficient energy technologies here at home are creating deep uncertainties for business planning.

This partisan standoff inhibits investment in U.S. jobs and industries in the clean-technology arena and across our industrial landscape as companies wait to discover whether the federal government will get serious about clean energy policy. Our competitors in other nations, already retooling their industries and infrastructure for a clean energy future, do not face such uncertainty. Without clear long-term climate and clean energy policies, and a supporting low-carbon economic growth strategy, capital investment in the United States will continue to lag, new hiring and business expansion will remain stalled, and U.S. global market share will erode.

Setting priorities for a uniquely American low-carbon economic growth strategy

Jobs, innovation, and economic security

As President Barack Obama put it in his 2011 State of the Union address, “this is our generation’s Sputnik moment.” Faced with high unemployment, increasing global competition, and mounting climate-related risks, the United States has an immediate opportunity to forge progressive economic growth strategies that turn the threats posed by climate change and our rivals’ increased manufacturing and innovation prowess into opportunities.

Decades ago the challenge of the space race launched an earlier generation of public-private partnerships, advanced research and development, and increased domestic manufacturing. Likewise, today, well-crafted policies that reinvest in American jobs in response to the rising threat of climate change can help restore our industrial leadership. These policies should take shape through a cohesive set of federal, state, and local low-carbon economic growth strategies. A strong low-carbon economic growth strategy should focus on developing, producing, and commercializing low-carbon technologies in order to:

• Accelerate near-term job creation and economic growth
• Promote innovation-led economic competitiveness and export expansion
• Increase energy and economic security while reducing climate vulnerability

Success at delivering on these three clear national priorities depends on developing domestic markets for low-carbon products and services, with domestic demand strong enough to keep U.S. clean energy manufacturers at home. It is clear that industries and innovation develop in countries and regions with the strongest markets and demand. General Electric Company Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt summed it up best when he observed that countries with policies to create strong demand for renewable energy products will pull companies into their borders because “innovation and supply chain strength develop where the demand is the greatest.”

Indeed, U.S. company First Solar Inc., a pioneer of building solar power plants in the States, recently signed a deal to build the world’s largest solar plant in China. As First Solar CEO Mike Ahearn said, “this major commitment to solar power is a direct result of the progressive energy policies being adopted in China to create a sustainable, long-term market for solar and a low carbon future for China.” The project will be financed by CLEAN contracts, or feed-in tariffs, that will guarantee pricing and long-term demand for electricity produced. Such long-term and high-volume demand for solar does not yet exist in the United States. Beyond solar, the U.S. clean-technologies market is similarly not yet robust enough to keep many of the most innovative clean-technology companies at home.

In the face of confused policy and unclear signals on sustained domestic market demand for clean energy technology, America is beginning to fall behind our competitors. As a result, we are now importing key technologies and products from other countries—even some that were invented here. The Economic Policy Institute finds that our trade deficit in clean energy products with China alone now totals more than $1 billion a year. We import 10 clean energy technology products from China for every one product we export to China, a deficit that cost at least 8,000 jobs in the United States in 2010 alone.

Low-carbon economic growth strategies that focus on building domestic markets by encouraging American consumer demand could reverse this trend, bringing clean-technology manufacturing back to our nation to balance the sectoral trade deficit with China, bring back jobs, and create new ones as well—in the end bolstering our national economic competitiveness.

Given the broadly shared concern over economic recovery in the United States, this is an ideal moment to implement policies and programs that match the uniquely American economic and innovative strengths of our nation. Strategies that clearly identify opportunities for low-carbon economic expansion nationally, regionally, and locally will build domestic markets, reduce risk for investors, and increase competitive positioning through innovation.

What’s more, the economic fundamentals supporting the expansion of low-carbon industries in our country are sufficiently strong to motivate significant actions within the current American political context. Supporting these industries will improve the efficiency, resilience, and diversity of the U.S. economy, even as climate policy debates proceed at their own pace.

Embracing a uniquely American economic growth strategy for clean energy-driven industrial renewal

America is unique among industrialized nations for our disdain for the term “industrial policy.” For many Americans, the very term conjures up an image of managed and centrally planned economies that cuts against the grain of our political and economic culture. In fact, the term is mostly used in other countries as shorthand for a comprehensive competitiveness and jobs strategy rather than as an indication of central planning or a desire to “pick winners and losers.”

Whatever the case, American political traditions generally focus on a more bottom-up economic development, which emphasizes entrepreneurship, individual enterprise, and the role of markets in shaping economic growth. Each of these factors is in fact critical in America’s economic success story. But so is the role of government in fostering our culture of innovation and entrepreneurship. The fact is that past waves of American innovation did not emerge full-blown, independent of public-sector leadership.

Indeed, many of this country’s greatest economic achievements have rested on significant public leadership in investment, strategic planning, and infrastructure capable of supporting rapid growth. Take, for example, technologies as diverse as solar panels, fuel cells, memory foam, microwave ovens, and the crucial imaging equipment used today in digital cameras and cell phones. Each of these technologies was developed for the space program before being commercialized by the private sector to create new industries and jobs.

Modern medicine, too, would not exist as the world knows it without government support. Whether it was mastering the particle physics of magnetic resonance imaging techniques, funding the first steps that led to the creation of the cardiac pacemaker, or discovering the biological basis of diabetes, these life-saving technologies were built on the foundation of our public-private innovation infrastructure. The same story holds true for the physical infrastructure of our ports and railroads, rural electrification, communications, and highways, as well as to the growth of intellectual capital and human capital through workforce training, intellectual property laws, and the world-class research institutions that drive corporate research.

These public investments, and the policies and programs supporting them, have helped create and strengthen the “building blocks of innovation,” from education and workforce training to research and development to manufacturing to infrastructure, that are the foundations of our world-class economy. In this report we argue that these kinds of strategic planning and investment tools can be highly effective if they are applied with vigor toward the goal of creating an innovative clean energy economy. Our proposals are designed to build up these uniquely American attributes of economic growth to help our economy become more competitive within a global marketplace that includes countries that have already adopted comprehensive, far-reaching low-carbon growth strategies.

In proposing a low-carbon economic growth strategy, we are fully aware that clean energy deployment in the United States faces numerous market barriers that may not be an issue in other countries. In particular, electricity in this country is regulated within a patchwork of balkanized regional markets, which block the development of coherent national energy plans and slow deployment of new technology, placing even greater hurdles for clean energy than conventional infrastructure.

Energy policy and the mechanisms for project approval and financing in the United States are extremely fragmented across federal agencies such as the Federal Energy Regulatory Authority, state entities including public utility commissions, multistate regional planning agencies, and local jurisdictions. This creates significant barriers to the growth of U.S. clean energy markets and hurts new industries as they try to scale production.

Indeed, the presence of policies that stimulate predictable market demand is one of the greatest drivers of clean energy investments globally. Yet as the United States seeks to establish market share in emerging clean-tech industries, the absence of a coherent national plan has in itself become a barrier to growth. For our domestic clean energy sector to grow, the United States must embrace national policies and programs that account for the quirks and intricacies of our particular structure of state and regional utility regulation. Without such strategies, renewed investment in manufacturing through a focus on clean technology faces major hurdles while our existing carbon-intensive economy becomes less and less competitive.

Even in a policy environment shaped by differentiated state policies and diverging political interests, it should nonetheless be possible to develop a common framework for clean-tech expansion, grounded within deep federalist traditions of economic development, to help speed the growth of a truly national market for advanced low-carbon energy technologies. This paper explores how to develop just such distinctly American economic growth strategies to drive new investment in domestic low-carbon industries and improve our global competitiveness from the bottom up. We delve into the details in the main part of our report, but here we summarize where we are, where we need to go, and how to get there.

Building on our strengths in innovation and entrepreneurship

The U.S. economy is an “innovation-driven” economy, according to the World Economic Forum. We have moved beyond an economy where growth and opportunity are driven by basic factor inputs such as land, labor, and natural resources. Instead, since the industrial revolution, the American economy has run on the continual advancement of ever more sophisticated technologies, business practices, and institutional structures. As President Obama explains it, “in America, innovation doesn’t just change our lives. It is how we make our living.” He’s right, of course. The Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Solow estimates that technological innovation could have been responsible for as much as 80 percent or more of economic growth during the 20th century.

With this firmly in mind, any American strategies for competitiveness and growth must be innovation-driven. With our high standards of living and laws that enforce fair wages, the United States cannot compete on low wages alone—nor should we want to. Instead, we should focus on America’s strengths as an innovative high-tech leader. The United States became a global economic leader by building a diverse economy driven by a continuous innovation business model—one that values inventing, manufacturing, and continually reengineering value-added products and sophisticated technologies. Innovation is our area of expertise and it should be at the center of our low-carbon industrial strategy.

With increasing climate pressures, clean technology today is at the leading edge of innovation. Massive waves of new global investment have begun to flow toward remaking the world’s energy systems and increasing the efficiency of energy use across the real economy by engaging advanced technology and skilled labor to reduce demand for material inputs. Even in 2009, deep within the global recession, world investment in clean technology totaled $162 billion, according to the Pew Charitable Trust.

Most of these investments went toward wind and solar technologies that American companies have developed and perfected. This is exactly the context where U.S. companies are best poised to compete with global industries. For the United States to remain competitive in this rapidly changing economic climate, however, policies that foster domestic innovation in low-carbon industries will be essential. Clean technologies offer an ideal business challenge for U.S. industry to excel—one that requires creativity, experience, and innovative entrepreneurship—qualities that the United States has demonstrated for centuries.

Key to taking the lead in clean technology will be advancing a uniquely American economic growth strategy that builds on our existing regional ecosystem of economic development policies. Such a strategy should align policies that exist across different branches of government and utilize smart incentives to engage private capital markets in deploying essential low-carbon technologies and reinvigorating investment in cutting-edge infrastructure.

Building innovation networks that are greater than the sum of their parts

Organizing and aligning the many elements of low-carbon industrial strategies—innovation policy, economic and workforce development policy, environmental goals, and a range of other policies at multiple levels of governance and affecting many if not all economic sectors—into a coherent national framework is indeed challenging. There are many possible ways to tackle this effort. Our approach in this paper seeks to simplify the problem by answering two basic questions:

• What types of participants are needed for low-carbon industrial growth and transformation?
• How can policy engage these market participants to incentivize better outcomes in achieving our national goals of creating jobs, promoting long-term economic competitiveness, and reducing our economic vulnerability to climate change and foreign energy dependence?

In offering our answers to these questions, we’ve identified five types of market actors whose participation is essential for low-carbon industrial renewal:

• Policymakers and regulators
• Researchers
• Manufacturers
• Investors
• Consumers

All five of these must work together for innovation to succeed because they are all interdependent. No one of these players can innovate without the rest. The popular conception of clean energy is that we simply need more researchers studying it. But without manufacturers competing to find, market, and produce the best technologies at scale, that research will remain purely academic. Without investors and functioning capital markets to finance those manufacturers’ factories, economies of scale cannot be reached and technologies cannot make it to market. And perhaps more importantly, without consumers of clean energy goods such as homeowners, commercial building owners, construction companies, and utility companies, there is no incentive for the manufacturers or the investors to produce, market, and sell new technology.

As President Obama recently said:

When you get a group of people together, and industries together, and institutions like universities together around particular industries, then the synergies that develop from all those different facets coming together can make the whole greater than the sum of its parts.

The bottom line is that when these five groups work together by exchanging information, money, and risk, the network they form is more innovative than the sum of its parts. Together they can accomplish what none of them can do alone. As policymakers look for ways to catalyze clean energy innovation and industrial transformation, they should continue to consider how their policies will affect each type of player and choose policies that encourage the interaction—through business deals, contracts, memoranda of understanding, research agreements, and even through the simple relationship between buyer and seller of a piece of sophisticated equipment, with all the feedback, warranties, interaction, and learning that involves.

With this understanding, we’ve organized our discussion of specific policies through the lens of how to engage each of these constituencies and encourage the formation of an informal national clean energy innovation network. We lay out here principles for how policy can align the interests of each of these industrial and economic actors around shared efforts to drive low-carbon innovation in America’s economy.

Coordinating policymakers and regulators

Policymakers, regulators, and program officers in federal and state agencies play an important role in every stage of innovation and industrial development, whether by siting new transmission infrastructure, permitting a new wind farm, providing programmatic support to help finance an advanced manufacturing facility, or coordinating public R&D research funds. Policymakers, regulators, and government agencies can directly facilitate the growth of low-carbon markets and industries by aligning all efforts to build strong market demand, by influencing government procurement practices, and by offering clear frameworks for business planning within their rulemaking and legislating.

Empowering clean energy researchers

From advanced electric vehicle batteries to super-cheap solar panels to the manufacturing processes that produce them, research conducted in government, university, and corporate labs is critical to advancing innovation and the growth of low-carbon industries. Public policies provide important support for scientists and engineers as they work to create low-carbon solutions to industrial challenges, and ensure their discoveries can move quickly into the market.

Mobilizing clean energy manufacturers

Manufacturers who develop the supply chains, production processes, and marketing strategies to scale up the supply of American clean energy products, equipment, and technology play an important role in innovation and form the basis of industrial growth. Public policies play a critical role in helping America’s existing industrial base navigate the transition to a clean energy economy, supporting worker training and retooling manufacturing for low-carbon technologies.

Incentivizing clean energy investors

The task of innovating and scaling up a new technological foundation for U.S. industry based on clean energy requires harnessing flows of private capital. Clean energy and energy efficiency standards can send powerful signals to investors on the permanence of clean energy markets, while targeted financing assistance programs can help mitigate risks and unlock private capital for clean energy. These policies can leverage private capital more effectively within stalled capital markets and can improve incentives for private investment in clean energy research, commercialization, and deployment.

Engaging clean energy consumers

The consumers of clean energy products and technology provide the critical domestic market demand that makes industrial growth and innovation possible. Without consumers to purchase and use zero-emission vehicles, building owners and construction firms to use energy-efficient building materials, or utilities to invest in and operate renewable-energy-generating technologies, there is no revenue stream for the manufacturers of those goods, no reason for investors to provide capital, and no market application for clean energy research. Consumer-driven demand—from families to businesses to utility companies—is what makes clean energy innovation and industrial transformation possible.

Public policies can increase demand for clean energy goods and services by establishing meaningful incentives for utilities, building owners, and consumers to invest in clean energy technologies instead of fossil-fuel energy generation. Indeed, policy is essential to dramatically increase the predictability, transparency, and long-term certainty of clean energy markets to reach economies of scale and bring down cost.

Aligning the interests of policymakers, researchers, manufacturers, investors, and consumers

Low-carbon industrial growth strategies in the United States must rely in equal measure on existing federal and state authorities alongside strategically supported bottom-up private-sector innovation to respond to emerging market needs.

Government support is necessary to correct current market failures and already existing incentives that discourage low-carbon development. For instance, the market fails to account for the cost of fossil-fuel pollution and national security threats associated with reliance on high-carbon imported oil, not to mention human health problems and damage to land- and water-based ecosystems. The National Resources Defense Council estimates that the externalized costs associated with fossil-fuel-induced climate change will total $271 billion annually by 2025 and $1.87 trillion annually by 2100, without even taking into account the additional environmental and human health costs.

These externalized, uncounted costs make fossil fuels seem cheap, giving them a competitive advantage over low-carbon energy sources. On top of the externalized costs of fossil fuels, dirty energy has an additional advantage over clean energy—enormous subsidies. The Environmental Law Institute has found that in the United States from 2002 to 2008 through government spending and tax breaks alone, fossil fuels received $70.2 billion, more than twice the $29 billion dedicated to renewable sources of energy. These market failures and reversed incentives are currently preventing all components of the five market actors identified in this report from participating in low-carbon development.

The federal government is indispensable in correcting these failures and creating the incentives for collaboration between inventors, investors, manufacturers, consumers, and state and federal energy regulators. By coordinating these interests, the goal of a clean energy economy is within reach as an engine of renewed prosperity and industrial growth.

In the pages that follow, we lay out the policies to advance the core needs of each of these key constituencies. First is a call to examine the loosely sewn patchwork of policies influencing American industry and assess American competitiveness across the board. With a strong understanding of policy strengths and weaknesses, the federal government can work to align efforts of various policymakers and programs across federal, state, and local agencies to more effectively support low-carbon innovation in all industries.

Next are policies to ensure our nation’s robust research system is amply supported with public and private money, geared toward solving our energy and climate challenges. We then present policies designed to engage with current and future manufacturers who will create jobs making, marketing, and selling the clean energy technologies that will redefine American industry. Then we discuss ways to incentivize investors to do the work of financing the commercialization and deployment of clean energy technologies.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we recognize that markets consist of both supply and demand, and thus present policies to engage with the consumers and end-users of clean energy technology. This constituency represents building owners, power producers, utility companies, automotive fleet managers, and even the car owners, homeowners, and families who must make choices about how to power their lives. Creating incentives for individual consumers and private companies large and small to buy low-carbon goods and services, and efficient, clean energy products is key to accelerating investment in these strategic industries. Public policy will play an important role at every step in this process.

We conclude with a discussion of the human, physical, and institutional infrastructure that is needed to nourish the roots of low-carbon innovation across all industries. This final section offers overarching policies to ensure our society as a whole continues to educate and support the best and brightest researchers, manufacturers, investors, consumers, and policymakers, who together will build the clean energy industries of the future. All five actors will benefit from a workforce well-educated in science, technology, math, and engineering. They will also profit from the availability of essential transportation, electrical, and other industrial infrastructure upon which business and commerce depend.

Our success as a nation and as a planet in transitioning to a prosperous low-carbon future depends on our ability to engage with all market participants through broad-based industrial strategies that maximize the use of existing building blocks in policy and institutions. Well-crafted low-carbon industrial strategies are one key to ensuring our economy is equipped with the right infrastructure and information to support innovation and sustained growth during a time of rising resource constraints and economic pressures.

Given the tremendous pressure on U.S. budgets, these low-carbon industrial strategies must be carefully structured to deliver benefits through existing institutions and market mechanisms by retooling our standing systems of economic development. This infrastructure has served previous generations effectively but is now in need of serious retooling and reinvestment. Our approach establishes the priorities we must address, the principles upon which to proceed, and outlines the unique challenges posed by the U.S. policy context to create jobs and promote a globally competitive economy in a changing environment.

We also made house-to-house visits with the village health promoter that HOTC trained in 2010. The health promoter is a young woman named Mircia, and she has been making monthly house-to-house visits to work with the mothers since December of 2010. She also works with the children on weekly maintenance of the bathroom structure at the schoolhouse. Mircia is soaring to new heights in her function as a health promoter in the village. We observed the tap stand at each home clean and hygienic, and the cleanliness in and around the circumference of the home is much improved. We also observed that daily hygiene practices among the children continue to transform, and basic hand washing is becoming second nature to them.

The experimental gardens that we planted in three village homes in November of 2010 continue to flourish. Families are having success growing scallions, cabbage, and tomatoes (to name a few) to supplement their yucca –fruit – fish and wild game based diet.

The water and sanitation committee received advanced technical training from our project supervisor in systems maintenance, repair and water quality and safety. One of the committee members shared with our supervisor how he made a shower connection at his home by what he learned from his training with HOTC.

HOTC also met with the teachers and medical personnel to discuss the coordination of weekly health and hygiene classes for the children at the school. The teachers and medical personnel agreed that it was imperative to continue with the weekly classes that were set forth in partnership with HOTC in 2010. They remain committed to developing "good daily hygiene practices" among the children.

Our last order of business on the visit was a community meeting. HOTC's Project Supervisor congratulated all the villagers on their progress. He presented the results of the water analysis taken at each home to its family members, so that they could see for themselves that the water was SAFE. The community leaders talked with the participants about establishing a monthly usage fee for the water and sanitation system from each family. They could not reach a final decision that day, however they agreed to address the topic on the next supervision visit with HOTC.

HOTC is extremely pleased with the accomplishments of the people and their willingness to continue to work towards long term health advances for themselves and their children. However, we have more to accomplish in Tayakome and our focus is all about “Project Sustainability.” In July of 2011 our team will make a supervision visit to the village to do the following: 1. Ongoing technical training for the villagers and the water and sanitation committee in system maintenance, repair and water quality and safety. 2.

Enter into phase two of our talks with community leaders to establish a water and sanitation fund that charges a monthly fee to each family. This fee will be used for the community to maintain the infrastructure. 3. Ongoing health and hygiene education for mothers and children in partnership with the village school teachers, health promoter, and medical personnel in residence at the health post.

***This educational portion of our programming is essential in order for long term health advances to be achieved by the people.

*** OUR GRATITUDE: HOTC would like to thank each one of you for the difference you make in the lives of the people we all serve through GlobalGiving. Together we are doing what has never been accomplished before, as we bring clean water, a dignified toilet and health education to the people in the remote Manu Rain Forest of Peru. We believe as each community reaches its goal, our work will branch out to serve as a multicultural global model to promote the preservation of tropical forest ecosystems and the health and cultural integrity of indigenous peoples in the Amazon.

Thank you again for your ongoing support of the project. Please share our work with other friends and colleagues so that we can continue to provide basic human services to these beautiful Matsigenka people.

The resolution starts with the premise that schools have to end the practice of making key personnel decisions based on seniority, or how long someone has been on the job, and start making decisions based on a teacher’s work with students.

Specifically, the mayors called for an end to the practice of conducting teacher layoffs based on last in, first out (LIFO) rules. Noting that teacher effectiveness is critical, the mayors said seniority should only be a determining factor in layoff decisions when two teachers have been evaluated as equally effective. The timing of the resolution is critical. Many school districts are facing budget shortfalls and are grappling with difficult staffing decisions now.

The resolution also calls for meaningful evaluation systems for teachers and principals. That might sound like common sense or management 101, but too often educators go without adequate evaluations and the feedback that comes with them. The mayors' proposal states that multiple measures ought to be used to judge success, because you generally shouldn't base these employment decisions on only one factor. However, the resolution makes the important point that evaluations have to be linked to critical data reflecting how students are progressing academically.

For more on the resolution or the U.S. Conference of Mayors annual meeting in Baltimore, click here: usmayors.org.

You don't have to be a school superintendent or member of Congress to help the six million students most at risk of failing to graduate from high school. Drawing from the work of leading researchers and educators from around the country, the Alliance for Excellent Education has identified ten key elements that every high school should have in place to ensure that all its students are successful.

The list includes challenging classes, a safe learning environment, and skilled teachers. Whether you are a parent seeking a stronger education for your child, a business owner in need of a well-trained workforce, or a concerned citizen joining with others to improve schools, this checklist can help you identify the strengths and weaknesses of your community schools and guide you in determining the actions you can take to help improve them.

10 Elements Every High School Should Have in Place

Challenging Classes

All students must learn the advanced skills that are the key to success in college and in the 21st century workplace. Every student should take demanding classes in the core subjects of English, history, science, and math; and no student should ever get a watered-down course of study. Further, students should also be given the opportunity to earn industry certification or some college credit while in high school through programs such as Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, or those offered through a local college or university.

Personal Attention for All Students

Every high school should be small enough—or divided into small enough units—to allow teachers and staff to get to know all students as individuals and to respond to their specific learning needs. By the ninth grade, student should have a detailed plan for graduation—identifying the specific courses they must take, opportunities they should pursue, and extra help they need in order to succeed in high school and beyond. And every student should receive frequent and ongoing support from at least one academic advisor throughout their high school years.

Extra Help for Those Who Need It

Every high school should have a system in place to identify kids as soon as they start to struggle in reading, math, or any core subject, and every school should reserve time and resources for the immediate help those kids need to stay on course.

Bringing the Real World to the Classroom

High schools should help students make the connection between book learning and the skills needed to be successful in life. Students must develop the work habits, character, and sense of personal responsibility needed to succeed in school, at work, and in society. As part of their class work, students should have opportunities to design independent projects, conduct experiments, solve open-ended problems, and be involved in activities that connect school to the rest of the world.

Family and Community Involvement

Students thrive when their high schools encourage positive learning relationships among families, educators, faith groups, civic organizations, businesses and other members of the community. Parents should have many chances to visit the school building, talk with teachers and staff, voice concerns, share ideas, serve as volunteers, and suggest ways to improve the school. And school leaders should reach out to their neighbors by attending community events and forming partnerships with local organizations in order to increase effectiveness and tap additional resources.

A Safe Learning Environment

Every high school must guarantee the safety of its students, teachers, staff, and visitors, and every school should be kept free of drugs, weapons, and gangs. School leaders should build a climate of trust and respect, they should encourage peaceful solutions to conflict, and they should respond directly to any bullying, verbal abuse, or other threats.

Skilled Teachers

Every high school teacher should know well the subjects they teach and should know well how to teach all kinds of students, from all kinds of backgrounds. New teachers should get the guidance and mentoring they need to be successful in the classroom. All teachers should have enough time to plan lessons, carefully review student performance, and continuously improve their teaching.

Strong Leaders

Every high school needs a skillful principal, one who supervises personnel effectively, manages finances capably, and keeps the organization running smoothly. Every school also needs a strong educational leader (this could be the principal, a senior teacher, or another staff member), to define a vision of academic excellence, work with teachers to develop an engaging and coherent curriculum, and serve as a mentor and role model for teachers and students alike.

Necessary Resources

Every high school should provide all students and teachers with the books, computers, laboratory equipment, technology, and other resources they need to be successful. And every school should maintain safe, clean facilities that are fit for teaching and learning.

User-Friendly Information

All community members should have easy access to information that gives a clear, straightforward picture of how well the school is serving all of its students, including those from every income level, ethnic group, and racial background. Some of the key pieces of information include a school’s graduation requirements, graduation and dropout rates, and student performance on state tests.

Download the Ten Elements of a Successful High School brochure

En Español

The momentous upheavals in large parts of the Middle East and North Africa demonstrate, as they have in the past in South Africa and Eastern Europe, that voluntary associations of citizens inhabiting the middle ground between the individual and the state play a critical role in defying the abuse of power and promoting political change. Throughout the region—and most notably in Tunisia and Egypt—a vast array of social groups prompted by a new generation of educated men and women fed up with corrupt and arbitrary rule have joined forces to rid themselves of inefficient and insensitive authoritarian governments.

Civil society in these countries, in the absence of formal opportunities for political participation, acted for many years as a substitute for citizen engagement at the state level. As time progressed, its component organizations have become the main vehicle for profound regime transformation.

The capacity of this democratic surge to produce durable democracies is still unclear. It relies in large measure on the pluralism and vitality of civil institutions in each country. From this perspective, the outlook for Libya, where civic groups are in their infancy, is far dimmer than in neighboring Tunisia or Egypt, where independent organizational life has recently come of age.

But in these states, a democratic outcome also depends on the ability of social leaders and opinion shapers to contribute to the construction of open regimes without being tempted themselves to take over power. Past experience shows that the preservation and enhancement of social spaces is the key to democratic longevity in the post-colonial world today as it has always been in established democracies.

That is why what is taking place within Israel in the last couple of years is so disconcerting. Social institutions built from the bottom up, so carefully nurtured by the New Israel Fund and like-minded foundations for several decades, are much more than just frameworks for advocating for the rights and advancing the well-being of specific groups — ranging from immigrants, Mizrahim, Arabs, foreign workers, lesbians and gays, to religious associations, social justice coalitions, environmental organizations and new media networks. They have enabled individuals to express their identity, formulate their world views, define their needs and articulate their concerns.

They have also provided a crucial brake on the abuse of power and a protective shield against undue governmental interference. Above all, they have helped create a pluralistic environment — one which democratizes society and thereby limits state authority.

The recent clampdown on progressive civil society in Israel in general, and on the NIF and its family of organizations in particular, seriously undermines Israel’s democratic resilience. The spate of public attacks from extremist quarters on civil and human rights organizations, coupled with the persistent attempts to narrow their steps through a series of retrogressive legislative initiatives, threatens to upset the delicate balance between state and society and cripple Israel’s democratic order from within. This pattern also severely imperils Israel’s international standing.

It is now abundantly clear that the country’s long-term security is a function of its normative compatibility with the democratic world (and especially with the United States). No concentration of military might alone can preserve its safety. Thus, civil society — however elusive a concept — is very real indeed. In both democratic and patently authoritarian settings, its diverse organizations serve as the structural guarantee of governmental accountability. Tampering with these institutions not only violates individual freedoms, it also erodes the existing political order. Safeguarding the public spaces populated by civil society institutions ensures the vitality of democratic regimes and reinforces state viability.

Israel’s future is inextricably tied to the success of the democratic wave currently sweeping through large portions of the Arab world. The prospect of new governments attentive to the complex needs of their heterogeneous citizenry promises an environment conducive to a much more constructive interaction between Israel and its neighbors than has been prevalent to date. Civil society is a critical channel for just such a transformation.

Initial exchanges in recent months between New Israel Fund organizations and Arab counterparts dedicated to safeguarding the values of human dignity and mutual respect point to the power inherent in the development of such ties. Their elaboration may yet prove to be the much-needed adhesive for the coalescence of a truly new Middle East: one that is democratic, prosperous, peaceful and stable.

A highlight of the rally was a speech by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., that connected Massey Energy to the long history of business interests trying to take control over our democracy, and reminded us of the many principled leaders who have stood up and opposed them.

RFK Jr. eloquently makes the connection between the fight to protect our environment and the fight to stop corporate power subverting our government.  Today, we’re asking for your help in spreading this clip around. Finally, if you have not yet signed our joint petition with Appalachian voices calling for an end to Massey Energy’s corporate charter, please sign on now.

Click here to download and print this resolution:

WHEREAS, We the people adopted and ratified the United States Constitution to protect the free speech and other rights of people, not corporations;

WHEREAS, Corporations are not people but instead are entities created by the law of states and nations;

WHEREAS, for the past three decades, a divided United States Supreme Court has erroneously transformed the First Amendment into a powerful tool for corporations seeking to evade and invalidate the people’s laws;

WHEREAS, this corporate misuse of the First Amendment and Constitution has reached an extreme conclusion in the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission;

WHEREAS, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission overturned longstanding precedent prohibiting corporations from spending corporate general treasury funds in our elections;

WHEREAS, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission unleashes a torrent of corporate money in our political process unmatched by any campaign expenditure totals in United States history;

WHEREAS, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission purports to invalidate state laws and even state Constitutional provisions separating corporate money from elections;

WHEREAS, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission presents a serious and direct threat to our republican democracy;

WHEREAS, Article V of the United States Constitution empowers and obligates the people and states of the United States of America to use the constitutional amendment process to correct those egregiously wrong decisions of the United States Supreme Court that go to the heart of our democracy and republican self-government; and

WHEREAS, the people and states of the United States of America have strengthened the nation and preserved liberty and equality for all by using the amendment process throughout our history, including in seven of the ten decades of the 20th century, and including to reverse seven erroneous Supreme Court decisions.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT WE CALL UPON THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO PASS AND SEND TO THE STATES FOR RATIFICATION A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO REVERSE CITIZENS UNITED V. FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION AND TO RESTORE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS AND FAIR ELECTIONS TO THE PEOPLE.

By the People of _____________________

The statistics speak of the horrors. Over 1 million native Indians murdered in Brazil since 1900. 66 million deaths during the Second World War and 15 million soldiers died in World War I. Mao Tse Tung exterminated an estimated 40 million fellow citizens of the Peoples Republic of China and Adolf Hitler eliminated some 25 million human beings in just a decade and a half. Between 1955-2002, 5.4 million were massacred in the Congo alone (2).

These figures are almost too unreal to comprehend....so vast there is a danger that we become almost detached from the devastation and personal tragedies.

Yet despite this catalogue of carnage, many might had hoped that the twenty first century would be different. That the world might have grown up a little. Not so, political and civil violence resonates intensely around the planet each day and every day.

One last century tragedy still lingers on -  the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It attracts a higher level of scrutiny than many of the conflicts in Africa or in Asia and it has been at the focus of international attention for over 60 years since the foundation of the Israeli nation through mandate of the United Nations in 1947-8. For the Jewish people, Israel is a symbol of sanctuary, following industrialised attempts by the Nazis to eradicate the entire gene pool of a race of people. For the Arab peoples in the region it is a symbol of tragedy or a “nabka”, where an estimated 900,000 indigenous people were to be relocated – many into refugee camps in neighbouring countries, hostile to the new Jewish state.

Sixty years on,  the conflict still festers. We have estimated that some $15 trillion dollars has poured into the region from the worlds coffers since 1950 and yet the conflict is still unresolved. Since the 1973 War we have witnessed a repeat cycle of US Government initiatives, peace treaties, Oslo, Camp David, hand shakes, Nobel Peace prizes. And yet the hatred and mistrust goes on.

Much of this money goes to the estimated 50,000 NGOs and CBOs in a region the size of 100,000 acres and where only about a dozen have had any real direct contact with each other.

So what to do?

In 2004, I founded Children of Peace inspired by the work of South African reconciliation and the women’s peace movements in Northern Ireland. Launched in London (UK) in 2005 the charity was established to build trust, friendship, understanding between Israeli & Palestinian children and their communities, through the arts, education, health & sports regardless of gender, faith or community.

The charity is completely non partisan – refusing to take sides. Too many people demonise one side or the other. This is unhelpful and simply exacerbates the conflict – encouraging one side and alienating the other. And so the conflict goes on and on....

Children are the forgotten victims of the conflict. They have no choices. No escape route. In Gaza, 60% of the population is under 16 years old, marooned with parents subsisting on $2 a day. In Israel, children suffer high levels of morbidity and depression. In the West Bank children endure alarming levels of diabetes.

Breaking this cycle of hatred will take many generations but Children of Peace begins with the next generation. In just seven years we have established ourselves as a trustworthy intermediary – admired by all sides – that is playing a valued role in protecting children and in peace building across communities in Gaza, Israel, the West Bank & Jordan.

Above all, it’s when people meet each other – breaking bread together – that the walls of suspicion, bigotry and mistrust start to melt away. Every day contact changes perceptions.

Our unique Coalition of Peace brings together many grassroots communities across the region – many of whom had had little or no contact with each other before – opening up important corridors between Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza, Israel, Jordan & the West Bank. Central to our message is to only fund or support groups that are prepared to sign up to our notions of peaceful contact. Our SchoolsLink programme links schools and colleges worldwide, so that Muslim schools in the UK, for instance are twinning with Jewish schools in Israel. We help fund Israeli doctors who run clinics in the West Bank, Gaza kindergartens who write to Israeli kids. We promote the teaching of Arabic & Hebrew to all children in the region and we encourage like-minded NGOs and CBOs to share resources, operate programmes that foster co-operation and dialogue . Our PeaceBlog encourages dialogue between Israeli & Palestinian kids and our Youth Ambassador programme helps to support the next generation of leaders.

I am encouraged by the extraordinary people I am in contact with in the region on a daily basis.  Considerable acts of courage and generosity give me great hope. There is surprisingly little rancour or bitterness on the street. After all, we all share the same DNA and hardwired into humanity is a deep sense of altruism and commonality. Most of us want the same thing: peace, our health, a decent life, to love and to laugh.....That’s why we must celebrate our similarities and not the things that divide us. And for me that’s the start point.

 In July 2012, in the year that the United Kingdom hosts the Olympics – Children of Peace will be bringing the Shani Choir to the UK – to participate in the prestigious Three Choirs Festival – the worlds oldest choral festival – in Hereford. The Shani Choir consists of 30 Israeli & Arab girls, aged between 12 to 18 and they will bring their special message of peace to the Festival.

If you wish to sponsor or support this wonderful event, please contact Children of Peace at info@childrenofpeace.org.uk 

Footnotes:

1 Twentieth Century Atlas, Detailed Death List of the Twentieth Century

2  Obermeyer & Murray

As the world has become more globally connected, various international convening bodies have recognized the need to bring together the heads of organizations across different geographies and contexts in order to increase collaboration and effective response to global threats.  There are meetings organized by the United Nations for Heads of State to come together and agree on Declarations of Principles and Plans of Action. In these processes, there is a small, yet growing role for civil society and the private sector to have a voice, though ultimately, the Member States have the most important voice at the table. 

The World Economic Forum has historically focused on convening the heads of large multinational corporations with a focus on improving the state of the world and in recognizing the importance of a multi-stakeholder approach, has increasingly expanded the inclusion of other important constituency groups across media, academia, civil society, technology pioneers, social entrepreneurs and young global leaders.  Most often, when multi-stakeholder networks and expert groups are convened, there is not an intentional age gap – however there is a visible intergenerational gap that occurs as the people who end up in the room tend to be more established with years of life experience. This is where we start to identify the challenge of our design process for how to effectively and appropriately engage the voices of youth, particularly those between the ages of 13-30.

As Albert Einstein once said, we cannot solve our problems with the same thinking that created our problems.  How do we design processes to meaningfully engage the next generation in global problem-solving, not simply to develop skills and talents to be unleashed in the future, but rather, to ensure that we are diligently considering the critical perspectives and experiences that are essential to driving new thought leadership combined with unleashing creativity, innovation and an entrepreneurial culture that will develop intergenerational resiliency to face the challenges of our time?

Knowing that our children and youth will inherit the future, let’s put our minds together and design a way to ensure that they are part of the process of designing and shaping the future they inherit so that there is an inherent sense of shared ownership, capacity and resiliency as we work to create a more peaceful, inclusive and sustainable world.

President Barack Obama’s most important insight about the recent political upheavals in the Arab world in his recent speech on the Middle East was this—religious freedom and other human rights are deeply connected to “political and economic reform in the Middle East and North Africa that can meet the legitimate aspirations of ordinary people throughout the region.” Religious freedom, he explained, is part of a “set of universal rights” that he set as the “core principles” of U.S. foreign policy toward the Middle East, including “the right to choose your own leaders.”

Some conservatives immediately argued that the president’s approach aligned him with George W. Bush’s “freedom agenda.” This is mistaken on several counts. The Bush era “freedom agenda” amounted, in practice, to support for the very despotic regimes now overthrown or under siege by their citizens across the Middle East, and a refusal to recognize the results of democratic elections that the Bush administration did not like, such as in Gaza in 2005.

In addition, religious freedom in the Bush “freedom agenda” was often a stand-alone policy. In practice, this amounted to “calling out” bad actors, as the former president did when attending the Olympics in China, rather than integrating religious freedom into overall approaches to other foreign policy concerns such as economic, civil, and political transitions.

President Obama takes a very different view—one that is a clear advance on the Bush administration method. Religious freedom for the president is not a “stand alone” ideal but rather embedded in a series of commitments that are practical and dynamic in regard to how “human dignity,” the root of the “core principles” that include free speech, political freedom, and women rights, is actually achieved. Importantly, this approach avoids singling out religious freedom only as a set of individual rights.

Instead, religious freedom is dealt with as part of a broad cultural and political transition. In this perspective, religious freedom does not occur in a vacuum. U.S. foreign policy moves away from lecturing “bad actors” toward laying out a course for how an increase in religious freedom can occur.

Religious freedom, then, in President Obama’s view, tends to increase when other positive changes are also occurring, especially political and economic transformation, and is best pursued by the people themselves as they define their own approach to democracy and advance their own economies, in ways that are culturally and religiously congruent for them. This “embedding” of religious freedom in political, cultural, and economic transformation is a helpful step forward in American foreign policy.

Another step that was not named in the president’s speech, but that would aid in better positioning United States foreign policy in relationship to the kinds of changes that the Arab Spring has unleashed, is to explicitly embrace religious freedom as political rights. This is consistent with the idea that a nation’s citizens need to construct their own democratic revolutions in their own ways.

Thus, religious freedom should come to be understood not only as individual freedom to worship and freedom of religious affiliation, but also as the freedom to form religiously oriented political movements and engage the public square from that perspective. In the transition that is occurring in states where these repressive rulers have been overthrown in the Middle East, religious, often openly Islamist, political parties are on the rise. This is, in part, a direct rejection of dictators who repressed political and religious freedom especially in the public square.

Great concern is being expressed about the potential for antidemocratic influence by these Islamist political parties, not only in Egypt regarding the Muslim Brotherhood, but also in Tunisia. Yet, the development of religious parties in the Middle East after the overthrow of repressive regimes is inevitable and not necessarily all negative. This is the argument recently put forward by three political scientists, Monica DuffyToft, Daniel Philpott, and Timothy Samuel Shah, in their new book, God’s Century: Resurgent Religion and Global Politics.

The provocative thesis of this analysis of the advancing role of religion in global politics is this—new religious forces are the product of modernization, including globalization, political liberalization, and Internet communication. The authors argue these were the very trends that were supposed to bring about an end to religion and the rise of secularism, but instead they have given rise to the exponential growth and influence of religion in politics around the world. Political outcomes are now partially a product of religious trends in the public square, which leads them to conclude that it not wise to dream that religious actors and institutions can be confined to a “private sphere.”

Indeed, restrictions on religious freedom have been a losing strategy for nations around the world trying to keep religion out of politics. Trying to “keep religion out of it” by repressive tactics simply causes political theologies to radicalize and become more extreme, as happened in Egypt under former President Hosni Mubarak. “Trying to keep religion out of it” less by violence and more by legal restriction doesn’t work either. Countries where religion is or has been sharply restricted, such as Christianity and Islam in contemporary China or the Catholic Church by the Communist regime in Poland, have seen religion grow, not decline. China, for example, is on track to become not only the largest Christian country in the world, but also the largest Muslim country.

Religious freedom, understood not simply as an individual right but as a whole society’s approach to religion—its economics, culture, and politics—permits religion to become a “’force multiplier’ for important social and political goods, including democratization, peacemaking and reconciliation,” say the authors of God’s Century. This is not always the case, of course, but religious actors and religious parties tend to move toward the center when they are forced to compete with other political actors and movements in a free society. This is a relatively simple political calculus of how groups appeal to the broadest range of voters.

This point is well illustrated by Shadi Hamid’s response to the question “Should we fear the Muslim Brotherhood?” as it was becoming clear the Mubarak regime was ending. Hamid is the director of research at the Project on Middle East Democracy and a Hewlett Fellow at Stanford University’s Center for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law. On the one hand, Hamid observes, “The Brotherhood, to be sure, is not a force for liberalism.” On the other hand, especially where national security concerns are paramount, “The risks of Islamist overreach…can be mitigated through creative policymaking. The United States and the international community can help facilitate the building of robust political institutions that constrain the power of elected leaders, Islamist and secular alike.”

For U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, this means regular and substantive engagement now with Islamist parties. Waiting until after elections have solidified the power of Islamist parties is not wise. As Hamid further argues in the May/June issue of Foreign Policy, now is when these parties still feel “vulnerable” and will be more open to engagement. “By initiating regular, substantive dialogue with Islamist groups to work on areas of agreement and discuss key foreign policy concerns, the United States might discover more convergence of interests than it expects,” he writes.

Engaging these Islamists while they are still in the process of developing their political postures in this new era in the Middle East broadens the number of actors with whom the United States can engage. And it is consistent with President Obama’s commitment, outlined in his May Middle East address, that “We must also build on our efforts to broaden our engagement beyond elites, so that we reach the people who will shape the future.”

This policy shift is consistent with a deepened understanding of how religion actually functions today in the world. Religious freedom in this new world context must be understood as a comprehensive understanding of religion not only as individual rights but also as religious freedom to engage the public square. Religious freedom means the freedom of all actors in a society to engage in nonviolent, democratic activity, whether religious or not, and to engage each other without fear of reprisals. Religious freedom is not separate from politics, but instead deeply embedded in the way in which societies build “robust political institutions” that are capable of responding to, and if need be, constraining various forms of political power, whether religious or secular.

Following our April 14 letter and Secretary of State Clinton’s response on your behalf, reiterating your Administration’s commitment to seek peace, and your strong reaffirmation in yesterday’s speech that peace is possible, we write again to offer our united support for urgently needed strong, sustained U.S. leadership, in coordination with the Quartet, to press for agreement on a two-state peace agreement before it is too late. If the opportunity for a two-state solution is missed, there almost inevitably will be renewed violent conflict with more suffering for Israelis and Palestinians, and increased dangers of extremism.

The recent Israeli Peace Initiative presented by former Israeli government, intelligence and security officials, the earlier Arab Peace Initiative, and the Geneva Accord, taken together, offer key principles and ideas for achieving comprehensive Arab-Israeli-Palestinian peace. We urge you to visit Jerusalem and the region soon to meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders to restart negotiations focused on the principles and ideas in these initiatives.

We believe the United States, in coordination with the Quartet, should continue to respond carefully to the new Palestinian unity agreement and not act precipitously to cut off aid that is essential for humanitarian purposes and for building the capacity of a future Palestinian state.  The agreement is helpful in forming a government capable of representing the West Bank and Gaza together. The unity government must commit itself to rejecting violence and negotiating a two-state peace agreement with Israel. We believe the United States should insist on these commitments.

We pledge our prayers and public support for active, fair and firm U.S. leadership in pursuing peace. We will urge Congress to be constructive.  We believe that, in exercising strong U.S. leadership for peace, you can count on substantial support from members of churches, synagogues, and mosques across the country.

(List of Endorsers follows, organizations for identification only)

Cc: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
      National Security Advisor Tom Donilon
      Members of Congress

List of Endorsers

Christian Leaders:
His Eminence Theodore Cardinal McCarrick, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington *
Bishop Howard Hubbard, Chairman, International Committee, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops*
Archbishop Vicken Aykasian, Director, Ecumenical Affairs, Armenia Orthodox Church in America*
Fr. Mark Arey, Director, Ecumenical Officer, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America*
The Reverend Peg Chemberlin, President, National Council of Churches of Christ USA*
The Reverend Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary, National Council of Churches of Christ USA*
Bishop Mark S. Hanson, Presiding Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America*
The Most Rev. Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop and Primate, Episcopal Church*
The Reverend Geoffrey Black, General Minister & President, United Church of Christ*
The Rev. Dr. Sharon Watkins, General Minister, President, Christian Churches (Disciples of Christ)*
The Reverend Gradye Parsons, Stated Clerk, Presbyterian Church (USA)*
Bishop Sharon Zimmerman Rader, Council of Bishops, United Methodist Church*
The Reverend Leighton Ford, President, Leighton Ford Ministries, Board Member, World Vision US*
Richard J. Mouw, President, Fuller Theological Seminary*
David Neff, Editor in Chief and Vice-President, Christianity Today*
The Reverend John M. Buchanan, Editor and Publisher, Christian Century*

Jewish Leaders:
Rabbi Peter Knobel, Past President, Central Conference of American Rabbis*
Rabbi Paul Menitoff, Executive Vice President Emeritus, Central Conference of American Rabbis*
Rabbi Alvin Sugarman, Vice President, A Different Future*
Rabbi Elliot Dorff, Rector, American Jewish University*
Rabbi Burton Visotzky, Professor of Midrash & Interreligious Studies, Jewish Theological Seminary*
Rabbi Freddi Cooper, President, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Assembly*
Rabbi Shawn Zevit, Director of Congregational Services, Jewish Reconstructionist Federation*
Dr. Carl Sheingold, Former Executive Vice President, Jewish Reconstructionist Federation*

Muslim Leaders:
Dr. Sayyid Muhammad Syeed, National Director, Islamic Society of North America*
Imam Mohammed ibn Hagmagid, Vice President, Islamic Society of North America*
Naeem Baig, Executive Director, Islamic Circle of North America*
Dawud Assad, President Emeritus, Council of Mosques, USA*
Eide Alawan, Interfaith Office for Outreach, Islamic Center of America*

*Organizations for Identification Only

That's where KooDooZ.com steps in. This cause-based social media site provides kids a chance to make a difference both online and in the real world.  Instead of just telling kids what to do, KooDooZ invites youngsters to articulate and act upon their own values, motivations and passions.

Kids come up with “challenges” and set milestones to accomplish worthy goals. These challenges can be a personal goal, accomplishing a community objective, or being part of a humanitarian cause that benefits society.

Here is an example of one of the current challenges listed on KooDooZ.com:

THE CHALLENGE: Too many kids end up in a Children's Hospital without the emotional and financial support they need from other kids. 12-year-old Elliot Mast has figured out a way to "pitch in" and hit a home run for Children's hospitals by swinging for a cause and raising a lot of money.

Kids who use the web site (they are called “KDZ”) share their challenges with friends and family, who can pledge real-world dollars. Before collecting their reward, each KDZ has to upload a "burden of proof" as evidence of meeting their goal. Monies and/or points earned on KooDooZ can be used to purchase site products and/or virtual rewards.

KooDooZ is the brainchild of Lee Fox, who also happens to be a mom. She recognized the potential for kids to think up ways to help the world. By actively engaging kids’ minds, KooDooZ gives children a sense “owning” their cause. In addition to the ideas put forth by youngsters, KooDooZ also comes up with challenges for kids, which are met with youthful enthusiasm and action.

To make this a truly social media experience, KooDooZ has its own online community and a video blog of kids explaining why they took on a particular cause and why they are committed to it. It’s also important to note that KooDooZ is a Certifying Organization for the President’s Volunteer Service Award, which means that KooDooZ can credit time for tasks that meet volunteerism, community service and Service-Learning Inspired standards.

The President's Council on Service and Civic Participation created the President’s Volunteer Service Award program as a way to thank and honor Americans who, by their demonstrated commitment and example, inspire others to engage in volunteer service. The President’s Volunteer Service Award recognizes individuals, families, and groups that have achieved a certain standard – measured by the number of hours of service over a 12-month period or cumulative hours earned over the course of a lifetime.

In a world of “Jersey Shores” and “MTV Teen Moms,” KooDooZ.com taps into the better motivations of youth, engaging them to come up with ideas (and follow-thru) to make their world (and ours) a better place.

The Arava Institute is located in the Southern Negev Desert and that is where I studied, lived and befriended Muslims, Atheists, Jews and Christians, citizens of the West Bank, Israel, Jordan, Africa, Kyrgyzstan, Americas and Europe. For those who don’t know, I am an American Jew. An Institute placed on one of the physically and politically hottest spots on earth, the students learn about conflict resolution and the environment. I learned more at my one semester at the Arava Institute than four years at my American university.

In a country trapped in generational violence and regional tension, how does a single Institute harbor a foundation that tackles hatred-fueled conflict? The Arava Institute is an intimate school relating to living and learning quarters and relationships of the 28 students. Imagine a neighborhood of United Nation members living in the same apartment complex. It was not easy to get along all the time.

Not only did the students have to learn to live with one another, but also the 28 of us lived in an American Israeli community because the Arava Institute is nestled on a kibbutz. Based on socialist ideology, a kibbutz is a close nit community where the members eat and work together like a giant family in order to survive. Sometimes the heated tension at the Institute and kibbutz mirrored our desolate blazing desert environment.

To prevent our worldly differences from tearing us apart, the Arava Institute requires students to take a non-credit Peace Building and Environmental Leadership Seminar on top of the environmentally themed academics. It was hard to manage my time between Intro to Ecology, Environmental Education, Sustainable Agriculture, Climate Change and Environmental Policy classes for a Seminar that did not count for credits. Nonetheless, the Peace Building and Environmental Leadership Seminar was my most important class in my 17 academic years.

The Peace Building and Environmental Leadership Seminar allows students to understand the Arab-Israeli, Christian, Jewish and Muslim narratives. While I was in this Seminar, it was not easy even under the best circumstances. Keep in mind by the age of 18, Israelis have to go in the military. Some duties include patrolling the borders of Jordan and policing the Palestinians at checkpoints. For many Israelis at the Institute, this was their first time positively interacting with Palestinians and Jordanians. Moreover, Palestinians were able to interact with Israelis without adrenaline affecting their bodies.

I remember conversations in our Peace Building Seminar became so heated that people stalked out of the room in blistering frustration and rage. We cried together, listened to the Palestinian and Israeli mothers recite how their son or daughter was murdered. There were times when we groaned, rolling our eyes at the ten minute break between three hour guest lectures. We learned how to compassionately listen to each other, whether or not we wholly agreed with each other’s perspectives or opinions. We shared personal narratives, sharing how the Arab-Israeli conflict has affected us, how hatred has poisoned us, and how death of loved ones has broken us.

As students of the Institute, we are ready to take steps towards peace. The Arava Institute allows us to build a process towards peace, even years after graduating the Arava Institute.  Arava Alumni Peace and Environmental Network (AAPEN), is their Alumni Network that maintains networks with different generations of students and creates a setting to exchange ideas and creations of new organizations. By using the Internet as a tool, AAPEN creates an international community of eager environmental activists. In AAPEN, there is the opportunity for alumni to find financial and organizational support to create their own environmental initiatives. It provides consultation for Alumni’s new projects, seed money, logistical support, workshops and an annual conference for all Alumni.

My former roommate at the Arava Institute, Yosra, is a Muslim citizen of Jordan whom I now consider my sister. She invited me to her house on numerous occasions and I was the first Jew that her family and many of her friends ever met. I was able to shatter negative perceptions broadcasted by the media and the ignorant. I learned that by small interactions we have the power to break down stereotypes.

We can rise from the ashes of violence and start anew, like my Jordanian sister Yosra explains, “If we, as humans want to change, we can change…Individuals can change faster than governments” and that, “No cooperation leads to conflict.” We have a chance in an age where the Internet shrinks the world, to educate and interact with each other. As the generation who is bombarded with technological gadgets and distractions, we must reach out to one another and try to understand each other. It is our responsibility to educate one another and allow ourselves to see each other as humans not as enemies.

As a recent graduate I am hungry to see changes in this world. Let us take this opportunity in a technological age to connect graduates from all over the world and work towards global peace. Change is the only constant in life but it is up to you to make it a negative or positive result.

NIF strengthens organizations and leaders that work to achieve equality for all the citizens of the state; realize the civil and human rights of all, including Palestinian citizens of Israel; recognize and reinforce the essential pluralism of Israeli society; and empower groups on the economic margins of Israeli society. 

Building a viable and free society committed to social justice is the medium through which the New Israel Fund has contributed to the strengthening of Israeli democracy.  Widely credited with building Israel’s progressive civil society from scratch, we have provided over $200 million to more than 800 cutting-edge organizations since our inception. 

Through our action arm SHATIL, we provide Israel’s social change community with hands-on assistance. In addition, NIF/SHATIL builds coalitions, empowers activists, sponsors new programs, and takes the initiative in spearheading national advocacy campaigns.

Find out more about NIF’s accomplishments, issues and programs – and decide if you, too, want to create the Israel we all know to be possible.

Joining Partners for a New Beginning

UoPeople is both excited and honored to be a part of Partners for a New Beginning. As part of our membership, UoPeople will work with other PNB partners to accept students from two PNB countries. Countries in which PNB works with include Turkey, Pakistan, West Bank/Gaza, Egypt and Indonesia.

Eligible students will be admitted to our study programs and work toward a Bachelor's or Associate's Degree in either Business Administration or Computer Science. Graduates in these disciplines will gain highly sought after skills including increased professional development, enlarged networks and enhanced employment prospects.

Since we launched approximately a year and a half ago (September 2009), UoPeople has received a warm welcome in Muslim countries. Currently, 25 percent of our student body and more than 50 percent of our 300,000 Facebook supporters are comprised of individuals from Muslim countries. We feel that joining PNB strengthens our mission.

Opening of Admissions 

We are happy to open Admissions for Term 1 2011-2012. With every admission window, we see increased variety and diversity in the countries applicants are coming to us from -  including Indonesia, Pakistan, Greece, Palestine, Turkey, Armenia, United States and more.

We look forward to being able to say that after this admission period closes, UoPeople will have accepted more than 1000 students - a milestone we are excited to reach shortly.

Outreach: 300,000+ Facebook Supporters

We are proud of the number of supporters on Facebook and other social media. Using outreach efforts, we’ve been able to grow our exposure considerably. We are currently looking for more avenues to reach out to populations who are not necessarily on Facebook, or reading the international publications UoPeople receives press coverage in. We welcome your insight, as well as will keep you updated on any successful efforts gained to further our mission of democratizing higher education globally.

Studentsfirst.org

 The emerging Egyptian democracy and the Arab Spring are now synonymous in the eyes of the world, and, most importantly, in the eyes of the Egyptian people. But any sustainable democratic success rests on the transformation of the Egyptian economy, which over the past several decades produced jobless growth that was unstable, unequal, and ultimately unsustainable. In fact, the success of the Arab Spring across the Arab world probably rests over the long haul on Egyptian job growth that is stable and sustainable—providing a template and a vision for economic, social, and democratic political reform.

This is why the Just Jobs Network, coordinated by the Center for American Progress is holding its first annual meeting in Cairo, on May 27, 2011. The meeting will discuss key challenges and mechanisms for good job creation in Egypt, in the Arab world, and around the globe as a necessary basis for broad-based, sustainable economic growth.

Policy experts; government leaders; representatives from local, regional, and international unions; nongovernmental organizations; and think tanks will come together to discuss challenges and solutions for just job creation in Egypt and lessons that can be extrapolated for developing countries worldwide. Among others, the Norwegian State Secretary Gry Larsen, former European Union commissioner for trade and former first secretary of state in the United Kingdom government Lord Peter Mandelson, Director of the Center for Trade Union Worker Services Kamal Abbas, and Vice President of Economic Policy at the Center for American Progress Michael Ettlinger will all be in attendance.

The unrest in the Middle East and North Africa highlights both the importance and the urgency of creating enough just jobs in the short and long run. Just jobs, complete with labor rights including the right to organize and collective bargaining, appropriate remuneration, social protections such as health care and pensions, and opportunities for economic mobility, are key for broad-based growth and stability. By helping to raise living standards, just jobs serve as instruments for promoting global stability and security.

Supporting an increase in just jobs in developing countries is a win-win for developed countries as well. Standards of living converge on an upward trajectory. Rules and regulations ensure this happens across the globe. And the resulting economic and political stability rebounds to benefit developed and developing countries alike. This meeting is the first step in helping policymakers develop pragmatic and specific steps to power forward this virtuous circle.

For this kind of economy to take hold and flourish in Egypt and around the globe will require sustained focus by policymakers with potential lessons for nearby Tunisia and other Arab states in North Africa and the Middle East. A framework for the cooperative effort required is the first priority of the first annual meeting of the Just Jobs Network.

In addition to our series on social media, GreenGoPost.com will also showcase some trends in the world of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on a quarterly basis. Slowly more companies in the United States are interested in how sustainability can contribute to their long-term bottom line. 

While CSR still faces many challenges in the United States for a bevy of reasons (the political climate, the business community’s and Wall Street’s number-driven culture, and lack of buy-in from senior executives), blue chip companies from Walmart to Coca-Cola to Disney have accomplished several initiatives from waste diversion to water efficiency. 

Here are some observations I have made as spring turns into summer--and through 2011: Poverty Initiatives: We are not talking about philanthropy.  The “S” in CSR stands for social, but the social impacts due to company’s operations around the globe are still overlooked.  Even though we do not say corporate environmental responsibility, the E still holds tremendous sway, and it is easy to see what.  Many of us care about the planet as long as we do not have to change our lifestyle, the effects are visible and measurable, and Earth Day reigns supreme. 

Social, however, is too closely related to socialism, and the closest whiff of anything that has the S-word gives Americans the willies.  Furthermore, few of us want to be confronted with the fact that conveniences at home can cause misery abroad.  I see a change, however:  Coca-Cola and SABMiller worked with Oxfam America to launch an impressive study of poverty within those beverage companies’ supply chain.  Do not forget about carbon and water footprints, but I see more social and poverty footprint metrics on the horizon.

Supply Chain: While it is true that many companies technically do not make what they sell, perception still can damage a company’s reputation due to a wayward supplier.  Look for more companies to examine their supply chains even more closely, as Apple and Intel recently achieved with their announcement that they will no longer allow conflict minerals to be part of their products.  Watch for more companies to devote resources to their suppliers to root out social and environmental problems out of their supply chains.  

Improved CSR Communications: Communicating CSR is still enduring growing pains.  While the days of the static CSR report and outdated portal are over, the trick over how to communicate CSR is still in flux.  Do we rely on social media?  What about more frequent reports, like that of Timberland’s?  The jury is still out on this one, but watch for a few companies to set a standard and other companies--and their stakeholders, consultants, and public relations professionals, to follow.  

What we need more of:  Transparency.  The third pillar of CSR, transparency, still could use some work, though this is more of the fault of the general public than the companies themselves.  As the New York Time’s Gretchen Morgenson and Louise Story  highlighted yesterday, no one who had a role in the global financial meltdown--at least in  the United States--has been prosecuted.  Many layers of the onion must be peeled back on this one:  companies who are listed on equity markets are already resentful of securities disclosures, the public has finance fatigue, and finance the way we know it is hard to understand. 

It is easy to process oil spills, toxic paint, labor unrest, and filthy working conditions.  Algorithms, derivatives, swaps, and complex spreadsheet formulas cause a migraine at their very mention.  Furthermore, many companies are good at unleashing their public relations departments, which bombard us with messages about “good deeds” and tree planting.  Many of those deeds are good.  Nevertheless, those of us in the CSR space could do a better job (like the Murninghan Post) exploring issues related to corporate governance and transparency and pressure companies more about these fronts. We will visit this world again in July.

 Far back in our nation’s past, the Continental Congress passed two laws which together set in motion the creation of a system of public schools.  These two laws were the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, and together they established rules that applied to any new state which had its lands held in the public domain (this eventually totaled 30 states).  

One of these rules was that new states had to set aside a certain amount of their land for the support of public schools. After the Constitution was signed, the federal government continued this policy by writing it into the laws that allowed each territory to form a state (called Enabling Acts). Each new state had its own Enabling Act, which laid out the provisions the state must agree to in order to be granted statehood.  

The mandate to set aside land for the support of public schools was written in each of those 30 states’ Enabling Acts, although the exact amount of land and how the state was allowed to manage it changed with each Enabling Act.  The important point is that the federal government required, with increasing specificity, how much land a state had to set aside for the support of schools, how it could manage those lands and to which public institutions (schools, universities, etc.) the proceeds from sale or rental of the land or its resources could go.
 

By signing their Enabling Acts, each state was basically agreeing to a set of federal requirements, and in return was granted funds, in the form of land, to support its public schools.  This is not entirely different from the approach used by the federal government today in regards to states and school districts.  
 

In this way, the federal government provided the initial support and inspiration for a public school system – without which our system as we know it today might not exist at all.
 
 
For those interested in more background and detail about these land grants, the full text of this paper can be found at this link.

Only about one-in-three eighth graders is proficient in reading. Most high schools graduate little more than two-thirds of their students on time. And even the students who do receive a high school diploma lack adequate skills—more than 33 percent of first-year college students need to take remedial classes in either math or English. Moreover, low-income and minority students fare worse, sometimes far worse, than their peers on every indicator of achievement.

Poor educational outcomes such as these harm not only students but also the communities in which they live. Over 7,000 students drop out of school each day, adding up to 1.3 million a year. If we cut that rate merely in half, the economy would see $5.6 billion in extra spending, $713 million in added tax revenue, and 54,000 new jobs. Clearly, the country has an economic, as well as a moral, stake in how well our schools are doing.

Such reform could not come soon enough. Our nation’s economic competitiveness depends on the success of our schools. But our future prosperity is uncertain when millions of students struggle to grasp the most basic reading and math skills in thousands of low-performing schools across this country. Congress must act quickly and decisively to improve our nation’s schools by revising the biggest federal education law, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, or ESEA. Only bold, progressive action to improve our nation’s schools will allow our country to move forward into the 21st century.

ESEA provides funds to the states and their almost 14,000 school districts to offset the consequences of student poverty. The law also makes significant educational requirements in the areas of standards, accountability, teaching, funding distribution and safeguards, and student support. In short, how Congress revises ESEA will determine the future of our schools and of our nation.

Unfortunately, other nations such as India and China are out-investing the United States in education as the way to build a more prosperous economy—at a time when some members of Congress are arguing for cutting education spending and scaling back the federal government’s involvement. That is why President Barack Obama wants Congress to reauthorize ESEA this year. While doing so, the president wants to increase our investment in education and to make permanent some significant reforms in the law, among them creating college- and career-ready standards, improving the effectiveness of teachers and principals, improving struggling schools, and investing in innovation so that education practices advance into the 21st century. This all makes sense.

Conservatives in Congress at this point mostly argue that we should eliminate programs and sharply reduce the federal role in education. But this is short-sighted governing that abdicates the responsibility for ensuring that all students get a fair shot at a good education. It is also lazy governing, an approach that does not take ownership of a serious problem that is so obviously national in scope that it requires federal leadership and determination.

Congress doesn’t need to defund federal education programs or diminish the federal role when so many of our schools are in crisis—it needs to reform ESEA to prepare all of our nation’s children for the challenges of the 21st century.

To do that, several fixes need to be made. For one, the current law focuses on teacher qualifications but does nothing to ensure they are effective in the classroom. ESEA also requires struggling schools to implement improvement strategies that have not shown results. Finally, the current law does not adequately address clear federal funding programs that are inefficient or ineffective, particularly for those students struggling to learn amid poverty. The next version of ESEA should look markedly different than it does now, and such significant change will require hard, bipartisan work. At a minimum, a new ESEA should:

• Continue to hold schools accountable. The new law must set a high bar and get results, particularly from low-income and minority students who often fare worse than their peers.



• Improve teacher and principal effectiveness. The new law should require rigorous evaluation systems and then use that data to improve teachers' skills, make hiring and dismissal decisions, and ensure all students have a great teacher.



• Ensure funding practices are fair and efficient. By closing loopholes and adjusting formulas in the current law that allow districts to shortchange poor schools, the new law would help our most needy students. And by reporting spending and achievement data, these inequities and inefficiencies can be fixed.



• Encourage dramatic turnaround in chronically underperforming schools. These new reforms should include changing the teachers and principals in the building, increasing learning time in the school day or year, and addressing the nonacademic needs of struggling students so they are able to learn.

These reforms would reap important benefits for millions of students and thousands of schools. Strong accountability, fair funding, and equal access to effective teachers mean that all students get an equal shot at a better life. Clear, transparent data on what schools spend and what they achieve allows taxpayers to see what bang they are getting for their buck. And a clear focus on student and teacher outcomes means our children graduate from high school ready for college or a career, resulting in increased earnings, additional tax revenue, and a higher-skilled population capable of competing with global competitors.

In short, reauthorization of ESEA offers a seminal opportunity to advance smart, progressive policies that improve the educational and economic opportunities for students, their communities, and our nation. Failing to reauthorize ESEA would be like pulling a life vest away from a flailing swimmer. We need to act now to improve the nation’s education system, and the Center for American Progress stands ready to work with Congress to reauthorize ESEA in a timely and thoughtful manner.

1. I hold regular meetings with a group of people who all live in the same city as I do and we clean up parks, playgrounds, and other open spaces, we plant flowers, we paint ugly walls and many more. On a personal level, I recycle as much as I can and try not to waste food, resources and energy. ­ – Vicky, Serres, Greece



2.  I cut my electricity bill in half by replacing lightbulbs with CFLs, replacing an old refrigerator and freezer with energy efficient appliances, and turning off appliances when not in use. Also, I drive less by grouping errands rather than taking separate trips. – Pamela, Facebook



3. We compost every non-animal raw food source waste we generate. We also recycle all paper, dog and cat food cans, cardboard, as well as all glass containers we can't reuse. It's not much, but the air is a little cleaner because of the composting and the ground fills are not as high as they could be. – Jim, Sequim, WA



4. Print double sided on 100% recycled paper. Also, print documents witha reduced toner quality. It reduces the pages of paper and toner used by your printer and conserves energy. – ­Jeffrey, Merrick, NY



5. I live in a town with public transportation and I use the bus to go to school. I also limit my trips to the store by buying in bulk. – Joe, Facebook



6. I like to repurpose clothing and household items. I use glass jars to store spices, teas, and other dry goods in my pantry. I use old book, magazines and decorative paper for original art projects and restyle my outdated clothing. – Deborah, Atlanta, GA



7. At work, I save the coffee ground & put it in the just emptied coffee can. When it gets full, I take it home & use it as fertilizer for my plants, except orchids, or give the full used coffee ground to someone that gardens. I also use my cold coffee and dilute it with water & water plants around me at work or at home. I've even gone to Starbucks by my home and asked for their used coffee grounds. – Maria, Cypress, California



8. We cut our annual household energy usage over 60% by insulating our home, and converted the heating system from oil to electric, which is mostly hydro in our locale. Our electric bill has gone up slightly, but we no longer burn the 1500 gallons of oil this house used annually for over three decades before we bought it. – Michael, Facebook



9. My kids + I always take our reusable water bottles when we go out instead of buying plastic bottled water. – Anya, Facebook



10. When you see misplaced garbage, just pick up even one handfull and throw in in the nearest trash bin. If ten people did it everyday it would make our, cities, parks and beaches a little cleaner. – Michael, Facebook

For many Tea Party leaders and their representatives in Congress, it is an “article of faith” that the Earth was given to humans by God for their exploitation and dominion. Many have used this distorted theology to support destructive mining and drilling projects, and to pass legislation attempting to strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its ability to regulate planet-warming carbon pollution. Conservative members of Congress would rather the federal government subsidize oil companies than invest in clean energy technology.

SOURCE: AP/Pier Paolo Cito

But such reckless disregard for the Earth, its people, and natural resources is being challenged by a broad base of faith leaders who point to the many passages in the Bible that call for humans to be caretakers and good stewards of the planet. We can now add to their voices those of a working group of scientists appointed by the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences, a nonsectarian organization presided over by Werner Arber, a Nobel laureate and a Protestant. The academy has just issued a report that declares, without qualification and with utmost urgency, that global climate change is occurring, that humans bear responsibility for it, and that it is our gravest moral imperative to reduce carbon emissions as quickly as possible.

The report focuses on the causes and implications of retreating mountain glaciers and other ice forms because their melting is a key indicator of global warming. The report says these developments provide “some of the clearest evidence we have for a change in the climate system.” The report’s authors consist of “glaciologists, climate scientists, meteorologists, hydrologists, physicists, chemists, mountaineers, and lawyers.” The authors document the quickened pace of melting glaciers, ice, and snow across the globe, and the potential drastic consequences for human populations.

They recommend three main actions: “reduce worldwide carbon dioxide emissions without delay … reduce the concentrations of warming air pollutants … [and] prepare to adapt to the climatic changes, both chronic and abrupt, that society will be unable to mitigate.”

While the report is significant in its acknowledgment of climate change and insistence on the need for the global community to take responsibility, it is hardly surprising that Catholic leadership commissioned and supported these findings. Pope Benedict XVI has been an ardent supporter for many years of recognizing the truth of climate change and the collective responsibility to reduce carbon emissions and preserve clean air and clean water. In fact, he has been dubbed the "Green Pope" in diplomatic cables leaked by WikiLeaks.

And in a true example of “lived faith,” the pope and his leadership spearheaded renewable energy projects right in Vatican City. In 2008 the Vatican began installing 2,400 solar panels atop the pope’s audience hall, which prevents 230 tons of carbon dioxide from being emitted annually. The Vatican even flirted with the idea of going completely carbon neutral by reforesting degraded land in Hungary to offset their emissions, though critics assailed the plan for its focus on offsets over efficiency improvements.

In the new pope’s first social encyclical, “Caritas in Veritate,” he proclaimed there is a “covenant” between humans and the environment, and “responsibility is a global one, for it is concerned not just with energy but with the whole of creation, which must not be bequeathed to future generations depleted of its resources.” He highlighted in particular the responsibility of wealthy developed nations to take the lead on these efforts.

The pope’s encyclical in tandem with the working group’s report are not meant to scare people. Rather, they are meant to confirm, once and for all, that people need to take climate change seriously, that it is no longer a matter of legitimate debate. The church’s strong moral voice shows the urgency of the issue and should persuade conservatives who oppose action to protect God’s creation that if they listen to one of the leading lights of the Christian faith on other issues, they should pay attention on this one as well.

Last on the list is Afghanistan.  Afghan women have a life expectancy of 45 years and one of every 11 women die in childbirth.  One of every five children in the country does not live to age five.I founded All Girls Allowed (AGA), an organization dedicated to restoring value and dignity to girls and mothers in China, in June 2010.  

 
We believe that the Save the Children report includes important statistics about mortality rates, but leaves out key criteria, like shame and pressure to bear sons.
 

This year, China ranked 18th on the Less Developed Countries List, ahead of the UAE and South Africa.  Female infanticide is exacerbated by the One-Child Policy, but China is not the only country with a son-preference that pressures mothers of daughters to the point of despair. Worst case scenarios from India are too common, with daughters ripped away at birth as "worthless things", disposed of before mothers can say goodbye.  
 

This national gendercide of girls deeply affects mothers.Current gender ratios in China are telling: 120 boys for every 100 girls-parents are choosing to eliminate girls to make room for boys.

A video on All Girls Allowed's homepage depicts the tale of "Li", a mother pregnant with her third child.  The family had decided to disobey the country's One-Child Policy to try once more for a boy.  When Li discovered she would bear another girl, her in-laws demanded that she abort and sent her away when she refused.

Li's Story from All Girls Allowed on Vimeo.

Li spent many weeks in hiding from family planning officials and her own community.  Tears run down her face in the video as she explains this abandonment and the pain of choosing to keep her daughter that no one else loves.

China is not the 18th "best" less developed country for moms-only for mothers of boys.  For many mothers of girls, every day is a struggle.  We believe that every mother in China should be honored, whether or not she bears a son. AGA delivers financial stipends to mothers of baby girls in impoverished rural areas of China. This has brought dignity to mothers who had lost all hope.
 

From the New York Times (2005): "In the rural Fujian Mountains, the pressure on families to have a boy as a second child is enormous. On what should have been one of the happiest days of her life, the birth of her second child, Liao Yanqing said she instead contemplated suicide because the baby was another girl.  'I felt I couldn't hold up my head walking in the village,' she recalled."
 

This story is in stark contrast to a mother's experience in the Baby Shower Gift Program.
 
From Allgirlsallowed.org:

"Although the birth of Shen Hongmei's new little girl didn't please her father-in-law, mother and baby were still happy together.  Not only did she receive monthly assistance to buy nutritious food and clothing for her baby, envy of her neighbors gave her encouragement.  'Our neighbors were very jealous of us!' says Shen."
 

The opportunity to sponsor a family is available year-round, not just this Mother's Day.  Help bring dignity to mothers who deserve it by visiting allgirlsallowed.org.
 

In closing, I'd like to mention that while India and other developing nations experience a similar son-preference, China is particularly unsafe for mothers for another reason-government-imposed forced abortions and forced sterilizations.  These are a reality, and are often performed without sanitary environments and experienced medical staff.   Many of these procedures done against a mother's own will cause complications or infections.  
 

The Congressional Executive Commission on China reports that even in 2011, some mothers are forcibly sterilized after the birth of their first child, and women are routinely checked to make sure they have not removed the plastic UID from their own bodies.

I am a mother of 3 sweet girls here in Boston, Massachusetts, but I am originally from China. The USA is a great place to be a mom, not only because of good medical and education systems, but because here I am not looked down on for having daughters, and I am allowed to have more than one child without punishment from the government.

Save the Children, we appreciate your hard work, research, and beautiful report.  But next year, please bring cultural pressure into account.  India and China will move far down the rankings, but the report will be more accurate. Thank you.
 

 
At that time, only one person in 100 got invited to training.  If I successfully completed the training, I would be going to Ecuador, just what I had hoped for.  I was ecstatic!  I finished my internship in good order.  I did get an offer to work for them on a permanent basis, which I politely declined.  At least, I hope I was polite.  I really have no memory of that part.
 

In mid-June, two weeks after graduating, I climbed into a two-engine prop plane in Chicago’s O’Hare Airport and landed in Bozeman, a couple of hours or so later.  The country boy from Indiana was about to be taken out of his environment.   
 

The adventure had begun, but it was still way too early in my own personal development to have any real idea of what all of this meant.  I was starting a career without even a vague picture of where I wanted to end up.  None of what I was doing had ever crossed my mind.  Other than a one-week class trip to Washington, D.C. and New York during my senior year in high school and the previously mentioned weekend trip to Washington, D.C., I had never really been outside of North Manchester, Indiana.  I had never interacted with persons from another country or culture, and had paid little or no attention to politics or world affairs.  If someone had told me at that time that I was headed into a career that would literally take me around the world a couple of times, make multiple trips to 44 countries in three continents and interact with high-ranking foreign dignitaries, I would not have believed it and maybe not even have wanted to continue.  However, had I also been told that it would provide the opportunity to assist millions of persons living in poverty, both directly and indirectly, I probably would have been excited to move forward, and excited is what I definitely was at that moment.  I had never been on such an adventure.    

Thirty-seven of us from all over the United States assembled in the afternoon of that same day to receive a briefing.  With the exception of four or five of us, everyone was in their 20s, and most were recently graduated.  We were destined to work alongside of agricultural extension workers in rural areas of Ecuador.  Montana State College, which offered an agricultural degree, was in charge of the training, and they had subcontracted those responsible for language training and other aspects.  Several persons from Ecuador were invited to Montana to handle the cultural aspects.  

The days were extremely intense.  We would stumble out of our bunk beds when the bell rang at 6:00 am everyday and run bleary-eyed to the football field, where we played soccer or did some other kind of physical exercise for an hour.  We then ran back to the quad where we were staying, showered and made our way to the cafeteria for breakfast.  The first class in the morning was Spanish, which started at 8:00 am. This was followed by Ecuadorean history, geography or culture and then Spanish lab sessions.  During lunch, we were told to speak only Spanish or not at all.  At 1:00 pm, we had Spanish conversation classes, after which we received some technical instruction in agriculture, and then more Spanish.  After dinner, we had assignments to do on our own or sometimes there were cultural things such as learning to dance Ecuadorean style and learning the Ecuadorean national anthem.  Unlike college, there were no free periods, no time to even think.

We were finished at about 9:00 pm each night and usually so mentally and physically tired that we hit the sack right away….that is, until someone found the Hofbrauhaus, about six or so blocks away.  After that point, the evening schedule included time for a pitcher or two of brew before calling it a day.

In spite of being a teetotaler, I too joined in, as we were being watched all the time, and any anti-social behavior would be frowned on.  It was my first taste of beer.  North Manchester was a dry town.  Moreover, the Brethren, as a rule, did not drink.  It was totally prohibited for the college students. I simply had never had the opportunity, so my education in this area was rather abrupt and sometimes painful.

The schedule of classes and instruction ended at 1:00 pm on Saturday, at which time they packed us off in groups and took us to the countryside.  And what a beautiful place it was, full of empty spaces, wooded areas, mountains, lakes, deer, moose and elk.  We climbed Mt. Sacajawea, slide down glaciers on our backsides, went horseback riding and much more.  At night, we would lie in our sleeping bags and gaze at a sky full of stars, totally uninhibited by the city lights.  On one of those weekends, I woke up with the morning sun to see a full grown male moose, standing knee deep in a small mountain lake, less than 50 feet away.  The weekends were always special, but on Sunday afternoon, we came back to campus and the reality of the training.

 
It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, and we were in a respite from the daily grind of Peace Corps training at Montana State College (now Montana State University).  We were somewhat comfortably situated on a rocky ledge in the wilderness areas outside of Bozeman, watching the roaring flow of the river below and the passing wildlife, as well as taking in the breathtaking view of mountainous terrain.  Mostly, however, we were just glad not to be in language lab repeating Spanish dialogues that we barely understood the meaning of or rushing off to learn something about the geography and political history of Ecuador. We were free to enjoy what we were going to be doing for the next 36 hours…….absolutely nothing!
My new friend, who I was just getting to know, was a 48-year-old, chain smoking, pig farmer from California, and I was a recent college graduate from the Midwest, who had hardly ever strayed away from small-town Indiana.  Neither one of us had a real clue about where our adventure was about to take us, and we had scant time to even consider it, given the daily schedule we were being submitted to.  Given our age difference, and our dissimilar backgrounds, we were unlikely soul mates, but in fact, we were on a fast track to becoming life-long friends.
 

Moritz Thomsen, a very liberal thinker in many ways, had been born into a well-known family, whose patriarch was a prominent member of the Republican Party, and he was estranged from his father, having turned his back on the opportunity for wealth and notoriety that would have come along with same.  His life path eventually took him to California, where for some reason (I do not remember the reasons why), he became a pig farmer. While pursuing this business venture, he also began building a brand new house on the property, eventually failing on both counts.  Moritz had such a soft heart that he could not come to terms with the thought of slaughtering these animals that he cared for on a daily basis.  He literally loved them.  In the end the pigs were living with him in the unfinished house and he was sleeping with them at night to keep warm.  The end result was bankruptcy.
 

When he later wrote about walking around the table contemplating the Peace Corps application in the first page of his book, Living Poor, he really had no other choice. It was either that or live in the streets.
 

I don’t think Moritz ever owned more than two or three pair of torn jeans and some worn out shirts.  At least I never saw him in anything else.  And he was never afraid to say whatever was on his mind, things that were sometimes controversial and oft times humorous.  He likewise massacred the Spanish language right up to the sad end of his life.  Notwithstanding, he was also like a loveable little teddy bear, which you wanted to hold and protect, and he had no enemies.  I think it was those latter qualities that kept him from getting “deselected” during the extremely demanding training that we were subjected to.
 

Spanish was obviously the single most important part of our training.  They had divided us into four groups (A, B, C, D), based on our ability in Spanish.  The A group could speak some Spanish and/or had taken Spanish in college. Group B, where I landed,  had shown some ability to speak during the short exam they gave us on day one (I had taken Spanish in high school).  The Cs needed a lot of help, and the Ds much more.
 

I loved my group in spite of the pressure.  My teacher was Cuban.  She had just recently escaped from Cuba and couldn’t speak any English, so consequently used no English in class.  We were taught to speak and think in Spanish and not translate.  A mesa was a mesa.  It was not table = mesa.  We memorized dialogues.  We spoke at whatever level we could.  We repeated things during lab times and had conversation periods.
 

The lab periods were almost my downfall.  We would repeat things like, Donde estan los alumnos; Los alumnos llegan a la puerta; Como esta la puerta; La puerta esta abierta.  That was all fine and good, but they were listening to you.  If you made a mistake, they would break in and correct you.  That meant that you would catch the next phrase in the middle, making it difficult to repeat, and they would break in again.  I usually muddled through, but one day I had more than a bit of trouble and they bounced me from the B group down to the C group.  Not only was it humiliating, the teacher in the C group was not that good, and I was not learning.  Luckily I was able to redouble my efforts and get back to where I felt more comfortable….Group B.
 

In spite of our struggles, the methods were successful.  Dr. Jousti, the European man (I don’t remember exactly from where) who was in charge of the language portion of our training, spoke 14 languages, and he had little patience for anyone who couldn’t learn just one.  Somewhere midway through the training in Bozeman, he popped into our conversation class after lunch and just stood there listening.  One of the women in our group got a bit flustered, couldn’t get the words out and started to cry. He said something simple to her in French, and she replied in English, saying “I know what you said, but I can’t answer.”  He then said something equally simple to her in Spanish, and she immediately answered in Spanish. “See,” he said, “you had four years of college French, and you can’t speak a word.  You’ve had several weeks of Spanish and you can already converse.”  With that, he turned on his heel and exited.  
 

George Baker, a fellow trainee, recently wrote me about another Dr. Jousti memory.  “Que es el cuerpo de paz? (What is the Peace Corps?).  His question was directed straight at me, out of those bright blue eyes, within the first minute of Spanish training. I froze, having no idea what he said.  I was in group A by mistake, instead of ‘James’ Baker, who was pulled out of group C that same day when they realized the mistake, but Jousti kept me in group A for the challenge of training a ‘sub primate’.  Those were probably the best days of my early life.  Those experiences dictated the rest of my life.”
 

And then there was that dreaded word “deselection”, which I don’t believe is proper English, but it existed in training.  We spent 10 weeks in Bozeman.  Near the end of the fifth week, we were told that we would be receiving an envelope as we returned from the football field and that it would contain some instructions.  All too soon, we found out what that meant.  On the fateful morning, we jogged back to the quad as always, only to find our Residential Advisor standing there with a stack of envelopes.  Later we would learn that some of the envelopes would contain a message that said: “Congratulations, you have been selected to continue training,” (which mine did), while the others said something like “Report immediately to Room X in Y Building.”  

We never saw any of those people after that.  They were packed up and shipped off by the time we finished breakfast. The only things we heard were the screams and the crying.  There was another deselection process at the end of the ten weeks, and a final one following our time in Mexico.
 

On the final weekend in Bozeman, we camped out in Yellowstone Park.  After that, it was off to Mexico.
 

This part of the training pushed us all to the limit and made us find a way to go the extra mile, even when we didn’t think we could.  It made us dig deep within ourselves.  For me, at least, I also came away with a new understanding of “learning”.   In college, we tended to “learn” things in the sense that we memorized enough facts to enable us to be able to pass the examination.  After that, there was little incentive to retain the knowledge for future use, especially in those subjects outside of our major area of concentration.  In this case, it was much more than just being able to pass the “test.” Our ability to work and function in Ecuador would depend on how well we could communicate, requiring us to permanently retain and continue building on whatever we were able to absorb during the weeks of training.

The Playa Wire will be featuring several excerpts from Mr. Finnell's memoir during the 2011 year.

Students of the community activist group UNIDOS first entered into the school district boardroom carrying mega-phones and chanting: “Our education is under attack, what do we do? Fight back."

A few minutes later, ten more students suddenly ran up to the school board members’ seats and chained themselves together in the seats. One police officer tried to stop them, but was unable to. More students then unrolled a banner that read “UNIDOS Presents The Youth School Board.”

They protesters demanded that the educational program continue, education be placed under local control and that the state of Arizona end “anti-indigenous policies” the some say Governor Jan Brewer and State Republicans have been promoting under “immigration reform.”

The students also called for ethnic studies programs to expand from K-12 to university classes, an end to school turn-arounds, school closures and full support for the Rincon and Palo Verde high school communities.

The protesters also wanted a TUSD governing board that is accountable and will stand up for all students, equitable education for all, full compliance of civil and human rights and the resignations of Attorney General Tom Horne, State Superintendent John Huppenthal and Governor Jan Brewer.

About five minutes into the take over, TUSD Superintendent John Pedicone came outside with governing board members Michael Hicks, Judy Burns and Adelita Grijalva to address the crowd, but they were unable to because of the noise.

Police were on the scene, but stayed mostly outside and across the street from the TUSD headquarters. No arrests were made. Despite police presence, the protest was so successful that the school board was forced to cancel the vote and reschedule the meeting.

Toward the end of the demonstration, two students brought out a button-box accordion and a guitar and led the crowd in a few songs. It was a festive protest, which ended with the students declaring victory and picking up trash on their way out of the building.

“The Common Core State Standards Initiative took lessons from high-performing countries in developing these standards and set forth clear and ambitious benchmarks in literacy,” said Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia. “The standards are well designed to weave reading and writing skills throughout the fabric of other content areas such as history, social studies, and science.”

According to the brief, the adoption and implementation of the English language arts common core state standards establishes a “staircase” of increasing complexity in what students must be able to read and comprehend. The brief stresses that high school students’ ability to read and comprehend challenging text will predict their success in a postsecondary environment.

“Engineering Solutions to the National Crisis in Literacy” calls on state leaders to develop comprehensive, birth through grade twelve literacy plans that provide a systemic approach, equitable resources, and strong teacher training.

At the federal level, the Alliance brief urges policymakers to support the adoption of college- and career-readiness standards in English language arts and aligned assessments and to enhance the role of states in improving literacy instruction. It also calls on federal policymakers to support and invest in increasing the quality of teacher education and professional development and make investments in ongoing research and evaluation to build on the knowledge base about what literacy strategies can produce significant improvement in adolescents’ reading and writing performance.

The brief provides ample evidence on the extent of the literary crises. For example, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, American fifteen-year-olds currently rank fourteenth among developed nations in reading, lagging behind countries such as Poland, Estonia, and Iceland. In addition, it notes that private industries spend an estimated $3.1 billion annually to bolster literacy skills of entry-level workers.

The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a state-led effort to establish a single set of clear educational standards for K–12 English language arts and mathematics. The standards are designed to be informed by the highest benchmarks from across the country and around the globe, relevant to the real world, and reflect the skills and knowledge that students need for success in college and the modern workplace. Currently, forty-four states and Washington, DC have adopted the standards (Learn more on the common core state standards at all4ed.org/common-standards).

“Engineering Solutions to the National Crisis in Literacy” is available at http://www.all4ed.org/files/EngineeringSolutionsLiteracy.pdf.

Although a Constitutional amendment is a tall order, there’s a smart strategy our friends at Free Speech for People are organizing: going around the mess in Washington and taking our case to the states, which have an important role to play in amending the Constitution. There are already 8 state legislatures considering resolutions in support of a constitutional amendment and Free Speech for People is working to pass those and get more introduced.

That’s where you come in.

You can help Free Speech for People by calling your state legislators to ask them to support a state resolution on a constitutional amendment.

Can you take a minute to make a couple of quick calls now?

Just go to:

j.mp/STcalls

[ or ]

org2.democracyinaction.org

You can find your state legislators and call them for free with the online tool linked above, provided by our friends at Free Speech for People

This is a great, easy way to make a difference on one of the most important fights of our lifetime.

Thanks so much for all you do,

Annie, Michael, Christina, Renée and Allison (The Story of Stuff Team)

La Tuna Canyon photos by Camron Stone

This time around, I decided, I would not sit passively by and let it happen again without putting up more of a fight.  So I decided to go the hearing at the DPW to learn more and find out how we could come to a different conclusion.  And I have to say, it was a great lesson on so many levels.

First off, I realized it is nearly as negligent to simply pick up the picket sign and protest without taking the time to more fully understand the situation.  It is not enough to simply say ‘no.’  The problem is very real: After the Station Fire millions of cubic feet of sediment washed off the burned hills and flowed into the reservoirs.  The muck clogs up valves that release the water, the build up of sediment prevents infiltration into the aquifers, and the increase in sediment limits the amount of water that the reservoirs can contain.

Back in the day, various debris basins had been purchased by the County specifically to be used to dump the sediment as it built up.  But we are now decades later, and our environment more and more degraded, and we cannot continue using the existing solutions.

So this meeting was about looking beyond just the single project and instead developing a long term sediment management plan.  The hearing was about laying out the framework for developing the plan, and asking for public input.  They provided several presentations from DPW, Fish and Game, and Water Resources.  Then they asked the audience to review the factors being considered in selecting the debris basins: technical feasibility, cost, environment & social factors.

And I kept thinking about some of the things I learned in a permaculture class last year: ‘The problem is the solution.’  Or,’ it is so much easier to mitigate a problem when it is small rather than when it is barreling down on you at 100 miles an hour!’  So I think we need to look at a bigger question:  Is ‘dumping’ the sediment the solution at all?  Perhaps we need to consider a different paradigm all together?  Those mountains will be there for thousands of years, and the hills will continue to burn and the rain will continue fall.  So the solutions we develop need to be integrated and sustainable.

The next step in developing the plan is to form a task force comprised of various stakeholders both engineers and environmentalists (though some were surprised that no members of Sierra Club or the Native Plant Society had been invited to join).  Scoping meetings will also be held along the way to allow for public input as the plan evolves, and at least one EIR is in the works for one of the reservoirs.

La Tuna Canyon photos by Camron Stone

There is no magic solution to this problem, but I have to believe that we are all looking for a solution that works: one that solves the problem without having to sacrifice pristine woodlands and habitat to do it.

And I want to believe that the Department of Public Works is acting in good faith.  That they realize that plowing under that oak grove in Arcadia was an atrocious error.  One that cannot be repeated.

But even as I want to believe, I also realize that we often take the path of least resistance.  Would the DPW have sought any other solution if it hadn’t been for those citizens who spoke out and said ‘we won’t let that happen again?’  Those hundred or so folks there yesterday, representing hundreds more that are not going to sit idly by and let it happen again?

And so, we, as citizens, speaking not just for ourselves but for the voices of those who have none; we must step up and make sure that DPW doesn’t just slip one by again because we weren’t paying attention.  By not taking action, we are in fact giving our permission to proceed.

The following link takes you to some beautiful photos of what it is we are seeking to protect.

La Tuna Canyon Photos by Camron Stone

There is also a new organization Urban Wild that has been founded to help protect our habitat from becoming dumping grounds for the DPW. http://urbanwild.org/

And finally, let them know what you think.  Everyone has to answer to someone else.  contact your County Supervisors, and the DPW.

Tal designed English programs that bring together Jewish, Arab, and Bedouin students in the Amal Network, which includes 60 high schools. In Israel, students from different ethnicities generally attend different schools, so they are bused to one location for Tal’s programs. Book club and high-school debate teams, initiated by Tal, bring together students from the different sectors   – an unusual undertaking in Israel. Because all of her programs are conducted in English, rather than either Hebrew or Arabic, no group is favored, Tal explains. “It is about learning to look at the other as an equal. We are not black, we are not white. We are not Jewish, we are not Arab. We are human beings first.”

Tal points to the U.S. civil rights struggle as an inspiration. Her book club’s readings include Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech and excerpts from A Time to Kill by John Grisham. Students relate these readings to the tensions between Jews and Arabs in Israel and learn lessons in tolerance.  Originally, sponsored by the U.S. Embassy, the program now receives funding from additional sources in Israel and has grown to include ten schools.

In the debating program, Jewish and Arab students work together on mixed teams to debate subjects of concern in Israel. These programs could “set an example to leaders that students can debate and negotiate,” Tal says. “Jews and Arabs can work together and live together to make a Middle East without hatred and fear.” 

Since returning from her Humphrey year, Tal has begun collaboration with Empower Peace – an NGO dedicated to bridging cultural and communication divides between young people worldwide. In 2009, Tal attended the Women2Women conference together with one of her Bedouin students – this experience led to a new endeavor – a newsmagazine produced by Bedouin students addressing the empowerment of women.  Currently on the drawing board are plans for a joint program on the environment between an Amal school and an American school.

In addition to her work bringing students of different ethnicities together, Tal also focuses on teaching English to Arabs and Bedouins, who often come from Israel’s poorest communities. English opens a world of opportunities for them, says Prudence Steiner, former director of the Harvard Extension School Writing Program and Tal’s mentor during her Humphrey year. “When one is a member of a visible minority like the Arabs and Bedouins, it is easy to feel beleaguered and closed in on oneself. Rachel and her colleagues are giving them another language that will ultimately help them get jobs, and she is also introducing them to the world outside of Israel.”

Tal says her Humphrey year, which she spent at Boston University in 2006 -2007, informed her work in Israel. The classes she took at BU not only showed her new techniques in education, they also taught her how to get the funding to make her ideas a reality. “Think of yourself as an educational entrepreneur,” says Tal, whose programs have received financial support from the U.S. embassy in Israel and a variety of other organizations. “Just like any entrepreneur, you have an idea. You work on it, write a program, find out how much money you need and find sources for it.”

She adds, “The Humphrey experience provided an incredible opportunity for expanding horizons and personal growth.  Because of my Humphrey experience, I am determined to make a difference.”

On the one-year anniversary of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster and the Massey coal mine explosion in West Virginia, we are reminded how dangerous our dependence on fossil fuels can be. A large cost of our reliance on these energy sources is the death or injury of workers in these industries. Transitioning to cleaner energy technologies such as solar and wind is safer for workers as well as better for public health, economic competitiveness, and the environment. We can take steps to make fossil fuel industries less dangerous while we transition to cleaner energy.

The toll of fossil fuels on human health and the environment is well documented. But our dependence on fossil fuels exacts a very high price on the people who extract or process these fuels. Every year, some men and women who toil in our nation’s coal mines, natural gas fields, and oil rigs and refineries lose their lives or suffer from major injuries to provide the fossil fuels that drive our economy.

Take April 2010, for example, which proved to be a cruel month for workers in the fossil fuel industry. Twenty-nine coal miners lost their lives at the tragic Massey mine explosion in West Virginia, two miners perished at a western Kentucky mine accident, and 11 workers lost their lives from the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster.

Coal mining is a dangerous profession. Explosions, fires, and collapsed mine shafts have killed at least 3,827 miners since 1968—not to mention thousands of others who have suffered from pulmonary diseases and other work-related injuries.

To be sure, automated mining equipment and improved safety measures make mining considerably safer than it once was. The mining fatality rate has fallen 75 percent since 1970, while the injury rate is down by two-thirds since 1973. But it still remains one of America’s most dangerous professions, as the Massey explosion shows.

Oil workers also pay a huge price for our oil use. There have been 77 fatalities and 7,550 injuries at onshore and offshore oil production facilities since 1968 according to our review of Department of Labor data.

Spills related to these accidents totaled 7.5 million barrels of oil and caused billions of dollars of economic and environmental damage. This includes the BP disaster, which spewed 4.2 million barrels into the Gulf of Mexico and according to BP’s own estimate had cost $8 billion in damages by September 2010.

Natural gas, touted as a cleaner and safer alternative to coal and oil, has its perils, too. Natural gas pipeline accidents have resulted in 892 deaths and 6,258 injuries since 1970. According to the Detroit Free Press, there have been 2,554 significant oil and gas pipeline accidents nationwide that caused 161 deaths and 576 injuries in the past decade alone. The 110,700 miles of interstate and intrastate pipelines snaking across the United States makes “accelerating the rehabilitation, repair, and replacement of critical pipeline infrastructure with known integrity risks” crucial to citizen and worker safety.

Many fossil fuel work environments remain unsafe despite thousands of deaths and injuries. An explosion at the BP refinery in Texas City, Texas, in 2005 killed 15 workers and injured 180 others. Since 2003, there have been 20 deaths and 7,400 injuries at oil refineries. BLS records before that time are relatively inaccessible.

In the wake of the BP refinery tragedy, the Tony Mazzocchi Center for Health, Safety and Environmental Education, or TMC, conducted a worker safety survey of United Steelworkers-represented oil refineries. The findings were in a 2007 report on the “State of Process Safety in the Unionized U.S. Oil Refining Industry.”

The report found that nearly all of the surveyed facilities were vulnerable to similar disasters: “Ninety percent of the 51 refineries reported the presence of at least one of the three targeted highly hazardous conditions.” The three targeted conditions used in the survey were the “use of atmospheric vents on process units, the siting of trailers and unprotected buildings near high risk process facilities, and the allowance of non-essential personnel in high risk areas.”

But oil refineries, coal mines, and other fossil fuel industries that are chronically out of compliance with health and safety standards cannot be held properly accountable without consistent, up-to-date information about employee fatality, injury, and illness rates. After passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, or BLS, became responsible for collecting data on occupational injuries and illnesses.

Nonetheless, our attempt to gather and compile complete, accurate information for this assessment was difficult because BLS and other agency records were incomplete. This is not an isolated experience, either. A 2006 study by Michigan State University found that the BLS and the OSHA Integrated Management Information System, a national “consolidated database system for collecting, manipulating, maintaining and retrieving” employment-related data, “did not include 61%--and with capture–recapture analysis up to 68 percent of the work-related injuries and illnesses that occurred annually in Michigan [alone].”

We therefore recommend that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, review its Health and Safety Statistics program to establish best practices for record keeping, determine areas for improvement, and consequently update its database.

OSHA can look to “Governing by the Numbers,” a 2007 CAP report that assesses the promise and challenges of “data-driven policy making in the information age,” to increase the comprehensiveness and accessibility of its information about fossil fuel industry fatalities and injuries. The report makes three critical recommendations that OSHA and other agencies should adopt:

• Close gaps in knowledge by harnessing new technologies to collect, analyze and disseminate key data.
• Focus on results by setting quantitative, outcome-focused goals, measuring policy performance, and comparing results among peers.
• Develop systems to ensure data are used to guide policy priorities and solutions.

Accurate data and thorough analysis is impossible, however, without sufficient funding. OSHA received $35 million in the fiscal year 2010 enacted budget to collect and evaluate workplace Safety and Health Statistics. In the newly enacted FY 2011 continuing resolution, $34.9 million was cut, deleting funds for the rest of the fiscal year. Overall, the CR reduced OSHA’s total budget by $99 million, an 18 percent cut. This includes cuts in federal and state enforcement of workplace safety standards.

To protect fossil fuel and other workers from death and injury, OSHA must have the resources it needs to set and enforce standards and provide compliance assistance and training to aid risky workplaces. More funds for more frequent inspections of fossil fuel and other very hazardous workplaces are also essential. This would increase protection for the men and women in these dangerous fossil fuel industries.

Labor unions also played an essential role to ensure worker safety beginning with the horrible Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in 1911. But successful business efforts to shrink or neuter unions over the past 30 years leave employees more vulnerable to a dangerous workplace.

The Center for Progressive Reform noted last year that “the decreasing power of unions to organize and press employers to implement strong health and safety programs” puts oil, refinery, coal, and natural gas employees at risk. With fewer or weaker union officials, workers in these industries must rely more on an underfunded OSHA to set and enforce protection standards that dramatically reduce the occupational hazards they encounter in their daily work.

Finally, the United States must make significant investments in energy efficiency and clean, noncombustible renewable energy sources. These decentralized, less-complex power producers, such as solar panels and wind farms, are much less susceptible to large, catastrophic disasters such as the Massey and BP Deepwater Horizon tragedies. Many of the professions in fossil fuel industries—including manufacturing, plumbing, electrician, and construction—are easily transferable to the clean-tech sector.

No workplace can ever be risk free. But efficiency and renewable energy technologies promise fewer worker injuries, illnesses, and deaths while generating power more cleanly and protecting public health. Let the transition begin. In the meantime we should adequately fund OSHA, push for comprehensive, centralized data collection and analysis to hold fossil fuel industries accountable, and strengthen unions. All these steps would go a long way toward protecting fossil fuel workers.

Through examples including test scores, tax code and equal opportunity laws, Jennings provides evidence that the government has played an essential role in the development of public schools – consistent with the founding fathers’ vision – and that this role is vital to the continued success of the country.
 

The full text of this paper can be found at: cep-dc.org/cfcontent_file.cfm.pdf

The homepage for the Center on Education Policy can be found at: cep-dc.org

To date, nearly 2,200 ShelterBoxes have been committed to the people of Japan as they begin to rebuild their lives, and more than 10,000 of ShelterBox’s winter gloves, scarves and hats are being sent as the freezing conditions continue.

Families in Japan say "Arigato" (thank you) to ShelterBox and supporters around the world. Click here to read the full story, and go to www.shelterboxusa.org for the latest updates.     Scouts in Japan assist ShelterBox in distributing aid to tsunami victims Scouts and leaders from Scout Troop #1 in Natori, Japan met with members of the ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) that was operating in the tsunami-ravaged area around Natori, in the Miyagi Prefecture.   Click here to read more.   Sensational support for ShelterBox   In the past weeks, ShelterBox supporters around the nation have gone to extraordinary lengths to raise funds for our disaster relief work. Below are just some of the fundraising efforts from our supporters.   100 artists compile 100 "Songs of Love for Japan" (SOLFJ), a three-day, 72-hour flash sale of great music to benefit ShelterBox. You can get a compilation of 100 rare and unique songs donated from 100 leading artists, now through April 21, 10 a.m. EDT!   Bloggers, Utterly Engaged and Ever Ours launched a campaign, For Japan with Love, to raise more than $66,000.  Seven year-old Sage sold her gently used toys and books along with clay sculptures to raise awareness and funds for ShelterBox. Acclaimed author, Maureen Johnson, raised $30,000 through her followers on social networking site, Twitter. Iconic rock band Sonic Youth are auctioning guitars, guitar cases and drum heads on eBay to raise money for us. Every donation we receive will make a huge difference to the lives of families who lose everything when disasters strike. Thank you for your support!   Get involved to make a difference - Start planning now for Big Green Box Week    Our annual fundraising and awareness week is coming June 11-18, 2011 and promises to bigger and better than ever. It's time to start thinking green. What will you do to help spread the word about providing shelter, warmth and dignity to families displaced by disasters around the world? Click here for ideas. Click on each tab below to learn more about other ways to help.   Become a ShelterBox volunteer - help raise awareness and funds Become a ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) member - trained volunteers who deliver aid to families in need.  Start your own personal fundraising page to raise awareness and funds - share via your social media networks. Support ShelterBox USA with every purchase you make Apply for the ShelterBox USA VISA® card and show your support with every purchase you make. This Visa Platinum credit card makes it easier than ever to support our cause. Add in a low introductory rate, no annual fee, no foreign transaction fees and your choice of card designs and you've got a great way to give back. Learn more.

There was a general consensus that technology can accomplish educational progression, but at the same time acknowledgement that we should monitor its effect to ensure we use resources effectively to garner the greatest effects. We are in an age of opportunities in which we are able to have scalable impacts designed to be effective, efficient and relative.

UoPeople received a great welcome and outstanding support at the event.

It is clear by now, not only to us, that we are doing the right thing at the right time with UoPeople. I would like to take the opportunity to thank all of our supporters around the world, and particularly those at Harvard University.

In the Reading Club Project, pupils from the two schools read a story in English in class and at home. Then the two classes meet and discuss the story and perform tasks. This is done with the help of English teacher who also work with the students.

In the Debate Project, Arab and Jewish students are taught how to debate in English about hot and current topics. This is done in each school separately through the help of expert debaters. A team is chosen from each school and all the teams from both sectors work together and prepare for the final event. In the final event, one-on-one debates, or public speeches, are given by pupils. A debate, or two, is presented in front of an audience from the two sectors, and distinguished guests.

The Negotiation Project aims at teaching Arab and Jewish students negotiation skills. The project has two main sessions. The Arab school hosts the first session and the Jewish school hosts the second. A team of professional negotiators conducts these sessions; Shula Gilad, from Harvard Law School, and her team of Facilitators, conducts this particular workshop. Students from both schools are very excited and motivated to meet and learn negotiation from a notable member of the Harvard Faculty.

Arab and Jewish teenagers have a lot in common, including language.  The projects outlined above give these kids an ample opportunity to share and care, and maybe plan a better future.

Today, I'm hungry not because I have to be, but because Congress is trying to make it even harder for the poor women and men who don't have that choice. Ambassador and former Congressman Tony Hall and I co-launched this fast, and we are joined by religious and social leaders who are equally appalled that Congress is considering cutting poverty-focused international assistance by almost half.

Be part of the movement.  Join me as I fast to oppose deadly budget cuts. Get started with these 3 simple steps.

1. Read my fasting tips to learn how to begin.



2. Kick off your fast by taking a picture of yourself with an empty pot or pan.



3. Share your photo and story of why you're fasting on Facebook, Twitter (tweet @WomenThrive and use hashtag #hungerfast), or email them to thrive@womenthrive.org.

Poverty-focused international assistance is less than one percent of the federal budget. Slashing these programs would do nothing to fix the deficit and would be particularly devastating for women.  Doing that now, when world food prices are at all-time highs and there are more hungry people worldwide than ever before, is unconscionable. Call your Representatives today and tell them not to balance the budget on the backs of the poor.

I have tried each year for the past three years to live overseas on a dollar a day to experience a little of what the world's poorest women endure.  First in Nicaragua, then Guatemala and most recently in Burkina Faso. As I experienced firsthand, a dollar in most places buys barely enough in the market to feed one person, let alone a family.

Commit to fast and then share your experience with us!

Whatever you can do, whether a liquid diet for a week or one day, or even just skipping lunch, shows solidarity with hungry women all over the world and gives a voice to the voiceless.  If we show we care enough to go hungry ourselves, Congress has to listen.

We aim to equip young people for decent and creative lives in a post-cheap-fossil fuel economy. The Project, now two years in the making, is organized around ten community teams working on strategic issues such as energy, public policy, finance, community, economic development, and education. We aim to develop what Patrick Doherty of the New America Foundation has called “full-spectrum sustainability” in which the parts reinforce the resilience and prosperity of the entire community. In plain words, that means lots of meetings between different teams and stakeholders because applied sustainability crosses virtually all of the fences and walls by which we organized the industrial world.

Like light refracted through a crystal, the Project appears differently from different vantage points. For Oberlin students it means a cool 24/7 downtown. To College faculty it means better facilities. To the local merchants it means more business and higher profits. To public officials it is a model of climate neutral economic revitalization in a region devastated by de-industrialization.

To architects and urban planners, it is a model of ecological design at the scale of a small city. To educators it is a model of applied pedagogy and hands-on learning. Over the past year I’ve come to believe that it is also a model of planning and development that will be necessary everywhere for reasons of security broadly defined (Matthews, 1989; Mykleby and Orr, 2010).

Local security by which I mean safety and access to food, water, energy, shelter, health, and livelihood was once assumed to be synonymous with our national capacity to project military power beyond our shores and borders.

As such, security had little or nothing to do with how we design, manage, and maintain the environmental and energy infrastructure of the country or with the protection of its air, waters, soils, landscapes, biological diversity, and public health. But security in the 21st century will be a far more complicated and difficult challenge. In addition to traditional security challenges, we must now reckon with:

    * terrorist threats to critical infrastructure notably the electric grid (2007 Defense Science Board);
    * food shortages, water scarcity, and expensive oil by 2030 or sooner and described by the chief science advisor to the British government, John Beddington, (2009) as a “perfect global storm;”
    * the implications of rapid climate destabilization including mass migrations estimated to reach 250 million by mid-century. The massive heat wave of 2010 in central Russia, record heat in Asia, unprecedented flooding in Pakistan, and the largest cyclone in Australian history (February, 2011) are consistent with projections by most climate scientists and likely portents of what’s ahead for all of us; and
    * what risk analyst Nassim Taleb defines as “black swans,” increasingly frequent low probability/high global consequence events such as the financial crisis of 2008, or technological accidents, infrastructure failures, and acts of God.

The upshot, in Joshua Cooper Ramo’s words, is that “we must squarely face the awful fact that our security will become ever more perilous.” (2009, p. 97)

We must also face the fact that no government on its own can protect its people in a black swan world or from the growing impacts of climate destabilization and the economic, political, and social turmoil likely to accompany the transition to a post-fossil fuel world. The upshot is that citizens, neighborhoods, communities, towns, cities, regions, and corporations will have to do far more to ensure reliable access to food, energy, clean water, shelter, and economic development in the decades ahead.

We are reaching the political, organizational, and ecological limits of large scale enterprises whether governmental or corporate to be the sole-source providers for a largely passive and dependent public. This is not to argue against Federal policy changes to promote sustainable development, reform the tax system, deploy clean energy, and improve public transportation—things that can best be done or only done by the Federal government. But the reality is that communities will have to carry much more of the burden than heretofore. National security and local security, in other words, are now joined as a part of a larger narrative in which considerations of security, climate policy, and sustainable development must be joined.

Sustainability, in short, must be the domestic and strategic imperative for the 21st century. Its chief characteristic is resilience—a concept long familiar to engineers, mathematicians, ecologists, designers, and military planners—which means the capacity of the system to “absorb disturbance; to undergo change and still retain essentially the same function, structure, and feedbacks” (Walker and Salt, 2006, p. 32; Lovins and Lovins, 1983, chapter 13; Lovins, 2002).

Resilient systems are characterized by redundancy so that failure of any one component does not cause the entire system to crash. They consist of diverse components that are easily repairable, widely distributed, cheap, locally supplied, durable, and loosely coupled. In Joshua Ramo’s words: “studies of food webs or trade networks, electrical systems and stock markets, find that as they become more densely linked they also become less resilient; networks, after all, propagate and even amplify disturbances” (Ramo, 198).

In practical terms, resilience is a design strategy that aims to reduce vulnerabilities often by shortening supply lines, improving redundancy in critical areas, bolstering local capacity, and solving for a deeper pattern of dependence and disability. The less resilient the country, the more military power is needed to protect its far-flung interests and client states hence the greater the likelihood of wars fought for oil, water, food, and materials. But resilient societies need not send their young to fight and die in far-away battlefields because they lack wit, foresight, and design intelligence nor do they need to heat themselves into oblivion.  

While we have become more vulnerable to a wide range of threats, a revolution in the design of resilient systems has been quietly building momentum for nearly half a century. It includes dramatic changes in:

    * architecture eg. buildings and communities powered entirely by efficiency and renewable energy;
    * waste management in which all wastes are purified by natural processes;
    * agriculture that mimics natural systems;
    * renewable energy technologies;
    * advances in energy efficiency;
    * cradle to cradle and biomimetic production systems that create no waste;
    * urban planning and smart growth strategies that build ecologically coherent cities; and
    * tools for systems analysis that improve foresight, organizational learning, and policy integration.

These and other advances in science, technology, and policy are the tools and technologies for a society that is more secure by design hence more resilient in the face of disruptions whether by malice, climate change, accidents, human error, or acts of God. They are the necessary foundation for policies that are less provocative to other nations and less likely to engender global conflicts while:

    * Reducing balance of payments deficits for imported oil aiming to;
    * Eliminating our dependence on politically unstable regions;
    * Cutting military costs associated with oil dependence;
    * Eliminating our carbon emissions;
    * Equipping the next generation for lives and livelihoods in economies and societies calibrated to work with natural systems;
    * Increasing our prosperity by creating employment and business in sustainable enterprises; and
    * Improving the capacity of communities and regions to withstand effects of climate destabilization and new threats to critical infrastructure as well as global economic turmoil.

Said differently, national security is too important to be left solely to the generals, defense contractors, and politicians in Washington. It will be necessary for neighborhoods, communities, towns, cities, and regions to improve their resilience and security by their own initiative and foresight. The Oberlin Project is one example, but there are many others at different scales and in different regions.

We have begun to join many of these in a “national security network of sustainability sites, cities, and projects” which aims to improve local and regional resilience to plausible future circumstances. Remove the word “national” and imagine a global network of transition towns (Hopkins, 2007), cities, regions, and organizations—a solar powered renaissance of local capability, independence, culture, and security in the full sense. Imagine a world, someday, where no child need fear violence, hunger, thirst, poverty, ignorance, homelessness, or heat and storms beyond imagining.


Sources

Alterman, Eric. Kubuki Democracy, New York: Nation books, 2011.

Balint, Peter, et. al., Wicked Environmental Problems. Washington: Island Press, 2011.

Burnell, Peter. Climate Change and Democratization: A Complex Relationship. (2009) Berlin: Heinrich Böll Foundation.

Dyer, Gwynne, Climate Wars. Oxford: One World, 2010.

Hamilton, Clive. Requiem for a Species. London: Earthscan, 2010.

Hansen, James, Storms of my Grandchildren. New York: Bloomsbury, 2009.

Hopkins, Rob. The Transition Handbook. White River Jct: Chelsea Green, 2008.

Lovins, Amory. Small is Profitable. Snowmass: Rocky Mountain Institute. 2002.

Lovins, Amory, Lovins, Hunter. Brittle Power. Andover: Brick House, 1982.

Matthews, Jessica Tuchman, “Redefining Security,” Foreign Affairs, (Spring, 1989).

McKibben, Bill. Eaarth. New York: Times Books, 2010.

Oreskes, Naomi and Conway, Erik. Merchants of Doubt. New York: Bloomsbury, 2010.

Orr, David, Mykleby, Mark, “A National Security Network,” unpublished paper (2010)

Joshua Cooper Ramo, The Age of the Unthinkable. New York: Back Bay Books, 2010.

Taleb, Nassim Nicholas, The Black Swan. New York: Random House, 2010.

The President’s Climate Action Project. (November 2008: January, 2011) www.climateactionproject.com

Walker, Brian, Salt, David. Resilience Thinking. Washington: Island Press, 2006

Weart, Spencer, “Global Warming: How Skepticism became denial,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. (January, 2011) 67(1) pp. 41-50.

America is suffering from another oil price shock less than three years after prices hit a record of $147 per barrel in July 2008. Over the past month oil prices rose by over $20 per barrel, or more than 25 percent. This price hike reflects political instability in many oil-producing Persian Gulf nations. And Wall Street speculators have preyed upon oil users’ fears about supply interruptions to bid up the price to over $100 per barrel.

As the price of oil climbs, so too does the price for gasoline. Every $10-per-barrel increase in oil prices boosts gasoline prices by 25 cents per gallon. Many Americans do not have the option to significantly reduce their driving or easily buy more fuel-efficient new cars, so they spend more on gasoline and less on other goods and services.

This slows our nation’s still shaky economic recovery and disrupts job growth. Meanwhile, our economy ships off nearly a $1 billion per day to other nations to purchase foreign oil. And higher prices due to instability and speculation inflate the profits of big oil companies while Americans’ wages remain stagnant.

It’s time to get control of volatile oil prices that are hurting our economy, our security, and the everyday budgets of American families. These measures are crucial for longterm economic growth, more jobs, and less dependence on foreign oil. They work together to reduce imports and save money.

We propose a bold “Cleaner Cars, Less Foreign Oil” plan that has four crucial elements.

• Cut foreign oil use by 5 percent annually to slash these imports in half by 2022. Importing foreign oil sends $1 billion per day to other countries instead of investing these dollars at home. Foreign oil purchases are nearly half of our trade deficit.

 

• Invest in 21st century clean, efficient vehicles and transportation. We need to build 21st century cars that get 60 miles per gallon by 2025, trucks with a 15 percent improvement in fuel economy, and invest in electric cars. And we need to modernize our transportation infrastructure by providing more transportation choices to consumers. The domestic manufacture of these cars and trucks of the future alongside a 21st century transportation network will dramatically cut oil use, save vehicle owners thousands of dollars, create jobs, and restore America’s manufacturing might.

 

• End tax loopholes for big oil. End billions of dollars of tax giveaways to big oil companies. Use these funds to support transportation choices and deficit reduction. Recover one cent of every dollar of Big Oil profits to invest in advanced vehicle technologies, such as cars with double the fuel economy, electric cars, and natural gas powered buses.

 

• Stop speculators from driving up oil prices. Prohibit Wall Street speculators from driving up oil prices by hiring more “cops on the beat” at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to police oil trades. There is evidence that speculators are driving up oil prices to make a quick buck, just as there were during the record oil and gasoline prices in 2008.

President Barack Obama and Congress must act to make fundamental changes in our energy policies. These systemic changes we recommend will enable us to finally shed the chains of oil dependence after 40 years of imports, high prices, stagnant growth, and pollution. But we must act now.

Chef in the Classroom is presented by Healthy Schools Campaign and the Office of Minority Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in partnership with Purple Asparagus, Real Men Cook, Seven Generations Ahead and the USDA. It is a program of Go for the Gold, a citywide effort to support schools in meeting the high standards for food, physical activity and nutrition education set by the HealthierUS School Challenge, the program First Lady Michelle Obama is urging schools to take on. In particular, Chef in the Classroom is a response to the Chefs Move to Schools initiative.

Questions? Contact Rosa Ramirez by email or at 312-419-1810.

 For the first time in our nation’s history, our children will have a shorter life expectancy than their parents due to poor nutrition and lifestyle habits. The epidemic of childhood obesity—and yes it truly is an epidemic—has grabbed the attention of doctors, educators, policymakers, The First Lady, and of course, Chef Jamie Oliver. Jamie recently moved his family to Los Angeles on a quest to improve the eating habits of children and adults here in Southern California.

Despite our reputation for beach bodies and fresh veggies, California’s rate of childhood obesity is no lower than the national average, and Los Angeles County ranks 6^th among the highest obesity rates for the state. At GrowingGreat, we’re working hard to change these statistics.

GrowingGreat is a nonprofit school garden and nutrition education organization that is dedicated to inspiring children and adults to adopt healthy eating habits. We work with schools to plant and grow gardens, design and teach classroom lessons, and provide Harvest-of-the-Month tastings (fresh, seasonal produce).

Through these programs and community education events, GrowingGreat helps children and families understand where our food comes from, appreciate how food serves a purpose and impacts our longevity and well-being. We don’t tell people that any food is “good” or “bad.” Instead, our philosophy is to encourage people to eat a wide variety of whole foods that are close to their source and minimally processed.

Last month, GrowingGreat students at Clover Elementary School in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) participated in a light harvest of their school garden. The students picked lettuce, carrots, radishes, chard, snap peas and other vegetables—all of which they had planted themselves earlier in the school year. After the harvest, the students washed the vegetables they had grown and held a classroom “salad party” where we overheard one student announce: “I didn’t know I liked radishes!” We’re glad to be the reason he knows now.

This week, our volunteer GrowingGreat docents taught a nutrition lesson called “Start Your Engines: High-quality Breakfasts.” Students in our programs measured the amount of sugars in common breakfast cereals versus healthier alternatives. The students were shocked to see that the amount of sugar in one bowl of cereal filled up a standard mason jar.

GrowingGreat currently serves 9,000 students in Los Angeles County, operating in 25 schools in 8 school districts. Our curriculum is also implemented in 3 schools in Marin City, California, 5 schools in Ojai, California and 12 schools in Oa’hu, Hawaii. This year, we launched a pilot program at one elementary school in Las Vegas, Nevada. Sixty five percent of the elementary schools we serve are considered Title 1 schools. 

GrowingGreat is at the heart of educational and nutritional change in Los Angeles and are increasing our reach to many other parts of the country. We’d love you to join us in our efforts. To donate, get involved, or learn more, please visit us online at growinggreat.org. We look forward to getting our hands dirty in the gardens with you.

In a word, everything.  From the tabletops reclaimed from old athletic bleachers to the recycled stoneware floor tiles to LED lighting and low VOC paints, we’ve designed this store – and the ones like it that will open later this spring in New York and San Francisco – to serve as a real-life example of how we’re working to reduce our environmental footprint and operate our business more responsibly and sustainably.

Despite the St. Paddy’s Day launch and the opportunity it gives us to cleverly (or not) play up the “green” aspects of our store, our commitment to environmental sustainability isn’t a marketing tactic … it’s as much a part of our heritage as Boston itself.  My grandfather started this business as the Abington Shoe Company on Camden Street, just blocks from where our new store is opening today.

I can remember my grandfather stopping to pick up sewing bobbins off the factory floor when I was a kid … as he would pick them up, he’d say, “there’s a penny … there’s a penny …” it wasn’t called recycling in his day, it was called frugality.  Make the best use that you can, for as long as you can, out of what you have – not in order to save the environment, but in order to save a buck.  Three generations later, here we are staring at reclaimed wood countertops and marveling at the shiny new LED light fixtures.  Same value, different outcomes.

Some might argue that it would be cheaper and less complicated to design our new stores with less emphasis on the environmental and more focus on, I dunno, the actual products we’re trying to sell … but then they would be missing the point that businesses today should be doing both.  We don’t have to make a choice between creating beautiful, durable products that perform and operating our business in a way that’s mindful of the environment or our impact on it.  To the contrary — as an brand and a business that makes boots, shoes and gear for the outdoors, it’s in our best interest to help preserve it … and reduce our impact on it, any and every way we can. 

Just as every new store puts us more boldly on the map, every step we take to put our environmental values into action – from Earthkeepers products to stores designed with environmental consciousness and consideration – lends credence to the  notion that businesses can and should be a force for environmental good.

In the spirit of environmental responsibility, I can do without the dirty water (yech) … but otherwise, the Standells had it right.  Boston, you’re my home … and there’s no place I’d rather be celebrating heritage and values and all things green today.

According to an analysis prepared by House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY), more than fifty education programs would be cut under the House-passed bill. Specifically, the bill would cut Title I by nearly $700 million (4.8 percent); School Improvement Grants by $336.6 million; TRIO by $25 million; Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) by $19.8 million; and completely eliminate funding for Striving Readers ($250 million, in addition to a rescission of $189 million in previously appropriated funds), Small Learning Communities ($88 million), High School Graduation Initiative ($50 million), and Statewide Data Systems ($58.3 million). The bill would also reduce the maximum Pell Grant award from $4,860 to $4,015.

“This week, for the first time in many years, the People’s House was allowed to work its will—and the result was one of the largest spending cuts in American history,” said House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH). “Cutting federal spending is critical to reducing economic uncertainty, encouraging private-sector investment, and creating a better environment for job creation in our country. We will not stop here in our efforts to cut spending, not when we’re broke and Washington’s spending binge is making it harder to create jobs.”

Prior to the House’s passage of the bill, the Obama administration issued a statement strongly opposing the bill. “The administration does not support deep cuts that will undermine our ability to out-educate, out-build, and out-innovate the rest of the world,” the statement read. “The bill proposes cuts that would sharply undermine core government functions and investments key to economic growth and job creation, and would reduce funding for the Department of Defense to a level that would leave the department without the resources and flexibility needed to meet vital military requirements.”

The Senate is currently in recess but is expected to take up its version of the spending bill during the first week of March. Senate Democrats have also made clear their opposition to the bill, preferring to keep spending at FY 2010 levels for the remainder of FY 2011. That puts their spending target roughly $60 billion apart from that of Republicans in the House. The current continuing resolution (CR) is funding the government and due to expire on March 4. With that deadline looming, something will have to happen fast. One possible answer is another short-term CR that will keep the government running until House Republicans and Senate Democrats come to an agreement on a long-term solution. The other answer is to shut down the federal government.

At a news conference on February 17, Boehner appeared to be drawing a line in the sand. “I am not going to move any kind of short-term CR at current levels,” he said. “When we say we’re going to cut spending, read my lips: We’re going to cut spending.”

Appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on February 20, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) suggested that one option would be to enact a short-term extension with spending cuts that would allow the two parties to negotiate a solution. “We don’t want to accept these extremely high elevated levels and so we’re going to have to start negotiating on these things not just with the Senate but also with the president,” Ryan said. “We’re not looking for a government shutdown. And I think we’ll have some negotiations with short-term extensions with spending cuts in the interim.” (Watch video from the program).

Also on “Face the Nation,” Representative Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, acknowledged the need to get the deficit under control, but he warned against the deep spending cuts contained in the House bill. “The question we’ve posed is, are you going to be reckless about this, or you are going to be responsible about this?” Van Hollen said. “The bipartisan commission on fiscal responsibility specifically warned against deep, immediate cuts in the year 2011. Why? Because it would hurt a fragile economy and put people out of work.”
 

OBAMA RELEASES FY 2012 BUDGET: U.S. Department of Education Slated to Receive 4.6 Percent Increase in Funding

Released on February 14, President Obama’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 budget proposes spending $48.8 billion in discretionary funds for the U.S. Department of Education, a 4.6 percent increase over FY 2010.1

The increase for the Department of Education represents a sharp contrast to the funding cuts that Obama proposes for many other federal agencies. For example, the U.S. Department of Labor would receive a 27.2 percent cut compared to FY 2010 in the president’s budget; the U.S. Departments of Housing and Urban Development and Commerce would also receive significant cuts in funding—15.5 percent and 13.9 percent respectively.

In a speech at Parkville Middle School and Center for Technology in Baltimore, Maryland, where he officially released his FY 2012 budget, Obama explained his rationale for increasing funding for education programs.

“While it’s absolutely essential to live within our means, while we are absolutely committed to working with Democrats and Republicans to find further savings and to look at the whole range of budget issues, we can’t sacrifice our future in the process,” Obama said. “Even as we cut out things that we can afford to do without, we have a responsibility to invest in those areas that will have the biggest impact in our future—and that’s especially true when it comes to education.”

The budget includes a $300 million increase for Title I and a $250 million increase for special education. It also provides $900 million for another round of Race to the Top grants. This year, however, only school districts, not states, would be eligible to participate in the competition.

Obama proposes $300 million for additional Investing in Innovation (I3) grants, $350 million for a new early education program, and $100 million—an increase of $41.7 million—for Statewide Data Systems. Most of the funding awarded under the Statewide Data Systems program would help states continue to expand and improve their data systems, including linkages between elementary, secondary, postsecondary, and workforce data systems.

For the School Turnaround Grants program, currently known as School Improvement Grants, Obama proposes $600 million, an increase of $54 million, or 10 percent. Under the proposal, states would make competitive grants to school districts to support rigorous turnaround efforts in the lowest-performing schools.

In a statement, Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia, credited the president for recommending additional investments in education during a “tough budget climate,” but said these investments need to be paired with a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, currently known as No Child Left Behind. “These new investments must be targeted where they are most needed and will be most effective; this is best done by a reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act,” said Wise. “I ask President Obama and the U.S. Congress to work as fast as possible on an agreement to reauthorize the law. It’s the best step for our children and our economy.”

House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN) noted that the nation has increased its investment in education for forty-five years, but it has not seen a return on that investment in the form of improved student achievement. “Throwing more money at our nation’s broken education system ignores reality and does a disservice to students and taxpayers,” Kline said. “It is time we asked why increasing the federal government’s role in education has failed to improve student achievement. I look forward to charting a new course in education that ensures Washington doesn’t stand in the way of meaningful state and local reforms.”

Obama’s budget proposes to eliminate thirteen programs while consolidating an additional thirty-eight programs into eleven. “We are cutting where we can to invest where we must,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. “These are challenging times, but we can’t delay investments that will secure our future. We must educate our way to a better economy by investing responsibly, advancing reform, and demanding results.”

The thirteen programs slated for elimination received a combined $146.8 million in FY 2010 and include Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnerships (LEAP) ($63.9 million), Byrd Honors Scholarships ($42 million), and Exchanges with Historic Whaling and Trading Partners ($8.8 million).

Among the programs to be consolidated are the Striving Readers program, which received $200 million in FY 2010, and the National Writing Project, which received $25.6 million in FY 2010. These two programs would be consolidated under “Effective Teaching and Learning: Literacy,” which would receive $383.3 million under the president’s proposal. This new program would also absorb programs such as Even Start ($66.5 million in FY 2010), Literacy Through School Libraries ($19.1 million), Reading is Fundamental ($24.8 million), and Ready-to-Learn Television ($27.3 million).

Other programs to be consolidated include the High School Graduation Initiative ($50 million in FY 2010), Smaller Learning Communities program ($88 million), and Teacher Incentive Fund ($400 million).

The president also proposes to cut $265 million, or 21 percent, from the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act. “Career education is vitally important to America’s future, but we need to strengthen and reform our programs before expanding them,” Duncan said.

Additional information on the president’s budget proposal for the U.S. Department of Education, including funding totals for every program, is available at this link.  Congressional negotiations on the FY 2011 budget are ongoing.

THE 7TH ANNUAL AP® REPORT TO THE NATION: Minority Students Still Underrepresented in AP Classrooms and Success Stories

The 7th Annual AP® Report to the Nation finds that although the overall number of high school graduates participating and succeeding in the Advanced Placement (AP) exam has increased, minority students are still underrepresented in both AP classrooms and within the group performing well. The College Board defines a successful AP experience as scoring a 3 or higher on a testing scale of 1 to 5.

“Students and educators routinely attest that exposure to AP’s high standards helps prepare students for success in college,” said Trevor Packer, vice president of the AP program for the College Board. “However, the likelihood of college success is significantly higher for AP students who score 3 or better. Accordingly, simply expanding AP course enrollments is not enough—this year’s report provides additional data points on exam performance that can help each state take a closer look at how well they are preparing all of their students, during the middle school and high school years, for the rigors of college-level course work.”

In 2010, a total of 853,314 seniors leaving high school reported taking an AP exam. According to the study, 508,818 of those students had a successful experience, which is nearly double the amount of students from the class of 2001. The number of minority students performing well has also doubled since 2001, with 11,911 more African American students, 41,000 more Hispanic students, and 1,207 more Indian/Alaska Native students scoring a 3 or higher. The number of low-income graduates with scores of 3 or higher has increased from 53,662 in 2006 to 84,135 in 2010.

Despite these improvements, the demographics of AP student participation and success are still far from mirroring the demographics of the overall student population. As the chart to the right shows, African American students represent 14.6 percent of the national student population, but they only represent 8.6 percent of the AP examinee population.

The report compares the demographics of a state with the demographics of a state’s successful AP student population to determine how well each state is preparing its students to succeed. This analysis shows that fourteen states have successfully eliminated the equity and excellence gap for Hispanic/Latino students, sixteen states have closed the gap for American Indian/Alaska Native students, and two states have closed the gap for African American students. However, the report notes that none of the states with substantial student populations in these demographics have eliminated these gaps.

Report to the Nation also provides state-by-state percentages of students in a graduating class who scored a 3 or higher. For the third year in a row, Maryland ranked first in the nation with 26.4 percent of its students performing successfully. New York (24.6 percent) and Virginia (23.7 percent) followed closely behind. On the other end of the spectrum are Mississippi (4.4 percent), Louisiana (4.6 percent), and North Dakota (6.8 percent). A number of states have made notable progress in the past five years; for example, Vermont experienced a 6 percent increase in the number of seniors scoring a 3 or higher on an AP exam during high school.

In order to expand AP participation and improve testing performance, the College Board recommends that states (1) enroll more willing and academically prepared students in AP classes, (2) hone existing practices to help an even greater proportion of college-bound students achieve success in AP, (3) increase access to and preparation for AP, and (4) build on successes in participation and ensure that more students are prepared for the rigors of AP. The report uses these four components to rate how well each state is currently providing students with AP opportunities and experiences. To read the full report, visit this ink.
 

STATE OF THE STATES: Governors Prioritize International Competitiveness, Innovation, Graduation Rates, and Vocational Education

North Carolina: Perdue Calls for Investing in Education

North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue (D) delivered her state of the state address on February 14, joking that some people had accused her of ruining Valentine’s Day for their significant other. During her speech, she stressed the importance of education in preparing students to compete with their international peers in today’s global economy.

Reflecting on a recent trip to China, the governor said, “I went into classrooms where children were studying concepts far in advance of American children of similar ages. They demand more work out of their kids. They require more involvement from parents. They expect no less than excellence from their students and teachers and parents and schools. Education in China is a major part of the reason their workers are global competitors.”

Although the state is facing a $2.4 billion deficit, the governor called for investing in education and promised that her proposed budget would fund every current state-supported teacher and teaching assistant position. In an effort to move more students through the education pipeline, she proposed a scholarship program that would allow qualifying high school juniors to earn a two-year college degree at no cost.

Perdue took pride in the state’s virtual public school and its enrollment of 46,000 students. She also spoke highly of the “Career and College—Ready, Set, Go!” initiative and explained how it had played an important role in securing $400 million from the federal Race to the Top competition.

Oklahoma: Fallin Supports Public-Private Partnership to Spur Innovation

“There is nothing more important to our future and our long-term prosperity than education,” said Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin (R), during her state of the state address on February 7. “It is the cornerstone of a prosperous society.”

During her speech, the governor talked at length about education and discussed her work with the state superintendent to develop a public-private partnership where private money would match state dollars to fund innovative learning programs designed to enhance student performance and close achievement gaps.

Fallin asked the legislature to send her a bill eliminating “trial de novo,” a practice that guarantees tenured teachers the right to appeal a school board’s termination to the district court for a new trial. In the midst of tough budget times, the governor recommended that schools restructure their budgets with the goal of sending more money directly to the classrooms and less to overhead and administrative costs. She also expressed her support for using more electronic textbooks, reducing remediation rates, and developing more sophisticated student-tracking databases.

Texas: Perry Concentrates on Improving High School Graduation Rate

During his state of the state address on February 8, Texas Governor Rick Perry (R) called for a number of initiatives aimed at improving Texas’s high school and college graduation rates. He suggested requiring high school enrollment as a prerequisite to allowing students to get their driver’s license. The governor also recommended offering employers a $1,500 tax incentive for every employee who earns their diploma or GED after being granted two hours a week of paid leave to study or go to class. For colleges and universities, he suggested implementing outcomes-based funding, which is a funding stream based on the number of degrees an institution awards.

The governor focused on expanding Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) academies and the state’s Virtual School Network, in particular adding high school classes so that students across the state would have access to courses their schools might not offer. Perry challenged Texas’s institutions of higher education to develop bachelor’s degrees that cost no more than $10,000, including textbooks.

“Let’s leverage web-based instruction, innovative teaching techniques, and aggressive efficiency measures to reach that goal,” Perry said. “Imagine the potential impact on affordability and graduation rates, and the number of skilled workers it would send into our economy.”

He thanked policymakers for their leadership in increasing accountability in schools, saying, “The quality of education in our state is getting better and better preparing hardworking Texans to apply their legendary work ethic and provide for their families.”

Perry pointed out that the state’s share of public education spending had increased by 82 percent over the past decade, from $11 billion to $20 billion in 2009. However, he called for school districts to reduce their expenses in these tight budgetary times.

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“It provides a persuasive vision of the markets that are likely to present the greatest challenges, and the technologies and business models that have the greatest potential, in a world of escalating environmental and social problems.”

With concerns about global food security, we appreciate Crooks calling attention to two of the main inputs – water and cultivable land – which are becoming scarce. He writes, “Brown suggests that as well as nearing “peak oil” – the point at which global oil supplies can no longer be increased, and start to decline – we may also be approaching “peak water”.

“With 219,000 people being added to the world population every day, that will mean higher and increasingly volatile prices for water and food, and heightened international tensions over those issues. It will also create an urgent demand for new ideas for water supply, and improved productivity of water use.”

Crooks also notes that Lester provides solutions. “Like others in the new generation of “green business” book authors, he highlights the importance of raising energy efficiency: the one action companies can take that is just about guaranteed to improve the bottom line as well as helping the planet.”

“Trust in energy efficiency as a solution to environmental problems,” notes Crooks, “has come under attack recently because of what are known as “rebound effects”: if energy is used more efficiently, then its productivity increases, so businesses tend to use more of it. That only really applies if the price of energy remains constant, however, and in today’s world that seems unlikely. Brown’s examples, from the Empire State Building to China’s high-speed railways, give a good sense of how broadly the concept can be applied.” 

“World on the Edge is a pretty good guide to what is likely to be a turbulent world.”
–Ed Crooks

Next Wednesday, Lester will be speaking at Harvard’s Center on the Environment and at the Cambridge Forum. See our Events page.

Why Are Women Undervalued?

Sixty million women around the world, largely in developing countries, have gone missing. They are selectively aborted, denied basic medical care, married off early (resulting in a higher risk of maternal mortality), forced into prostitution, and, in some cases, killed to preserve their families' honor. This "gendercide," argues Pulitzer Prize-winning author Nicolas Kristof, is the great moral scourge of this century, akin to slavery.

I am generally disinclined to trust bold statistics unless they're cited by people with experience in analyzing data -- it's easy to manipulate numbers into telling whatever story one wants to hear. So it's worth noting that the figure above comes from none other than Harvard economist Amartya Sen, who examined this issue in the early 1990s. In fact, Sen found that the number of missing women may be closer to 100 million, when you account for women's longer life expectancy and all the ways women are mistreated: an estimated 2 million girls starve because their parents don't feed them as much as they feed boys; 3 million are forced into trafficking and prostitution; and in India, millions of young girls perish as a result of poor health care -- they're 50% more likely than boys to die between the ages of one and five.

Why are women so undervalued compared to men?

I've heard many explanations, ranging from culture and religion to evolutionary biology. But none seem quite as salient as this one: women are less valued by society because they earn less money than men do.

I'm not talking about wage differentials in the developed world (though it's frustrating that women still earn 85 cents for every dollar a man earns, globally). I'm talking about a dramatic lack of access to opportunities that allow women to use their brains, rather than their bodies, to earn income.

Providing Work for Women

As literacy rates rise and more women are prepared to enter the formal labor force, fewer and fewer jobs are available to them. We've seen a tremendous surge in human capacity -- 84% of the world can now read and write. Even in poor countries, just as many women are graduating from universities as men, and the proportion of women in college is increasing, according to the UN.

But there has not been a parallel surge in economic opportunity, particularly for women. Globally, the sex ratio among adults is around 1.01 males for every female. If economic opportunity were distributed equally, we'd expect no more than a percentage point difference between male and female employment rates. Instead, the difference is closer to 20% -- the ILO reports that women make up roughly 1.2 billion of the 3 billion employed people around the world.

Those women that are employed often work for poverty-level wages, in what is called "vulnerable employment" -- jobs that don't provide any security and are not likely to build a woman's skills, such as low-level manufacturing work in export processing zones. In sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, a whopping 80% of women workers are in vulnerable employment, according to UNIFEM. The financial crisis has exacerbated this problem: in Ahmedabad, India, for example, garment sector workers' monthly earnings have dropped by 50% and days of work by 69% since November 2008. Across all of India, 700,000 clothing and textile workers lost their jobs in 2008. With factories closing down and production moving to other locations, women are forced to take multiple low-income jobs while keeping up their unpaid commitments to care for their families.

So even women who are lucky enough to find a job after college are forced to work in low-wage sectors that keep them in poverty or expose them to terrible working conditions. During our field work in Nairobi, Kenya, I met a young woman named Freda Adundo, from a rural part of the country. Freda is a bright young woman who'd worked her way up through the Kenyan education system and was about to receive an IT degree. She told me, "the dilemma in Kenya, and Africa at large, is that the cost of education is getting so high that upon finishing, you can't get a job that will offer returns commensurate with what you've done in school." Freda was right--the average Kenyan family spends 277% of per-capita income on tertiary education.

Our focus in the development community must not only include educating women, but also connecting them to jobs that tap these newly-formed skills.

Digital Work: A New Kind of Labor

Luckily, there's a new kind of work out there, and unlike manufacturing, it requires few inputs. You don't need roads, or telephone lines, or brick and mortar to build this generation's factories. All you need is a brain and a cheap laptop connected to the internet. The primary input of this new digital work is human intelligence, which we now have in abundance. A few years ago, Tom Friedman wrote a book called The World is Flat, which described how the $200 billion global outsourcing industry was creating a new middle class in India and China through the creation of information technology jobs. Now, it's not just IT jobs that the internet enables.

Any work that can be done digitally, from labeling an image to translating a snippet of text, is now fair game. This is creating a rapid transformation in the types of people that can do digital work. Just as Ford's assembly line took production into the mainstream and paved the way for the rise of the American middle class, the digital assembly lines of today allow people with basic training to plug their skills into much larger work streams that engage hundreds of people on many continents. The Internet is the new factory floor.

Samasource takes this new digital work and plugs in a new kind of worker--marginalized women, youth, and refugees living in poverty--creating a value chain that pumps much-needed capital into some of the poorest parts of the world.

Digital work can be hard to grasp, so let me provide an example. In February last year, while I was traveling in Pakistan on the hunt for new partners, a woman named Maria Umar emailed me. She mentioned that she had heard we were training people to do work over the Internet, and explained that she was a mother of two in a place called Rawalpindi and had just lost her job as a teacher. Maria, I discovered, had a Master's Degree in English and was making less than $100 a month teaching -- not enough to pay her children's expenses.

I interviewed Maria over Skype and decided we'd take her on and train her to do administrative work, something few of our other partners could handle. Within a few months, Maria was up to speed and had her first customer, a project manager at the Young President's Organization who needed help managing her calendar and transcribing notes. We worked with her to form a company, the Women's Digital League, that now employs twenty-two young Pakistani women in similar work. Each of them earn at least double what Maria made as a teacher, in under half the time.

"I'm earning more than most of the men in my village thanks to Samasource, and I'm helping other women in my position work from home," says Maria. "And they are slowly, gradually, getting the idea that they don't have to be helpless victims sitting at home...Samasource has given me a sense of self esteem that I've haven't had in the last 30 years."

Why Work for Women Matters

In the last year, with a modest initial investment and a ton of sweat equity, Samasource has grown to serve hundreds of women across Africa, South Asia, Haiti, and partnered with several companies in Silicon Valley as sources of work, including Intuit, Google, GoodGuide, and Benetech.

The income that enters the system from these jobs has a multiplier effect -- by training marginalized women in digital work, we not only provide direct employment, but we also increase household spending on health and education, increase a woman's wages substantially over her lifetime, and decrease the likelihood that she will be forced to leave her community to find work. There is much evidence that providing dignified work to women also reduces the chances that that they will be victims of violence, trafficking, or suffer exploitation in the workplace.

Work for women matters, and this message is finally getting through to global leaders in major development institutions. Investing in women's livelihoods, and connecting them to digital jobs in the new economy, can pave the way for sustainable growth and development in the poorest parts of the world.

For women like Maria, dignified work means more than mere income -- it's a new identity, beyond being someone's wife or daughter. "The men in my village and even in my family tell me that they are willing to respect me now."

By investing in and spreading the word about digital work that promotes women's employment, we have the power to unlock a vast and untapped pool of talent. The women of the world are waiting.

To learn more about Samasource's work, visit samasource.org.

NEW YORK—A few days ago I met Mrs. Rosa Parks, who started the nonviolent protest in Montgomery, Alabama, against segregation on buses. She is a very quiet, gentle person and it is difficult to imagine how she ever could take such a positive and independent stand. I suppose we must realize that these things do not happen all of a sudden.

They grow out of feelings that have been developing over many years. Human beings reach a point when they say: "This is as far as I can go," and from then on it may be passive resistance, but it will be resistance. That is what seems to have happened in Montgomery, and perhaps it will happen all over our country wherever we have citizens who do not enjoy complete equality. It may be that this attitude will save us from war and bloodshed and teach those of us who have to learn that there is a point beyond which human beings will not continue to bear injustice.

“I go to Green Mountain College in Vermont, and my brother goes to NYU.”

“Oh, you two definitely have different priorities,” my doctor replied in a condescending tone a few days ago.

I’ve also had relatives ask me questions such as, “Do you guys have actual classes with real professors?” “What do you do there, besides hit drums in the woods?” “Is that where they make coffee?”

I am a student at Green Mountain College, a small school in rural Vermont. We have been rated the greenest school in the nation, according to Sierra Magazine.

Can an environmentally focused liberal arts school with the reputation of being a tie-dyed-hippie-vegan-tree-hugging community provide a rigorous, integrated academic education? I decided to see what other people think.

Scott Chernoff, a freshman at Green Mountain, states: “I'm a Natural Resources Management major, which deals with conservation, protection, and use of the resources available in nature—like trees and wildlife. My goals long term is to ultimately help the environment, and keep the planet's most beautiful areas intact for our future generations. I hope to eventually work with the National Park Service, and deal directly with some of America's most scenic areas. Green Mountain College is not only preparing me for a future in Natural Resources Management, but also shaping my mind and thinking as a steward of the Earth. Nature and the environment are much more important to me now than ever.”

I asked my roommate, Taylor Meek, what her thoughts are about Green Mountain’s academics: “The professors use their knowledge and love for the world around them to teach us how to care for our environment and ourselves as well as the people around us and generations to come. Like in my Bio class instead of sitting in a lab looking at slides of fish found in our area we actually went out and caught the fish in the Poultney River and studied them. If you ask me about the fish we studied on slides I can tell you almost nothing about them but I can describe the fish we caught in great detail.”

Green Mountain College is a part of the Eco League, a consortium of five environmentally themed colleges throughout the country stretching from Alaska to Maine. They are at the fore of today’s dialog about our natural and social worlds. Students who attend any of these five colleges can seamlessly attend any of the other schools for a semester or two without having to transfer. Offering programs such as these give students amazing learning opportunities to learn in new environments.

Professor Steven Fesmire had this to say: “As an educator in the liberal arts tradition, I am committed to the liberation of my students’ energies so that they can realize their own potentials to be humane, compassionate, active, and informed members of a world too often indifferent to their welfare. … The scope and content of education must flexibly evolve to meet the challenges of our global situation.”

I can confidently say that the answer to my question is an enthusiastic, sincere yes!

Environmental colleges such as Green Mountain College are more than just communes for hippies; they are institutions that give students the tools necessary to be active in a changing world.

I have committed the past 10 years to developing programs that promote youth leadership through the power of technology because young people are influential, they are active, they have access to unprecedented information and resources via the Internet and they are the future of our society.

N-Geners view their community in a global context and are ready to engage with peers around the world as never before. Through social networks like Facebook and MySpace, young people are moving beyond the “posse” or “clique” model, which focuses on conformity, rules, and exclusion, into a “social network” model, which is flexible, porous, and inclusive. TakingITGlobal is based on this "social network" model as it allows for youth to socialize and interact with their peers, but for the purpose of social good. We are often referred to as the "social network for social good", because we provide youth from around the world with real opportunities to engage in decision making, analysis, and creating change in their communities.

 At TakingITGlobal, we have witnessed this revolution firsthand.

Since our founding in 2000, TakingITGlobal has provided a web-based platform for youth to engage in dialogue, analysis and action (currently in 12 languages). These tools include community organizing toolkits, project management pages, global discussion forums and social networking tools for schools. Much of our content is generated by our members. Because youth desire a sense of belonging as well as a chance to explore their own individuality and identity, self-directed projects are a natural way for youth to access the experiences they desire. Do-It-Yourself (DIY) technologies, combined with collaborative online tools, give youth both structure and flexibility -- independence and a sense of community.

Below I've provided a summary of some of the most exciting current programs and resources we offer at TakingITGlobal, in partnership with organization committed to supporting youth.

Reducing Ecological Footprints through Tread Lightly

Tread Lightly is a free climate change education and engagement initiative offered by TakingITGlobal (TIG), with the generous support of the Staples Foundation for Learning. Tread Lightly features innovative online educational tools and resources, designed to empower youth to reduce their ecological footprints and take action on climate change.

Tread Lightly was launched successfully in 2009 and thanks to continued support from the Staples Foundation for Learning in 2010, we were able to focus on capacity building in the second year. The reach of the program was expanded through by translating the material into seven new languages, making the environmental education and engagement materials available across Europe and worldwide. The Tread Lightly teacher toolkit and online platforms for youth are now used by educators in England, France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway. The new language offerings allow students across North America and Europe, as well as in Asia and South America, to use the Tread Lightly tools to reduce their ecological footprints.

Digital Media Training though Adobe Youth Voices

Adobe Youth Voices (AYV) aims to empower and equip youth in under-served communities around the globe with real-world experiences and 21st century tools to communicate their ideas, exhibit their potential, and take action in their communities. In 2010, TakingITGlobal began delivering the Adobe Youth Voices program by providing the tools, training and forum for under-served youth to gain valuable multimedia skills through training programs and e-courses implemented by local educators. AYV aim's to facilitate the development of sustainable and transferable skills within local communities around the world

Powering Youth Action Projects through Sprout & The Pearson Fellowship for Social Innovation

Sprout is an e-course for young people who want to grow their social venture and learn to create lasting change that takes root in their communities. To date, Sprout has connected and supported over 250 youth who are alumni of the e-course hailing from over 40 countries. Variations of the program have also been developed to support youth in both the Arab region and Asia-Pacific region with partners including the Library of Alexandria and Microsoft Partners in Learning.  This six week course offers young leaders worldwide access to training in essential skills, including team building, project management, communications and leveraging technology as they imagine, plan and develop social innovation projects. Sprout’s methodology guides participants through six consecutive weeks of lessons organized into four modules each addressing critical components of project design, planning, connecting and assessment.

In August 2010, TakingITGlobal launched the Pearson Fellowship for Social Innovation, an international fellowship program that supports the most promising social change projects created by TakingITGlobal's network of youth leaders. The Pearson Fellowship will be awarded to young people with the most promising and well-prepared plans for community projects developed during the Sprout E-course and all Pearson Fellows will receive one-on-one mentoring from experienced social innovators who will consult with them as they implement their project plans. Integral to the program is a special online community where the Fellows can network with their peers, and have access to special online materials and training designed to help them take their projects from the planning stage to reality.

After ten years of TakingITGlobal one of the greatest overarching trends that has emerged is the power of networks and youth to educate and promote social change and sustainable development. Young people represent a portion of the world’s population that has the power to transform the world in new ways.

This generation is thus in a position of both great vulnerability and great potential. Since movements of oppression as well as movements of liberation have been fuelled by the energy and dynamism of youth, it is critical to channel that energy positively. Youth are often known for having a sense of idealism and hope – but this must be nurtured throughout adolescence. Our task is twofold: to comprehensively improve the access of youth in developing countries to these critical tools of social change, and to nurture the idealism and hope of youth, empowering them through meaningful learning opportunities to leverage the tools at their disposal for social good. In both cases, information and communications technologies present the potential to fill gaps in formal education systems and civil society, and connect youth with the knowledge, skills and networks they need to build a sustainable world.

Take a look at this video on our Tread Lightly website (http://vimeo.com/12430324). Tread Lightly is a climate change education initiative offered by TakingITGlobal with the generous support of the Staples Foundation for Learning.

Watch the Tread Lightly Video on Vimeo from TakingITGlobal

The program is called the Path of Service, and in the 18 years we’ve had it in place, my colleagues’ enthusiasm for the serving has inspired and astounded.Β  And the good we’ve accomplished in communities around the world has grown exponentially.

As the CEO, I’m proud of Path of Serviceβ€”it stands proof that for-profit business can be a force for positive social change that we can deliver the quarter’s financial result, and make a difference in the communities we live and work in.

Service is a corporate value, but a personal choice and effort.Β  As CEO, I need to ensure that our corporate investment in service serves our business strategies, explicitly and clearly.Β  Soβ€”planting trees, serving on Earth Day, urban green space clean upsβ€”the CEO spends plenty of hours underscoring that environmental sustainability is a key element of Timberland’s business strategy.

But the nice thing about volunteer service is, even the CEO is accountable for his or her own path of service.Β  When I serve as Jeff the citizenβ€”I can act on the passions that drive me, personally and individually.

As a blessed individual in this time and place, I can’t get my head around the reality of childhood hunger.Β  Just can’t.Β  And so for my personal 40 hours of citizen service, I am enrolled as a volunteer in the campaign to end childhood hunger in America by 2015.

End Childhood Hunger in Americaβ€”end it.Β  Yeahβ€”I know the numbers, nearly 50 million Americans lack the means to regularly put enough nutritious food on their tables – and of that number, nearly 17 million are childrenβ€”but I have seen what Share Our Strength is doing, state by state, to change this reality, and I know that this campaign can and will succeed.Β  If you are interested, look at this linkβ€”nokidhungry.org.Β  Ending childhood hunger is not a dream, it is a concrete and deliverable reality, and as citizen, this is where I’m investing my personal and passion.

I am grateful beyond words that I have 40 hours to feed my soul, and to dedicate to feeding hungry kids in America.Β  Imagine if every business leader in corporate America had 40 hours to fight for his or her passion.Β  I wonder–if you had 40 hours, what footprint would you leave?

Β 

(Learn more at Timberland.com)

A former English teacher from Brooklyn in New York City, now entrepreneur, Paul Edelman, created this web site. He cashed in his retirement fund and maxed out his credit cards to launch TeachersPayTeachers.com, which now has more than 250,000 registered users and sales last year exceeding $500,000.

"For years, I spent a lot of time creating my own course materials, borrowing ideas from colleagues and going online to find resources," Edelman says. "But only a tiny fraction is posted on the Web; there was no real incentive to take the time to do that." Edelman created a financial incentive, motivating experienced teachers to share their work for a fee and drawing in busy or new teachers looking for ways to freshen their curricula. To keep the site running, Edelman takes 15% of each sale, allowing teachers to keep the rest.

For a $29.95 yearly fee, sellers can post their work and set their own prices. The items listed vary, from a lesson plan about the history of China to a way to teach the Industrial Revolution. Teachers can browse through a range of subject areas, such as science, and subcategories, like chemistry and physics.

Fortunately most of the items for sale are very inexpensive to buy, many sell for only a dollar or so, which helps these days with cash-strapped schools. Every seller gets a 30-day money-back guarantee on the annual fee. Buyers can search by topic, grade range or by state, as states set various curriculum standards. Those who buy materials pay no fee, just the amount posted for each course guide. There's another incentive to buy from the site: each purchase is tax deductible.

Unlike the set-in-stone educational tools, sold by traditional companies, that are impossible to change, most of the worksheets and course plans created by teachers are in Microsoft Word or Excel, making them easy to change according to need.

TeachersPayTeachers.com founder Paul Edelman says on the web site: “Teachers work hard and deserve extra compensation for all those hours spent lesson planning. Newer teachers and those looking for ideas can save time and leap ahead in competency by learning from veterans. We strongly believe that the ensuing exchange lifts all boats and leads to the better sharing of best practices. In the end everyone wins, especially our students.”

Reading is vital to the development of a child’s personality, imagination, and communication skills. Children must learn to love and enjoy reading to reap its benefits. A survey conducted by Arabia News estimated that the average number of pages read in the Middle East is only half a page a year, while in the United States it is 11 books a year.

Rana began her work in 2000 at a community mosque where she held weekly storytelling sessions with children from ages four through ten to get them excited about the prospect of reading from a young age. The practice of storytelling associates reading with pleasure and shapes a child’s enthusiasm for reading that will hopefully follow them into their adult lives. After each interactive storytelling session, Rana allows children to check out books that they take home to read with their parents, passing the experience along from child to parent in an attempt to change attitudes towards reading. Since launching her program, Rana has been successful in cultivating a cadre of young readers who are enthusiastic about the practice and will have more educational and professional opportunities through the development of this skill.

We Love Reading has developed an innovative model to solve this problem in a sustainable and cost efficient way. Their model is comprised of training individuals from the neighborhoods in which they are located to read aloud to children 4 to 10 years-old, utilizing age-appropriate reading material. Significant numbers of adults trained in proper read aloud techniques will lead to the creation of informal and sustainable networks of model readers that will inspire children and the communities in which they are raised to read and learn more.

We Love Reading aims to positively impact children throughout Jordan and the Arab world by creating a generation of children that love, enjoy, and respect books through the establishment of a library in every neighborhood in the Arab world.

We Love Reading has trained 380 storytellers, all of them women. As a result 80 libraries have been established in various areas of Jordan reaching out to more than 4,000 children, 60% female and 40% male. These children have learned to read for pleasure. Our model has spread to Lebanon, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia. We Love Reading has received the Arab World Social innovator Award from Synergos and has partnered with Mercy Corps, Ruwwad (ARAMEX) and Injaz-Jordan.

In the next five years, and through the Clinton Global Initiative, We Love Reading is committed to establish 100 libraries throughout Jordan to actively encourage each community to share in the experience of reading. These libraries will help foster a lifelong enthusiasm for reading and acquiring new knowledge among children in a sustainable and cost efficient way.

It costs less than 50 dollars to make a child read forever.

Read a profile of Rana at VOANews.com.
• Read a profile of Rana’s work at the Ahel Al-Himmeh contest site.
• Watch a video about A Library in Every Neighborhood (in Arabic).

To contact Rana:

www.welovereading.org
admin@welovereading.org
Tel: +96253903333

Innovators in Action captures the work of four members of the Synergos Arab World Social Innovators Program - Rana Dajani in Jordan and Ali Abu Awwad, Mohammed al-Kilany, and Nureddin Amro in Palestine.

It was produced by documentary filmmaker, Barbara Cupisti, who is the founder of Secret Garden Productions, an independent film production company based in New York and Rome. Cupisti, is a former television and film actress and writer/director of the award-winning documentary Mothers (shot in 2007 - presented at the 2007 Venice Film Festival - won the David di Donatello Award for best documentary of the year) and author of the docufilm Forbidden Childhood (shot in 2008 - currently showing at various international film festivals). She travels frequently to the Middle East to document outstanding development issues. To learn more about Barbara and her work, please visit secretgardenproductions.com.

AmpleHarvest.org has 1,340 people “liking” it on Facebook, 3,177 people recommended the CNN Story, and 1,669 following it on Twitter.  AmpleHarvest.org is now averaging 10,000 unique hits per day on the web site. We have started development of our YouTube channel (if you have videos of your donation to a pantry, let us know and we’ll add them to the channel).

Feedback both from gardeners as well as from pantries and food banks spoke of their enthusiasm for the AmpleHarvest.org Campaign. An informal email survey to 2,000 food pantries in August (mid-harvest) had an 18% response rate – unusually high for a survey. Of the responding pantries, 2/3 had received some (or a lot!) locally grown produce.... collectively approximately 700,000 lbs. We do not know how much they received after that time, nor do we know how much the non-responding pantries (many not having access to email whatsoever) received, but we can say with a lot of confidence that gardeners across America shared their garden bounty with their neighbors in need, many for the first time.

Ongoing generosity and support since our inception May 2009 has helped us reach the point where more than 3,000 food pantries across all 50 states have now registered. Gardeners nationwide responded by delivering garden fresh produce to many of these food pantries. As the year winds down, I want share some of the other exciting things that took place this year

· January

o AmpleHarvest.org releases the free AmpleHarvest.org iPhone app.

· February

o AmpleHarvest.org becomes a partner organization to the USDA “Peoples Garden Initiative”, participates in the USDA garden to food conference in Washington DC and receives letter of endorsement from the USDA.

· April

o AmpleHarvest.org transitions from a program within a small New Jersey sustainability organization to a national non-profit charity.

o AmpleHarvest.org presents to civic and business leaders at a Bergen LEADS – a New Jersey Leadership Program.

· May

o Gary Oppenheimer is named a CNN Hero giving AmpleHarvest.org national coverage on CNN and CNN Headline News for a full week.*

· July

o AmpleHarvest.org is highlighted on the “United We Serve” government web site – a national program encouraging volunteerism

o AmpleHarvest.org initiates a special outreach program for the Gulf States region in response to the BP oil spill

· August

o The USDA coordinates with all of the food banks in Texas to help nurture the outreach to the food pantries in that state.

o AmpleHarvest.org participates in a conference at Google Inc. offices with their product managers

o The EPA lists AmpleHarvest.org as a resource to help combat the environmental impact of food waste

o AmpleHarvest.org receives its IRS “determination” letter – officially making AmpleHarvest.org a tax deductible not-for-profit charity.

· September

o AmpleHarvest.org participates in the Maryland Food Bank conference with all of their food pantries.

o AmpleHarvest.org highlighted on Stark Brothers (major supplier of tree saplings to nurseries) podcast.

· October

o AmpleHarvest.org invited to participate in the Feeding America conference in Chicago – attended by nearly every food bank in the country.

o The Infinity Insurance Company reaches out to its employees, customers and trading partners to contribute to the AmpleHarvest.org virtual food drive, matching the first $5,000 in donations.

o AmpleHarvest.org collaborates with the National Hunger Hotline a USDA funded organization, to help those individuals needing food assistance.

· November

o Gary Oppenheimer presents to future business leaders at Wharton (U. of Pennsylvania) about AmpleHarvest.org’s impact on the American food system

o AmpleHarvest.org collaborates with the Campus Kitchens Project helping university students fight hunger.

o AmpleHarvest.org publishes its vision statement (yes.. I know we were late on that).

· December

o Veterans of Foreign Wars organization reaches out to its members to help AmpleHarvest.org

o AARP reaches out to its members to encourage them to help AmpleHarvest.org

o The 3,000th food pantry registered on AmpleHarvest.org. In 2010, the number of food pantries registered grew from 1,298 to 3,014 – meaning AmpleHarvest.org has now registered more than one out of every ten food pantries in America.

Lastly, we got the word out. Google shows more than 23,600 references to the term “AmpleHarvest.org”.

Not bad for a program only 19 months old. And we’re not done.

AmpleHarvest.org is working on a number of initiatives including an Android app (similar to our iPhone app), a gleaning component and a produce dictionary ... all designed to work in tandem with AmpleHarvest.org to help educate, encourage and enable millions of gardeners to share their excess garden produce with a local food pantry.

A very small but dedicated team is working hard to make AmpleHarvest.org live up to its potential... and we could use your help (here is the part of the letter you’ve probably been expecting):

Please consider making an end of year donation to AmpleHarvest.org, or better yet, let us set up with you, a recurring donation to AmpleHarvest.org so you can help us help your community month after month. AmpleHarvest.org, Inc. is a 501(c)3 charitable organization (EIN #27-2433274).

Help a new food pantry register itself at AmpleHarvest.org. Find a local food pantry in your community - possibly in a nearby house of worship, a YMCA or other civic location. Give them this flier and urge them to register ASAP. Remind them AmpleHarvest.org is totally FREE!

Help others learn about AmpleHarvest.org. Put this article in your blog or newsletter.

Help local gardeners learn that they can share their ample harvest. Print this two sided flier and post it a local garden shops, nurseries, supermarket bulletin boards, etc. to help gardeners learn about the opportunity to help the hungry.

Help publicize the AmpleHarvest.org Campaign. Ask your local media to visit this page and do a story about people in the community wanting fresh produce for their families from the local food pantry.

Our vision is an America where millions of gardeners eliminate malnutrition and hunger in their own community.

Please make this your vision too.

On behalf of everyone at AmpleHarvest.org Inc., have a safe and wonderful New Year.

More than 150 students put their technical skills to the test at the First Lego League Tournament Saturday afternoon in Florence, South Carolina on December 4, 2010.

Sixteen teams competed in the FIRST Robotics competition at the Southeast Institute of Manufacturing and Technology at Florence-Darlington Technical College. The competition is organized by FIRST Robotics For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.  intended to encourage students to take an interest in math, science and technology.

"You need to set the hook early," Jack Roach said, tournament director for the First Lego league. He says the goal of the event is to encourage students to take an interest in math and science, "in an under-handed sort of way, you might say," Roach added.

The National Math and Science Initiative finds only 29 percent of American 8^th grade students perform at or above the proficient level in science. A third of eighth grade students, and barely 18 percent of 12th grade students fall in the same category.

"I've never actually made a robot before, and that is awesome," Anna Tildon beamed. "Over here, it's like the bomb! We have an awesome time!"

The theme of this year's competition is the Human Body. The teams explore the world of Biomedical Engineering to discover innovative ways to repair injuries, overcome genetic predispositions, and maximize the body's potential.

Prior to the tournament, students complete a project that familiarizes them with the science behind the technology they will use. After completing the research portion, students use LEGO® MINDSTORMS® to build robots and program them to execute what they studied in their research projects.  These two elements - the Robot Game and Project – comprise what they refer to as the yearly "Challenge" tournament.

Students compete in one of three categories: Junior Lego League, First Lego League and

Teams acquire points for every "mission" their robots complete within a match. The teams compete in pairs, contributing to the total number of points scored by the overall team.

"We want to have fun and we want to learn about science, technology engineering and math," Victoria Maldonado. She competed on the Tech Chicz team with her fellow Girl Scout members.

Judges use a specific set of rubrics to determine which teams will receive awards.

"Whether you win or lose, you still have a great time."

More than 200 Lego Leagues teams represent South Carolina in the First Lego League. Nearly 2 million students from more than 50 teams will compete in the World Festival in St. Louis, MI next year.

“Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everyone, I think that is much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.” —Mother Teresa

Balmy beaches, a subtropical climate and the allure of a glitzy entertainment industry have a potent influence on the consciousness of most people, but they make an even stronger impression on adolescents, and they have been a draw for disaffected youth for the better part of the past century.

A just-released 64-page report, titled “No Way Home: Understanding the Needs and Experiences of Homeless Youth in Hollywood,” peels back the glitz of Tinseltown to look at the lives of these youth and presents a few surprises in the makeup of teenagers on the streets of Los Angeles.

Based on assessments and interviews with 389 minors by eight separate local youth facilities between 2007 and 2008, the report covers various aspects involving these youth, including the causes of homelessness, health issues, prominent risk factors encountered, and availability of services to those in need.

Traditionally, Hollywood’s homeless population has been dramatically different from those who frequent downtown’s Skid Row in that they were, on the average, younger and predominately Caucasian. In contrast, those who gravitate to downtown are, for the most part, older and African American. Thus, one of the surprising revelations of this report puts the population of youngsters regularly haunting Hollywood at 42 percent. A 1995 report put the number at 20 percent.

Susan Rabinovitz, R.N., M.P.H, a principal author of the report and a health-care provider with years of experiencing caring for this population, said that she’s witnessed an overall drop in the social skills of her clientele. The economic recession, impacting every facet of humanity, has resulted in a broader cross section of society being represented among those coming in for treatment.

Hard earned success

Homeless and at-risk youth typically carry the burden of depression and low self-esteem. Jevon Wilkes encountered these obstacles while under the guardianship of his grandmother. Jevon was born with the genetically inherited trait known as a “widows peak,” where the hairline projects to a downward point in the center of the forehead. His grandmother taunted him with the notion that it was a sign of the devil, and hammered him with the idea that it meant he was disposed to meet a bad end.

By age 14 this ill treatment had pushed him into the streets of the Pico-Union, which over the last few decades has become a point of entry for thousands of refugees from Central America with their multitude of civil war allegiances from that nation. The area is saturated with scores of Latin gangs, including the Crazy Riders (CRS), Mara Salvatrucha (MS), Rockwood (RSL), and 18th Street, which, due to racial friction, often target African Americans like Jevon. While attending Belmont High School, Jevon and other Blacks found a measure of solace at a meeting spot on campus called “the tree.”

(Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times / November 16, 2010 ) After making a speech to the Hollywood Homeless Youth Partnership, Jevon Wilkes, left, is congratulated by L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. Wilkes, now a college student, was helped by the Los Angeles Youth Network.

Today, Jevon is looked upon as a success story. Currently a second-year student at Cal State Channel Islands, he was a featured speaker at a Nov. 17 conference marking the release of “No Way Home.” He told the group that a valuable asset for youth coming up under similar circumstances as his, would be more information on where to get help, noting that when he was a teen there was more data available on animal welfare. Immersed in the routine of college life, he looks forward to continuing volunteer work when time permits, declaring “my adversity is my treasure.”

The haves and the have nots

The plight of homelessness is especially distressing amid the opulence projected from Tinseltown. If L.A. County were an independent country, its gross domestic product would be among the world’s largest, with a $500 billion annual budget (according to chooselacounty.com), beating out the likes of Saudi Arabia, Sweden and Switzerland.

Immediate projects to expand housing opportunities are in the works, however, including the Villas at Gower, a 70-unit, $26.5 million housing development recently begun by the local nonprofit affordable housing company, A Community of Friends, along with Step Up on Vine and Step Up on Sunset, both offshoots of the highly lauded Santa Monica service and housing provider Step Up on Second (stepuponsecond.org).

This is in line with the recommendations put forward by No Way Home, which include a wide variety of housing options such as programs tailored for youth unable to deal with the structured environment of residential treatment. Other suggestions include raising the eligibility age for benefits to 25, expansion of existing services, especially psychiatric support and drug treatment, and cohesive interaction between community agencies, law enforcement, school districts, and private nonprofit groups.

Our society is one of waste and extravagance.  My generation must take responsibility for the unfortunate result of all this new technology at our fingertips.  We must instead use our intelligence and muscle to rebuild our family and community bonds, rather than being distracted from our roots and nature because of our reliance on iphones, kindles, and droids.  We can however, use technology for good.  Technology has a bright side, if used responsibly. 

In using these innovations and new tools to unite us with children in other parts of the world, we can promote stability and understanding in a world filled with violence and despair.  We will use our new technologies to volunteer our minds, hearts and bodies to aid the fellow inhabitants of the earth we share. We are all one people – whether we are micro-financing a family in Africa, building a home for a family devastated by Hurricane Katrina, or cleaning our rivers and streams after years of abuse; my generation will make a difference in the future. 

My generation must strive to create stronger friendships with the young people of other nations and cultures.  My generation will make a change from the scared and insecure times of our parents and grandparents, to a time where people halfway across the world can connect, explore, and discover the things we all have in common, as children of God and the Earth.

My generation can clean our oceans and preserve biodiversity, while restoring nature into urban areas or war-torn regions.  We will gain the trust of our fellow man by lending a hand, rather than aiming a weapon.  The trust that is built from this positive interaction will allow for more comprehensive and effective results from the work of my fellow citizens.  In so doing, we will encourage positive relationships across cultural and territorial borders.

Not only can we explore here on earth, but my generation can explore the final frontier.  Recent discoveries by astronomers and scientists at NASA suggest very strongly that planets similar to Earth do exist in safe distances from their stars, and could therefore support life.

As this world continues to grow, it is evident that there are endless opportunities for our generation to make the world a better place and explore the undiscovered.  But don’t ask me, ask the millions of others young people like me; waiting to be the first settlers of a new planet in a new solar system; waiting to resolve the long-standing differences between the Israelis and the Palestinians; or waiting to construct the power plants of tomorrow – with no nuclear waste and no carbon emissions – just clean and renewable energy.

Our challenge is to leave the world a better place then we found it, and develop our new ideas in a responsible, and well-thought out manner.  My generation is ready to take the reins from those who had their chance to try and make the world whole-again.  We are ready, to turn things around and improve the quality of life for all humans.  We are ready, to take control, ready, for a new tomorrow.

JWW’s Solar Cooker Project brings solar cooking to women and girls who have fled the genocide in Darfur and are living in refugee camps in Chad.  These women are vulnerable to rape and other egregious forms of violence when they leave the camps to perform the critical task of collecting firewood for cooking.  The Solar Cooker Project’s mission is to reduce the frequency of these heinous crimes by providing the refugees with an alternative cooking option:  the solar cooker.  The project also has an important economic development component:  women in the refugee camps are hired and paid to manufacture the solar cookers and to perform the function of training other women to use this new cooking strategy.
 

Currently in three camps, home to more than 60,000 people, virtually all the women and older girls have been trained to solar cook.  In the Iridimi camp alone, there have been 86% fewer trips outside of the camp since the introduction of solar cookers.  Expansion to a fourth refugee camp is planned for early 2001.
 

The SCP is expanding to support other alternative fuels and fuel efficient methods of cooking to help reduce vi9olence against women and children in other conflict areas, particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where 14 years of conflict has already claimed more than 5.4 million lives

When we met Imani in the Iridimi refugee camp in Chad, we promised to tell the world her story. Imani witnessed the murder of her husband and two sisters, hid from the savage Janjaweed militia and survived for days with only water in the unforgiving sun. After her harrowing escape from her village in Darfu,r she walked over 300 miles until crossing the border into Chad, finally arriving at the Iridimi refugee camp.

At the refugee camp, Imani learned to use a simple sun-cooker to prepare her meals. Envision foil-covered cardboard (about four feet by two feet) folded upward to direct the sun’s rays onto a black pot that is placed in the center and wrapped in a plastic bag. Rice, beans, or other ingredients are put in the pot and cooked with just the energy of the sun. No need for fuel or firewood. Imani told me she now feels protected and secure because she no longer has to leave the camp to collect firewood for cooking, risking her safety. Many other refugees have not been so lucky.

Two solar cookers can save a ton of scarce wood per year. They free women from tending fires to do other critical tasks, and provide income for female refugees because the cookers are manufactured on-site with materials paid for by people like you. So simple, yet so vital.

But our work is not done: 190,000 refugees including women like Imani are waiting for the donation that will help transform their lives. Can you help?

Just $30 can protect the life of a woman or girl. Donate a solar cooker to help refugees from Darfur.

We cannot stand idly by …

The Solar Cooker Project of Jewish World Watch helps protect displaced women in conflict areas by bringing a simple sun-cooking tool into widespread, everyday use. JWW is a hands-on leader in the fight against genocide and mass atrocities, helping the world’s most needy regardless of their faith.

Be part of the solution. Time is of the essence! Please make a donation now.

Learn more about JewishWorldWatch.org.

• $100 helps us reach 250 people in Japan with alerts about the dolphin slaughter and mercury contamination;
• $500 gets 100 copies of the translated version of "The Cove" to schools, libraries and communities centers in Japan;
• $1000 funds a monitor in Taiji, Japan to keep a vigilant eye on the dolphin killers in the Cove.

We're saving dolphins around the world. In the Solomon Islands, we just won a historic agreement ending 400 years of massive dolphin killing and -- supporting sustainable communities and keeping dolphins safe at the same time.

In Egypt, the Dominican Republic, Indonesia, and many other countries we are stopping the blood dolphin trade, forcing release, and standing up for full dolphin protection.

But we have our work cut out for us. The dolphin killers and traders are threatened by our actions and have vowed to stop us.

An anonymous donor has just stepped forward with a special challenge grant to match every end-of-year donation you make, which means that we raise $100 for every $50 you give.

I know you care passionately about dolphins and will stand with me. No dolphins should be slaughtered for the sale of meat. Dolphins should not be ripped from their families, captured, and sent to aquariums and swim-with programs.

Dolphins are intelligent, beautiful and deserve to live in peace.

In this holiday season, on behalf of all the dolphins swimming freely in the oceans, and those who most need our help, thank you for your support.

How effective is your community's high school in educating its students?
You don't have to be a school superintendent or member of Congress to help the six million students most at risk of failing to graduate from high school. Drawing from the work of leading researchers and educators from around the country, the Alliance for Excellent Education has identified ten key elements that every high school should have in place to ensure that all its students are successful. The list includes challenging classes, a safe learning environment, and skilled teachers. Whether you are a parent seeking a stronger education for your child, a business owner in need of a well-trained workforce, or a concerned citizen joining with others to improve schools, this checklist can help you identify the strengths and weaknesses of your community schools and guide you in determining the actions you can take to help improve them.

Challenging Classes
All students must learn the advanced skills that are the key to success in college and in the 21st century workplace. Every student should take demanding classes in the core subjects of English, history, science, and math; and no student should ever get a watered-down course of study. Further, students should also be given the opportunity to earn industry certification or some college credit while in high school through programs such as Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, or those offered through a local college or university.

Personal Attention for All Students
Every high school should be small enough—or divided into small enough units—to allow teachers and staff to get to know all students as individuals and to respond to their specific learning needs. By the ninth grade, student should have a detailed plan for graduation—identifying the specific courses they must take, opportunities they should pursue, and extra help they need in order to succeed in high school and beyond. And every student should receive frequent and ongoing support from at least one academic advisor throughout their high school years.

Extra Help for Those Who Need It
Every high school should have a system in place to identify kids as soon as they start to struggle in reading, math, or any core subject, and every school should reserve time and resources for the immediate help those kids need to stay on course.

Bringing the Real World to the Classroom
High schools should help students make the connection between book learning and the skills needed to be successful in life. Students must develop the work habits, character, and sense of personal responsibility needed to succeed in school, at work, and in society. As part of their class work, students should have opportunities to design independent projects, conduct experiments, solve open-ended problems, and be involved in activities that connect school to the rest of the world.

Family and Community Involvement
Students thrive when their high schools encourage positive learning relationships among families, educators, faith groups, civic organizations, businesses and other members of the community. Parents should have many chances to visit the school building, talk with teachers and staff, voice concerns, share ideas, serve as volunteers, and suggest ways to improve the school. And school leaders should reach out to their neighbors by attending community events and forming partnerships with local organizations in order to increase effectiveness and tap additional resources.

A Safe Learning Environment
Every high school must guarantee the safety of its students, teachers, staff, and visitors, and every school should be kept free of drugs, weapons, and gangs. School leaders should build a climate of trust and respect, they should encourage peaceful solutions to conflict, and they should respond directly to any bullying, verbal abuse, or other threats.

Skilled Teachers
Every high school teacher should know well the subjects they teach and should know well how to teach all kinds of students, from all kinds of backgrounds. New teachers should get the guidance and mentoring they need to be successful in the classroom. All teachers should have enough time to plan lessons, carefully review student performance, and continuously improve their teaching.

Strong Leaders
Every high school needs a skillful principal, one who supervises personnel effectively, manages finances capably, and keeps the organization running smoothly. Every school also needs a strong educational leader (this could be the principal, a senior teacher, or another staff member), to define a vision of academic excellence, work with teachers to develop an engaging and coherent curriculum, and serve as a mentor and role model for teachers and students alike.

Necessary Resources
Every high school should provide all students and teachers with the books, computers, laboratory equipment, technology, and other resources they need to be successful. And every school should maintain safe, clean facilities that are fit for teaching and learning.

User-Friendly Information
All community members should have easy access to information that gives a clear, straightforward picture of how well the school is serving all of its students, including those from every income level, ethnic group, and racial background. Some of the key pieces of information include a school’s graduation requirements, graduation and dropout rates, and student performance on state tests.

First, we needed a place and a setting. We figured that every neighborhood had a mosque within it so the place was secured. Then, we collected some charity money and went around the bookstores, looking for books in Arabic for children that were appealing in terms of context, illustrations and language. The books chosen did not contain any religious inclinations, for such stories are usually covered by the educational system in schools. To our surprise, we found a good number of authors and books. The bookstores and publishers gave us gracious discounts and we bought around 100 books.

We announced in the weekly Friday prayers that there would be a storytelling session the following day on Saturday for one hour in the morning for children (both genders) from 4 to 9 years old (with no need for parent’s supervision).  I had also obtained a number of costumes and a number of puppets. Around 25 children showed up the next day when we read 3 stories using animations and acting. The first session was a success and a lot of fun.

Then we handed out all the books we had bought. The children were  supposed to take the books home and read them until the next  storytelling session, which was once every two weeks, then they would  exchange it with a new one. Ever since we started back in  January of 2006, we have been doing this storytelling session twice a month. Our average number of children is 35 per session.

The feedback has been overwhelming, parents tell us that their children wake up every Saturday and practically drag them to the  mosque for the storytelling session.  Our children are from the neighborhood, and have gradually shown a rising interest and love for reading, and have developed a culture of literacy!  They discuss the books they read, recommend to each other what books to read and what authors they like. Some children have never skipped a session, some come and go. Sometimes we don't get back some of the books, but that is fine because we know the books are in someone's home being read.

The whole objective of our project is to promote the love of reading in children. Since research has proven the best time to plant that seed is before 9 years of age, we will have given them the best tool for success. They can go and learn and develop whatever they want to be on their own; one of the many other benefits of reading!

Having a library in every neighborhood is the key to succeeding in planting the seed because it is accessible, easy and the children can work on it by themselves. Most adults in our region do not read, may disregard the importance of reading and not go  to any extra effort to encourage their children to read. This  is all solved by our "library in every neighborhood" concept. It does not take much of a commitment from the storyteller, it is  only 2 hours a month!  The efforts are minimal compared to the  results reaped.

With your support, in 2010 the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado accomplished:

• Education & Outreach: 380 people representing government, business, nonprofits and education took part in 8 regional Sustainability Roundtables and our first statewide gathering, where they shared successes and strategies to address challenges.  Resulting recommendations have been sent to Governor-Elect Hickenlooper.



• Policy: The Alliance and Alliance Center tenants and partners worked collaboratively to get passage of 50 bills, strengthening sustainability practices throughout Colorado.  For one, the Alliance initiated HB10-1204, ensuring that conservation standards are included in the state plumbing code and take into account water saving measures, efficiency and use of locally sourced materials.



• The Alliance Center: Over 1,000 people learned about green building practices by touring our headquarters, the first historic building in the world to earn two LEED certifications.  35 nonprofit tenants call the Alliance Center home, sharing the benefits of a healthy workspace that promotes creative collaboration, while paying stable, below market costs for rent and shared services.

We are proud of the accomplishments to date, and we ask for your help to maintain the momentum.  In 2011, the Alliance will continue to build the statewide sustainability network through our successful Sustainability Roundtables, our policy work coalescing and supporting partners in promoting legislation, and the Alliance Center, the hub for the network in the state capitol.  Also, the Center as a model of green building will be enhanced. 

Working with leading experts to design innovative improvements of efficiency and conservation, we are planning our “Modeling a NetZero Future” project, which will test how close to NetZero energy use and carbon emissions we can make our historic building.  Given that 80% of buildings in the US are expected to remain in use in 2050, and that those buildings currently account for 40% of energy consumption and 38% of carbon emissions, modeling ways to make existing buildings more efficient and profitable is a critical step toward reducing the effects of climate change.

 

What steps will you take?  Please visit our website to learn about how people in Colorado are addressing sustainability and make the commitment to reduce your carbon footprint in 2011.  Come by the Center for a tour and learn about the work of 35 non-profits all working on sustainability policies and practices.  And make your tax-deductible gift to the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado by visiting this link.  Your support will help us take the next step in leading Colorado to a more sustainable future.

The campaign has garnered praise from former President Bill Clinton, who has called it an “exemplary approach to addressing a specific global challenge.” Celebrity supporters include Uma Thurman, Sienna Miller, Ben Kingsley and Matt LeBlanc.
 

So far The Body Shop has raised 1.5 million dollars and its partner ECPAT has increased lobbying efforts to help pass laws to protect children. The Body Shop's partner The Somaly Mam Foundation supports shelters in Cambodia and Laos for children who would otherwise be sold into sex slavery in neighboring Thailand.
 

The Body Shop states that: “The US should change the laws that allow children to be arrested and prosecuted when they are victims of sex trafficking. Instead of arrest they should be offered support and protection as they are in New York and Washington states."
 

Specifically, The Body Shop wants a federal “safe harbor” law that will:
 

•     Protect  anyone under the age of 18 from being prosecuted or incarcerated for prostitution.


•     Refer exploited children to special services and shelters that will support their recovery.


•     Require the training of law enforcement, judges and first responders

The Body Shop has created an online petition for you to lend your support.    Over 4 million people, worldwide, have signed it. On their web site, you’ll also find a cool widget that you can place on your web site or blog to encourage others to sign the petition. Please watch this video to learn more.

 Yet, relief funding has not begun to ease their hardship. The World Food Program had to cut food rations by half in November because of a lack of donations. The United Nation's $2 billion appeal for Pakistan is less than 40% funded. As winter descends on Pakistan, 7 million still lack shelter. The situation is dire.

In a time of such widespread suffering and disorder, it is more important than ever to support grassroots groups working on behalf of those in need.

Alandi Ashram is hosting a very special event to raise funds for flood victims in Pakistan. The Peace PUSH (Peacemakers Uniting Spiritual Humanitarianism) event will be held January 29, 2011 at the Avalon Ballroom in Boulder, Colorado. A minimum $15 donation to this campaign is required; please select Donation Made... In name of... Peace PUSH to RSVP. More information can be found here.

Global Greengrants Fund has identified five Pakistani groups, most of them Greengrants grantees, working on the front lines of recovery. These groups are adapting their work to address both the immediate and the long-term needs of those impacted by flooding:

• Khoj-Society for People's Education is a Lahore-based organization that works with rural communities in Punjab province, a region that has been particularly ravaged by the flooding. The organization uses participatory processes to help marginalized communities, especially women, improve their livelihoods and exercise their rights—an important strategy in grassroots disaster recovery.

• Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum works with fishing communities in order to both protect their livelihoods and ensure the sustainable management of local natural resources. Currently, the group is supporting flood-affected communities with food relief, mosquito nets, water purifiers, and other necessary goods. The organization is also coordinating volunteers to provide sessions on health and hygiene in refugee camps.

• Roots for Equity promotes the interests and rights of Pakistan's marginalized communities, including women and youth. The organization works to raise awareness of human rights issues at the national and international level and provides direct assistance to communities facing extreme economic, political, and social challenges.

• Shirkat Gah—Women's Resource Centre is a 35 year-old women's rights organization in Pakistan that is actively engaged in providing and coordinating relief. Their primary strategy is to provide medical camps, food items, medicines, and clothing to women and children in need.

• SUNGHI Development Foundation is committed to bringing about change by mobilizing marginalized communities to protect their land rights and livelihoods. The group is providing assistance to flood victims for health, sanitation, food and water, and shelter.
  

These groups are working tirelessly to provide relief and recovery support to the millions that have been affected by the flooding, but the challenges they face are extraordinary. On behalf of the countless lives they are sustaining, they need your help.

You can provide crucial and immediate support by giving through Greengrants. We will pool your donations and distribute them among these groups for relief and sustainable recovery efforts.

You could also put on that list Richard Louv. Before 2005, Louv — a longtime columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune — was a well regarded (if little known) writer who had published a number of books preoccupied with the connections between parenthood, family, and community. Then he wrote Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. The book became a best-seller — and in the process helped spark a grassroots movement to get American kids away from the Web and out into the world.

Louv’s book pulled off the feat journalists always hope for: it uncovered a major problem that had been lurking in plain sight. Much like, say, Betty Friedan’s Feminist Mystique, Last Child in the Woods gave name to a malaise that many of us had perceived but had no words for. Only instead of dissecting women’s alienation from their own lives, Louv described a similar problem affecting modern children — an alienation from the physical world.

“For many [children], playing in nature seemed so … Unproductive. Off-limits. Alien. Cute. Dangerous. Televised,” Louv writes, then later continues, “In the United States, children are spending less time playing outdoors — or in any unstructured way. From 1997 to 2003, there was a decline of 50 percent in the proportion of children nine to twelve who spent time in such outside activities as hiking, walking, fishing, beach play, and gardening.”

So what? I can hear the plugged-in peanut gallery saying. Because, as Louv documents, less time for unstructured play in nature means “diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties, and higher rates of physical and emotional illness.” Kids who play outside are simply more focused, healthier, and happier.

Like so many other fine titles, Louv’s heartfelt investigation might have gone no further than the bookstore. But then an interesting thing happened: Parents and teachers across the country who had also perceived the problem of nature deficit disorder decided to do something, and in 2006 they launched the Children & Nature Network. Today the network has 80 chapters across the country looking for new ways to get young people to engage with the real, living world. 

“This movement was around before Last Child came out,” Louv said recently. “We are at the moment in the movement when it could become a fad and go away — or it could jump to the next level and grow exponentially. …. This isn’t about programs. It’s about culture change.”

I had the chance to hear from Louv last week when he and other leaders in what some have called the “No Child Left Inside” movement gathered in San Francisco for a two-day strategy session. The meeting was hosted on the National Geographic Sea Bird,  a large yacht which is operated by Linblad Expeditions, a company that organizes adventure travel to places like Alaska, the Galapagos, and Antarctica. As we cruised around San Francisco Bay, the gathering's participants got busy networking and laying plans for fulfilling their agenda. Since I was an outsider in the close-knit group of activists, a lot of the talk was new to me.

What I found most interesting was that, for many of the people there, getting kids outside isn’t just an end in itself — it’s also a key way of encouraging the ecological awareness necessary to preserve and defend the environment. This should be obvious enough. After all, no one will fight to protect a place they do not know. Or, as Tierney Thys, a National Geographic Explorer and marine biologist put it: “The oceans are getting hammered, so we need all hands on deck to love the natural world, to embrace it, to work for it.”

A collection of parents, teachers and nature enthusiasts working to have children spend more time outdoors — that sounds nice, doesn’t it? Really, though, the work of the Children & Nature Network is quite radical — radical in the sense that it’s addressing one of the root causes of our environmental crisis. Because if the next generation is ignorant or indifferent about the natural world, there will simply be fewer people eager to work in its defense. In a society in which internet connections are prized over natural connections, encouraging kids to spend some time getting dirty in a creek is rebellious.

“Ultimately, this is a subversive idea,” Louv said. “We can’t wait for the principles and school boards and education reform. Our ideas is that this will become contagious.” Larry Volpe, a teacher from Santa Clara, CA who was honored with the Children & Nature Network’s first award for outstanding performance, was even more to the point. Volpe said, “Have kids develop an organic relationship to nature — then you don’t have to teach them activism.”

In listening to the outdoor enthusiasts hatching their plans, I was impressed by their willingness to meet the dominant culture where it’s at. Because fact is, most people in this country — and not just children — see the natural world as scary, dirty, and weird. It’s simply not part of their daily experience. Which is why it’s so important not just to promote kids getting into the wilderness, but to explore the wild places that are close to home and often forgotten or neglected.

“We’re trying to bring the outdoors into people’s everyday lives,” said Sally Jewell, the CEO of REI. “And not in a 1950s sort of way, loading up the station wagon and going to Yosemite. Because it’s not going to happen. We need to invest in our local parks, in our city parks, so that kids feel safe to go out and play.” The great outdoors, it turns out, is as close as our own backyards.

2009 was a watershed year, with the release of the new WHO guidelines. In the developing world these new guidelines change the way we think about treating people with HIV, with an increased orientation to viral suppression, treating infants and children early, and beginning to talk for the first time about the virtual elimination of pediatric HIV.  2010 has been a year in which we’ve begun to act on those new guidelines, with an eye towards seeing some of the outcomes and realizing some of the successes that they promise.

How has working with people with HIV/AIDS changed over time, in your experience?

In the last ten years our approach to providing care for pregnant women with HIV has evolved from doing just the bare minimum, because that is all that was available in the developing world, to being able to deliver complex medical interventions that are essentially equivalent to what’s available in resource rich countries. In this transition we recognize that the problems that need to be solved are different.  With the increased availability of tests and drugs, the strength of health systems becomes increasingly important for the effective delivery of these services.

Too few doctors and nurses becomes a barrier to delivering adequate care.  Further, as effective interventions do become available, it becomes increasingly important to engage patients and ensure that they both take up and adhere to these new regimens.  Increasingly our focus must be on creating an effective health care team and ensuring that clients who initiate care remain in care.

What challenges remain?

Highlighting both the health systems issues and the client issues in the developing world leaves us looking for solutions.   In Sub-Saharan Africa, which has 24 percent of the world’s disease burden and only 3 percent of its health care providers, how can we build health care teams that meet patients’ needs? Frequently, the tasks that need to be addressed are relatively simple ones: such as the education of clients who need to understand the treatment options available to them.  These are tasks ill-suited to doctors and nurses who are in short supply, and better suited to appropriately-trained providers who can effectively engage patients. 

The thrust becomes not one of diagnostics and therapeutics, but of behaviour change.  Patients who understand their medical conditions and therapies can be engaged to adopt practices like taking medicines regularly or breast-feeding babies safely if they are supported… We must also find ways to ensure that clients return to their health care facilities on a regular basis to take up these increasingly effective treatments.  This involves both improving the patient experience when they come for care, and changing patients’ attitudes about caring for themselves.

How can these challenges be met?

We need to look at task-shifting key medical tasks from doctors and nurses to appropriately trained health care providers. These tasks like education and psycho-social support, are important drivers of client understanding, which lead to action and successful outcomes.   In addition, we need to engage clients so that they return to care and receive the benefits of all the interventions available to them.  Our organization mothers2mothers achieves this.  Our staff is comprised of mothers living with HIV who are trained to provide education and support to pregnant women and new mothers living with HIV. 

Our goal is Promoting a level of patient understanding that increases the uptake of and adherence to effective therapies. In providing these services we have redefined the health care team to include a doctor, nurse, and an HIV-positive mother.  In addition, by improving the patients’ health care experience, and through other simple measures, like feeding patients who come to care, and reaching out to those mothers who do not return for care, we are able to retain clients and ensure that they get the full benefit of the services that are increasingly effective and increasingly available to them.

Among mothers living with HIV in resource poor countries, there is no reason we should not strive for the same outcomes women with HIV experience in resource rich countries. The models of care that we have embraced are transferrable to other realms of HIV care and general medical care, as well. Today, on World AIDS Day 2010, we remember those who we have lost and those who have suffered from a time when less was available and less could be done. Today, on World AIDS Day 2010, we strive to do better – to build a better health care system and to better engage patients in their care so our past failings are not repeated; and so people living with HIV can live with dignity and health.Check out the

Check out the Mothers2mothers web site.

He has been pedaling a “rocket trike.” This human-powered recumbent tricycle is wrapped in an aerodynamic body. He said he chose this particular trike “because it represents to me the creative potential of humans to do things differently. And it’s fun.”

He’s getting great print and television coverage. At each stop he calls on people to sign his petition calling for 100 percent renewable energy by 2020.

In talking with him recently, he said that everyone he has met on the trip agrees with his goal—from farmers in small towns to the members of Chambers of Commerce—and about needing to ramp up renewable energy now. (Read his blog.)

They are worried about our future—and that of their children—and they are ready for a bold message. Perhaps we are ready for Plan B!

In the '50s a turkey was about 5 pounds. Today the smallest turkey is about 15 pounds. What's in that turkey?

The average holiday meal is about 3,000 CALORIES + 229 grams of fat!

A 160 lbs person would need to run at least a moderate pace for 4 hours, swim 5 hours AND walk 30 miles to burn off a 3000 calorie holiday meal, according to Dr. Cedric Bryant, ACE Chief Exercise Physiologist.

EAT CONSCIOUS!!
 
calorie counter:
 
1 Mixed Drink   250
1 Glass Wine    120
1 Glass Cider   120
1 Cup Eggnog  343
 
1/2 Cup Mixed Nuts 440
 
6 oz Cured Ham  300
6 oz Turkey 340
6 oz Prime Rib   330
1/2 Cup Stuffing 180
1/2 Cup Cranberry Sauce 190
1/2 Mashed Potatoes 150
1/2 cup Gravy 150
1 Baked Potato with Sour Cream 150
1/2 cup Green Bean Casserole 225
1/2 cup candied Sweet Potatoes 150
1 Dinner Roll 110
1 pat Butter 45
 
1 slice Apple Pie 410
1 slice Pecan Pie 480
1 slice Pumpkin Pie 180
1/2 cup Whipped Cream 75
1/2 cup Ice Cream 145
 
(leftovers)
1 Turkey Sandwich with Mayo and Cranberry Sauce 440
1 open-face Turkey Sandwich with Stuffing and Gravy 290
 
Visit the following website to calculate more Calories:
Count Your Calories

Since 2003 the Cahn Fellows Program has worked with 175 experienced principals and 162 aspiring and new principals. Once selected in the program, principals remain “Fellows” for life and actively participate in four annual Cahn Alumni Network (CAN) events and receive the quarterly newsletter. From April 2009 to June 2010 22 Fellows participated in the 2009 cohort and 153 alumni were engaged through the CAN.

These findings for the Cahn Fellows Program come from a November 2009 study conducted by the RAND Corporation, the University of Florida, and the Columbia Business School, a January 2010 program evaluation conducted by the Perkins Consulting Group, a July 2010 end-of-program survey administered to the 2009-10 cohort to assess the organization’s impact on school performance and school environment, and participants’ experience as members of the 2009-2010 cohort.

To measure program impact researchers used pre- and post-program student performance and attendance and graduation rates as well as school environment data provided by the New York City Department of Education for participants’ schools. Researchers then compared this data with that from a matched sample of principals with the same experience and school demographic profile. To measure participant experience the program administered an online survey, which was completed by 22 principals anonymously.

School Performance

Principal performance was assessed based on student ELA and math state test scores, attendance and graduation rates, as well as school environment evaluations and surveys.
Standardized Test Results

– Students at Fellows’ schools well outperform peers with similar demographic characteristics in terms of English/Language Arts and Mathematics proficiency

– On average, math and English achievement test scores improve in Fellows’ schools after they enter the program

• Estimated improvements are ~0.04 standard deviations; this is on par with improvements we estimate for new principals over the first five years of experience running their school

“Through the Cahn Fellows Program guidance and support, my new school has a new approach to adult learning. Most importantly, the children love to write now!”-Christina Tettonis, 2007 Fellow, Hellenic Classical Charter School

“I do not think that we would have accomplished as much in one year had we not participated in the Cahn Fellows Program.” -Elsa Nunez, 2009 Fellow, PS 28

Attendance and Graduation Rates

– Student absences decrease by ~3 percent (0.3 days) in Fellows’ schools after they enter the program

– CFP schools had significantly higher graduation rates than peer schools by 19%

“The Cahn Fellows Program was just what I needed to take my school to the next level!” -Nigel Pugh, 2006 Fellow, Queens High School for Teaching
School Environment

– CFP schools had significantly better Quality Review scores than the comparison schools in four of the five categories: gathering data, planning and setting goals, aligning instructional strategy to goals, and monitoring and revising

– CFP schools had significantly better Learning Environment assessments than the
comparison schools in three of the four areas: academic expectations, engagement, and safety and respect
Might be good to note which categories did not show better performance and if there is a reason why

“Working in the study groups was one of the best aspects of the program. I was given access to some of the best thinkers in the entire educational system.” -Joseph Gates, 2005 Fellow, IS 238

Participant Satisfaction

Participants’ abilities, program benefits, and overall value were assessed based on participant responses to an end-of-fellowship survey.

Participant Abilities

The participant survey indicated that as a result of the program:

– 100% of participants said that their ability to collaborate with staff and peers has improved

– 92% of participants said that their ability to mentor staff has improved

– 93% of participants said that their ability to manage their own stress has improved

“The Challenge Project has helped me understand more deeply the importance of collaboration within a community. The students, teachers, and parents were very inspired and happy to be a part of my Cahn experience.” -Donna Finn, 2008 Fellow, Frank Sinatra High School for the Arts

“This opportunity has allowed me to reflect upon my practice as a Principal and has renewed my spirit as a leader.” -Joanne Hunt, 2008 Fellow, Harbor Science and Arts Charter School

Participant Assessment of Quality

The participant survey indicated benefits of the program:

– 94% of participants said that the time to reflect on their leadership was “beneficial” or “highly beneficial”

– 94% of participants said that the professional network was “beneficial” or “highly beneficial”

– 95% of participants said that learning about how to support adult development was “beneficial” or “highly beneficial”

– 88% of participants said that meeting leaders from other sectors was “beneficial” or “highly beneficial”

“I was able to connect with a group of people I really respect and admire… Part of being a principal is being really isolated, so this allowed you to make connections… It just raises you up to be with such talented people.” -Ramon Gonzalez, 2007 Fellow, Laboratory School of Finance and Technology

“This is the only organization that has gotten me to think, reflect, and want to change my school. And my school and staff are seeing those changes now.” -Ysidro Abreu, 2009 Fellow, MS 319

Value Participants Place on the Program

On a scale from 1 to 10 the participant survey indicated the degree to which they would encourage other principals to participate in the program:

– 100% of participants said that they would encourage other principals to participate in the Cahn Fellows Program (with a degree of 8 or higher)

“I returned to school determined to be the kind of leader that the teachers and students wanted to follow. My motivation and excitement was contagious.” -Rachel Donnelly, 2005 Fellow, PS 121

“I believe the Cahn Fellows Program, which stimulates, motivates and educates the ‘principal teachers’ of our city’s schools, is just what is needed if the NYC school system is to improve and flourish.” -Kathy LeDonni, 2003 Fellow, PS 247

In order to help reform the education system, UoPeople is giving 250 qualified students the opportunity to work towards an Associate’s Degree in either Business Administration or Computer Science, by accessing our online, tuition-free programs. Additionally, along with our partner the Haitian Connection Network, we have established the first of our Student Computer Centers, furnished with computers and satellite internet connection, where students will conduct their studies.

We are ready to equip Haiti’s youth with the tools to rebuild their country, but we need your help. 

Please consider donating to help our efforts in Haiti. Any contribution will support these students and grow our program. Do not underestimate the value of your donation. The smallest contribution can make an enormous difference. To donate to the project and learn more about our work in Haiti, please visit our website and our dedicated Facebook page.

House of Representatives is currently considering the Senate version of the bill which, though far from perfect, includes excellent policy changes to improve school food now and in the future. In a time when many children face both hunger and obesity, this bill presents an opportunity to set policy that will bring healthier food to the children who need it most.

For school food to move forward, it is vital that Congress reauthorizes this act. Please add your voice to the call for action: send a letter to your representative.

We have urged those who care about school food to speak up about this issue several times over the past two years as reauthorization worked its way through Congress. Now,as Congress faces a limited window of time to take action, your voice is more important than ever. Thank you for taking action.

Something hidden. Go and find it. Go and look behind the Ranges
Something lost behind the Ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go!

And if you want to mobilize men, then you must get to this tap root within their souls and activate that will-to-adventure which lies so deep. That is what the eminent psychiatrist, Paul Tournier, said almost fifty years ago, and which he documented in his book, The Adventure of Living. “The impulse to adventure, in the male, is so close to instinctual, that it must be considered as part of his psychological persona.”

Tournier, in his best Swiss observations, underlines the old adage, “We are not here just to hold the fort, but to storm the heights!!” He points out that men will buy motorcycles at 50, risk businesses at 70, pursue sports rabidly, and just get generally crazy all for the love of adventure. He also points out that the love of adventure is not the exclusive property of just the male gender, but he gives ample evidence that the man is particularly susceptible to the power of adventure as a primary driving force in his life.

I have to admit that seeing and seizing the challenges of life drive me unmercifully. Maybe I should rather say, “mercifully,” because this journey constantly evokes unspeakable joy in the midst of sometimes harsh struggle! That’s how one of my heroes, Dr. Wilfred Grenfell, saw it too.

In the late 1800’s he gave up a lucrative medical practice in London to go as a medical missionary to Labrador at the call of Dwight L. Moody, the famous evangelist! Grenfell won such fame; he was invited by Harvard University in 1911, to deliver the prestigious, William Beldon Noble Lectures for that year.

Grenfell’s lectures rocked the campus and beyond. He titled them, The Adventure Of Life. (One of my prized possessions is the first edition book of those lectures.)

Now here is a key point. He dedicated those lectures to his wife. Remember that salient point as you read the next few paragraphs.

Being a man of adventure, I was simply nonchalant over the birth of our first grandchild in 2002. Please don’t be hard on me, family is wonderful, but adventure is intoxicatingly addictive! So word came about the birth of a granddaughter, Katherine Elise McCarter. I was in D.C. at the time. Champagne was broken out when the call came. I toasted her arrival. I wasn’t upset about growing old, and I wasn’t swinging from the chandelier either, I was simply nonchalant. This is life. One chapter ends and a new chapter begins.

I honestly thought that the folks who had the bumper stickers, “Ask Me About My Grandchild,” were kind of nutty. And I was always careful NOT to ask about grandchildren because from nowhere might appear an entire photo album of some pink nondescript baby and they all looked the same! Not me. It is wonderful but there are Causes to claim, Mountains to climb. That was me, then…

I flew home in time to go to the hospital to see the baby. In the new mother and dad’s room the family had gathered. My son didn’t waste a second, “Dad, would you like to hold her?” I don’t know why, but I didn’t expect that. He was the last baby I had held—31years before!! I was suddenly petrified. But how could I say, “Naw, I’ll wait.” So he gave her to me.

David and Kelli just placed in my arms the most precious gift, their child. I went all weak and watery immediately. I cannot describe for you the rush of feeling and the instantaneous melding of my heart to my dear “Katie.” (I am the only one with permission to call her that name.) She was so fragile, so helpless, so beautiful, and something fused inside of me.

I walked with that little baby girl over to a corner of the room. And suddenly that corner became an altar. Here I made a covenant with “Katie.” I told her that I would dedicate every fiber of my being, all of my energy, all of my thinking, all of my treasure, and all of my sparse talents to make the world she would inherit safe and loving for her. How could she do it? She was so dependent, so helpless, so in MY arms, so in MY responsibility!!

I really can’t explain it other than to say, “On that day my resolve turned into steel.” And all of my study, and all of my work, and all of my philosophical speculations boiled into a remarkably clear and simple meaning for my life and I believe for yours: “We are here to partner with God and one another to make our world a home, where every single child is safe and loved.” You see, I have grown.

It isn’t enough for me to just look out for my own. I must covenant with your child and grandchild. I must dedicate myself to every single child. Isn’t that the old reason, the true purpose now lost, I fear, for placing our babies in the arms of our politicians? We hand them the most precious gift we can and in effect say to them, “Guard this child. Make our world safe. Lead us to do this.” Now it’s just another photo-op. But the symbol is profoundly powerful.

So when I go to the neighborhoods, poor and rich, I look for babies to hold. I hold them and I promise them, so beautiful, so precious, what I promised my “Katie.” I have grown. For now every child is my “Katie.”

And here is what I know. I know that there is no greater adventure, no greater challenge to a real man then to devote all that we are to making this world a home for our wives, our children, and yes, our fabulous grandchildren. Now I know what the Angel meant when he told Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, “And he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to their children.”

Dear friends, in this season of hope, we must do more than “hold the fort.” We must storm the heights of renewing our world!! God bless you in this great adventure.

The Wockhardt Foundation Movement comprises three broad components:

• Human Values


• Social Awakening


• Social Development

The Mission of Wockhardt Foundation is to work towards (and fight for) the upliftment of the poor, weak and needy, and to spread human values.

In order to achieve this mission, the CEO takes a personal interest in choosing and appointing “Warriors” who are required to have the strength of character and a sense of proper conduct in civil society. Each warrior is required to take the following pledge daily before starting to work so that he/she is constantly reminded of his/her responsibility to the Foundation as well as to the society at large: "I am a true fighter, I will commit my time and my efforts for the upliftment of the poor, weak and needy. I believe in human values and will work towards creating a happier more loving and caring world."

The CEO also personally makes sure that each warrior of the Foundation displays and practices the following human qualities:

• A Warrior must have commitment towards the upliftment of the poor, weak and needy.


• A Warrior must be self-motivated and should feel happy in devoting his time, efforts and resources towards the cause of the Foundation.


• A Warrior must work consistently to achieve his targets.


• A Warrior must ensure good rapport and team work with his other Warriors.


• A Warrior must follow the directions of the Chief Warrior and strengthen the hands of the Chief Warrior.


• A Warrior must be pro-active and give constructive suggestions to the Chief Warrior while not imposing that in too forceful a manner.


• A Warrior must spread the word & cause of the Foundation.


• A Warrior must feel compassionate and have mercy for the poor, weak and needy.


• A Warrior must be a role model citizen of India.


• A Warrior must live good human values and imbibe the philosophy of the Foundation

Our Philosophies

• Service to man is service to God


• We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give


• A candle loses nothing when it is used to light another candle


• Where every smile counts


• Wish for others what you wish for yourself


• The poor don’t need pity, they need help


• Mankind is one family dependant on God, and the most beloved to God is the one most beneficial to it


• Poverty somewhere is a threat to prosperity elsewhere


• When you help others, you help yourself the most, because God grants you peace and happiness


• A life of giving is the only life worth living


• What you give in charities, comes back to you multiplied many times over

The Programs

Right to Vision India has more than 9 million blind persons enrolled, and in 75% of the cases, blindness is actually preventable. The prime reason for this is ignorance and lack of motivation to seek medical help in time and in the right manner.

To do our part in mitigating the suffering of the blind in India, we operate special vans fitted with equipments to screen, test and diagnose vision problems in the weaker sections of the society. We have 6 vans serving 6 diverse locations of our land. The latest figures in this area are as follows:

Patients screened - 50453

Cataract surgeries - 4793

Spectacles - 22392

Mobile Health Reach

It is common knowledge that in a country like India, due to a variety of reasons, it is often necessary to reach out to the sick and the invalid in slums and rural areas as these patients cannot and do not seek medical help on their own.

To tackle this problem head on, we have pressed into service mobile health vans manned by qualified doctors and stocked with medicines for many common ailments like cough, cold, fever, abdominal symptoms etc. For cases that need more in-depth investigations and treatment in institutional set ups, we provide free referral services too.

Since the inception of this service, we have treated 38,8826 patients all over the country through our mobile caravan of over a hundred vans, a few of which are actually owned and operated by us with the rest run on collaborative agreements. We hope to improve upon these figures.

Little Hearts

It is estimated that around 3 lac children are born every year in India with congenital heart defects and many of them don’t survive beyond a few weeks, as their condition demands aggressive and prompt attention, followed by complicated heart surgery which is not obtainable in the lower socioeconomic strata. We try to do our part by diagnosing such cases and promptly referring them to heart surgery units in well- known institutions with financial support arrangements to see the procedure through. We have done this for 19 patients this year and hope to improve upon it steadily.

Smile Please

A malady called cleft palate is a common congenital defect in children. Due to improper fusion of the two halves of the upper jaw, these children have an ugly looking face plus other difficulties in speech and eating, thus making their lives really miserable. Ignorance of available treatment modalities as well as financial constraints leave many such children to fend for themselves in the cruel world outside.

There are said to be 35,00 such children born every year in India and we try to do our part by sponsoring their corrective surgeries in well-established medical institutions across the country. We have helped 283 children and hope to do more.

Deworm India

Abdominal worm infestations are a common cause of malnutrition in Indian children, particularly from the lower socioeconomic strata. We play our part in tackling the problem through distribution of deworming tablets through as many outlets as possible, either directly or collaboratively through other organizations including NGOs and Govt institutions. The following is a brief summary of what we could achieve so far:

Lobbying success - 7000000

Tablets - 746634

Community Awareness - 34014000

Khel Khel Mein

This was started essentially as a recreational service to poor children in slum areas of Mumbai, but is now multiplying rapidly with inputs and support from many other organizations and other NGOs. It is also taking on different dimensions such as identifying and nurturing hidden talent from amongst the poorer sections that don’t have access to media exposure; general education to fill the gaps that exist in this segment of the urban population; improving the nutritional status of slum children and so on. We have collected a total of 10910 children service points through this project and hope to add more in times to come.

Free Consultations

Since poor patients cannot afford quality healthcare on their own, we try and persuade doctors all over India to spare two hours every week to treat patients free. In return for which the doctor gets the following benefits from Wockhardt Foundation:

• Doctors who are enrolled under Free Consultation program are given a title of "Associate Doctor of WOCKHARDT FOUNDATION". This title can be used by the doctor in his letter head or his visiting card.


• Each "Associate Doctors" had the privilege of having a membership to a specially designed website, `Wock empower` which is a gold mine of information relating to clinical trials, latest updates in the medical world, treatment guidelines, medical search engines like pubmed, video on surgeries etc.


• Each "Associate Doctor" will be given an elegant citation in soft copy to be adorned at their respective clinics as a worthy recognition for his humanitarian efforts.


• Free Consultations gives "Associate Doctor" is listed in the Wockhardt Foundation website.


• Name of the "Associate Doctor" is listed in the Wockhardt Foundation website

HIV-AIDS WHARF

The Wockhardt HIV-AIDS Awareness & Research Foundation is aimed at creating awareness and educating primary care givers on HIV-AIDS. We advocate support for the people living with the virus and fighting against stigma & discrimination associated with it

WHARF concentrates on a specific beneficiary program with an overall focus on training and education for the  HIV & AIDS for primary care giver (Clinicians / Nurses & Paramedic). WHARF creats awareness about prevention and provides a comprehensive health care program for HIV infected and affected children. For more details, kindly visit our website: wharf.in. The following are our achievements so far:

Community awareness - 7975

Capacity building - 14289

Email messages - 84000

Nutrition supplements - 3730

Voice

We lend our voice on various social, environmental & civic issues & create an awareness, awakening & consciousness through various media. Some examples are:

Smoking
Domestic Violence
Child abuse
Human Trafficking
Female Foeticide
Water Conservation
Pollution
Global Warming
Energy Conservation
Electronics Waste Recycling
Addiction
Child Marriage
Giirl Child Education
Suicide
Population Control
Stress

We have so far sent out 126500 email messages on these topics and hope to add more.

Human Values

This is a topic that is dear to the heart of the CEO of Wockhardt Foundation who takes personal interest in spreading time tested human values through the multiple avenues.

In order to make it easy for the busy modern citizen to remember the values and live by them, our CEO has worked out a weekly time table of values which will have to be adhered to at least once in a memorable manner each day of the week:

Monday - Gratitude
Tuesday - Forgiveness
Wednesday - Love
Thursday - Humility
Friday - Giving
Saturday - Patience
Sunday - Truth

We have so far achieved the following targets and obviously are doing more on a daily basis.

Email messages - 1400000

Lectures - 11535

Books - 17113

In addition, through our educational initiative called Wockhardt Foundation Institute of Inspirational Studies, we offer certificate courses in human values for college students, executives and other interested citizens.

Professor Sarah Brown: What is the greatest challenge, or disappointment, you have faced in your work with Physicians for Human Rights?

 
Professor Raphael Walden: Our greatest challenge is to mobilise the health issue as a medium to promote peace and understanding between opposing parties in a situation of conflict. We are trying to emphasize the point that with all the discord between the Palestinians and the Israelis, we have one common enemy: disease and death. To fight these we must disregard our differences and unite our efforts. While we have managed to achieve this goal in our joint activities with individuals and non-governmental organisations, we have so far failed to persuade the political leaders on both sides as to the vital importance of this principle.

Sarah Brown: Of what achievement are you most proud?
 

Raphael Walden: We have managed to gain the trust and confidence of large segments of the Palestinian population that, in spite of belonging to the adverse parties, we are faithful partners in their endeavours to achieve better living conditions. This was done by providing medical care to patients at our mobile clinics in Palestine, providing treatments in medical facilities in Israel and various training programmes for medical personnel. Not less important is the vast lobbying and advocacy activity we are conducting towards various authorities in Israel and towards the local and international media.

Sarah Brown: Do you feel that your work with the different communities in the region helps foster understanding and friendship as well as improving health?

 Raphael Walden: In each of the mobile clinics we conduct every week end in a Palestinian village or township we treat hundreds of patients. For those, their families and their neighbours, this is often the only friendly contact they ever have with Israelis. A remarkable atmosphere of good will and even fraternity is always created. This is also true for our numerous trainees in teaching programmes in Palestine or in Israel. They are all goodwill ambassadors and the encounters serve to breach the monolithic image of the "wicked Israeli", so prevalent in the Palestinian society. We believe that this aspect of our activity is no less valuable than the medical one.

Be sure to check out childrenofpeace.org.uk and join the Children of Peace Facebook group.

The thing is, making all these devices takes an enormous environmental and public health toll: mining the metals trashes communities from Congo to Indonesia; assembling them uses huge amounts of water and energy and exposes workers to a host of toxic chemicals; and getting rid of them when we're on to the next, newer, better model creates mountains of e-waste.

The good news is that while the production, consumption and disposal of short-lived, toxics laden electronics are a really big problem, the solution is pretty simple: Make 'em Safe, Make 'em Last, and Take 'em Back.

The Story of Electronics to send a clear message to the electronics industry: it's time to send that design for the dump mentality to the dump where it belongs and start making less toxic, longer lasting and more easily recyclable products.

Our goal is to get a quarter of a million people to watch The Story of Electronics by Black Friday, just over two weeks from now. You can help us reach this goal by:

• Watching The Story of Electronics;


• Sharing the movie with your friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, fellow students and anyone else you think might be interested;


• Reading Annie's Huffington Post piece about the movie, and then commenting on it, liking it or sharing it; and


• Working with our partners at the Electronics TakeBack Coalition to tell two of the largest electronics manufacturers-Acer and Lenovo-to "Make 'em Safe, Make 'em Last, and Take 'em Back!"

Every time we release one of our movies, we're floored by the way our community jumps in to spread the message. We know this time will be no different. It costs a pretty penny to produce and distribute our movies. You can help offset the distribution costs we're racking up this week with a secure, on-line donation to The Story of Stuff Project.

• a culture of excellence results in students’ growth as learners and as people
• affiliated schools and school districts share worldwide resources to create new knowledge and capacity to teach, learn, and lead
• staff and partners advance education as a civil right across the globe

VISION

Global Partnership Schools will create a learning community to accelerate student progress, improve the instructional capacity of all educators, and create educational environments that prepare all students to succeed in the global economy and society.



VALUES

Excellence and Accountability: We strive to be the best in all we do, accept responsibility for our results and encourage the educators and students we touch to do so as well.

Caring and Trust: We act with sincerity, integrity and nurturing behavior.

Innovation and Continuous Improvement: We incorporate new approaches and foster the joy of learning.

Passion and Commitment: We dedicate our lives to helping children realize their potential through education.

Global Perspective: We build a learning community that puts the world within reach of all children.

BELIEFS

We believe:

• Parents and caring adults matter in the lives of students.
• Leaders inside the classroom and beyond must have the courage and means to help students reach their potential and achieve success.
• Schools that allow students to take an active role directing their learning best develop each child’s strengths and passions.
• All children can be critical and creative thinkers and schools must help them reach that potential.
• High expectations, proven pedagogy and best practice are required for student achievement.
• Public-private partnerships and rich cultural diversity are essential for success in the global economy and society.

Most people are familiar with the term "fair trade"- trade that conforms to a fair-trade agreement. What is so extraordinary about Wilson's Model of Prosperity, is that there is no one skimming money off of the top. Most of the profits, made possible by partners such as Whole Foods, go right back to the artisans, allowing them to then further invest in and expand the economies in their region.

In the words of their mission statement: "The rural poor in developing countries are quite capable of pulling themselves out of poverty. We use a unique financial model which allows artisans to earn significantly higher than fair trade wages for their products for a given period of time. The artisan is free to steward that money however they wish. Most often they use the capital to create multiple small businesses. Those entrepreneurial endeavors result in several independent streams of income creating sustainable financial independence from our organization. We generate the Prosperity Wages by selling their artisan products."

Having overcome her own human struggle, Wilson is a self described ordinary person, who refused to settle for the seemingly difficult circumstances life dealt her. She reframed her life situation and manifested her extraordinary vision, The Blessing Basket Project. I invite you to frequent her website and learn more about this amazing woman and her organization, at blessingbasket.org. And if you are in the Illinois and Missouri area, please check out their warehouse sale.

Please enjoy this video about The Blessing Basket Project, with music by country music star Sara Evans.

International negotiations on a comprehensive climate change treaty made limited progress this year, yet global investments in clean energy in both developed and developing countries alike continue apace. Ironically, there is a positive connection between the two—despite the slow pace of negotiations to produce a comprehensive climate treaty, the discussions have produced a continuing and evolving commitment in the international arena to help developing countries finance their transition to a clean energy economy.

(Governments can use policy measures alongside relatively small sums of public money to catalyze private sector participation to help developing countries finance their transition to a clean energy economy.)

A new report released today, “Investing in Clean Energy,” from the Center for American Progress and seven other global think tanks that comprise the Global Climate Network provides a progress report on commitments to clean energy development in several sectors in China, India, Nigeria, and South Africa. Our report estimates the total cost over the next decade for achieving these targets, and then offers recommendations on how best to use public funds that may become available in the creation of a global climate fund to leverage the private capital needed to meet these goals.

Before detailing our findings, some history about the global climate fund. One of the items agreed to as part of the Copenhagen Accord at the U.N. climate summit in Denmark last December was a commitment to raise $30 billion from developed countries for “fast start” financing for these projects in developing countries between 2010 and 2012, with the goal of generating $100 billion in new capital annually by 2020. The money would be deployed toward enhanced mitigation of carbon pollution, technology development, and adaptation to a warming world.

The accord stops short, however, of determining the ratio of funds that will be spent on mitigation and adaptation, respectively, and of identifying any specific mechanisms or sources of finance other than “public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources.” Later this week, however, a special report from the U.N. Advisory Group on Finance—an informal but high-level group of heads of state, experts, and finance ministers—will provide a more comprehensive look at the instruments that could be used generate these funds.

Our report “Investing in Clean Energy” complements this forthcoming U.N. Advisory Group report by demonstrating that significant amounts of additional funds will be necessary to achieve a successful, global low-carbon transition for long-term climate protection. Private finance is undoubtedly needed. According to the World Bank, additional annual capital costs for mitigation in developing countries will range between $265 billion and $565 billion by 2030. We find that investments in the sectors and countries highlighted in this study must double if current government ambition for renewable energy expansion is to be achieved.

Indeed, excluding China, the average annual investment needed is $15.93 billion, yet the financing gap is around $15.73 billion in India, South Africa, and Nigeria, all of which are currently only investing a tiny fraction of what would be required.

Take India, which is embracing substantial targets to decrease their emissions and shift to a low-carbon growth strategy. The Indian government’s Eleventh Five-Year Plan includes a renewable energy target of 10 percent of total power generation capacity, with 4 percent to 5 percent of the final electricity mix to be achieved by 2012. If these goals are met then renewable energy would account for approximately 20 percent of the total added energy capacity planned in the 2007 to 2012 period. Toward the same goal, India expects to install 15 gigawats of additional renewable power capacity by 2012.

The Indian government has allocated $850 million of public finance to support renewable energy under the Eleventh Five-Year Plan, including $16.2 million for wind power demonstration projects and $43.3 million in subsidies to support grid-interactive solar photovoltaic power generation infrastructure. Yet the total capital investment required to achieve the plan’s target of 15 gigawatts of installed renewable electricity by 2012 are likely to be significantly higher.

Using estimates of capital and generation costs calculated by the Indian government’s Integrated Energy Policy-Expert Committee, our report finds that between $9.5 billion and 12.7 billion will be required between 2007 and 2012 if the 2012 target is to be met. This will require leveraging as much as 15 times the budgetary support currently provided by the Indian government in the form of private investment. Follow-up interviews with government officials and clean energy investors in each country participating in our study point to the hurdles and possible solutions needed to build the needed renewable energy infrastructure by tapping private capital. In most countries, the majority of participants suggest that the primary barrier to private sector low-carbon investment was the absence of clear and stable national policies.

Inadequate regulation and standards (South Africa, China), lack of incentive policies (South Africa), the absence of market mechanisms and a price on carbon (China), and failure to implement existing policies (Nigeria) were all cited. Nonetheless, participants in several countries (India, China,) suggest that financial instruments deployed by governments at the national level to date have been quite effective in stimulating private investment in low-carbon energy projects despite limitations in the policies.

The types of instruments that have been successful so far differ depending on a country’s unique circumstances. In India, for example, feed-in tariffs for renewable-sourced energy have been important. In China, requirements on banks to phase out loans to high-carbon emissions sectors have been very effective. Clearly, if the balance of risk and return is acceptable then the private sector will invest. Indeed, participants in the national dialogues held by the various partners in our study suggest there is no lack of enthusiasm or available capital for clean energy. Yet our unequivocal finding is that government intervention will be needed to ensure the private sector’s perception of risk does not exceed its expectation of return.

In effect, clean energy investment requires a public–private partnership. Governments can use policy measures alongside relatively small sums of public money to catalyze private sector participation, enabling government involvement to help reduce the perception of risk, and consequently actual risk, among private sector investors. We propose that governments building the proposed $100 billion climate fund should foster an investment partnership with the private sector. Our report proposes several leveraging mechanisms, such as loan guarantees, subordinated equity investments, and policy insurance, which together could be the basis of this partnership. These tools will help lower costs in two ways.

First, lowering the cost of capital will bring down incremental costs. Developed country government-sourced subsidies and guarantees to help private investors finance clean energy in developing countries will reduce the costs of borrowing. The reason: Cheaper capital in most clean energy sectors means lower incremental costs generally.

Second, deployment on a large scale will drive down technology costs. A public–private partnership for clean energy investment should lead to a rapid increase in the pace and scale of deployment, which in turn would lead to technological, technical, and business innovation—learning by doing—and so bring down the currently high relative unit costs of clean energy.

There are some participants in the international climate community who criticize the deliberations of the U.N.’s Advisory Group on Finance because it focuses too much on generating private investment out of public capital. Our report demonstrates that the clean energy investment challenge will only be solved through coordinated public and private effort. This investment challenge is now the world’s greatest innovation challenge.

2009 State Teacher of the Year Edney Freeman was not short on praise as he introduced the speaker for the second half of Thursday’s Department of Education professional development conference at the Wyndham Sugar Bay.

“Our students have the ailment, and this gentleman has the medicine,” said Freeman. “Pay attention. His message is relevant.”

His enthusiasm paled in comparison, though, as Principal Baruti Kafele took the stage. “I’m on fire,” shouted Kafele. “I’m on fire about what I do with young people, and I hope you’re on fire about what you do with young people.”

Kafele, whose African first name means “teacher,” is currently the principal of Newark Tech High School in Newark, N.J.—an inner-city school that has been recognized by U.S. News and World Report for the past two years as one of the nation's best high schools.

He began his seminar, entitled “Motivating, Educating and Empowering Black Males,” by giving the enrapt audience of 800 teachers and educators the story of his first year at Newark Tech, a school that was then scoring 3-percent efficiency in math.

From day one, Kafele said he vowed to raise that score to 70 percent by year's end.
“The climate and culture,” said Kafele, “have to be conducive for them to excel.” Consequently, the first thing he did was paint the entire school white and decorate the halls with motivational quotes and objectives.

“Students are successful when their leaders and teachers believe they are successful,” said Kafele.
According to Kafele, he then set out to transform the way students thought—both academically and attitudinally—by beginning each morning with announcements containing powerful messages to set the tone of the day. By year's end, the school’s math scores had climbed to 73 percent.

During Thursday's seminar, Kafele implored educators to ask themselves why they became educators. The Newark principal said had three reasons – wanting to teach young people their story, wanting to teach them something about economic development in their community, and wanting to teach them about manhood by modeling for them what a real man is. Twenty-two years later, Kafele said, his purpose is still the same.

With the crowd hanging on his every word as he paced back and forth, Kafele outlined in detail the keys to his success with the young black males at his inner-city school. According to Kafele, he’s even got gangbangers on the honor roll.

He decried the practice of blaming society and television for the plight of young black males and urged educators to read, read, read.

As he flashed book titles and authors’ names up on the screen, he asked the audience to raise their hands if they had read these books. Very few hands went up in the air. Most were busy, though, jotting down the names of the recommended books.

“Educators of African-American males,” said Kafele, “must expose themselves to literature that addresses the learning, cultural and social-emotional needs of African-American learners.”

Kafele’s keys to meeting the classroom needs of black male students are simple. For starters, Kafele said, teachers need to know exactly who their pupil is. "Familiarize yourself with his neighborhood, his challenges, his goals and aspirations, needs and interests, parents, history and culture. It’s difficult to teach what you don’t know but equally hard to teach who you don’t know,” Kafele said.

Stressing the need to teach black males about their history, Kafele said young men will be interested in learning those things they can see themselves in. They need to relate to what’s being taught. Kafele said he wasn’t inspired as a young man until he read “The Autobiography of Malcolm X,” by Alex Haley. Transformed by the book, Kafele says he immediately became straight-A student.

Also key to educators’ success with black males, according to Kafele, is the educators’ seeing themselves as the number one determinant of the student’s success or failure. Success will be determined, Kafele said, by the passion and sense of purpose educators bring to their teaching. Also key is setting incremental and long-range goals for the student, having high expectations and standards, acting in a professional manner in their capacity as role models, and conducting daily self-assessments.

Raymond Smith, music educator at Joseph Sibilly School, said, “This has been very inspiring for me. I am into personal development and am learning as much as I can about myself so that I can help them learn who they are.”

Kafele has developed a “Young Men’s Empowerment” program in his school, where he brings in men from the community to share with the students what it means to be a man. He also does one-on-one mentoring, holds male retreats and father-son groups, and has the students meet with black businessmen and political leaders.

Kafele closed his powerful seminar with just as much energy as he began, saying, “We all need each other. If these young men are going to be successful and maximize their potential, we have to demand that they believe in their ability to achieve excellence and motivation. If you treat this not as just a job but as a mission, then I guarantee you that the young people will soar, will strive and will achieve excellence.”
The room was filled with thunderous applause as all 800 attendees gave Kafele the standing ovation he had inspired.

Our fresh approach brings together arts educators in communities and schools, then coordinates efforts that help local students become inspired thinkers. The key to success is fostering collaborations and adequately funding ideas. Led by Dr. Brent Hasty, mindPOP Solutions organizes nonprofit peer groups to meet with field experts, analyze local obstacles, and identify promising practices. With local funding support, in 2009-10 over fifty organizations formed four groups and developed pilot solutions in the following areas:

• Equity and Engagement Solutions
  
  
  • Roadmap - A report describing the distribution of creative learning in Austin.
  • mindPOP Scholarship Challenge Fund – A scholarship fund providing student lessons required to advance to the highest levels of creative learning



• Quality Instruction Solutions
  
  
  • Professional Development Workshops – Workshops and seminars supporting community teaching artists and classroom teachers using national presenters
  • Professional Development Email Blasts – Thoughtful, focused video based emails demonstrating practical teaching skills designed to improve instructional quality



• Impact and Measurement Solutions
  
  
  • Evaluation Tools – A library of valid and reliable evaluation tools designed to analyze student achievement and engagement
  • Achievement Reports – A report series describing the demographic, achievement, attendance and disciplinary profile of participating students



• Coordination Solutions
  
  
  • Creative Learning Portal – A searchable online database of programs to help schools and community settings find available programs that meet their needs
  • Mini-grants – Awarded $50,000 to initiatives supporting mindPOP goals
  • Strategic Planning and Fundraising

mindPOP continues to address inequities in the creative learning system to serve as a model for addressing inequities across the district. Please contact us if you would like to become involved. Brent Hasty, 512-751-1944, brent.hasty@mindpop.org

Unfortunately, this scene is all too real in parts of Africa. In Malawi, for example, the pupil-to-teacher ratio approaches 100 to 1 in rural areas. Under such circumstances, it is not surprising that so many students fail to complete primary school, and illiteracy rates, particularly among women, often exceed 50 percent.

Qualified educators are urgently needed throughout sub-Saharan Africa. UNESCO estimates that 3.8 million teachers will be needed for the region by 2015 to meet the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education.

At Humana People to People, we are committed to improving educational opportunities for children in Africa, particularly in rural areas where there is the greatest need, and have been working with our local partners to train a new cadre of qualified primary school teachers. Over the past 16 years, we have helped lead the effort to improve educational opportunities in the region.

In close cooperation with the Governments of Angola, Malawi and Mozambique—and in line with their respective national strategic plans for education—we have established 23 teacher-training colleges, and are currently graduating more than 2,700 teachers annually. We have also established One World University in Mozambique, which offers baccalaureate degrees in education and “fighting poverty,” qualifying instructors to educate new teachers at our teacher-training colleges.

To date, more than 11,000 teachers have completed teacher training at one of the 23 colleges. Graduates receive a certificate issued by their respective ministries of education, qualifying them to serve in government primary schools. The majority of these graduates, approximately 80-85%, are now working as teachers in rural areas. These highly qualified and dedicated professionals are making a real difference in the lives of children by improving academic achievements, increasing attendance and pass rates, while also engaging the surrounding community to be active in improving basic living conditions.

Our pedagogical framework combines classroom instruction with independent study and high-levels of hands-on teaching experience. Successful graduates are not only fully trained in academic subjects, but enter the teaching world as independent problem solvers and critical thinkers.

A key element of the program is the use of a comprehensive digital library, which students are able to access through shared computers. This library contains all lessons and other materials related to the course of study. Also vital is that the program’s training includes adaptation of simple, readily available materials for use as instructional aids in teaching math, science, languages (Portuguese in Mozambique and Angola and English in Malawi), and other subjects.

Along with learning to develop their own materials, student teachers also learn to make their classroom experiences relevant and enjoyable and thereby help children feel positive about attending school. Conversely, graduates also understand the need to involve parents, persuading them that keeping their children in school will be beneficial to the entire family.

Beyond their academic training, graduates are prepared to meet the challenges of teaching and living in a rural environment. We facilitate this preparation, in part, by virtue of having located our teacher training colleges in rural areas. In most cases, students are recruited from the surrounding region and are thus already acquainted with rural life.  For those who are not, the two and one-half years of training shows them what they can expect and, more importantly, demonstrates through first-hand experiences how a qualified teacher can have an enormous impact on her students and on the development of the entire community.

Recognizing that an individual with the caliber of training that we provide can be a vital asset in a rural community, we equip our graduates to do more than just teach. We also train them in community development, providing them with the skills needed to help build and maintain school facilities, mobilize community support for education and other initiatives, and act as local facilitators and leaders while learning to be sensitive to a community’s needs and concerns. In sum, our teacher-training approach is designed to create a new generation of teachers who can bring modern education into poor communities and thus contribute to their overall development.

Much more work is needed if Africa is to approach the 2015 MDG for education. We are thus seeking to expand our effort and increase the number of qualified teachers we can supply. Our immediate plans call for opening three additional teacher-training colleges in Malawi and a new network of 54 teacher-training colleges in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  With these new centers of learning, we may not be able to change the hot and dusty conditions found in rural Africa, but we will at least be able to better ensure that those charged with teaching the region’s young minds are qualified to do their job.

I wish to close by thanking our U.S. supporters, including our fellow member Planet Aid (planetaid.org). I also wish to acknowledge the U.S. Department of Agriculture for its support of teacher training in Africa, and specifically for its assistance in establishing One World University.

For many it’s a financial issue, for others it is geographic. Whatever the issue, there needs to be an option for those interested in pursuing higher education, but who lack the necessary means. 

Now there is one.

Introducing, University of the People (UoPeople), the world’s first tuition-free online university.  Dedicated to the global advancement and democratization of higher education, UoPeople is grounded in the belief that education should be a right for all, not a privilege for the few.

The University utilizes the worldwide presence of the Internet and dropping technology costs to bring university-level studies within the reach of millions of people across the world. By providing individuals with access to quality, post secondary education, UoPeople offers the tools to better our collective society.

A testament to the power of this pedagogical model, University of the People is supported by renowned academics. Dr. David Harris Cohen, Provost, was previously the Vice President and Dean at Columbia University; the Deans of Computer Science and Business Administration, Dr. Alexandra Tuzhilin and Dr. Russell Winer respectively, come from New York University; and the Dean of General Studies, Dr. Geraldine Downey also currently serves as a professor at Columbia University.

Information about UoPeople and how to apply can easily be accessed on its website: UoPeople.org. I strongly urge you to look at what they have to offer. The opportunity for higher education has arrived.

	Photo © Women for Women International

The use of culture as a defensive weapon blights the lives of women from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Sudan and Afghanistan.  It is used as an excuse to silence opponents. Although the intention may be to respect cultural traditions, it often leads to policies that undermine the social and economic advance of women. 
 
A classic example of this occurred in the first year of the Iraq invasion, when the US governing authority switched food distribution from public stores to mosques. This policy was intended to respect Iraqi culture but, in fact the policy changed the role of the mosque from a private to a public role. For the mosque has played a public role associated with government actions in Iraq’s modern history.

The result was to shift power towards the religious authorities. Those who felt the brunt of this shift were women.  Previously they got food as equal citizens from the store.  Now they had to go to the back room of the mosque and struggle to get the same food they use to get as citizens from the stores regardless of their religious practices.
 
Navigating cultural barriers 
 
Cultural change is never easy to manage. There is a fine line between respecting cultural values and facilitating the status quo. The risks are many.  It is easy to come across as patronizing, disrespectful of cultural values or, just as often, more conservative than cultural traditions require.  None of this is good.  My experience suggests that the only way to navigate these cultural minefields is through sound economic arguments. 
 
At Women for Women International, working in very different cultural circumstances from Afghanistan to Iraq, we have discovered that it is far easier to win the approval of men in leadership positions when we focus on economic issues, highlighting the positive and practical impacts on women’s lives. When the economic benefits are clear, cultural norms become flexible and negotiable rather than rigid and untouchable. 
 
In Iraq, for example, we managed to get a religious decree from the Imams stating that women’s education and access to income is not only allowed in Islam but actually encouraged. That way, women in many places were able to leave their homes and get educational programs about their rights as well as training in vocational and business skills that led to jobs and sustainable incomes that benefited everyone. 
 
Highlighting economic benefits

We have so many stories to share.  I was speaking with a woman—covered from head to toe—about how our program addresses her immediate economic needs, when her husband joined the conversation.  It was a very traditional family and I didn’t know what to expect in terms of the husband’s reaction. When I turned to him and asked what he thought, he said: “We are so poor. We are so hungry. I don’t care how you help the family. If it will be through my wife, then so be it.” 
 
I have experienced that same attitude in the villages of Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, Sudan and numerous other countries. When economic progress is at stake, rigid cultural arguments become more flexible. Once economic necessity lowers cultural barriers, women can use the opportunity to renegotiate power relations within the household and the community. Cultural arguments may act as barriers to women’s empowerment, but they cannot conceal its economic benefits.

I have been wanting to write to you for quite some time. Now seems like the right moment...

...Despite all the cultural messages to the contrary, you are born into a world of abundance, wholeness, and love. It is a world of unity, order, connections, relationships, and continuous learning, and it will support and sustain you if you accept its open invitation to imagine, dream, discover, and continue to learn and become all that you can be.

You must explore the magic and mystery that live inside you and “sing the song” that is uniquely yours to sing. I have heard it many times.

It is beautiful and it belongs only to you. If you do not live your song and continue to nourish it, you will not be visible to the world. Your song is your gift to the world.

So here are my notes, and I send them with love.

1. Slow down and learn something very well. Let go of right answers and illusions of objectivity, control, and predictability, and listen to your intuition and your heart. Live from the inside out. Do not participate in your own diminishment, and always walk in the direction of your own learning and healing.

2. Do everything with the seventh generation in mind. The future is being born now in everything you do or do not do. Live a life of wholeness and connection. You are the seeds of a sustainable world. You are the mapmakers of our future.

3. Honor and celebrate life in all its forms, be gentle with the earth, and absorb and embrace the wonder and beauty that surround you. Beauty changes people. If you stop listening to nature, you will not be able to hear one another.

4. Be a steward of your gifts, your passion, and your dreams. The world desperately needs your imagination, your courage, your passion, and your commitment. Small stories have never stirred the soul. Dream big dreams, and create new realities worthy of your life. Be faithful to your own image of possibility, and remember that the price of passion and commitment is the shattering of personal illusions of safety. Be visible in the world so it can find you. You are grander than you can imagine.

5. Say yes to belonging. There is a song line woven into the universe, the earth, and life itself, and it is one of wholeness, coherence, connection, and relationships. There is no such thing as alone or lost in the web of life.

6. Find your own voice, speak your own truth, and choose faith and hope over cynicism. All are choices, and cynicism will never invite the potential for goodness and genius that lives within you.

7. Pay attention, and listen for the sacred that lies hidden in the ordinary. Your spirit and soul breathes best when you are still. So slow down, cherish silence, and listen for what wants to emerge. Percussive conversations do not welcome your inner voice. It is the depth of your attention that allows you to access the depth of your own identity.

8. Decide what you want your name on. Your name is everything. It is your identity and your integrity. Remember your name, and reclaim your life for the world. Put your signature on impossible causes; they are the ones most worthy of who you are.

9. Invite yourself into a life of learning, and choose the questions you want to be holding for your life. Your boundless capacity to learn and grow your mind is the path to transformation—yours and the world’s. New minds can shape new possibilities, and new possibilities can create new realities. You can indeed shape the future. Be mindful of what you learn and how you learn it. Seek connections and wisdom. Understand the meaning of “enough.” Embrace wonder, welcome surprise, and always, always keep learning.

10. Remember that contrary to the voices, images, sounds, and messages that surround and bombard you, your life is about:

Your integrity, not your position
Your voice, not your power
Your name, not your title
Your calling, not your career
Your legacy, not your success

So think and learn more slowly. Listen to your heart song. Honor the voice of possibility that calls you. Notice what diminishes you and what makes you come alive. Embrace your questions, treasures, and gifts with gratitude. Passionately commit to impossible causes. Love generously, and pay attention to the deeper song that connects all of life, including your own. Believe in your own goodness and genius, and always, always keep learning. You can be the ones to imagine and create a just, compassionate, and sustainable world for us all.

I know that you won’t learn these “lessons” just by my telling them to you. My hope is that if you keep them in a safe and quiet place and take them out from time to time as you grow, they may begin to enter your heart and guide your journey. They may cause you to notice different things and to see with new eyes. Then perhaps one day, you will take them out and add your notes and pass them on to your children.

Love,

Grandma Steph

Responsible policymakers face a dilemma in how to respond to the revelations that employees of some major banks have been “robo-signing” affidavits used in foreclosure actions. The banks deserve serious condemnation for routinely making misrepresentations (the less polite term is “lies”) in what they filed with the judges. As a law professor who has taught professional ethics, I know that even one knowing misstatement to a judge can result in a lawyer losing his or her bar license. Making thousands of such misstatements is far worse.

Yet simply blasting the banks and stopping all foreclosure actions can bring gridlock to the housing market, reducing sales and lowering the market price for nonforeclosed homeowners. The New York Times described one Florida real estate broker who has had half of his pending home sales halted by concerns about improper foreclosure documentation. The same story described how new families are eager to buy the houses where previous owners couldn’t pay the mortgage but cannot purchase them due to the halts on foreclosures. The temptation for righteous indignation and the pleasure of blasting the banks could cause this uncertainty to spread farther into the housing market, further endangering the economic recovery.

Here is one idea to resolve this dilemma. It holds banks accountable while also creating a path back to restoring certainty in the housing market. The idea starts with a senior corporate officer at a bank personally certifying that his or her bank has checked its internal processes and found those practices to be sound. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires this sort of certification by chief financial officers and other top corporate officials when they submit their public financial statements. Markets were skeptical about public companies’ financial statements after the Enron and Worldcom scandals. The solution was certification based on personal responsibility—the senior corporate official puts his or her name on the line. In practice, that means that the official insists on stringent scrutiny by people working on the books because no official wants to sign until he or she is confident that the statements are accurate.

Some major banking institutions—including GMAC, Chase, and Bank of America—have admitted that there are significant problems in the statements they have made to judges about foreclosures. Others, including Wells Fargo and Citibank, have informed the press that they do not have those problems. But regulators, the markets, and the public don’t know how much confidence to put in the reassuring statements. Many judges and others are skeptical of general statements that things are OK in light of the problems already uncovered. There are thus calls for generalized halts to foreclosure sales, which could lead to a great deal of uncertainty about when housing markets will function well again.

Certification by senior bank officers will hold those officers accountable for the sorts of misstatements that some banks have made to the courts. The bank and senior banker would be essentially making a stronger set of “reps and warranties” about the banks’ systems. If a senior officer is not willing to sign, then the regulators and the public have good reason to remain skeptical. If and when the senior officer does sign, the officer and the bank are taking responsibility—something many feel has not happened enough since the financial crisis began.

The certification can also bring increased certainty back to a portion of the housing market—the portion covered by that bank’s activities. More banks will sign over time, and this will create a path forward to leaving this portion of the mortgage mess behind us.

There are some implementation issues and possible objections that come with the basic idea of the certification. First, the actual implementation of the certification could be achieved in various ways. Bank regulators or state attorneys general could negotiate the certification as part of a supervisory or enforcement action, or Congress could pass a law requiring the certification as it did in Sarbanes-Oxley. Those owning mortgages (including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) might negotiate for certifications, or a bank might even decide to certify unilaterally and set forth specified forfeitures or other consequences for any violations.

Second, the scope of the certification can vary based on what a senior bank official has the basis for promising. A bank may have done enough double-checking to be confident that robo-signing has not occurred, for instance, but may not have double-checked its entire range of operations to make sure that other problems do not exist, such as possible problems in the title of some prior foreclosures. The point here is that banks can gradually expand the scope of certifications over time as they scrub their systems, steadily increasing the portion of the housing market where judges and the public have this renewed basis for confidence.

Third, a broad foreclosure moratorium should not be embraced because of a perception that it will help housing prices. I share the view of many housing economists that most local housing markets won’t be ready for long-term recovery until the large, current backlog of distressed properties is sold. Estimates of the time to clear out this “shadow inventory” range from a year to considerably longer. And an important point, which was the subject of a Federal Reserve conference in September, is that a strikingly large portion of foreclosures happen for vacant properties, where no family remains in the house. These vacant properties are blights on a neighborhood. A long foreclosure moratorium makes it far harder to clean up these properties and get them into new families’ hands.

The dilemma for policymakers has been how to choose between inaction and overheated words that could likely harm the housing market. Personal responsibility and certification would allow us to hold banks and bankers accountable while creating a path to renewal for the housing market.

"We Love Reading" exists to positively impact children throughout Jordan by creating a library in local neighborhoods, thereby actively encouraging each community to share in the experience of storytelling, and creating a life-long enthusiasm for each child to read and acquire knowledge. After each interactive storytelling session, we allow children to check out books that they take home to read with their parents, passing the experience along from child to parent in an attempt to change attitudes towards reading.

The practice of storytelling associates reading with pleasure and shapes a child's relationship with literature that will hopefully follow them into their adult lives. We have been successful in cultivating a cadre of young readers who are enthusiastic about the practice and will have more educational and professional opportunities through the development of this skill. 

There are now 60 established libraries in various areas of Jordan. We are training women in the practice of reading aloud to children so they may expand our local model of a library to other rural neighborhoods in Jordan and the Arab world. "We love reading" envisions providing children all over Jordan and the Arab world with the experience of being read to, thereby instilling the love of reading in an easy, sustainable and cost efficient  way. 

We love reading's mission is to establish a library in every neighborhood by training storytellers, giving them books to start and help sustain their libraries. As a result, we have won the Arab social innovator award from Synergos  and the Ahel Himmeh 2009 nomination for recognizing community volunteer efforts in Jordan. Our website is: welovereading.org

At the Success for All Foundation, we believe that:

All children can learn.
It sounds trendy, but the Success for All Foundation was founded on the notion that every child can and will learn, although not always in precisely the same ways. As educators, it is our responsibility to be relentless in the search for what works with each child, accepting no excuses and no failures. The Success for All Foundation assists schools in identifying and implementing strategies designed to reach every single student, and is dedicated to providing the full array of supports that will help every child reach his or her full potential.

Schools can make the difference.
Because schools have contact with virtually all of our nation’s youngsters, they also have the power to make a tremendous difference in the lives and futures of these children, and they deserve all our thanks, praise, and support for carrying out this important work. The Success for All Foundation is committed to working with schools and administrations, not at cross-purposes, and to providing services that help them meet their goals of a quality education for all students.

Family and community involvement is key.
Schools can have an impact on their students’ lives, but that effect is made even stronger through the involvement of family and community, creating a web of support that sustains children both inside and outside of school hours. Because not every community needs or wants the same solutions, the Success for All Foundation believes in working with sites to identify areas of particular importance or potential influence, and helping them develop solutions that fit their unique setting.

Research tells us what works.
Education is not about guesswork or shooting in the dark. It’s about expanding the use of proven solutions in classrooms and schools. At the Success for All Foundation, everything we do is built on a solid research base, with products and practices that are extensively tested in the field. Each program has also undergone rigorous study by outside reviewers. And we encourage schools and districts to pursue a similar focus on using data to make daily and long-term decisions. We don’t have time to waste on guessing games - our children’s education is at stake.

We must all be relentless.
The future of our children depends on their knowing how to think, read, write, and compute. The future of our country and our world depends on our children. That means we must all be relentless in our pursuit of what works. At the Success for All Foundation, we pledge to do everything in our power to help schools make a difference in the lives of their students. We ask that you do the same. Together, with a relentless sense of personal responsibility and a focus on the individual child, we can work wonders.

Cooperative Learning

Success for All Foundation is founded on the belief that every child can and will learn. No matter what the academic level of the student, each child is challenged to do his or her best, and the contributions of all team members are equally valued. Cooperative learning is one of the most powerful tools teachers have in providing the level of engagement and academic and social support their students need to be successful. In the cooperative learning classroom, all students benefit from the constant coaching, encouragement, and feedback of their peers. And since more of the responsibility for learning rests on students and teams, teachers are able to spend more time working with individuals and small groups of learners, doing the kind of teaching that originally drew them to the field.

Why cooperative learning?
Learning is a social activity. In fact, this social dimension is a critical aspect in the learning process for people of any age. People learn in communities. Together, they accomplish more than as individuals and they have more fun in the process. Students are no different. Research shows that opportunities for cognitive rehearsal, clarification, and re-teaching have a positive effect on academic achievement.

When students collaborate, they have an opportunity to discuss new concepts with someone close to their own level of understanding. They get to try out new ideas and ask questions in a small group before speaking to the whole class or finishing a written product. When students discuss and defend their ideas or solutions with teammates, they learn to think problems through, to support their own opinions, and to critically consider the opinions of others before coming to a conclusion. And they learn that in the end, the responsibility for learning still rests with them.

The benefits of cooperative learning are well researched and documented:

• Higher grades
• Increased retention of information
• Better relationships with peers
• Greater intrinsic motivation
• Better ability to stay on task
• Improved attitudes toward school

How it works
The SFAF curriculum emphasizes team goals that can only be achieved when all members of the team are learning and improving. The task is not only to do something as a team but also to learn something as a team. Because individual students compare their scores only with their own past performance, every team member is able to contribute equally to the success of the team.

But how should this kind of experience be structured? According to research, three elements are key to making cooperative learning effective: team recognition, individual accountability, and equal opportunities for success. Cooperative learning as used in the SFAF provides all three.

Team recognition: Students work in heterogeneous teams of four or five members, and teams earn certificates or other recognition for achieving a designated standard together.

Individual accountability: Teams work together to complete a project, solve a problem, or prepare for a test, but each student is responsible for completing an individual product and taking a test. There are no group grades.

Equal opportunities for success: Students and teams are never in direct competition with one another. To earn individual recognition, students compete against their own past performance rather than against their classmates, so every student has an equal opportunity to succeed. To earn group recognition, teams strive not against one another but toward a common standard, so every team has an equal opportunity to succeed.

The contact at Success for All is Mia Proctor (mproctor@successforall.org)

In 2007, Sustainable Harvest began a partnership with coffee farmers from the Kanyovu Coffee Curing Cooperative in Kigoma, Tanzania. We supported the cooperative in improving the quality of its coffee production so that Kanyovu could directly export its coffee, earn a higher price, and lessen its environmental impact.

Four years later, Kanyovu is exporting its own coffee. Cooperative leaders have direct relationships with their buyers and have sold their members’ specialty-grade beans for triple the price that they earned through traditional channels. These changes, as well as improvements to the infrastructure available to coffee growers, are contributing to improved livelihoods in the Kigoma region.

Project Impacts:

Stronger Market Linkages

• Tripled many farmers’ incomes, as compared with 2007.

• Developed relationships with coffee roasters in North America, Europe, and Africa.

Farmer Training

• Trained 1,000 farmers in the best practices in production and processing.

• Taught farmers to use new technologies, such as water-saving Penagos processing machines and computers for tracking business operations.

• Planted 130,000 trees and taught farmers about the benefits of shading their coffee.

Improved Coffee Quality

• Trained co-op staff to evaluate coffee quality and created a quality control system.

• Kanyovu’s coffee won first place at the 2008 and 2009 national Taste of Harvest competitions and the Grand Prize at the 2010 international Taste of Harvest competition.

Greater Transparency

• Drafted contracts together with the cooperative and shared contracts in Swahili with farmers.

• Informed co-op staff and members about where their coffee is sold and how it is prepared.

Speaker proposals for the 2010 Innovation and Excellence: Spotlight on High Schools, Online/Blended Learning, and Technology forum are now being accepted and reviewed according to relevance, effectiveness, and policy implications as described below.

* Relevance. Proposals that include the innovative use of online/blended learning and/or technology to drive or support middle and high school reform that ensures students are college and work ready are welcome, including those at the school, district, or state levels. However, of particular interest are success stories related to the innovative use of online/blended learning and/or technology that facilitates one or more of the following:

• overall school reform efforts that have transformed the school culture and student outcomes;
• improved teacher effectiveness and teacher distribution in low-performing high schools;
• increased access to remedial and enrichment courses, including those that are difficult to offer in tough budget times; 
• efforts to increase interest and postsecondary participation in STEM fields;
• improved home and school access to teachers, students, experts, virtual tutoring, and digital content;
• improved outcomes for over-age and under-credited students;
• use of multiple pathways to graduate students ready for college and work, including education in alternative settings or variations on a typical school day; and
• data-driven decision making for personalized learning, including the use of data systems to prevent dropouts, identify students for intervention, and guide instructional improvement.