Saturday, May 30th, 10:00 am-12:00 pm
8138 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19118

FREE and open to established and aspiring women entrepreneurs

Rejuvenate for spring at Jahaya’s All-Natural Bath and Skin Care! Wash away the winter blues and learn what it takes to run a successful body care shop at Empowerment Group’s Women Entrepreneurs’ Circle. For more information and to RSVP to this event, visit us at http://www.empowerment-group.org.

Introduction, by Richard Marsico

The Community Reinvestment Act at 30:  Looking Back and Looking to the Future, by John Taylor and Josh Silver, NCRC

The CRA:  A Welcome Anomaly in the Foreclosure Crisis , by Warren W. Traiger

Urban Development and Unequal Access to Housing Finance Services, by Gregory D. Squires

An Analysis of the Implementation and Impact of the 2004-2005 Amendments to the Community Reinvestment Act Regulations:  The Continuing Importance of the CRA Examination Process, by Josh Silver  and Richard Marsico

Critical Mass:  Restricting Advocates’ Rights Under the Community Reinvestment Act, by Ruth S. Uselton

I hope you find these articles helpful.

Rick Marsico
New York Law School
47 Worth Street
New York, NY 10013
(212) 431-2180
rmarsico@nyls.edu

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/redflag/gridphilly_200905/#/26

The Agatston Urban Nutrition Initiative (AUNI) is a university-community partnership based at the University of Pennsylvania that engages K-16+ learners in an active, real-world problem-solving curriculum that strives to improve community nutrition and wellness.

UNI programs fall into three general categories: Increasing food and nutrition knowledge. Increasing the supply of healthy foods. Encouraging and supporting active lifestyles.

http://www.urbannutrition.org/

Below are the areas that these agencies are looking for resources/consultants:

* Lobbying vs. advocating: Knowing the difference (for nonprofits)
* leadership development/mentoring
* Law­/legal issues, helping with 501 (c) 3 status, liability, policies
* HR

If you are a professional who can provide a 1 ½ to 2 hour training on one of the topics above, please contact me for more information.  We can pay up to $50/hour, and we can purchase any supplies and make any copies needed for the training session.

Feel free to contact me with any questions. Thank you for your time.

–Trish Biedron
tbiedron@temple.edu

Join Us On Our Webinar
Monday May 18th at 2pm (ET)

Education is a core priority for the Obama Administration. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, former leader of the largest community school system in the nation, believes that embracing schools as centers of community will bring them into the 21st Century to better meet the needs of today’s students, families, and communities.

Do you want to bring the community schools strategy to your community? Join us to learn more about how and why local school and municipal leaders are implementing community schools. We will be joined by an expert panel including a Mayor, County Chairperson, and a District Superintendent about how and why they chose community schools. How are they bringing their community schools initiative to scale? What challenges did they encounter?

Mark your calendar and bring your questions about community schools to this expert panel and see if community schools can be a strategy for your community!

Featured Presenters:

*      Dr. Karen S. Angello, Superintendent, Allentown School District, PA
*      Kathryn L. Taylor, Mayor, Tulsa, OK
*      Ted Wheeler Chair, Multnomah County Board of Commissioners, Portland, OR
*      Marty Blank, President, Institute for Educational Leadership and Director, Coalition for Community Schools

Space is limited – reserve your spot today! Share this announcement colleagues and networks!

RSVP by Friday, May 15th,  at 5 pm ET (Instructions for participation will be sent out to those registered.)

[There is no fee to participate, but due to capacity restrictions, please limit registrations to one per organization.]

http://www.communityschools.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=63

Join us for the Sixth Annual Penn Urban Doctoral Symposium. The symposium will celebrate and share the work of Penn’s doctoral students who have completed dissertations on urban-focused topics in the past year. Students will present and discuss their work informally. The program will include a lunch attended by the students, their families, and their committees. For more information on participating in the symposium, please contact Penn IUR Associate Director Amy Montgomery at amylmo@upenn.edu or by phone at 215-573-8386.

Friday, May 15
11:00 am – 2:00 pm
Inn at Penn
3600 Sansom Street

Applications and enrollment information for the Philadelphia Youth Network’s WorkReady Summer Internships with City of Philadelphia municipal government are now available on the Experience!Philadelphia website at http://www.phila.gov/experiencephila/highschool.html.

Potential applicants must be at least 16 years of age (sophomores through seniors in high school) and Philadelphia residents to apply to the WorkReady Summer Internships with the City of Philadelphia.

Applications must be received by the Philadelphia Youth Network on Friday, May 22, 2009.

Please email all inquires to mip@phila.gov or call The Office of Leadership Investment at 215-686-2138.

If the link does not work when clicked, please copy and paste the link to your web browser’s URL field.

National Association of Elementary School Principals/MetLife Foundation Sharing the Dream Grants let principals test ideas about involving and engaging their communities to build greater ownership for the work of their school by sharing leadership and decision-making, by keeping all stakeholders informed about all school news — good and bad — and by creating a school climate that fosters open communication, safety and security, and respect for every individual. Maximum award: $3,000. Eligibility: elementary school principals from around the country. Deadline: July 8, 2009.

http://www.naesp.org/resources/1/Pdfs/09SharingtheDreamApp.pdf

Presents

Youth and Money Camp
How to Raise a Reallionaire

Youth Will:

•    Write a business plan and learn the meaning of a Reallionaire
•    Set a goal to purchase an item ($15 or lower)
•    Engage in hands on learning experiences
•    Learn how to save and budget money
•    Create a Millionaire Savings Chart
•    Gain sales skills

The program culminates with a presentation of a business plan.

Monday – Friday, August 17-21, 2009
9:00 AM to 3:30 PM: $185
9:00 AM to 6:00 PM: $200

Ages 7-12
Space is limited

Contact Terri Rivera at 215-247-2473×7 or trivera@thebizctr.com

The Business Center for Entrepreneurship and Social Enterprise
7500 Germantown Avenue, Elders Hall, Suite 113
Philadelphia, PA 19119

The Coalition for Student Achievement, convened in response to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is comprised of 50 national organizations. In early May it issued five recommendations for governors, state school officers, superintendents, and other education leaders on how to invest federal stimulus dollars to leverage significant increases in student performance. The group recommends: developing national standards for testing; producing data that educators, policymakers, and parents can use; evaluating teachers in a meaningful way; turning around low-performing schools; and helping struggling students. If these recommendations are undertaken, the group says, by 2012 Americans will see at least 40 states adopting evidence-based, college- and career-ready testing standards; students, parents, teachers, principals, district, and state leaders will have comprehensive data that show what’s working for students; clear, differentiated teacher evaluation systems will be in every state and school district; neighborhoods served by the lowest-performing five percent of schools will have new, quality education options; and students at least two years behind in reading, writing, and mathematics will get targeted interventions. “Transformation will happen only if state and district leaders are willing to take advantage of this investment opportunity,” the recommendations say. “The forces of inertia are powerful… The time for bold action is now.”

Read more: http://www.coalitionforstudentachievement.org/economic_rec.asp

Present

Youth Entrepreneurship Enrichment Program
Entrepreneurship and Financial Management Career Opportunities
Summer Enrichment Program

What will I learn?

– Learn the basic characteristics of successful entrepreneurs,  risks and rewards of small business, the importance of a business plan and how to write a plan
– Focus on financing strategies, the accounting and finance decision-making process and take a look at career opportunities in Finance and Accounting

What is the cost?

– This program is funded by a grant from the William Penn Foundation so it is FREE
– Included are textbooks, materials, and snacks
– If accepted, there will be a fee of $50.00.  Upon successful completion of the program there will be a $25.00 refund.

Where?
– Philadelphia University, 4201 Henry Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19144
-This will give students the opportunity to experience taking a class on a university campus

When?
– July 6 – 17, 2009
– The program will take place from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM, Monday through Friday

How do I apply?

– For students entering 11th through 12th grades
– Complete the attached application and mail to the address below
– Obtain a letter of recommendation from your science or math teacher. Send to:

Terri Rivera
Director of Educational Programs
The Business Center for Entrepreneurship
and Social Enterprise
7500 Germantown Avenue
Elders Hall, Suite 113
Philadelphia, PA 19119

Telephone:  215-247-2473×7
Facsimile:   215-247-2477
Email: trivera@thebizctr.com

Apologies for cross-postings.

An Agenda for the Renewal of Our Communities
Sherri Torjman of the Caledon Institute urges organizations of every sector to outgrow habits of short-term, outcome specific, and uni-dimensional action. Instead, let them apply themselves to a “shared space” of programs, investments, and enterprises that build community resilience.

Seven Prerequisites of Transformation
How is it that so many noted authors have such similar ideas about the habits, practices, and attitudes essential to community transformation? To Michelle Colussi, these “prerequisites” read like an evaluation checklist for her practice. For yours too?

A CED Dating Service
Skilled, community-minded professionals and purposeful but cash-poor community organizations – sounds like a match just waiting to happen, doesn’t it? Well … sort of. Recent experience in Winnipeg suggests that it is doable and worthwhile, but requires a sharp eye for the specifics of supply, demand, and times of delivery.

Equity Capital for CED
To make a real difference, community economic development organizations have to own productive pieces of the local economy. But making those investments requires in-house competence and capacity that are equal to the task, as well as capital. In New Hampshire’s Community Development Finance Authority, reports Dr. Stewart E. Perry, CEDOs have a state agency that supplies all three.

Finally, note that this autumn a special edition of Making Waves, “Capital for Communities,” will broach the ways and means to give capital a catalytic (rather than catastrophic) role in community change. Go to http://www.cedworks.com/mw2003e_01.html for more details.

Don McNair
Making Waves: Canada’s CED Magazine
Visit the CED DIGITAL BOOKSHOP at http://www.cedworks.com !
Canadian Centre for Community Renewal
1601 – 25th Avenue, Vernon, B.C. V1T 1M8 CANADA
direct line 250-542-7057 customer service (toll-free) 1-888-255-6779

Now look, I’m telling you. It’s not what they’re doing to us. It’s what we’re not doing. 50 percent drop out.… These people are fighting hard to be ignorant.… What the hell good is Brown v. the Board of Education if
nobody wants it?
—Bill Cosby at a gala commemorating the Brown decision

My first day in middle school was horrible. I didn’t want to go to that school, so I cried the whole day.… I didn’t want to go to that school, because it was dirty and the people were dirty and I hated it there.… That’s when I first started to hate school.
—Naima, an African American student in Los Angeles

[The adults tell us,] “You’re students, you have no place in the system, what are you doing here?” Yes, we do, and that’s what we’re demanding. Sometimes, it is hard, because people do not listen to us. But that’s
another motivation to keep us going. We’ll go to the next person.
—Rosalinda, a Latina student in the Bronx

In cities across the nation, many students are trapped in under-funded, mismanaged and unsafe schools. Yet, a number of scholars and public figures have shifted attention away from the persistence of school
segregation to lambaste the values of young people themselves. Our Schools Suck forcefully challenges this assertion through in-depth case studies in East Los Angeles, Harlem, and the South Bronx. It gives voice
to the compelling stories of African American and Latino students who grow disheartened by a public conversation that continually casts them as the problem with urban schools.

By showing that young people are deeply committed to education but often critical of the kind of education they are receiving, this book highlights the dishonesty of public claims that they do not value education. Ultimately, these powerful student voices remind us of the ways we have shirked our public responsibility to create excellent schools. True school reform requires no less than a new civil rights movement, where adults join with young people to ensure an equal education for each and every student.

Some reviews

The student voices in this striking book are an intervention into the adult-driven stereotypes of urban youth. The students offer stories of anger, challenge and hope. We all need to pay attention to these voices, and act on the corrective lessons they provide.
—Jean Anyon, author of Radical Possibilities: Public Policy, Urban Education, and A New Social Movement

Our Schools Suck is a passionate, hard-hitting critique of a re-emerging hurtful and offensive discourse on the alleged “culture of failure” among youth of color.  Rather than demonizing children, we need to take aim at the role that schools play in the creation and maintenance of social hierarchies.  This multi-voiced account is a soulful, if poignant, re-framing of what really is an urgent, national crisis to which we must all attend.
—Angela Valenzuela, author of Subtractive Schooling and Leaving Children Behind

This book offers a clear and unmitigated analysis of the perspectives and voices of students who are trapped in schools that fail at meeting their intellectual and social needs.
—Pedro A. Noguera, co-editor of Unfinished Business: Closing the Racial Achievement Gap in Our Schools

Check out more info (and contribute to our crowdsourcing project) at: http://www.ourschoolssuck.org/

National Community Tax Coalition 2009 Conference
Registration is now open – Register Today!   Be an Early Bird!  Register by July 7th!

Conference Overview
http://www.tax-coalition.org/aug2009index.cfm

These are tough times – for working families more than most. Change is in the air, though, and there’s never been a better time to help low-income families connect to the tax and financial tools they need to get ahead. Join the National Community Tax Coalition this year in San Antonio, Texas as we tackle new obstacles and opportunities in the tax and asset-building fields. The 2009 Conference will play a key national role in creating and sharing strategies and practices that help low-income working families achieve their American Dream.

The two-day event will bring together more than 600 leaders from the public, private, and non-profit sectors. As an attendee you will be able to:

* Share experiences that can help to improve your program and better serve your community.
* Learn about proven products and strategies that help families improve their financial health and begin to build assets.
* Discover how to be an affective advocate on tax and financial issues facing working families.
* Network with other programs like yours.
* Build your policy and leadership skills.
* Get hands-on tools and tips for your program.

Join the Coalition for ‘Realizing the Dream’ conference this year!

Register Now
https://guest.cvent.com/EVENTS/Register/IdentityConfirmation.aspx?e=a9b0e7f6-d8a6-417d-b0e5-9d04d2a02fd1

To view the conference agenda visit 2009 Conference At-A-Glance
http://guest.cvent.com/EVENTS/Info/Agenda.aspx?e=a9b0e7f6-d8a6-417d-b0e5-9d04d2a02fd1

This book is about building public interest partnerships between institutions of higher education and local community-based organizations. It is not a how-to guide, but rather a compilation of case studies that discusses the implications, successes, and failures of such partnerships. In particular, this book documents the ways in which course-based action research (CBAR) within the social sciences functions as an effective resource for establishing and reinforcing partnerships among students, academic officers, and local communities. Students and faculty, guided through CBAR, learn how to develop advocacy strategies for marginalized communities through firsthand exposure to local-level politics and power imbalances in these communities.

Nila Ginger Hofman is assistant professor of anthropology, and Howard Rosing is an anthropologist and executive director of the Steans Center for Community-based Service Learning, both at DePaul University.

To order: http://depts.washington.edu/ccph/books.html

Applications are due by Thursday, June 25, 2009.  Please see the text below for more information.

Could your community benefit from a new approach to long-term poverty reduction and economic growth?  The Federal Assets for Independence (AFI) Program is offering grant funds for asset-building programs nationwide that provide low-income individuals and families with tools they need for long-term economic success.  Administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, AFI offers five-year grants of up to $1,000,000 to non-profits and State, local and Tribal government agencies.  The average grant is approximately $350,000.

AFI grantees provide families with financial education training and coaching and access to matched savings accounts called individual development accounts (IDAs).  Participants learn money management and save regularly in their IDAs to make their long-term goal a reality.  National research has shown that a combination of financial education and access to an IDA makes a lasting difference in people’s lives.

To date, more than 62,000 families have participated in AFI projects.  They have received money management training, worked through credit and debt issues, and used AFI-funded IDAs to save purchase assets and to achieve long-term financial wellness.  This strategy can be most important in these challenging economic times.

Local elected officials across the nation have used the AFI program to develop and support asset-building strategies in their communities.  By promoting financial education, connecting individuals to mainstream financial institutions, and encouraging personal savings, AFI works in conjunction with other municipal-led poverty reduction and asset-building strategies, such as the growing number of “Bank On” initiatives.  Municipalities with support from the AFI program for their IDA programs include: San Antonio, Tex.; Tucson, Ariz.; Los Angeles, Calif.; Hinesville, Ga.; and Racine, Wis.

We hope you will join us in putting asset-building into action in more locales throughout the nation.  The AFI grant application process is simple, and the AFI Resource Center is available for guidance, tools and advice on designing a program to meet your community’s needs.

Applications are due Thursday, June 25, 2009 so consider applying TODAY.

How Do I Learn More?

You can participate in an upcoming webinar offered by the AFI Resource Center for prospective applicants.  Webinars are held every Wednesday at 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. Eastern, from April 29th through June 10th, 2009.  The presentations will provide an overview of the program and the application process, suggestions for developing strong projects, and strategies for building partnerships with community organizations for bigger impact.

Learn about the program, listen to current grantees, and get answers to questions about applying and implementing an IDA project.  Register for webinars online at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/assetbuilding or by contacting the AFI Resource Center: info@idaresources.org or 1-866-778-6037.

http://www.abcdinstitute.org

The old address should forward to the new site, so we hope this will be a fairly seamless transition.

There are several new features on the site, including Community Stories, Partners, enhanced Publications and Resources pages, and a Calendar of ABCD events. We also feature more information about the work of the ABCD Institute at Northwestern University and in the community. Beyond these exciting additions, the website is far more colorful and attractive, and we hope you will be tempted to take a look.

Thank you for your ongoing support, and enjoy the new ABCD website.

Jody Kretzmann, John McKnight, Deborah Puntenney, Dacia Chrzanowski

As the world urbanizes, public health issues need to be viewed through the urban lens. From the population perspective, migration and natural growth without matching resources has produced unprecedented formation of informal settlements characterized by poor physical infrastructure for the provision of basic services such as water, sanitation, housing, energy, and transportation; and high levels of morbidity and mortality. Because of a lack of access to quality health services, reproductive health and child health are compromised; the urban health systems have multiple issues that need to be addressed including organization of service delivery, increasing demand and supply, financing, and legal and regulatory barriers; and varying levels of food security and food availability often lead to malnutrition or obesity, depending on context. Climate change poses another public health threat and cities are particularly vulnerable. Addressing these and other issues requires innovations in governance and partnerships for healthy and resilient cities. The 2009 International Conference on Urban Health (ICUH) invites research topics related to these themes. For more information, visit: http://www.icuh2009.org/abstracts.htm

Metropolitan Universities (http://muj.uc.iupui.edu/index.htm), a quarterly journal funded by the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities (http://www.cumuonline.org), is soliciting article proposals for an upcoming  issue that will examine how universities are using green-inspired curriculum to promote a socially-just and environmentally-sustainable society, both in their local communities and globally. Green issues— ecological balance, social justice, animal rights, and sustainable economy –are increasingly becoming the focus of curriculum, service-learning projects, student organizations, and campus events. This issue seeks to examine how this green trend in learning is affecting curriculum, academic culture, and community partnerships. This issue will be published in 2010, and the guest editor is Roger Munger, Associate Professor of English, of Boise State University.

Possible Topics for This Special Issue
The guest editor invites proposals for articles on applied research or theory, case histories/studies, and/or tutorials that address some of the following issues:

* Why should urban and metropolitan universities incorporate green issues in their curriculum? Why not?
* What challenges do urban and metropolitan campuses face when designing and implementing green-inspired curriculum?
* How should faculty integrate green learning in their curriculum? What models are proving to be successful?
* How have universities partnered with communities and/or other universities to increase public literacy about environmental sustainability and its impact on social justice and social capital?
* What are the links between green learning and research opportunities for students, faculty, and communities?
* In what ways has the green movement fostered greater synergy between campuses and their communities?
* What are the benefits or outcomes of green learning for students? Faculty? Communities? The University?
* How has technology been used to promote green learning?

Articles exploring related topics are welcome as well.

Submission Guidelines
Proposals should be 300-500 words in length. All proposals should include submitter name, affiliation, 100-word bio, and email address as well as a working title for the proposed article. Final manuscripts should be 4,000-7,000 words in length.

Production Schedule
The schedule for this issue is as follows:
June 15, 2009: 400-word proposals due
July 6, 2009: Guest editor returns proposal decisions to submitters
November 1, 2009: Draft manuscripts of accepted proposals due
January 15, 2010: Final manuscripts due

Contact Information
Completed proposals or questions about either proposal topics or this issue should be sent to Roger Munger at rmunger@boisestate.edu.

We are very eager to help you promote active citizenship at your school. If you have a great idea for your classroom that you can tie to civic education, we can give you the resources to accomplish it, so don’t let this economic climate get you down! You can still plan something great and creative for your students and be awarded the stipend to make it happen!

PennCORD is very motivated to approve applications right now and help you improve civic learning in your schools. We realize the school year is winding down, but you can apply now for something you would like to do in the fall. It’s a great time to be thinking about Constitution Day coming up in September, for example, and we would love to help you put something together or assist you with resources for a program you have already established.

Please go to http://www.penncord.org/schools/ for information about who we are and how to apply.