WI Web Staff
The non-profit organization that former D.C. Council member Harry Thomas used to funnel funds for his personal use, lies in limbo, with its administrators having to explain to a City Council committee why the fund should continue to exist.
Thomas resigned in January after pleading guilty to embezzlement charges that involved some $300,000 that had been earmarked for youth sports programs. He is awaiting sentencing in May.
While the Children and Youth Investment Trust Fund has been beneficial providing much- needed programs for D.C.'s youth, trust witnesses have testified that changes have been put in place to avoid repeat instances of embezzlement, according to a published report.
Millicent West, who served as the fund's CEO during the time Thomas stole from it, was replaced. However, in the wake of a federal investigation of the fund, West resigned as director of the District's Homeland Security and Emergency Management office, stating to Mayor Vincent Gray that she didn't want to be a distraction amid an ongoing corruption probe that surrounds the City Council.
D.C. Students to Perform with Smokey Robinson
Monday, 27 February 2012 20:33 Published in Arts & Entertainment
Legendary R&B singer Smokey Robinson will be the guest artist for this year's Duke Ellington School of the Arts' concert series benefit. The event will be held at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, March 3 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
In addition to this concert, which will offer a national platform to promote the value of the arts, D.C.'s own Duke Ellington School of the Arts students will be performing with Robinson.
As a D. C. public school, much attention will be placed on the value of public education and the importance of using the arts as a vehicle for reaching urban youth who might not otherwise graduate from high school.
Ellington, which accepts talented youth from every ward in the city without regard to academic grades, boasts a graduation rate of 98 percent and a college acceptance rate of 95 percent.
For ticket information, contact the Kennedy Center Box Office at 202-467-4600 or at kennedy-center.org.
Unique New Product for Your Back Pain, Improve Your Health
Friday, 24 February 2012 21:47 Published in Life and Style
Auburn, NY -- You are probably sitting right now while reading this information. Technology advancements in computer science, video gaming and internet surfing has led us to a more sedentary lifestyle. Combined with hours sitting behind a desk, driving and watching television makes "sitting" the most predominant position we are in most hours of the day. A University of Minnesota study found that from 1980 to 2000, the percentage of time people spent sitting rose by 8 percent and this was before the advent of some of the newer technologies we enjoy today.
Up to 80 percent of Americans experience some form of back pain at some point in their lives. Each year approximately 15% of all adults are treated for such problems as spinal stenosis, herniated disks and lumbar pain. According to the WWMR Research Group, there will be a projected 100 million individuals suffering from some form of back pain by 2018. They also estimated that in 2008 $17 billion was spent on back pain growing to $23 billion by 2018. This research also notes of a great need to develop novel therapies that are safe and effective with fewer side effects than currently marketed products and drugs.
In a New York Times article published earlier this year entitled Sit Up Straight Your Back Thanks You by Leslie Alderman, Dr. Daniel Mazanec, Associate Director of the Center for Spine Health at the Cleveland Clinic said "The majority of back pain is the result of muscle and ligament strain or weakness, and can often be prevented by developing core strength and proper posture." The article also goes on to say that maintaining good posture not only helps you look better, it improves muscle tone, makes breathing easier and is one of the best ways to stave off back and neck pain, not to mention the dreaded dowager's hump of old age. In that same article, Mary Ann Wilmarth, Chief of Physical Therapy at Harvard University Health Services states "Posture is the key, if your spine is not balanced, you will inevitably have problems in your back, your neck, your shoulders and even your joints."
A new product has been in design & development for several years called The PerfectSit®. The PerfectSit® is a patent pending product that is unique because it is the world's first one piece, custom molded, combination integral lumbar support and coccyx relief system. Liz Roberts from Memphis, Tennessee, who's been using the PerfectSit for 4 months says, "My back pain went away because I found an easy way to improve my posture using the PerfectSit at work for several hours a day during the work week."
The PerfectSit® is a structural orthotic training device meant to put you in an optimal sitting position. Everyday spent using The PerfectSit® helps you train your brain to be conscious of your sitting posture as well as training your body's muscle memory and core structure to maintain excellent sitting alignment. It comes with optional comfort pads that are designed to be adjustable to the individual consumers' physiology when sitting. The unique structural geometry of The PerfectSit® addresses both the s-curve support for the lumbar portion of the spine while sitting, combined with a complete length, imbedded split seat technology feature that promotes less stress & impedance on the coccyx (tailbone).
For additional information please go to www.ThePerfectSit.com – Sit Better...Feel Better, your back will thank you!
D.C. Residents can File State and Federal Taxes for Free
D.C. residents who need help preparing and filing their 2011 state and federal taxes will not have to look far for relief. Beginning on Monday, February 27, the D.C. Department of Employment Services (DOES) Project Empowerment program, in conjunction with MyFreeTaxes.com, will prepare and help individuals or families self-file their taxes online for free.
"This is the first year that DOES has collaborated with MyFreeTaxes.com to offer D.C. residents an alternative to trying to figure out how to properly complete tax forms," said Charles Jones, Associate Director for Project Empowerment. "We want to make sure that all D.C. residents who need assistance preparing and filing their taxes receive help. The good news is that they will not be charged a penny."
Any individual or family that earns under $57,000 a year will qualify to receive help preparing and filing their taxes online by trained tax volunteers for free. Individuals who want to take advantage of the service will need to bring a social security or individual taxpayer identification Numbers (ITIN) for each family member and working adults; W2s; 1099s and other income forms; childcare provider name, address and tax ID; and bank routing and account numbers for checking and saving accounts.
Trained tax volunteers from the United Way's National Capital Area will assist individuals file their taxes. The tax service will be available to District residents at the DOES headquarters located at 4058 Minnesota Avenue N.E. adjacent to the Minnesota Avenue Metro station on the Orange Line. The days and hours the service will be offered next week are below:
Monday, February 27 – 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 28 – 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 29 –12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Thursday, March 1 -- 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Friday, March 2 -- 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
"Our mission primary mission at DOES is to help D.C. residents find jobs," said Jones. "At this time of year when taxes are on everyone's mind, we think it is important for DOES to let all residents know we are here to help them and will work with Myfreetaxes.com to make their tax filing process as easy as possible."
MyFreeTaxes.com is a service provided by the One Economy Corporation, the Walmart Foundation, the National Disability Institute's Real Economy Impact Tour, and United Way Worldwide.
For more information contact: David Thompson at 202-671-1904 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Over the next few weeks, Metro will host six public meetings around the D.C. Metro area where members of the public can provide formal testimony regarding the budget and fare proposals.
Preceding each of the formal public hearings, Metro will host an hour-long Open Forum with multimedia stations to engage stakeholders and solicit public input.
The open forum will include a video presentation on Metro's rebuilding program, tables staffed by senior Metrobus, Metrorail, MetroAccess, SmarTrip and police officials who will be available to talk with participants and answer individual questions.
There will also be a third station where computers will be available for an online survey regarding Metro's priorities, as well as to submit written comments.
The open forums will be from 6 p. m. to 7 p.m., followed by the public hearings.
D.C. Budget Autonomy Building as Virginia Governor Voices Support
Thursday, 23 February 2012 18:22 Published in LocalMayor Vincent Gray has issued a statement in reaction to Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell going on the record in support of D.C.'s budget autonomy.
In the Feb. 22 letter to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, Gray states that, "I welcome Governor McDonnell's recognition that it's only fair and makes sense for the District of Columbia to have budget autonomy and I thank him for his outreach to House leaders.
"The Governor agrees that, among other reasons, the negative impact on the region that would result from a federal government shutdown, combined with the unnecessary disruption of District services, is basis enough for the District government to have control of our own taxpayer raised funds. This encouraging news comes on the heels of President Obama's inclusion of his support for budget autonomy in his budget legislation.
"I am delighted that momentum is building toward the District achieving the autonomy it deserves. However, as I noted in my State of the District Address, these are just steps along the way for the District to be afforded the right that every other state and city enjoys and we will continue to fight until the 618,000 residents of the nation's capital win full autonomy and democracy."
BOULDER, CO – While our society is more diverse than ever before, schools are more segregated today than they were 30 years ago. School choice policies that allow children to enroll in schools outside of their neighborhood have the potential to reduce segregation and many of the inequities that flow from that segregation. Yet some of the nation's most segregated K-12 schools are public charter schools.
A new report from the National Education Policy Center (NEPC), Chartering Equity: Using Charter School Legislation and Policy to Advance Equal Educational Opportunity, written and researched by Julie F. Mead of the University of Wisconsin and Preston C. Green III of Penn State, offers guidance on how charter school policies can best be shaped to promote equity goals.
More than 5,400 charter schools in 40 states as well as D.C. and Puerto Rico enroll some 1.7 million students. The expansion of charters has been promoted by the No Child Left Behind act, as well as by the Obama administration's Race to the Top policy, and the charter segment is growing rapidly. Advocates contend that charters give poor families new opportunities to choose better schools for their children, just as the wealthy have had choices of either moving to other school districts or paying for private schools.
But skeptics argue that the growth of charter schools has led to the stratification and isolation of students by race, class, special education status, and English language learner status. This consequence of school choice has undermined key national goals of inclusion and integration. "Further, 43 percent of black charter school students attended schools that were 99 percent minority," Mead and Green write. By contrast, less than 15 percent of black students in traditional public schools attend such highly segregated schools.
But it doesn't have to be this way. Charter school policies can be shaped in ways that promote equity and inclusion. Mead and Green argue that policies can balance other societal goals with the benefit that arises from giving parents greater choice in schools.
"When school reform embraces parental choice in the form of charter schools, the value of equal educational opportunity must remain central," they write. "Ensuring that public educational dollars serve equity requires balancing the parents' choices against ... the state's interest in ensuring children's education meets appropriate standards." And one of those standards is whether the schools in question "serve all children regardless of race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, language, disability and gender."
To accomplish that end, the report recommends guidelines and rules for charter school authorizers and state legislatures. It makes similar recommendations for Congress as it considers a reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind act.
The net effect of the recommended requirements would be to bring charter school authorization and revocation policies within the broader set of policies designed to promote equal access to education regardless of ethnic, racial or socioeconomic status.
For instance, Mead and Green suggest that charter schools be required to address how they would broaden opportunities for disadvantaged students. Additionally, charter schools would be held accountable, particularly at the time of charter renewal or revocation decisions, for taking concrete steps to ensure equal educational opportunity.
"Growth in the charter school sector for the mere sake of growth neglects the central justification for their existence: to improve the current public educational landscape for children and their families," Mead and Green write. The recommendations they offer are intended to shape charter school policies in ways that help address, rather than exacerbate, the existing the inequalities in U.S. schools. In a companion report, Model Policy Language for Charter School Equity, Mead and Green offer model legislation to carry out those recommendations.
The two reports were produced by the National Education Policy Center (NEPC) at the University of Colorado Boulder, with funding from the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice. In addition, the Ford Foundation provided funding for the policy report, Chartering Equity: Using Charter School Legislation and Policy to Advance Equal Educational Opportunity, which is part of a series from NEPC under the Ford Foundation-funded Initiative on Diversity, Equity, and Learning (IDEAL).
Catania Proceeds with South Capitol Street Memorial Amendment Act
Tuesday, 21 February 2012 17:43 Published in Local
Washington, D.C. – On the same day the case against five men accused in the South Capitol Street shooting of 2010 went to trial, the Council of the District of Columbia's Committee of the Whole considered and moved the landmark youth behavioral health and truancy legislation, the "South Capitol Street Memorial Amendment Act of 2012", setting the stage for a first reading vote a the Council's legislative meeting on March 6.
The legislation is the result of the combined efforts of Councilmember David A. Catania, Nardyne Jefferies, the mother of South Capitol Street shooting victim Brishell Jones, Mayor Vincent Gray, and Chairman Kwame Brown.
"The correlation between unmeet behavioral health needs and delinquent activity is clear," said Councilmember Catania. "It is critical children in need are provided with appropriate behavioral health services before it's too late. The Act will transform how the District addresses youth behavioral health needs, strengthening our ability to identify signs of unmet behavioral health needs early, and allowing us to effectively intervene in order to prevent negative outcomes later."
In the days after the shooting, Catania and Jefferies began working to come up with real and substantive reforms that would make tragedies like the one on South Capitol Street less likely. Nixon Peabody, LLC provided extensive research into both youth mental health services and truancy in the District.
This past summer, Catania's office convened four public meetings to get input on the Act from residents, stakeholders, and advocates. The Act as it stands today is the product of hundreds of hours of research, scores of meetings, and significant input from those on the frontlines of the relevant issues. The Act calls for the extension of behavioral health services to all public and public charter schools students, enhances truancy regulations to ensure needed services are delivered to youth, and increases behavioral health screening at District agencies that deal with youth.
Specifically Title I of the Act calls for a comprehensive study of the behavioral health needs of District youth. This epidemiological study would collect data on the type and prevalence of behavioral health conditions including demographic and geographic information, utilization of behavioral health services, the location of services accessed, the barriers preventing access to services, and efforts to remove them. It will create evidence-based responses to address unmet needs and inform efforts to improve the current delivery apparatus.
Title II requires the creation and implementation of a comprehensive plan to expand school-based mental health services to all schools by 2016-2017 school year with a ramp up period in preceding school years. Currently only about 1 out of 3 schools in the District have behavioral health services. The plan would implement services at both public and public charter schools that include interventions for families of student with unmet behavioral health needs, reduce aggressive and impulsive behaviors, and promote social and emotional competency.
Title III enhances the District's truancy protocols by focusing the first intervention, which occurs after 5 unexcused absences, on the underlying causes of truancy and providing appropriate services. Mandating this root cause analysis will increase identification of youth with unmet behavioral health needs. Behavioral health interventions and connections to care improve outcomes for youth. The Act also empowers the Mayor to create needed enforcement mechanisms to increase the accountability of administrators and teachers involved in preventing truancy.
Title IV establishes a behavioral health training program within the Department of Mental Health for teachers, principals, and licensed staff at child development centers to identify youth with behavioral health needs and refer them to appropriate services. The Department of Mental Health will draw on its expertise to create behavioral health resource guides for parents and youth. Title IV also establishes an Ombudsman for Mental Health, an office that will serve as an advocate for District children and parents. The Ombudsman's office will help parents negotiate the inter-agency bureaucracy, resulting in better outcomes for children.
Title V addresses behavioral health practices in the District's agencies dealing with vulnerable and at-risk youth. It requires all youth in CFSA and DYRS receive behavioral health screenings within 30 days of their initial contact with either agency and, if needed, more comprehensive assessments by behavioral health professionals. It also requires the creation of resource guides for parents who come into contact with the child welfare agency or the juvenile justice system. These resource guides ensure that parents are informed of their rights and responsibilities as soon as their children enter the either the juvenile justice or child welfare systems.
Point Guard Makes Second Consecutive Appearance in All-Star Competition
Washington, DC – The NBA announced today that John Wall has been selected to participate in the Taco Bell® Skills Challenge to be held on Saturday, Feb. 25, in Orlando during NBA All-Star 2012.
Wall will be making his second consecutive appearance in the competition and will also represent the Wizards during the 2012 BBVA Rising Stars Challenge on Friday, Feb. 24 as part of All-Star 2012. The second-year guard is averaging 16.9 points, 7.5 assists, 4.9 rebounds and 1.29 steals on the season. Over the last 20 games, Wall has raised those averages to 19.4 points, 7.9 assists and 5.3 rebounds.
Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors will defend his Taco Bell® Skills Challenge title against a field consisting of Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs, Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Deron Williams of the New Jersey Nets.
This is the third year Taco Bell has offered the Graduate To Go™ experience for teens at the Taco Bell Skills Challenge. In partnership with NBA Cares and the Taco Bell Foundation for Teens, each Taco Bell Skills Challenge player will be paired with an All-Star teen from an Orlando area Boys & Girls Club who has shown outstanding leadership and determination to stay in school despite personal obstacles. All participating teens will receive the Graduate to Go™ experience of a lifetime: a behind-the-scenes career tour of NBA All-Star; an opportunity to meet with NBA players; the chance to be on the court during the Taco Bell Skills Challenge to cheer on their NBA player; and an educational scholarship. At the conclusion of this event, $55,000 in educational scholarships will be awarded to the participating All-Star teens. The teen paired with the winning Taco Bell Skills Challenge player will receive a $25,000 educational scholarship.
The Taco Bell Skills Challenge was introduced at NBA All-Star 2003 in Atlanta and features six players competing in a two-round timed "obstacle course" consisting of dribbling, passing and shooting stations. All players must observe basic NBA ball-handling rules while completing the course. The three players with the fastest times from the first round advance to the finals with the order of competition determined by inverse order of the first round times. At the discretion of the referee, television instant replay may be consulted for clarification of rules compliance.
The Taco Bell Skills Challenge will be televised live nationally as part of the NBA All-Star Saturday Night presented by State Farm, which will also feature the Haier Shooting Stars, Foot Locker Three-Point Contest and Sprite Slam Dunk. TNT and ESPN Radio's national coverage will begin at 8 p.m. EST from STAPLES Center in Los Angeles. The 61st NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, Feb. 26, will air live on TNT and ESPN Radio, and in more than 200 countries in more than 40 languages.
Baker Administration Prepares to Offer Young People Summer Jobs
Monday, 20 February 2012 22:18 Published in Local
The Prince George's County Office of Human Resources Management, Recruitment, Examination and Classification Division, has opened enrollment for county residents between the ages of 15 – 19 as of June 18, 2012 in their summer jobs program.
The Summer Youth Enrichment Program (SYEP) is a six-week, entry-level introduction to public service for the youth of Prince George's County. This countywide initiative offers the youth enriching and constructive summer work experiences in various assignments throughout our government.
Young people who are interested in applying must apply before the deadline, March 23rd. No applications will be accepted after the deadline. All applications must be done online and applicants must have a valid email address. To help with those who might not have access to a computer, the department is making computers in their office available.
Young people can begin applying on February 27th at www.princegeorgescountymd.gov/employment
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