Impact and Collaborative Community Building

Earlier today, I was thinking about the non profit Love 146 and how learning about that organization has given me an awareness of another aspect of human rights work.

The first non profit organizations I learned about in my late teens and early twenties were Celebrate Life and the Rebecca Project for Human Rights focusing on cervical cancer awareness and social justice issues related to young women.

Looking back, although I am glad that I had a chance to learn about cervical cancer, I wonder how many other young women in my generation have inadequate information about sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR).

I have maintained my interest in learning about public health topics for my own sake as well as to get information out about current topics in health.

When I think about social justice initiatives that are geared towards young women I am left thinking about where the resources are for young men.

The following talking points come to mind. (This is not at all an exhaustive list)

Where do young men have the opportunity to start cultivating the kinds of sensibilities that will most likely contribute to being a constructive member of their communities, families etc...

When the young women in whom we as a society invest get to a certain age, with whom will they be likely to be able to build a family?

How can we expect an optimal result as far as community building if the investment of resources is not across the board in terms of  impacting the lives of both young men and young women?

What are some models for community building that can actually work in day to day life?

Where does social media fit in to the process of figuring out how best to deliver services and resources to people in need as well as providing information?

What does it take to be able to untangle all of our current social issues in order to have an infrastructure of programs and information that work effectively? 

Obviously any kind of program or initiative providing direct services has to be done with an awareness of sustainability in order to have an impact that lasts beyond addressing immediate circumstances.

The bottom line is whether or not your work has an impact.

What is the lingua franca of social impact?

Public Health: Is Gun Violence a Public Health Issue?

How is public health defined, who decides what that definition is and on what information are they basing their decision? Who has a seat at the table while these topics are being discussed?

Recently, I found myself thinking; " How many people have to die before action is taken to decrease gun violence?" I suppose there is an argument for the fact that all societies are desensitized to their own failings.

Where then, must we go to gather together those that have the right thinking on the issues that hold us back from living up to the ideals of our society?

Although I don't recall the first time I thought about the idea of fostering discussion around gun violence as a public health issue, even a brief google search shows that this topic is already out there.

There's a lot to delve into here...

I do think that a civil society has an obligation to provide certain services to its citizens. Health care, being one of them. In order to move from talking about heady ideas and lofty goals to actually identifying what specific steps to take to create a better quality of life when it comes to access to health care, you have to get into economics.

An idea by itself is stagnant without the necessary resources and oversight to actually take action.

Rather than write this entire post from an editorial perspective, I think it will be more useful for me to give an overview of some of the voices that have chimed in to the discussion about whether or not gun violence is a public health issue.

No matter how you define it, public health only moves forward when facts are given pride of place over everything else.

If you google Public Health, the first entry that comes up is the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Other sources of information are the WHO (World Health Organization) and the APHA (American Public Health Association).

If you want to see a fact sheet on gun violence, the APHA has a resource titled, "Gun Violence Prevention." Forbes.com has an article that reviews several different perspectives on the topic of whether or not gun violence is a public health issue.

Diversity of thought  is necessary to yield any kind of forward thinking approach to improving our society; thus community activists, students, think tanks and colleges and universities should all have a role in shaping the discourse around gun violence and how best we can understand it and prevent it.

I spoke with Professor Jon Vernick, Co-Director of the Center for Gun Policy and Research  at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health about the idea of framing gun violence as a public health issue.

"Guns claim more than 30,000 lives in the United States alone every year and another additional 70,000 or so non-fatal violent injuries are associated with guns. By thinking of it as a public health problem we can consider all aspects of the problem, not just gun deaths by homicide which are of interest to the criminal justice world, (but) we can also think about suicide and accidental gun deaths. We can consider upstream solutions. Whereas the criminal justice system thinks primarily, though not exclusively about punishment, public health thinks primarily about trying to keep people from getting hurt in the first place.

Public health also has a tradition of focusing on the vector of a particular cause. In this topic, the vector is the firearm. There is a history in public health about 'how we can modify the vector'; how to keep guns out of the hands of a violent person in the first place.

There is a history of success that public health has had in other areas such as motor vehicles.By thinking of guns as a public health problem maybe there is inspiration that can be drawn from other successes."

This quote brings to the surface the idea that there are multiple aspects to gun violence which, in my opinion, is an important point. In order to make progress it is necessary for the major media outlets to inform the public of the kinds of things that are taking away from our ideas and ideals as a nation. Moving forward, it is absolutely critical to have more in-depth conversations about preventative measures. These conversations, guided by a nuanced perspective of the topic(s), inform the voting public and the wheels of progress turn...or at least that's the idea.

Takk You Very Much

Today I will be covering Satshow 2015 in Washington, DC.

http://www.satshow.com/conferenceprogram/

Here is an overview of some of the companies that will be represented today:

Commercial Spaceflight Federation
Virgin Galactic
Arianespace
SpaceX

This event runs through Thursday March, 19th.

I was invited to attend a press conference this afternoon so I will be including that in my coverage!

My invitation came from a company, or at least a staffer in Norway so Takk you very much and I'm happy to join the rest of the conference attendees and press in learning about all that these companies and this industry has to offer.

The conference program shows an awards ceremony tonight so I'll be looking forward to that as well.

My Twitter handle is @fiftycoop.


The 50 Co-Op

Thefiftycoop.blogspot.com
@fiftycoop

National Freedom Day

Freedom:

Without any form of exploitation;promoting a standard of humanity and dignity,valuing and promoting independent self actualization

This is the first year that I have been aware of National Freedom Day. I'm always interested in the relationship between commerce and social responsibility so I thought to put together a round up of information related to entrepreneurship and social justice.


* All names, content etc... below are credited to the organization or company respectively


American Sustainable Business Council
http://asbcouncil.org/

End It Movement
http://enditmovement.com/

Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/annefield/#!

Impact Hub Salt Lake City
http://saltlake.impacthub.net/

Love 146
http://love146.org/

Made In A Free World 
http://madeinafreeworld.com/

Sustainable Business Network of Massachusetts
http://sbnmass.org/ 

Tcho New American Chocolate
http://www.tcho.com/

3rd Twitterversary

In light of today being the 3rd Twitterversary of The Fifty Co-Op,  I decided to take a look back at what I was doing around this time last year. 

I went back to the post I did about California based MWBE Whole Vine and will share parts of that review below.

I celebrate having joined The SITS Girls blogging community and I have much appreciation for the viewers that have stopped by The Fifty Co-Op from all over the world. To be able to use the phrase, " from all over the world, " literally, is pretty cool in my book.

This past year saw an addition to the blog of more multimedia features as well as the first photo exhibit. I am glad that my interest in art has now become a part of The Fifty Co-Op and, even better, it connected me with the great Blogger ofeverymoment.com.

After that first exhibit, I did another exhibit of photography from Love146.org with the goal of inspiring action on the issue of human trafficking.

I don't really think in terms of disappointments, I just think in terms of each event or interaction and what I took from it.

I look forward to finishing off my to do list of finished reviews to post here and I also look forward to completing the features I have in progress.

I have to thank some people from the Blogging community who have inspired me and/or encouraged me in some way or have been a part of the growth of the blog.


Field Negro
33@33
Oneikathetraveller
Mr. and Mrs. Globe Trot
ofeverymoment.com
Mothering from scratch
Tara Dara Made It


Highlights from the Whole Vine post are below.




Whole Vine products are created by California based SonomaCeuticals. Cheers to the founders for maintaining 100% ownership of their company. This company is profitable with a purpose as it was founded,  "to become a sustainable wellspring of funding," for philanthropic organizations.


* Grape skin flour helps to stabilize egg whites

* Make flavored salts and rubs

* Use to emulsify salad dressings

* Make juicier, more flavorful burgers and meatloaves

* Grape seed flour keeps baked goods fresher longer

* Use grape seed and grape skin flour 


"Notably, the raw materials we harvest were the ones typically cast aside until now. We conceive of a time when everything in the vineyard is harvested for its highest best use, something we call Optimum Harvesting."


Whole Vine Theatre offers several videos:
http://www.wholevine.com

Thank You

A few days ago, it hit me that although, I log in and see the statistics on my audience, I haven't really been fully taking in what it means to have readership from various different places.

So, thinking more about that, when I first started this I wanted to write about community based resources and it grew from there.

From The Fifty Co-Op straight to you I offer a huge Thank You to you all.


Cambodia                    United States          Germany          Canada        Australia
                The Ukraine                     France              Poland            Italy

Love 146

                                                 

                                                                              Love 146

                                      http://love146.org/

   * All photography,video content and verbiage is credited to Love 146.

 

   

"link 

between

substance

abuse 

and 

  exploitation"

                                                   recognizing
                                                   substance 
                                                     abuse
                                                        as
                                                         a
                                                   healthcare
                                                      topic (t5c)

                                                          http://love146.org/


                           “Because we want you to know 
                                                 that you’re never alone, and that 
         someone is always awake and there 
                                                 for you, even if you don’t need them.”

                                                     

                                                   
                                               

                                                      

LGBTQ                            Interfamilial                            100,000                          CSEC

                                               
"...“trauma bonding” 
an abuser forms or fosters an emotional attachment (“friendship,” “love,” etc…) in the life of a victim."

"...a classic tactic abusers use to maintain their position of exploitation."

"We’ve encountered children who are not happy to leave their abuser because they’ve grown attached to them. Be aware of this potential complexity as you approach a piece."

                                       

 

                                          

     Frame Experiences As Events, Not Identities

"It’s more accurate and dignifying to victims to simply say what happened in the past instead of  framing your language in a way that carries that event into a stationary identity for the person. Instead of “Trafficking  survivor, Jessica, ….” say “Jessica, who escaped trafficking in 2010…”

                                                          







                                               

 

  
                                                                 

Agape                       AgApE                      aGaPe                   agapE                  

                     

 

 http://love146.org/