From University of New Hampshire

DURHAM, N.H. – Between 2010 and 2011, the child poverty rate rose modestly across the na-tion to 22.5 percent. Today 16.4 million children live in poverty; 6.1 million of them are under age six, according to researchers from the Carsey Institute at the Univer-sity of New Hampshire. In addition, 45 percent -- 32.7 million of America’s children -- live in families with incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty line. “It is important to understand young child poverty specifically,

as children who are poor before age 6 have been shown to expe-rience educational deficits, and health problems, with effects that span the life course,” the research-ers said. To evaluate the changes in child poverty, researchers focused on two time periods -- change since 2007, as the nation entered the recession, and change since 2010. They also looked at young children -- children under 6 years old -- living in poverty as well as national poverty rates for all children under 18. The research-ers also examined the rate of deep poverty among children, consid-ering how many children live be-

low half the federal poverty line. Nationally, the number of all children living in poverty in-creased from 15.7 million in 2010 to 16.4 million in 2011. In 2007, 13.1 million children were living in poverty nationally. In 2011, the poverty line as determined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget for a family of four (two adults, two children) was $22,811. Since 2007, nearly every state has seen an increase in child pov-erty. Mississippi has the highest percentage of children living in poverty at 31.8 percent, followed by the District of Columbia (30.3 percent) and New Mexico (30.7 percent). New Hampshire has

the lowest percentage of children living in poverty (12 percent), followed by Maryland (13.5) and Alaska (14.5 percent). Overall, the South has the highest rates of child poverty at an estimated 25.1 percent, and the Northeast has the lowest rates at an estimated 18.8 percent. In ad-dition, 29.5 percent of children in urban areas and 26.3 percent of children in rural places now live in poverty, significantly higher than the 17.1 percent in suburban areas. Nationally, the number of young children -- those under 6 years old -- living in poverty in-creased from 5.9 million in 2010 to 6.1 million in 2011, with 25.6 per-cent of young children now poor. Young child poverty increased in all regions of the country. In the South, 28.4 percent of young chil-dren live in poverty, followed by 25.2 percent in the Midwest, 24.0 percent in the West, and 21.86 percent in the Northeast. The country also saw an in-crease in children living in deep poverty – those with a total in-come that is less than half the poverty threshold for their fam-ily type. More than 10 percent of America’s children, or more than

7.3 million, live in deep poverty, a significantly greater share than in 2010 and an increase of more than 2 percentage points since before the Great Recession began. The research was conduct-ed by Jessica Bean, vulnerable families research associate at the Carsey Institute; Beth Mattingly, director of research on vulnerable families at the Carsey Institute and research assistant professor of sociology at UNH; and Andrew Schaefer, a doctoral student in sociology at UNH and research assistant at the Carsey Institute. This analysis is based upon U.S. Census Bureau estimates of poverty from the 2007, 2010, and 2011 American Community Survey. For more details or in-formation, please refer to the U.S. Census American Community Survey. The complete Carsey In-stitute report about this research is available at http://carseyinstitute.unh.edu/publication/IB-Same-Day-Child-Poverty-2012. The Carsey Institute conducts policy research on vulnerable children, youth, and families and on sustainable community devel-opment. •

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Using Identity to Reduce Own-Race Bias

Exploding The Myth of the "Dead Beat Dad"

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Why States Need To Expand Access to Dental Care For Poor Children

New Book Examines Role of Spirituality in the Workplace

This Week

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7From Johns Hopkins University

School of Nursing

A mother in jail co-residing with her infant in a prison nurs-ery; a war veteran still picturing the violent trauma. These scenari-os are real life and dealt with each day by incarcerated mothers and returning veterans. The common link—stress—is the focus of Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing (JHUSON) PhD Candidate Jan Kaminsky and Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) student Jemma Ayvazian. Working with a group of

mothers who had participated in a co-residential prison nursery program, Kaminsky surveyed to see if an insecure maternal at-tachment due to incarceration

was associated with harsher child discipline practices and higher levels of maternal depression. In collaboration with her mentor Dr. Mary Byrne, Columbia Universi-ty School of Nursing, and through Byrne’s ongoing study with these mothers, Kaminsky administered a 20-question Conflict Tactics Scale to determine what types of discipline (non-violent, psycho-logical, and physical assault) they had administered over the past 12 months after their release from prison.

Stress continued on page 3

From University of Chicago

Moving from a high-poverty to lower-poverty neighborhood spurs long-term gains in the physical and mental health of low-income adults, as well as a substantial increase in their hap-piness, despite not improving economic self-sufficiency, ac-cording to a new study published in the Sept. 20 issue of Science by researchers at the University of Chicago and partners at other institutions. Although moving into less disadvantaged neighborhoods did not raise incomes for the families that moved, these fami-lies experienced important gains in well-being in other ways. Moving from a high-poverty neighborhood to one with a pov-erty rate 13 percentage points lower increased the happiness of low-income adults by an amount equivalent to the gains caused by a $13,000 rise in family income. Using data from a large-scale randomized social experiment called Moving to Opportunity, the authors found that neighbor-hood income segregation had a greater impact than neighbor-hood racial segregation in shap-ing the outcomes of adults in the study. “This finding is impor-tant, in part, because racial seg-regation has been trending down since 1970, but income segrega-tion has gone up steadily since

then,” said lead author Jens Lud-wig, the McCormick Founda-tion Professor of Social Service Administration, Law and Public Policy at UChicago and direc-tor of the University of Chicago Crime Lab. “So the problem of adverse neighborhood effects on low-income families seems to be getting worse, rather than better, over time.” Another implication of the study is that looking at the growth over time in inequality with respect to family income — a key focus of much of the

inequality discussion — under-states the growth in inequal-ity of well-being. Focusing on income inequality ignores the negative effects on poor fami-lies from growing residential segregation by economic status. The researchers estimate that the drop in happiness of low-income adults due to growing residential income segregation since 1970 is large enough to offset the full income growth for low-income Americans over the past four de-cades. “Focusing just on trends in

income inequality over time in the U.S., while ignoring the growth of income segregation over time, understates the trends towards greater inequality in well-being in America,” Ludwig said. The new paper, “Neighbor-hood Effects on the Long-Term Well-Being of Low-Income Adults,” was co-authored by a national team of collaborators in addition to Ludwig. It relied on data from 4,604 low-income families that enrolled in Mov-ing to Opportunity, an experi-ment that used a random lottery to offer some families initially living in distressed public hous-ing projects the chance to move into lower-poverty areas. The Science paper looks at outcomes among adults 10 to 15 years after they moved. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Develop-ment operated Moving to Op-portunity from 1994 to 1998 in five cities: Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. Families volunteered for the study, and some were picked at random to receive housing voucher subsidies to move to lower-poverty communities. Other families were randomly assigned to a control group that received no special assistance under the program.

Poor continued on page 3

George Zimmerman Lied! Trayvon's Handprints Not Found on the Gun

According to the Associated Press, recent forensic tests made public show that George Zim-merman's DNA was the only DNA that could be identified on the grip of the gun used to fatally shoot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. The results com-pletely rule out Martin's DNA from being on the gun's grip, and indicates that Zimmerman lied

when he said that Martin had his gun. Zimmerman's DNA also was identified on the gun's holster, but no determination could be made as to whether Martin's DNA was on the gun's holster, according to the report from the Florida De-partment of Law Enforcement. Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder for fatally shooting Martin during a confrontation in a gated community in Sanford in February. Zimmerman is pleading not guilty, claiming self-defense. •

Officer Tickets Woman For Having HIV David Lacey, a police officer in the Detroit area, is being accused of violating a woman’s privacy rights after he apparently wrote her a ticket for not informing him that she has HIV. The woman, Sha-landra Jones, has been liv-ing with HIV for 11 years, and was pulled over for a traffic violation. The officer, for some reason, wanted to inspect her purse, and that's when he found prescription pills for HIV treatment. He then made some in-sensitive remarks about the pills, and then says he wonders what would’ve happened had he been punctured by any sharp objects in her purse. Afterwards, he issues her a ticket. Just one problem with all of this: No state law requires individuals to disclose their HIV-positive status during a routine traffic stop. •

High School Teacher Slaps Black Student; School District Sued Last year, an English teacher at Malibu High School in Malibu, California was accused of slapping an African American female student four times because she apparently forgot her notebook binder at home. Now the student, Dionne Evans, has filed a law-suit against the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District. The teacher claims that when she slapped Evans, she was acting out a scene from the movie "Bridemaids" where a character slaps another to smack some sense into her. •

Mental Stress: Unique Solutions for Unique Populations

16 Million Children in Poverty in 2011

Why Move to Less Poor Neighborhood Boosts Physical and Mental Health

By Dr. Umar Johnson, Psy.D., NCSP, M.Ed.

You've heard the rumors, for they are everywhere, and al-though unproven, they still reso-nate as facts throughout much of American society. The untruth that Black men don't want to care for their children has become a staple in American folklore. Even sadder, is the fact that these ru-mors are not only postulated by the numerically dominant white majority of this country, but are actually created, maintained and reinforced by the Black commu-nity itself. Even President Obama, who rarely makes mention of the unique and unparalleled condi-tions facing Black men in this country, couldn't help but join in on the carnage of the Black man's image by telling Black church audiences during his first bid for the white house that "Black men need to take care of their chil-dren." Obviously, trying to woe Black female voters, the Senator turned President is also guilty of reinforcing the image of the Blackman as a "dead beat dad." The question put forth to you today is whether or not this un-substantiated rumor is true? The answer is a resounding "No!" Not only do Black men love their chil-dren, and want to be with their children, many go to great lengths trying to secure their "state guar-anteed right" to participate in the lives of their offspring, only to be met with constant betrayal at the hands of the all-to-racially & gen-der biased family court systems that make up these United States. As a therapist and facilitator of support groups and training programs for African-American

men, I have seen first hand how so many Black men attempt to establish a relationship with their children only to have the prover-bial door slammed in their face, even after being guaranteed "pa-per rights" to see their children, which are rarely enforced by the courts. The illusion and hypocri-sy of unenforced "paper custody" decisions made by judges and hearing officers is made evident by the fact that, in many states and counties in the U.S., there is no credible enforcement process to ensure that men see their chil-dren when mothers decide oth-erwise. In other words, as long as primary custodial parents can evade the law by preventing non-custodial parents access to their children, without having to bur-den themselves with fines, war-rants or transfers of custody by the courts, the Blackman's fight to play a meaningful part in the lives of his children will continue to be an uphill battle. Most Black women love their children and are willing to put personal sentiments to the side for the sake of God's greatest gift. Nonetheless, there is a growing population of Black mothers who are manipulating the family court system and/or are blatantly in total disregard for it, in an attempt to keep so many well-intentioned fathers from be-ing a part of their children's lives. The fact that Black parents can-not work out their problems in private without having to resort to intervention from the racist court systems, in the first place, itself is a significant indication that our relationship culture needs to be totally overhauled and recon-structed. When we talk about the War Against Black Children, we can-not exclude the primary role that

their parents play in the psycho-social destruction of our youth. Developmentally and spiritually, the mother, within any species, is usually the main advocate of pro-tection for her young. However, after years of mental conditioning through slavery, today we have some Black women who will consciously deny their children the affection of a loving father for personal selfish reasons. Behind closed therapy doors, I have had scores of Black mothers, benefit-ting from years of hindsight and maturation, admit, although all to late, that "yes, I kept my chil-

dren from their father and I was wrong." Although any admission of honesty must be granted its blessing, unfortunately, the years of damage created by this cycle of ignorance and emotional neglect cannot go unmentioned. So many Black children are literally being destroyed by their custodial par-ents, and way before the mis-ed-ucation machine, and psychiatric exploitation cartel, has a chance to get their hands on them. What are some of the unjusti-fiable reasons mothers keep their children away from their fathers: 1) Out of Sight/Out of Mind:

The pain of relationship rejec-tion causes many Black women to prevent the man access to his children in order not to repeat-edly have to face the very person who rejected them. 2) Jealousy For What They Never Had: Yes, I have had mothers admit that not having a loving father in their lives can create a subconscious envy for their daughters leading them to disrupt the father-daugh-ter relationship that they never had themselves.

Myth continued on page 5

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Asian Americans likely to vote in November strongly prefer Barack Obama over Mitt Rom-ney, but a large portion of voters – nearly one-third – remain un-decided and could play a crucial role in battleground states, ac-cording to two reports released today by the National Asian American Survey. Drawn from a nationally rep-resentative sample of more than 3,300 interviews, the reports of-fer the most comprehensive por-trait of Asian American political views. Among the fastest grow-ing groups in America, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders exceeded the 5 percent threshold in roughly one in four congressional districts in 2010, and a record number of Asian Americans are running for Congress this year. “Asian American voters are getting a considerable amount of attention from the presidential campaigns this year, particularly in the battleground states of Nevada, North Carolina and Vir-ginia,” said Karthick Ramakrishnan, associ-ate professor of political science at the University of California, Riverside and director of the Na-tional Asian American Survey (NAAS). “When compared to the general electorate, and even the Latino electorate, the Asian American vote is very much up for grabs at this late stage in the presidential campaign.” Indeed, the survey data show that 32 percent of likely Asian American voters remain undecided after the presidential nominating conventions, much higher than the estimated 7 percent rate among the general population. Moreover, one in six Asian Americans lives in a bat-tleground state during the 2012 presidential election. “Uncertainty is also a defin-ing characteristic of party iden-tification,” noted Taeku Lee,

professor and chair of political science and professor of law at the University of California, Berkeley. “Given the high pro-portion of immigrants among the Asian American electorate, we find a much higher propor-tion of non-partisans than the na-tional average.” Lee is a princi-pal investigator of the survey and co-author of a book (with Zoltan Hajnal), “Why Americans Don’t Join The Party.” The data also show that: Among likely voters, 43 per-cent of Asian Americans support Barack Obama, while 24 percent prefer Romney. There are con-

siderable differences by ethnic group: Indian Americans show the strongest support for Obama (68 percent), and Samoans and Filipinos show strongest support for Romney (39 percent and 38 percent, respectively).Democrats have a 34 percent to 18 percent advantage among Asian Americans, but a majority of Asian Americans (51 percent) are Independent or do not iden-tify with the U.S. party system. This figure is higher than the av-erage for the national population (40 percent).Hmong, Indian and Korean Americans most strongly iden-tify with the Democratic Party. In a significant shift, Filipino Americans now have the stron-gest identification with the Re-publican Party, a designation

that has previously consistently belonged to Vietnamese Ameri-cans.The issues most important to Asian Americans and Pacific Is-landers are similar to those of the rest of the country: the economy and jobs, followed by health care and education.Asian Americans largely sup-port both health care reform and affirmative action. On health care reform, support remains high regardless of whether the law is referred to as the Afford-able Care Act or “Obamacare.” The survey was conducted

by Ramakrishnan and Lee, who together have written seven books and dozens of articles on ra-cial/ethnic politics, and have conducted 17 sur-veys, eight of which have included multiple-lan-guage support for Asian Americans. Project partners on the report include National Asian Pacific Ameri-can Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) and Asian American Justice Center (AAJC). “Most national polls do not feature the voices of Asian Ameri-cans and Pacific Island-ers,” said Miriam Yeung,

executive director of NAPAWF. “A survey like this, with the number of respondents and ques-tions relevant to our community are vitally important.” “Public officials need to take note of our growing communi-ties, nationally and in various states,” Mee Moua, president and executive director of AAJC, also noted. “The need to engage the AAPI population, on issues they are concerned about and in a culturally competent manner, is more important than ever.” The full reports, including information about the survey methodology, can be found at www.naasurvey.com/. The NAAS is a scientific and nonpartisan effort to poll the opinions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. •

The Crucial Asian American Vote

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The Black Man's Burden: Exploding The Myth of the "Dead Beat Dad"

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People often remark that people of a different race “all look alike.” However, when we have trouble recognizing people from another race, it may actually have little to do with the other person's race. In-stead, new research finds that that we can improve our memory of members of another race by identi-fying ourselves as part of the same group. Such identification could improve everything from race rela-tions to eyewitness identification. “One of the most robust phe-nomena in social perception is the finding that people are better at remembering people from their own race. This effect – called the own-race bias – is often interpreted as the consequence of perceptual

expertise, whereby people spend more time with members of their own race and therefore have dif-ficulty differentiating members of other races,” says Jay Van Bavel of New York University, co-author of the new study published online last month in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. “Instead, we show that people are better at differentiating mem-bers of their own race because they simply pay more attention to who is in their own group, regardless of their race.” In three experiments, Van Bav-el and colleague William Cunning-ham of the University of Toronto tested the own-race bias by assign-ing people to an arbitrary group

– for example the “Moons” or the “Suns” – that included both white and black members. Participants watched a series of faces and had a few minutes to learn all the mem-bers of both their own group as well as another group. Researchers then asked participants to complete a short filler task to take their minds off the faces and then later admin-istered a brief memory test to see if they could remember the people at the beginning of the study. In the third experiment, there was a small twist: The researchers assigned people within each group the role of either a “soldier” or a “spy,” telling them their goal was to serve the needs of the group. For spies, the specific goal was to “re-main loyal to the Moons (or Suns) but your ultimate goal will be to serve the needs of your group by infiltrating the Suns (or Moons).” In all three experiments, race had no effect on how well par-ticipants remembered members of their group versus the other group. In general, people remembered members of their own group more than the other group. This was es-pecially true of people who identi-fied strongly with their group. “The people in our studies seem to care more about their group member-ship than race – even when the groups are completely trivial,” Van Bavel says. The “spies” were the excep-tion to this pattern. People assigned to the role of spy had excellent memory for both in-group and out-group members. “In other words, spies paid more attention to out-group members because it was part of their group identity,” Van Bavel says. “If you can give people the right motivation, they will pay at-tention to the out-group.” The research shows that there are ways for us to improve our memory of people in other groups.

“If people find that racial biases are interfering with their interac-tions with others, they might con-sidering trying to finding a com-mon group membership that they share,” Van Bavel says. “For ex-ample, they might see themselves as 'Americans.'” The research also has impli-cations for legal contexts, such as police lineups ad eyewitness tes-timony, he says. Recent research has found that approximately 36% of wrongful convictions are due to erroneous cross-race eyewitness identification in which Caucasian witnesses misidentify minority de-fendants. The paper, “A social iden-tity approach to person memory: Group membership, collective identification, and social role shape attention and memory,” was published online on August 20, 2012, in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, a journal of the Society for Personality and So-cial Psychology (SPSP). •

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When They Do Not All Look Alike: Using Identity to Reduce Own-Race Bias

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Stresscontinued from front

Kaminsky learned that while all mothers reported some use of non-violent discipline, the majority used psychological aggression and minor physical assault against their children, and mothers who had faced sig-nificant depression were more likely to utilize physical assault. Kaminsky was encouraged that most mothers had a strong understanding of and desire to break the cycle of incarceration and family instability they once experienced. She felt prison nursery use was a way to help improve the lives of these vul-nerable families, while advanc-ing each mothers’ attachment model with their children. One mother, referring to her daugh-ter, said, “She was very full of herself…that she knows that she can accomplish anything. And...you know...I’ve taught her that…that she can do anything she wants to do with her life.” Looking at a very different population, Jemma Ayvazian is using a remote Veteran’s Ad-ministration facility to identify care components necessary to produce positive outcomes for veterans who sustained Poly-trauma/Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) during the Iraq and Af-ghanistan wars. Ayvazian hopes to promote recovery and successful reinte-gration into the community and decrease the time Polytrauma/TBI veterans spend in the post-acute and chronic phase. She is also considering development of a phone application that will provide free health information through text messages to clini-cians, family members, care giv-ers, and the veterans themselves. Ayvazian remembers her husband’s deployment to Iraq in March of 2003. “I saw soldiers coming back from the war zone with multiple problems: I want-ed to somehow help…Although it is difficult for me to witness what our veterans and their fam-ilies go through, helping —one at a time—making a meaning-ful impact on their lives, serving as their advocate, making sure that their voices are heard and their needs are met is the most rewarding experience.” •

Poorcontinued from front

People in the study were ex-tremely disadvantaged econom-ically. Most households were headed by African American or Hispanic females —fewer than 40 percent of whom had completed high school. Their primary reason for participat-ing was to get away from gangs and drug activity and find better apartments and better schools for their children. A previous paper found that MTO participants who moved had fewer problems with ex-treme obesity and long-term risks. The study in Science showed that neighborhood en-vironments have much broader effects on well-being for low-income families and implicate neighborhood income segrega-tion as the key feature of dis-tressed urban neighborhoods that seems to matter most for well-being. “These findings suggest the importance of focusing on ef-forts to improve the well-being of poor families, rather than just the narrower goal of reducing income poverty, and the poten-tial value of community-level interventions for achieving that end,” Ludwig said. Ludwig’s co-authors on the paper were Greg Duncan (Uni-versity of California, Irvine); Lisa Gennetian (Brookings In-stitution); Lawrence Katz (Har-vard University); Ronald Kes-sler (Harvard Medical School); Jeffrey Kling (Congressional Budget Office); and Lisa San-bonmatsu (National Bureau of Economic Research). The study was supported by HUD, the National Science Foundation, the National Insti-tute of Child Health and Human Development, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Aging, the Institute of Edu-cation Services at the U.S. De-partment of Education, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Smith Rich-ardson Foundation, the Spen-cer Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foun-dation. •

Black Midwives From Across US To Gather Oct. 19-21 in

Florida to Address Women's and Infants' Health Disparities PORTLAND, OR -- The International Center for Traditional Childbearing (ICTC) will be convening African American and other midwives of color at their biennial national conference on Oc-tober 19-21 in Sunny Isle, Florida to focus on improving birth out-comes and reducing health disparities of women and infants. The 8th Black Midwives and Healers Conference, Returning Power to Birth: Reclaiming Our Culture will provide opportunities for healthcare providers to build skills for cultural competency create and broaden advocacy networks to spur change, and eliminate health disparities in Black communities across the U.S. ICTC president and founder Shafia Monroe says, "African American babies continue to have high mortality rates, twice the rate of Caucasian American babies. This is concerning given the so-phisticated health care systems and services available in the U.S. It points directly to the inequity of basic access to pre- and post-natal healthcare serving the specific needs of Black communities. This is a major health and policy issue that we have yet to solve or even reduce below the startlingly high rates we see today. By bringing together midwives and doulas of color from across the country, we can share information, promising practices, and together develop strategies that will ensure healthy birth outcomes for all women in this country." The conference, to be held at the Newport Beach Hotel in Sun-ny Isle, Florida, will convene national and international midwives, doulas, birth-workers, healthcare professionals, and healers to con-firm methods to eliminate infant mortality and build capacity in the African American, African descent and Black communities. It will explore cultural traditions and best practices in the care of pregnant and birthing women, postpartum care and breastfeeding support. The Conference outcome is to increase the number of black mid-wives, doulas and healers to serve those most at risk for poor birth outcomes by empowering women and families and reintroducing ef-fective cultural traditions. Featured keynote speakers include Byllye Avery, McArthur Ge-nius and founder of the Black Women's Health Imperative; Mikal H. Shabazz; UmSalamah Zaimah Abdullah; Maria Valentin-Welch; Dr. Christ-Ann Magloire and the Soul Sistah Midwives. Erykah Badu, four time GRAMMY® award winner, doula and healer, and the National Spokesperson for ICTC, has been invited for special re-marks. The International Center for Traditional Childbearing is an in-fant mortality prevention, breastfeeding promotion and midwife training non-profit organization. ICTC's mission is to increase the number of midwives, doulas, and healers of color; and to empower families in order to reduce maternal and infant mortality. Estab-lished in 1991 and headquartered in Portland, Oregon, ICTC has members and chapters in the U.S. and around the globe to improve health outcomes. For more information, contact:International Center for Traditional Childbearing (ICTC)www.ictcmidwives.org •

American Heart Association Offers Scholarships To Multicultural Women

Go Red For Women® and Macy's Join Forces to Ease Burden, Drive Diversity in Medicine

DALLAS, TX -- Tuition hikes at colleges and universities across the nation are putting the squeeze on many young people and forc-ing families to find new ways to pay for higher education or consider forgoing college altogether. In an effort to ease the burden to stu-dents during these rough economic times and increase the number of underrepresented minorities in medicine, the American Heart Asso-ciation's Go Red For Women(TM) and Macy's, its national sponsor, offer the Go Red(TM) Multicultural Scholarship Fund. Sixteen $2,500 national scholarships are being offered for a second year to multicultural women pursuing higher education in health care. As part of its Go Red For Women movement, the asso-ciation strives to expand the pipeline of much-needed diverse nurs-ing, medical and allied health students and address important gaps in treatment that can lead to heart health disparities. Deadline for entry is November 30, 2012.

Women continued on page 6

Page 4 Week of september 27 - october 3, 2012 Greater Diversity news GreaterDiversity.com

Why States Need To Expand Access to Dental Care For Poor Childrenmore news and resources online at greaterdiversity.com

Health & Wellness

By Dr. David SatcherAmerica's Wire Writers Group

Atlanta, GA -- As states wrangle with whether or not to pursue Medicaid expansion un-der the Affordable Care Act, they should look carefully at the seri-ous implications for oral health, especially for poor and minority children if Medicaid services are not expanded as originally envi-sioned under the ACA. Twelve years ago, as Surgeon General of the United States, I is-sued a report calling attention to the profound disparities in oral health care across the country. I called it a silent epidemic. Twelve years later, some progress has been made, and it is no longer silent - but for many across the country, it is still a serious epi-demic causing pain and harm to millions of poor and minority children. For instance, data from Georgia exemplifies the challeng-es that poor and minority children face in getting access to appropri-ate dental care. In 2008, 15.9 percent of Georgians did not have health insurance and almost half - 41.5

percent - did not have dental in-surance (Georgia Population Survey 2008). In 2007, visits to Georgia emergency rooms for preventable dental disease cost more than $23 million. The pro-portion of children with untreated tooth decay has dropped from 27 percent in 2005 to 19% in 2011, but that still means that close to a fifth of our state's children suffer unnecessary pain and health risks for something that is truly pre-ventable. The majority of these children are poor or minority or can't see a dentist because of fi-nancial or geographic reasons. When I issued my report, tooth decay was the single most common chronic childhood dis-ease - five times more common than asthma. It still is. There were striking disparities in dental dis-ease across the country. There still are. Thirty-seven percent of African American children and 41 percent of Hispanic children have untreated tooth decay, com-pared with 25 percent of white children. More than 50 million Americans live in areas where dentists do not practice and mil-lions more can't gain access due

to cost reasons. It is time to get serious and pursue the framework for action that I set forth in my 2000 re-port. All health care profession-als need to understand that good oral health means more than sound teeth. The mouth is really a window to the whole body. Oral health affects everything from the ability to speak, eat or smile. Poor oral health is linked to heart disease, stroke and other long-term illnesses. We need to engage other health professions in work-

ing to prevent oral disease. As a country, we have made great strides in prevention, partic-ularly with fluoride and sealants. But many do not have regular ac-cess to a dentist or school-based programs that offer some preven-tive care. That is why it is critical to expand access by seeking in-novation on a number of fronts: in oral health policies, how we train our providers, exploring the creation of new dental providers, and building a cadre of ethnical-ly-diverse, culturally-competent

dental practitioners, as well as expanding the reach of the dental team with other health care pro-fessionals. The country has a great op-portunity to increase access to dental care under the ACA, which calls for extending oral health benefits to an additional five million children in 2014. Expan-sion of coverage, however, won't translate into access to care if we don't have enough providers to meet the need. Currently just 20 percent of practicing dentists treat Medicaid patients. How can we provide services to an additional five million children in 2014? States need to think about this now. States should explore all op-tions that could expand access to care, including allowing midlevel dental providers such as dental therapists to practice. They are trained to provide routine servic-es, freeing up dentists to attend to more complicated procedures. These practitioners already work in Alaska and Minnesota. And in just a number of years, they have been able to expand access in Alaska alone to an additional 35,000 people who could not get

regular care in their own commu-nities. It is imperative that everyone have access to the dental care they need. Different professionals can provide different, yet appropri-ate, levels of service. Our concern and approach to a solution ought to focus first on the patient, not the dental profession. We have an opportunity with the ACA to ex-pand access. Will the medical and dental communities be ready? Dr. David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D., is a public health adminis-trator, who served simultaneously as the 10th Assistant Secretary for Health at the US Department of Health and Human Services, and the 16th Surgeon General of the United States. America's Wire is an independent, nonprofit news service run by the Maynard Insti-tute for Journalism Education and funded by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Our stories can be republished free of charge by newspapers, websites and oth-er media sources. For more infor-mation, visit www.americaswire.org or contact Michael K. Frisby at mike@frisbyassociates.com. •

more resources and news online at greaterdiversity.comBusiness Resources

Gut Reaction: Morality in Food ChoiceFrom Arizona State University

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Whether we like it or not, buying food has moral implica-tions ranging from environmental sustainability to social justice to animal welfare. Was the apple you ate at lunch grown in your state, or even your country? How much land and water did it take to pro-duce? Was the farmer who picked it making a fair wage? Several researchers at Arizona State University are examining the ethical aspects of food production and consumption. They are help-ing consumers navigate the maze of moral choices involved in filling their plates and their bellies. And they are finding that being morally mindful can lead to better nutri-tion, as well. Ethical eatsWhere does a chicken or an avo-cado start its life before making its way to the grocery store? Joan McGregor studies food production and the ethical concerns it raises. One of these, of course, is environ-

mental sustainability. “We all talk about water, we talk about energy, but we sort of forget that food is a huge consumer of resources,” says McGregor, who teaches philosophy in the School of Philosophical, Historical, and Religious Studies in ASU's Col-lege of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Sustainability can be tricky to measure, however. For example, most people think shopping lo-cally reduces their carbon foot-print. But depending on the type of food, that might not be the case at all. Some foods are more resource intensive than others and generate more carbon during production, even if they don’t get transported very far. Social issues come into play, as well. Buying locally means sup-porting a local farmer. You might think that’s an ethical no-brainer, but consider this: Before the local food movement was all the rage, socially conscious consumers chose fair-trade products (often produced in other countries) be-cause they guaranteed the farmer decent working conditions and a

living wage. “If you’re just thinking about welfare or doing good in the world, you might be doing better by buy-ing from some Guatemalan farm-er than buying from some Queen Creek farmer,” McGregor says. This is just one of many ethical co-nundrums in the business of food production. The meat industry presents another set of issues, such as poor treatment of animals on factory farms, a negative impact on the environment and health concerns over hormone and antibiotic use. “It’s more than just ‘should I eat meat or not?’ It’s a question of the way we produce meat. Right now it is incredibly inhumane, but it’s also incredibly unsustain-able,” McGregor says. The major byproducts of meat production are waste and toxins that can be haz-ardous to human health and to the health of the environment. Some people substitute sea-food for meat. But is fish really more healthy and sustainable? It depends on the type you choose, says Leah Gerber, a conservation

biologist in the School of Life Sci-ences in ASU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Fishing for answersGerber recently co-authored a study examining the healthfulness and sustainability of more than 300 different species of fish. To measure healthfulness, she looked at omega-3 fatty acids. Research has shown that these fats can im-prove cardiovascular health and boost mood. Gerber also determined which species had the highest mercury levels, since too much mercury can damage the human nervous system. To gage sustainability, Gerber considered factors like ex-ploitation of the species population and carrying capacity of the ocean environment. Her analysis found that very large, long-lived fish like the bluefin tuna are typically high in mercury, low in omega-3’s and un-sustainable. Mercury is a pollut-ant that gets into lakes, rivers and oceans. Fish and other marine life unwittingly eat it up. As larger ani-mals eat the smaller ones, the mer-

cury “bioaccumulates,” or collects in increasing quantities. Large fish high on the food chain contain the highest levels. Large fish also take longer to sexually mature. As a result, it is difficult to recover their popula-tions when they are overexploited. In general, the least healthful spe-cies are also the least sustainable. In addition to bluefin, these in-clude Atlantic cod, swordfish and Spanish mackerel. Fortunately, fish that are better for your health are also the most sustainable. These include Pacific cod, Alaskan pollock and black rockfish. Why worry about sustainable fishing? “We need to take care of the ocean and effectively manage fisheries if we want to eat fish in the future,” Gerber says, adding that most fish stocks in the world are over-harvested. Global climate change has also added to the prob-lem. As greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increase, oceans ab-sorb more carbon dioxide, making them acidic and less hospitable to many fish species.

“There’s this perception that the ocean is inexhaustible – we can just dump stuff in it and ex-ploit it – but it’s not,” Gerber says. Follow your gutGerber believes we have an ethical obligation to take care of the en-vironment. By approaching food ethically, we may also benefit our own health. That’s because our moral views affect us on an emo-tional, “gut” level that may have a stronger influence on our behavior than facts. Consider, for example, a prac-ticing Muslim who doesn’t eat pork. She has avoided pork prod-ucts all her life, and as an adult, doesn’t think twice about passing up bacon and pork chops. A gut re-action to the food makes it undesir-able to her. It’s the same feeling an Orthodox Jew who follows dietary kosher laws might have about eat-ing meat and cheese together.

Food continued on page 6

Greater Diversity news GreaterDiversity.com Week of september 27 - october 3, 2012 Page 5

Mythcontinued from page 2

3) A Woman's Scorn: Revenge is often at the center of disrupted paternal emotional bonds. So many Black women lack the ma-ture understanding that they and their children are not one and the same person anymore. Many women continue, for years after birth, to hold a pathological be-lief they what's good for them is automatically best for their chil-dren; In other words, "If I don't need him in my life, then he/she doesn't need him in their lives." 4) Child Support: Obviously if a man can find a job he should pro-vide for his children. However, with so many Black men being undereducated and incriminated with felonies, it is quite difficult for many of them to find work. What children need most is the loving affection of their fathers, although it costs to raise chil-dren, it doesn't help to keep a father from his child for financial concerns alone. Unfortunately, in many municipalities the court systems have effectively separat-ed custody issues from support matters which now gives moth-ers the right to collect the father's finances and at the same time continue to keep his children at bay. 5) Keeping the New Man Around: Although I find younger mothers much more guilty of this than older ones, it is also grow-ing in prevalence amongst older

mothers as well. So many Black women suffer from the emotion-al dependency of always having to have a man around to vali-date their womanhood (a condi-tion often created by their own fatherlessness) that some will go to great lengths to guarantee "the new guy" a place in the sun by keeping the biological father on the outskirts and then trying to force the paramour upon the child as the replacement dad. Getting revenge against their ex-lovers, at the children's expense, is a frequent theme in many family therapy sessions that often leads to broken rela-tionships later in life after adult children learn that their moth-ers were the true reasons behind the absence of their fathers from their lives. Many mothers are able to effectively disguise their oppressive tactics against Black men under a false mask of in-nocence projecting victimiza-tion by the father, when in fact they are the victimizers; play-ing the helpless victim in public who is raising children without the benefit of the father, but is a merciless oppressor in private deliberately keeping the father from his children. This Black child custody crisis is not without its impact upon Black marriage. Many Black men, having friends and family already involved in this trifling state of affairs, are fearful of being caught up in a similar situation and are electing instead not to have children, are refusing to get married, and are

unfortunately opting for a life-time of serial monogamy, rather than risking possible divorce and complicated child custody dis-putes. In fact, even older Black men, many of whom are still mar-ried, are beginning to advise the younger generation to consider a life of serial monogamy or com-panionship with African women who are not American born. The reaction of Black men towards the pain and agony of having their children used against them is also not advantageous towards building and maintaining strong Black families. Thusly, many Black men are rejecting Black women altogether as poor ad-vice from older men is feeding the stereotype of Black women as vindictive "gold diggers" and "control freaks." Unfortunately, an increasing number of Black women, spurned on by the "We Don't Need A Man To Raise Our Children" Move-ment that is growing in popular-ity in the Black community, are contributing to the war against Black men by spreading untrue myths and rumors about "dead beat dads" while at the same time knowingly being guilty of "hid-ing the children." Unfortunately, the dead beat dad myth is so powerful that when others notice the peculiar absence of a caring father from the lives of their chil-dren, electing to ask why hasn't he been around, mothers can readily put the "dead beat dad" myth into play by saying "he just gave up," "he met another woman

and forgot about my children, or "he doesn't want to be bothered." These lies are often enough to deflect suspicion. Since most al-ready assume that the "dead beat dad" myth is true, a manipulative mother can benefit herself from the myth whenever necessary. The fact that she interrupts visita-tion, prevents telephone contact, and disobeys the partial custody agreement never figures into the equation. I have found, through therapeutic experience, that when a mother says the father doesn't want to be bothered, this usually means he doesn't want to be harassed with her particular "rules and regulations" that are often designed to complicate the custody arrangement (i.e., visita-tion on days when he works, visi-tation only when its convenient for her, cancelled visitations at the last minute when he had plans scheduled with the child, birthdays, holidays, etc.) However, this behavior is not without its sometimes dan-gerous consequences for the women who enter into this game of manipulation and deceit. As a prison volunteer, I am increas-ingly encountering men who are being jailed for breaking under the pressure of having their am-bitions to see their children ma-ligned at every turn, and with an apathetically racist court system that couldn't care less, issuing visitation orders with no teeth be-hind them, are instead choosing to seek vigilante justice against the guilty parties. Although un-

acceptable, many Black men find it difficult to "turn the other cheek" and are putting hands on women, and their property (cars, homes, etc) as retaliation for be-ing kept out of their children's lives. Still further, many grand-parents and relatives are standing by and watching this game of cat and mouse, with tongue in cheek, and are putting their relationships with custodial parents ahead of the best interest of the grow-ing children. Even professional Black men, who have so much to lose, are suffering from psycho-logical breakdown, and are being charged with domestic abuse and battery. Attacking any woman should and must never be toler-ated, under any circumstances. When Black men result to physi-cal enforcement of paper cus-tody orders, by attacking Black mothers, this perpetuates another myth, that of the "Angry & Vio-lent Black Male," which is used as cannon fodder by the mother's family as further proof that he shouldn't be allowed to see his children. Being a felony charge in most states, even threats of retaliation for violation of verbal or legal custody orders is enough to give a Blackman a felony re-cord, which doesn't sit well with his child support responsibili-ties. As you can see, this is a dangerous cycle of revenge and hostility that only affects our children and leads to disastrous psychosocial outcomes for the children involved. It is time for the Black community to stand

up in defense of non-custodial parents, whether they be male or female, and fight for their God-given rights to participate in their children's lives. Until we do, the collective community karma of Black America will continue to bring us more unhappy and vio-lent youths. Dr. Umar Johnson is a Doctor of Clinical Psychology, National-ly Certified School Psychologist, Child Therapist, Political Scien-tist, Pan-Afrikanist & Parent Ad-vocate. An expert presenter, Dr. Umar, as he is known to the Afri-can-American community, is an informational and motivational speaker, who will be releasing his first book, "Psycho-Aca-demic Holocaust Against Black Boys: The Diary of a Mad Black Psychologist" on November 11, 2012. He can be reached at www.DrUmarJohnson.com/ (215) 989-9858. He will be speaking at Tom Joyner's Health Festival in Philadelphia on October 19th; the Children's Wholistic Health Fair in Atlanta on October 20th; National Tour of England (UK) Oct 21-November 1st; Los Ange-les at Charles Drew University's Ebonics Conference on Novem-ber 3rd, 2012; Paterson New Jer-sey's Black Ladies Breakfast on Mental Health & Self-Care on November 10th; and the National Hair Expo in Jackson MISS on April 12-14th, 2013. •

Disciple #2 Food Bank2001 Princess Place Drive Wilmington , NC 28405

910-431-5736 or 910-251-5104

Disciple #2 Food Bank is open everyday

9:00 am to 4:00 pm.Come and see us!

Every last Wednesday of themonth, we give FREE food

from 10:00 am to 12:00 noon.

Disciple #2 has a variety of items for sale such as clothes, tv’s, radios, dishes, bedspreads, lawn mowers,

all types of furniture & so much more.

Director, Distance Learning:For more information regarding

requirements/qualifications, pleasevisit our website at www.wpcc.edu .

EOE/M/F/D/V

PROFESSIONAL

Display 5-10-12 400 PM copy 5/9/12 7:15 PM Page 1

For your event to appear below, you must register and post your event online.

Publish your event today at GreaterDiversity.comWednesday, September 26, 2012

Business & Human Resources: Leading HR & Your Organization Into The Future (All Day)Business and Human resources: leading Hr and Your organization into the Future at University of north carolina the Business and Hu-man resources program is designed to equip senior Hr leaders with the most up-to-date business knowledge and skills needed to operate in today's rapidly changing, global business environment. By attending this new program, leaders will add many business competencies to their repertoire of human resource management skills and will learn how to move their organizations forward. the event takes place at the rizzo conference center in the meadowmont area of chapel Hill.contact info : University of north carolina 200 e cameron ave cha-pel Hill, nc 27514 rizzo conf. ctr in the meadowmont area of chapel Hill. executive development 1-800-Unc-eXec email : uncchapelhill-exec@unc.edu Curriculum Development: Creating Engaging Activities For Youth (9:00 AM - 3:00 PM)there are several aspects to creating a successful youth program. not only do you have to develop the structure of the program, but you also must have an infinite amount of ways to attract, engage and retain youth participants. this workshop will teach you how to develop program ac-tivities, and structures, how to plan lessons and how to use multiple intel-ligences to reach all of your youth population. You will also learn strate-gies for effective facilitation for youth workshops and classes.contact info : dcYF-mint room 1390 market street, 9th Floor wilmington, nc email : ericgurna@developmentwithoutlimits.org, samquiah@developmentwithoutlimits.org

Thursday, September 27, 2012 Living The Good Life (11:00 AM - 3:00 PM)expo will offer visitors an exciting array of things to do, see and taste, cake decorating contest, food samples from restaurants, bakeries, cu-linary challenge for several food categories no charge for expo, $5.00 for culinary challenge, lots of good food and information about local ser-vices, non-profits, and businesses in Eastern NC, to be a vendor of for more info contact Jan Barwick 252-527-1131, jlbarwick@kinstoncham-ber.com, or visit our website at http://www.visitkinston.com admission information free for expo, $5.00 charge for food tastingcontact info : Jan Barwick Vernon Park mall Kinston, nc 28504 252-527-1131 email : jlbarwick@kinstonchamber.com

Friday, September 28, 2012 Father Son Retreat 2012 (All Day)optional activity for Fathers and sons, orientation begins at 11:30am. we will be back at the drop off point at 2:00pm. Paddle creek 9745 Fonville rd. wake Forest, nc 27587 P:919.866.1954 t:888.794.4459 e: info@paddlecreeknc.com$60 per canoe. (one canoe will hold 2-3 adults.)*if you are brining your own canoe the $60.00 fee does not apply.**the fee is for those who will be renting a canoe.*canoe Quick trip (1.5 hours)This leisurely 3-mile float through the tree-lined banks of this peaceful river allows any paddler the opportunity to enjoy the scenic beauty of the raleigh canoe trail. see turtles, waterfowl, shorebirds, turkeys, deer and the occasional raccoon as you float under the canopy of beautiful pines and hardwoods.Your fully outfitted day trip includes:safety orientationcanoe (2-3 people per canoe)PaddlesPFD (personal floatation device)transportation from the take out on capital Blvd. back to canoe launch (15 minutes)For more information contact david Brown at david@brownfamily.co we will need to know by september 17th if you will be joining us. Payment needs to be in by september19th. to pay with cash or check send pay-ment to Hope Baptist church 3721 Quarry rd. wake Forest, nc 27587.For more information regarding this event please contact Blair Brown at: david@brownfamily.com •

2012 Beyond The Veil Prayer Conference (3:00 AM - 4:00 AM)the essentails of Prayer: Bishop-elect thomas d. leathers, clinicianthis session will present the reasons why christians are called to live a lifestyle of prayer, emphasize the biblical principles of prayer, the pur-pose of prayer, the priority of prayer the ministry of prayer and provide an overview of the biblical model of prayer.the art of strategic Prayer: Pastor david wise, clinicianthis session will cover the elements for a strategic prayer life, includ-ing becoming familiar with your own battleground, identifying your own strengths and weaknesses, identifying encumbrances or roadblocks in your prayer life, etc. it will provide you with an introduction to the differ-ent types of prayer and their effectiveness in your prayer life.the Holy spirit's role in Prayer: chief apostle June Hunter, clinicianthis session will provide instruction on how to pray in the spirit and pro-vide strategies to help you to break through spiritual barriers and move beyond the veil into the secret place of the most High. You will learn the role of the Holy spirit in prayer while learning how to hear god’s Voice by praying in the spirit.spiritual warfare through Prayer: apostle debra giles, clinicianthis session will help you to understand that there is a spiritual battle go-ing on and introduce effective prayer strategies to help you to war in the heavenlies, provide you with tools to recognize the spirits that operate in the kingdom of darkness and give you strategies for engaging them armed with god’s power and authority.the threshing Floor - soaking and Basking in Prayer:evangelist rosalyn Hedges, clinicianthis session will be interactive in design to allow us to experience the power of prayer through soaking and basking on the threshing Floor. also, you will learn skills to help you recalibrate your spiritual atmo-sphere by playing worship or anointed instrumental music.conFerence scHedUle:9:30am welcoming Praise and adoration10:00am the essentials of Prayer11:00am the art of strategic Prayer12:00pm Fellowship lunch12:45pm the Holy spirit’s role in Prayer2:00pm spiritual warfare through Prayer3:30pm the threshing Floor: soaking and Basking in Prayercontact info : city of Faith worship and deliverance church 1921 north Point drive durham nc 27705 email : hereandnow@cityoffaithworship-deliverancechurch.com

Friday, September 29, 2012

Battleship Alive (3:00 AM - 4:00 AM)september 29, 2012 times: 8:00 am – 5:00 pm requires regular Battle-ship admission. watch and interact with world war ii living history inter-preters as they bring the ship to life by reenacting daily duties & drills. Free with regular Battleship admission.contact info : shelly robinson email : leads@battlshipnc.com Url: http://www.battleshipnc.com First Annual Midlands Multicultural College Fair (8:30 AM - 12:30 PM)First annual midlands multicultural college Fairsaturday, september 29, 2012 9:00am – 1:00pmregistration begins @ 8:30amadmission: Freecontact info : columbia conference center 169 laurelhurst ave. co-lumbia, sc 29210 (803) 772-9811 email : jenniferkazouse@midlands-multiculturalcollege.com Shine My Sistah Shine Gathering(12:00 PM - 5:00 PM)shine my sistah shine gatheringsept. 29, 2012 12 noon - 4:30pmVictory christian United church of christconference center32 wythe street, Petersburg, VaHost: rev. rose wright, scott-scott's, llcgreat topics!!! ...PresentersPositioning one's self while waiting on Boaz by dr. willie mae HawkinsHow to Keep Him when You get Him by First lady clementine FlemingPrayer Partners & effective Quiet time by rev. Joyce grayappropriate dress for women that shine by rita c. ricksregistration$20 in advance, lunch included$25 at the doorPlease reply by septcmber15thmake checks Payable to scott & scott, llcP.o. Box 2721 Petersburg Va, 23804contact phone 804-402-9817 email ghana0295@aol.comFood, Fellowship, door Prizes, and Funcontact info : Victory christian United church of christ conference center 32 wythe street, Petersburg, Va Host: rev. rose wright, scott-scott's, llc email : ghana0295@aol.com Craven's Got Talent (6:00 PM - 7:00 PM)craven's got talent-saturday, september 29th, special olympics craven county, along with the new Bern and tryon civitans will host craven's got talent. this Variety show will feature several local acts as well as some new and exciting acts to make for a night of affordable, family fun. tickets for the show are $5.00 and are on sale at various locations in new Bern. Please call for details. 100% of the proceeds go to benefit Special olympic's athletes of craven county. the show will be held at grover c. Fields middle school; the doors open at 6:00pm and the show starts at 7:00pm. For more information, contact the craven county recreation and Parks department at (252) 636-6606 or matt Brown at mlbrown@cravencountync.gov.contact info : grover c. Fields middle school matt Brown 2000 doctor martin luther King Junior Boulevard new Bern, nc 28560 (252) 514-6438 (252) 636-6606 email : mlbrown@cravencountync.gov Moja Festival (All Day)september 29 to october 9, 2011(843) 724-7305 a celebration of african-american and caribbean arts. selected as one of the southeast tourism society's top 20 events last autumn, (for the third consecutive year), the 2011 moJa arts Festival promises an excit-ing line-up of events with a rich variety of traditional favorites. nearly half of moJa's events are admission-free and the remainder are offered at very modest ticket prices, ranging from $5 - $20. the Festival highlights the many african-american and caribbean contributions to western and world cultures. moJa's wide range of events include visual arts, classi-cal music, dance, gospel concert, jazz concert, poetry, r&B concert, sto-rytelling, theatre, children's activities, traditional crafts, ethnic food, and much, much more. in addition to its myriad arts presentations, moJa also includes an active and busy educational outreach component of workshops in the public schools. contact info : 1853 maybank Highway James Island, SC Email : webmaster@CharlestonLowcountry.com •

Womencontinued from page 4

"The recruitment of talented diverse young women into the healthcare field is a critical step in the delivery of quality, culturally sensitive patient-centered care. In these challenging economic times, the Go Red Multicultural Scholarship Fund will help ensure the con-tinued success of a diverse group of young women in their healthcare education journey," said Dr. Jennifer Mieres, Senior Vice President, Office of Community and Public Health, Chief Diversity and In-clusion Officer for North Shore - LIJ Health System and American Heart Association Go Red For Women spokesperson. College tuition rates have outpaced inflation, increasing between 5 and 35 percent - depending on the region and type of institution (public vs. private). "Macy's investment in the Go Red Multicultural Scholarship Fund provides opportunities for multicultural women pursuing de-grees in health care, helping them to achieve their education and ca-reer goals," said Bill Hawthorne, Macy's Senior Vice President of Diversity Strategies. "The fund reflects Macy's long-standing com-mitment to diversity, a core principle within our company, and al-lows us to extend that commitment into the communities we serve." 2012 Go Red Multicultural Scholarship recipient Janelle Amoa-ko said she is struggling to keep up with the rising tuition at the Uni-versity of Rhode Island. She pays for school through a combination of scholarships, loans and two part-time jobs. "It's very frustrating. I feel helpless. I don't want to bury myself in loans," said Amoako, 19, who is studying to be a nurse. "The Go Red Multicultural Scholarship gives me peace of mind." Demand on health care continues to increase, but the number of multicultural women working in U.S. hospitals and medical schools is low - even as the U.S. population becomes increasingly diverse. Research shows that numerous ethnic groups - including African-Americans and Hispanics - are disproportionately affected by car-diovascular disease and risk factors. They also confront barriers to diagnosis and care and experience worse health outcomes than their Caucasian counterparts. "The American Heart Association is in a unique position to be a leader in helping to eliminate cardiovascular disease and health dis-parities by providing scholarships to increase the number of under-represented minorities in medicine," said Dr. Icilma Fergus, director of the Cardiovascular Disparities Center at Mount Sinai Hospital and president-elect for the Association of Black Cardiologists. Only 6.7 percent of African-Americans and 7.5 percent of His-panics made up the total number of medical school graduates in 2010, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. Only 5.4 percent of African-Americans and 3.6 percent of Hispanics in the nation are Registered Nurses (RNs), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For more information and to complete an appli-cation, visit www.GoRedForWomen.org/GoRedScholarship.. •

Foodcontinued from page 5

“These violations of ethical mores are felt to be dirty, disgusting or not sacred in some way,” says Eric Hekler, an assistant professor in the School of Nutrition and Health Promotion at ASU. These kinds of reactions aren’t always religious in nature. Some vegetarians, for example, say they became disgusted by meat after reading about conditions in meat packing plants in Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, or watching documentaries about how animals are treated on factory farms. Hekler is interested in tapping into human morals to produce healthier eating habits. In a study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, he and his colleagues Tom Robinson and Chris-topher Gardner found that students at Stanford who took a class exam-ining the ethics of food production made more healthy food choices by the end of the class than students who took courses on human health. “We got people to eat better by focusing more on the environmen-tal and sustainability aspects, rather than focusing just on a message of health,” Hekler says. Surveys of the students revealed that those who took his food and society class ate more vegetables and less fatty meat and dairy by the end of the class than students enrolled in the human health courses. These results suggest that appealing to a person’s morals, rather than just giving them facts, could be an effective way to change be-havior. In ongoing research, Hekler and his ASU colleagues Punam Ohri-Vachaspathi and Christopher Wharton have gathered survey data from about 600 ASU students to explore ways of linking health-ful eating with morality. Why tap into morals and emotion to change eating habits and be-havior? If someone wants to lose weight or improve their health, there is an abundance of information online about the benefits of physical activity and a diet rich in fruits and vegetables. But as obesity rates rise, it’s clear that facts alone aren’t enough. That could be because ultimately, our gut reactions are stronger than our rational thoughts. Hekler explains this concept with a met-aphor first developed by Jonathan Haidt, whose Moral Foundations Theory is a core inspiration for Hekler’s research. Haidt says your in-tuitive, emotional response is like an elephant, while rational thought is the rider. “There’s this intuitive part of you, which is the elephant under-neath, and if he really wants those peanuts, the rider can stop him for a short time but will eventually get overwhelmed and tired,” Hekler says. He hopes with further research to develop an intervention pack-age that will effectively target the elephant. Technical supportEven if your gut craves humanely and sustainably produced food, the choices are rarely black and white. There are always tradeoffs, like in McGregor’s example of buying food locally. “It’s very difficult to just say, ‘this is the right thing.’ I think that presupposes a model of morality that’s too simplistic,” McGregor says. But the more information we have available, the better off we are making choices that reflect our values. That’s why McGregor wants to create a smartphone application or online tool to help consumers sort through the moral factors associated with the food they eat. One app is numbers-based. It records and displays the amount of time users spend being active versus sedentary each day. But the other two apps are focused more on emotions and social relationships. One of them uses a live wallpaper with an animated bird that flies and be-comes more lively as the smartphone owner moves around throughout the day. The app employs operant conditioning principles, Hekler ex-plains, rewarding the user with a happy bird as he or she performs the desired behavior – physical activity. •

Page 6 Week of september 27 - october 3, 2012 Greater Diversity news GreaterDiversity.com

more event details online at greaterdiversity.comEvents & Announcements

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Judi Neal’s new book explores the importance of “higher moments,” those times when members of a team experience a strong sense of meaning and purpose connected to the shared vision and success-ful implementation of a project. These experiences, Neal says, enable teams and the individu-als who comprise them to reach a higher level of performance. They can even propel individuals far beyond what they thought was possible. “Effective teams have a great ‘espirit de corps,’ which can have a powerful and extremely

positive impact on performance,” says Neal, director of the Tyson Center for Faith and Spiritual-ity in the Workplace in the Sam M. Walton College of Business. “This experience often takes them to a spiritual place – those moments when one feels the pres-ence of a higher power, some-thing greater than themselves. When this happens, people bring their best to the project and of-ten find themselves soaring to new places, places they never dreamed were possible.” Neal’s book, The Spirit of Project Management, written with Alan Harpham, examines

the role of spirituality in project management. The book is set up as a guide to help project man-agers be values-centered and willing to act with integrity. But that is only the beginning. The integration of spirituality – the authors provide a popular defini-tion of spirituality simply as that which gives meaning and pur-pose in life – into the workplace inspires team members. “With a greater understand-ing of the role of spirituality in project management, project managers will be able to engage their team members’ passion and purpose,” Neal says. “Stated

plainly, a sense of spirituality un-leashes team members’ creativ-ity and helps them solve difficult problems.” The authors first provide a context for spirituality and proj-ect management and then explore the history of major projects that have included a spirituality com-ponent, including the ancient pyr-amids of Egypt and South Amer-ica, the Xian burial site in China, the Great Mosque in Damascus, Syria, the great cathedrals of Eu-rope and the Taj Mahal in India. Citing these examples, Neal and Harpham contend that spiritual-ity has always been interwoven into the work of project manage-ment, although this has seldom been explicit. With special attention to the individual, project teams and the organization as a whole, the sec-ond half of the book discusses how spirituality can be integrated into the workplace. These chap-ters focus on aligning the vision

and meaning for projects, spiri-tual leadership, communication, creativity and the spirit of the group. There are also sections devoted to technology, systems change, appreciative inquiry and organization orientations. Years ago, Neal became in-terested in the topic of spiritual-ity in the workplace when she discovered that the organization she worked for was breaking the law and endangering its employ-ees. She became a whistleblow-er, which put her life in danger. “That crisis helped me un-derstand that spirituality and a trust in something greater than ourselves are at the core of life and cannot be treated peripher-ally,” Neal said. “By this, I mean we cannot lead a spiritual life only outside of work. If life is to have meaning and purpose, we must live spiritually all the time.” •

spiritual wisdom, Health and life resources

more news and resources online at greaterdiversity.comSpirit & Life

THE WORD OF GOD(is forever settled)Colossians 3:1-4

(New Life Version)

1: If then you have been raised with Christ, keep looking for the good things of heaven. This is where Christ is seated on the right side of God.2: Keep your minds thinking about things in heaven. Do not think about things on the earth.3: You are dead to the things of this world. Your new life is now hidden in God through Christ.4: Christ is our life. When He comes again, you will also be with Him to share His shining-greatness. •

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