Creating change

Chinese state media has watched with fear what it calls "excessive and hasty" democratic change in Burma, arguing that democracy alone cannot solve all of the Southeast Asian country's problems. A commentary in China's Communist Party-run Global Times warned of what it called "Western-style democracy" in Burma.

Although democracy alone cannot resolve all of the problems in Burma, there is no better political system that can replace democracy in Burma. Although the Global Times fear of democracy is misplaced, it is important to address the fears that democracy in Burma may be delegitimized by the claims of a "Western-style democracy." It is a new generation of Burma's youth who can own democracy and claim it as their own. The upcoming nationwide Youth Congress in December or early January to be convened by the National League of Democracy (NLD), Burma's major opposition party headed by Aung San Suu Kyi can help youth engage in democracy and strengthen it as a home grown project.

In fact it is the younger generation's engagement in democracy building that can help steer Burma into security and stability, both economic and political. In my own engagement with my peers in Burma, I see how eager they to learn about models of democracy and engage in democracy. Recently, the Economist wrote an article on what I see in all my work in Burma: youth crowding together, cross legged on bare floors in the NLD offices, producing weekly media updates on outdated computers, to be sent to NLD MPs and party leaders. It is the youth with their skills and energy that is the key to Burma's future and stable democracy.

My peers in Burma are coming of age at a time of burgeoning democracy in their country. Unlike to their elders to whom democracy is foreign, these youth consider democracy a legitimate part of who they are and their future. Although these youth do not have mentors versed in democracy who can train them, they have an unmatched role model in Aung San Suu Kyi who relentlessly strove for democracy, fearlessly undergoing years of house arrest.

While some have criticized that NLD is hamstrung by party elders, engaged youth provide the greatest human capital. As the Economist states: "Younger NLD members have realised that it is up to them to professionalise the party." It is youth engagement that can disprove the claim of a Western style of democracy.

It is the youth who can bring new ideas to the table and spark change. Aung San Suu Kyi knows this better than anyone else. Although the youth congress was first suggested by Aung San Suu Kyi in 2003, while still under house arrest, it was approved by the NLD national assembly in March 2013. The youth will be drawn from the 16 to 35 age groups which will allow youth who are coming of age in a more open Burma to engage in democracy building. The hope is that the youth can help to revitalize the old guard of the party in anticipation of the 2015 elections. The youth congress is not just important to NLD to counteract the accusations of a graying leadership out of touch with modernity but to the future of democracy in Burma.

When doctors told Pablo Poncini his son may have Down syndrome, he said he fainted.

"Everything seemed to have gone wrong," he recalls in the short film (above). "It was as if the road we had started as a family had come to an end."

But the father has come a long way since then, and "The 1,000 Miles Of Luca" strives to show bits of Poncini's emotional awakening.

"Little by little, the Down syndrome disappeared and Luca appeared," the father recounts tenderly in the clip.

Poncini, an Argentine ad man, takes viewers on an 8-minute journey of bonding with his boy by using a car rally as a backdrop. Poncini gets to the heart of the matter frankly and eloquently.

"We realized that it wasn't really a problem," he says. "It wasn't a serious problem, nor was it a problem at all. We just had to get used to something different."

According to the Ads of the World description, Poncini's Buenos Aires agency was assigned to create a campaign to promote "the inclusion of people with disabilities."

Luckily for viewers, Poncini took it personally and had the camera turned on him and Luca.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — State and federal lawsuits that have repeatedly delayed the opening of horse slaughterhouses in New Mexico and Missouri could be moot if the budget bill up for a vote in Congress this week passes without changes.

The spending bill released Monday night would effectively reinstate a federal ban on horse slaughter by cutting funding for inspections at equine facilities. Opponents of attempts to resume domestic horse slaughter applauded the measure.

"Americans do not want to see scarce tax dollars used to oversee an inhumane, disreputable horse slaughter industry," said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States. "We don't have dog and cat slaughter plants in the U.S. catering to small markets overseas, and we shouldn't have horse slaughter operations for that purpose, either."

Proponents, however, contend domestic slaughter is the most humane way to deal with a rising number of abused and abandoned horses. Currently, unwanted horses are shipped to Canada and Mexico for slaughter. Some Indian tribes support a return to slaughter, saying exploding feral horse populations are destroying their rangelands.

"It is certainly disappointing that Congress is returning to a failed policy at the urging of special interest groups while failing to provide for an alternative," said Blair Dunn, an attorney for Valley Meat Co. in Roswell, N.M., and Rains Natural Meats in Gallatin, Mo. " The result is more waste and devastation of the range and the denial of access to an export market that would have created jobs and positive economic impacts to rural agriculture communities that desperately need these opportunities."

Animal rights groups and the Obama administration have been lobbying for the funding cut, as well as outright bans on horse slaughter in the United States. Congress cut funding for inspections at horse slaughterhouses in 2006, but reinstated the funding in 2011, four years after the last of the domestic plants closed.

Valley Meat Co. has been fighting since then to convert its cattle operations to horses. The Department of Agriculture finally issued the company and two others permits last year after Valley filed a lawsuit, but the agency made it clear it was doing so only because it was legally obligated and it has joined animal protection groups in lobbying for the funding inspection cuts as well as an outright ban on horse slaughter.

Shortly after the permits were issued last summer, the Humane Society and other groups were able to block their opening with a federal lawsuit challenging the permitting process. After a federal judge threw out that suit and a federal appeals court declined to keep a temporary order against the plants in place, New Mexico Attorney General Gary King won a temporary restraining order against Valley while a judge hears his claims the plant would violate state food safety and environmental laws.

State District Judge Matthew Wilson said he will issue a written decision Friday on King's request for a preliminary injunction that would keep Valley from opening.

Dunn said a vote by Congress to cut the funding "likely renders the AG's case moot going forward, assuming it was not already moot on jurisdictional grounds," but he said it will not stop efforts to reverse the effects of what he calls "defamatory and tortious actions" from the state attorney general and animal rights groups.

Story by Paul Biasco, courtesy DNAinfo Chicago:

LINCOLN PARK — The 2012 Chicago Public Schools teacher's strike had an unintended consequence, parking one woman's drive to put books in the city's elementary schools.

So far Bernadette Pawlik's BooksFirst has created libraries in two CPS schools, is about to start a third and has collected more than 5,000 books for Chicago's schoolchildren.

The teacher's strike and online discussions over the teachers' decision to walk out for a week opened Pawlik's eyes to the state of the city's public schools.

Read the whole story at DNAinfo.

As we begin the New Year, I have taken some time to reflect on my past sixteen years working in one of the most demanding, and rigorous industries: the restaurant industry.

As a passionate and driven young man, I understood certain aspects of the restaurant industry were considered a rite of passage; and certain practices were not only accepted, but expected. The first time I had a plate thrown at my head, I spent the rest of the evening gritting my teeth, being the best possible cook I could be and working as close to perfection as I could come for the sole satisfaction of looking my Chef in the eyes at the end of service with an unspoken moment of "you cannot break me."

I did not choose this career for the $350.00 pretax check I received after 90 hours of work. This is an industry steeped in pride, accomplishment, camaraderie, and the adage iron sharpens iron, steel sharpens steel. The classic 'whites' of the kitchen reflect Napoleon's influence on his military cooks through Careme and Escoffier, codifying the "brigade" as it's called behind the line. Working in a kitchen is the closest thing to the military you will ever come across in the working world.

The problem which many people face when working in this industry is systematic abuse. The abused rise to positions of management and ownership and abuse the workers beneath them. But lately, the military has been forced to change. So it appears our time has come as well.

Three years ago, when I took on my first role as Executive Chef at One if by Land, Two if by Sea, I was honored and overwhelmed yet still an immature twenty-seven year old adhering to the methods I had experienced as a line cook. I thought that the way to show authority and command respect was through fear and intimidation. But the restaurant owners had a different philosophy which was drastically different from what I had seen since graduating from the Culinary Institute of America. While I began my tenure as a tough, no-nonsense, no-excuses manager, the voice of my mentor, Chef Dominick Cerrone, gnawed at me: "Just remember when you raise your voice, and you're young, people look at you as an immature child. Learn to control yourself at all times."

As time passed, and I found my way, I embraced a new outlook. Being compassionate isn't the same as being weak. Sending a sick employee home and paying them for the day doesn't breed laziness. Finding people's potential and patiently teaching them engenders loyalty. Compensating people fairly for their work doesn't make a restaurant unprofitable.

Those of us that see the industry's problems are standing up for those whose voices go unheard. Just as today's restaurant industry jargon increasingly centers around organic, local, green and environmentally conscious food practices, we are also part of an exciting and emerging movement to fundamentally change the unfair and often illegal working conditions that prevail in the industry. While we fight for the rights of animals and the environment, why are we overlooking the basic human rights of respect within such a large sector of our economy?

I am excited to have joined my restaurant's owners in becoming a member of the NYC Restaurant Industry Roundtable, which is an initiative coordinated by the Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York. The Roundtable is a coalition of restaurants that implement "high road" employment practices, and it serves as a safe space in which we share our experiences and challenges as employers.

At the Roundtable we have agreed that abuses are no longer acceptable and it is important to create a comfortable work environment, acknowledge workers' lives outside the restaurant and provide decent wages and benefits. In return, we are able to build a loyal and talented team of employees who provide a better customer experience while reducing our turnover rates. Having healthy, happy and loyal employees helps us run a better and more successful restaurant.

All of the employees that make up this restaurant family put in long hours, and work hard out of a sense of pride they feel in their work. They make mistakes -- as we all do -- but the way of the iron fist has passed. This massive machine of the food service industry depends on every single one of its moving parts. We need to support all of our workers through patience and understanding, equality, and fair pay.

As restaurant chefs, managers, and owners, we have a responsibility to change the culture that breeds abuse. As we enter the New Year, let's do the right thing. Join me in committing to changing this industry. Together, we can make it a safe, respectful, and welcoming place for all.

Colt Taylor is the Executive Chef at One if by Land, Two if by Sea in the West Village. You can follow him on Twitter @ChefColtTaylor.

A Colorado physical education teacher went far beyond her role as an instructor and became an organ donor for a very sick high school student.

Last week, Jen Sculley, a teacher at Denver's East High School, donated one of her kidneys to a student who is suffering from kidney disease.

“I am donating my left kidney to a student here at East High School,” Sculley told Denver's CBS4.

Sculley told the news station that the student, who has requested to be unidentified, happens to share the same name as one of her aunts -- an aunt Sculley lost to cancer. When she heard of the student's suffering, her need for the kidney and found out she was the perfect medical match, it all clicked.

"And as she was telling me, this very clear voice said, 'You’re going to give her a kidney,'" Sculley said. Watch CBS4's moving interview with Sculley above and read more about her inspirational donation here.

The transplant happened last week and Sculley is spending the rest of the month on medical leave.

Sculley is not the first teacher to donate a life-saving kidney to a student. Several other teachers across the country have made headlines recently for going beyond the classroom to help students and their families in need.

Last year in Ohio, 8-year-old first-grader Nicole Miller was in dire need of a kidney transplant and received a donated kidney from her former kindergarten teacher Wendy Killian, The Associated Press reported.

Another kindergarten teacher in Texas donated a kidney to a student's father who needed a transplant, according to NBC's Dallas-Fort Worth affiliate. And in 2009, a teacher in New York donated a one of her kidneys to a 19-year-old writing student in need of a transplant who was on a waitlist that could have taken up to eight years to get to the top.

For more information about kidney disease and how to become a donor, visit the National Kidney Foundation's website.

This is an interview with Debby Kaminsky, a former advertising executive who decided in 2006 she wanted to sell the benefits of transformation. She took her first yoga class in 1997 while her twins were in pre-school. She felt great and never turned back, becoming a yoga instructor in 2004. Her passion is helping to manifest positive change. In 2009, she founded Newark Yoga Movement, a 501(c)3 that has shared yoga with 14,000+ students, 1,400+ educators, and the Newark community, including firefighters. Debby serves as Peace Ambassador for the Global Mala NJ. When traveling, she finds ways to share yoga, and has proudly taught in Kenya and Tanzania, and the military in Israel.

Rob: What originally motivated you to do this work, and what continues to motivate you? How, if at all, has that motivation changed over time?

I'm motivated to teach firefighters and children; teaching firefighters helps reshape community, and children who learn yoga can gain tools to thrive in some of the more challenging areas of our country. I started Newark Yoga Movement because I knew that using yoga to "enhance curriculum" would be beneficial to children academically and personally. My model links teaching children in "required" environments, such as entire schools, to reaching out to all who can positively influence children, like the firefighters. Newark's Fire Department is NJ's largest, so if we could teach those first responders through "required" training sessions, we could help them on and off the job, and positively influence children.

Is there a standout moment from your work with fire workers?

Let me start by saying the fire department is the most polite group of public safety figures I've ever met; still the mindset of many firefighters is "why change?" and introducing yoga wasn't 100% embraced. After one session, though, most were converted. In an informal survey this September, 84% said they enjoyed yoga and 74% felt the fire department would benefit from a continued program.

A standout moment for me, I think, is watching the Fire Director practice yoga with his recruits, and then lead yoga in front of 750 people at Global Mala NJ 2013.

What did you know about the population you are working with before you began teaching?

I sensed firefighters were highly stressed and could use detachment techniques to better function in civilian life. I certainly know how stressed and scared I would be in this job. The Fire Director and Union President confirmed my hunch: stress is the number one cause of death among fire fighters, not fire itself. Firefighters also quickly taught me how important flexibility was for them to better twist and fit into small spaces safely. Firefighters are called "the bravest" for good reason.

What are two distinct ways that your teaching style differs from the way you might teach in a studio, and what are the reasons for these differences?

As a vinyasa teacher I was used to teaching in studios with nice ambiance, props, mats, and experienced students. My first class with the firefighters occurred on the training center's concrete floor without mats and endless sirens and car horns in the background. Lesson One: keep it simple and slow. Teaching thousands of kids has helped here. With so many newbies, it's important to meet people exactly where they are and keep them safe. I move much more slowly than in a studio, and spend more time on alignment. That said, in the end it is really all about the breath, and not about the perfect yoga pose. I encourage firefighters to try their best and always pay attention to their breath, because that is the beautiful "turn on" to reduced stress and anxiety.

Lesson Two: practice your own yoga, so that you practice having a flexible mind and sharing that with others. Although I won't discuss Hindu deities in classes outside a studio, I will share universally appealing Sanskrit words like "Namaste," that I interpret as "I see the good in you, you see the good in me, and we see the good in each other." Sometimes we sit quietly instead of in savasana. I've learned to turn annoyances, for instance, sirens, into positives, and encourage all to do the same.

What has been the greatest challenge in your teaching experience and what tools have you developed for addressing that challenge?

I'm keeping this answer focused on the firefighters, although you can imagine the challenge in teaching inner-city pre-k- through 12th-grade students! My greatest challenge with the firefighters is how to make myself, a 5'6" female relevant. I often use humor. I use anecdotes relating to being at the fire or after the fire, and tie them to the poses we practice. I admit I gain respect quickly when I move into the low push-up chaturanga before they join me. With all their fitness, this is a new kind of strength. They find yoga surprisingly hard and different from anything they have done before.

What advice would you give to anyone who is going to teach in the population you work with?

For starters, no matter what population you teach, I always recommend doing your homework to find out what exists, and any gaps. For me, I found a firefighters yoga DVD, and saw that some fire departments--especially after 9-11--had some yoga. However, I didn't see a fire department bringing yoga to their training, especially one the size of Newark's. Next, always build consensus. Fire departments have many levels of command, so do your best to get the green light from all of them, including the union. Always keep it simple and interesting. Engaged firefighters will be your biggest fans.

What are some of your ideas about or hopes for the future of "service yoga" in America in the next decade?

I believe that every human being should practice some form of yoga, and that anything we can do as yoga guides to manifest this is a good thing. Our world will be a much better place. I'd like to see yoga movements following Newark Yoga Movement's model all over the country, and it's actually happening. I can't find anything more rewarding then giving back. Once people tap into their true selves, they tend to find that they are most fulfilled in helping others. In the next decade, I'd like everyone to make practicing a few minutes of yoga a day as much a habit as brushing your teeth.

How has this work changed your definition of service? Your definition of yoga? Your practice?

Service is "the action of helping or doing work for someone." All my work has shown me that the someone is oneself, as well. The word 'yoga' for me is an acronym I created for "You Only Get Awesome," and I think that resonates with many. My practice no longer needs to always be physical. If I am consciously breathing, I am quite content.

What other organizations do you admire?

I admire many organizations that all have a common theme; they show results. I'm impressed with grassroots organizations that quietly create change. My friend Eddie Stern organized a non-profit for Hurricane Sandy. He distributed thousands of dollars, and brought endless supplies and love. My friend Sharon Manner started Ashrams for Autism and is making an impact with children on the spectrum. I respect the tremendous research being done at Kripalu's Institute for Extraordinary Living. Finally, I'm impressed with the Give Back Yoga Foundation, especially its work with Veterans.

Editor: Alice Trembour
Image: Christine Gatti Photography

Breaking up is hard to do. If you've ever been through the breakup of a relationship, you know this. On a practical level, depending on the relationship's length and level of involvement, there may be belongings to return, finances to settle and property to divide. Then there are the emotional difficulties that come with a break up. No matter if the relationship ends on good or bad terms it can be difficult to go your own way and move on without that person in your life, but in time, you do.

You do. But what if they don't? What if your ex becomes your stalker?

What if weeks, months, even years later your ex is still calling you, messaging you, sending cards, social media requests and showing up at the places you go? It's not that they are trying to re-connect, because they never went away. They have made it a point to be in your life, one way or another, whether you want it or not. The problem is you don't want it, and you've made that clear time and time again, yet the contact and the "chance" encounters continue as your ex pursues you and at times acts as though the relationship never ended.

It can be easy, at least at first, to look at this type of behavior and feel some level of sympathy for the stalker. It may seem sad that the person just can't let go. It may seem that the persistence is out of undying love and devotion. To some it may seem harmless or annoying at worst, but it's not. Stalking has the potential to escalate to a very dangerous, even lethal level. That's because stalking is about control. It's about the stalker exerting their desires and intentions on their target without regard or respect for what that person wants. Boundaries no longer exist. The words "no" and "stop" become meaningless to the stalker because all that matters is getting their way, getting what they want and getting what they feel belongs to them. To an extent, even negative attention becomes rewarding. Over time, if the stalker can't gain control of their target, the stalker may decide to take control.

In the years that I've worked at HAVEN, I've seen this type of stalking and the way that it can escalate. I see it most in woman who come to HAVEN's Personal Protection Order Advocacy Office seeking a PPO against their ex in hopes that the court can establish some boundaries and consequences that will finally be respected. Often times, the exs continued presence and contact didn't become troublesome or dangerous until she started dating or started a new relationship. That's when the threats of violence, toward her and the new partner, begins. However, when we look back on the relationship, we usually see that the tendency to want to control was always present.

The red flags of a potential intimate partner stalker are much the same as an abuser. After all, the desire for power and control is a common denominator in both the abuser and the stalker. Oftentimes these people are one in the same. Jealousy, possessiveness, wanting to constantly know their partner's whereabouts and activities, limiting their partner's contact with friends and family, attempts to control what their partner wears or looks like and rapid progression of the relationship with a push for commitment are all traits and behaviors to be aware of. These can be indications that the person is looking to control their partner and feels a sense of ownership over them. If and when the relationship ends this same mentality is what can lead to stalking because the abuser/stalker does not want to lose or give up their control.

So what do you do when your ex becomes your stalker? Reach out for help at the first sign. Many organizations, like HAVEN, exist nationwide where you can get you connected with an advocate or counselor who can discuss safety planning, options and next steps.

January is National Stalking Awareness Month. Please take this opportunity to spread awareness and educate others. Let them know that stalking post break up is about more than a broken heart and an inability to let go. Stalking is about control. It's not something to be joked about or dismissed. Stalking is not flattering or funny. Stalking makes the victim feel harassed, threatened, intimidated and scared. Stalking is serious, it's dangerous and it's a crime.

Beth Morrison is President and CEO of HAVEN.
Richelle Duane is the Civil Advocacy Supervisor at HAVEN.

Net neutrality is dead.

At least that's the verdict of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which today struck down a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) order from 2010 that forced Internet service providers (ISPs) like Verizon, AT&T, Comcast and Time Warner Cable to abide by the principles of network neutrality. These principles broadly stipulate that ISP network management must be transparent, and that ISPs can't engage in practices that block, stifle or discriminate against (lawful) websites or traffic types on the Internet.

That's the bare bones story, wrapped in ugly acronyms (FCC, ISP, etc.). But why should you care that network neutrality ("net neutrality") may be gone for good?

1. No more net neutrality means ISPs can now discriminate against content they dislike.

Everyone gets their Internet from an Internet service provider -- an ISP like AT&T, Verizon, Comcast or Time Warner Cable. Under net neutrality rules, these ISPs have to treat all content you access over the Internet "roughly the same way" -- they can't speed up traffic from websites they like or delay competitor's traffic.

Now, with net neutrality gone, ISPs can discriminate, favoring their business partners while delaying or blocking websites they don't like. Think your cable CEO hates free online porn? Now you'll know for sure!

2. No more net neutrality means ISPs can now force websites to PAY for faster content delivery.

You know how some sites you go to just load slower than others? Usually, that's just because the slower site is image heavy, poorly coded, or dealing with intense server load. But with net neutrality gone, ISPs can now start charging hefty fees to websites that want quick content delivery -- shifting the long load times to poorer sites that can't pay up.

Prefer indie retailers to Amazon.com? You may be in for a frustrating future.

3. Destroying net neutrality is bad for small businesses.

Put together items one and two and it becomes clear -- negating net neutrality is bad for small businesses. If ISPs force website owners pay for faster load times, tiny retailers and personal websites will be the ones to suffer from slower content delivery.

Alternately -- or additionally -- ISPs will have no reason not to favor partner sites: Time Warner Cable, for instance, might favor the website of CNN (owned by the Time Warner Corporation) over the websites of competing cable news networks MSNBC and Fox News. Still, it's the indies again that will lose out here. While Time Warner Cable might favor CNN and Comcast MSNBC, independent news networks almost certainly won't get special treatment from any ISPs. Expand this out to music sites, web publishing, etc., and you begin to see the problem.

In extreme cases, ISPs may hinder or block content that isn't produced by partners -- much like AT&T did when it owned the telephone networks back in the day.

4. Without net neutrality, entire types of online traffic (like Netflix) may be in jeopardy.

Netflix watchers and BitTorrent users might want to beware -- soon your beloved services may not work like they used to. Now that net neutrality's down for the count, ISPs can discriminate against entire types of traffic: For instance, an ISP could slow or block all peer-to-peer file sharing, or all online video streaming.

Think it sounds unbelievably stupid for an ISP to stifle a certain traffic types indiscriminately? Comcast has seen reason to stifle both streaming video and peer-to-peer in the past.

From an ISP's perspective, discriminating against some traffic types makes business sense: Many ISPs are also cable television providers, which means the "cord-cutting" enabled by peer-to-peer and streaming online video isn't good for their bottom line.

5. Without net neutrality, your ISPs can make even more money without actually improving the Internet.

Right now, America's broadband is slow. It's slow because ISPs can already make gobs of money by charging the rich a ton for high-quality Internet while leaving the rest of America with subpar (or no) service.

Now, with net neutrality gone, ISPs will be able to make even more money off their existing customer base. They won't need to improve service or bring broadband to rural areas because they'll be able to keep growing (financially, at least) by charging content providers more for faster delivery and charging customers more for faster access. In all likelihood, Tuesday's ruling means the problems with America's Internet will be magnified.

This video of a baby Sumatran elephant trying to use her trunk is possibly the cutest video to emerge in a while.

We love all elephants -- big and small, old and young -- but there's something particularly endearing about watching one tirelessly attempt to imitate her mom's feeding, especially when she seems confused as to what that long, dangly thing could be.

Don't worry baby elephant -- we'd be even more baffled if we had to use a trunk like you.

Born this past August in Tesso Nilo National Park in Sumatra, western Indonesia, this female elephant calf is a Sumatran elephant -- the smallest of the Asian elephants. Because of poaching and habitat loss, Sumatran elephants are critically endangered, with a remaining population of 2,400 to 2,800 individuals.

But this elephant is special: She was born into WWF-Indonesia's elite Flying Squad, a team of four trained adult elephants and eight elephant handlers that work to reduce human-elephant conflicts. Because elephant habitat is declining, wild elephants have increasingly been approaching villages and raiding crops. The Flying Squad gets deployed to both protect humans and herd wild elephants back into the forest before they get poisoned or killed. The elephant featured in this video is the fourth calf born to this Flying Squad since it was established in 2004.

Four years ago this week, Haiti was hit by a devastating seven magnitude earthquake. It leveled the capital and killed an estimated 100,000 to 150,000 people. When I visited a year ago, many people were still living in tent camps, and the presidential palace was mostly a pile of rubble, a bulldozer standing nearby.

Still, as it always does, life goes on. People were on Sunday strolls through Port-au-Prince's revived central square. Schools were full, clinics had busy waiting rooms, and babies and young children laughed and played. Life and love endure amidst devastation.

Humans are resilient creatures. And never have I observed that more than on that trip to Haiti, as people greeted me and welcomed me inside their homes to be interviewed about their experiences, and as I helped a woman, baby on her back, hang her laundry on the line.

On that same trip, I met with a young leader heading up a youth group. The group worked with local neighborhoods on conservation, community gardens, and small, low-tech environmental projects. The leader's goal was food security for his community, where neighbors could be assured a stable, reliable, sustainable, local harvest to provide adequate nutrition inexpensively to the poor families in the area. When I asked what motivated him to leave his work as an extension agent for an international organization to work locally, he said, "Mitch, Ike ...,"naming the hurricanes and storms that had hit his community over the years. It was an important reminder of how communities respond and adapt.

As we mark the fourth anniversary of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, and evoke consider the more recent December 2013 devastation caused by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, we gain a clearer picture of what long-term disaster recovery looks like at the community level.

Since 2005, The Global Fund for Children has provided nearly $2 million in direct support to grassroots organizations in the aftermath of emergencies both large and small. From the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, to the 2010 Haiti earthquake, to a devastating fire in a Thai refugee camp in 2013, our support has helped affected children and families rebuild and recover.

Within hours of the earthquake that struck Haiti in January 2010, GFC grantees were mobilizing relief efforts. Within weeks, they received emergency grants funded by our donors. Now, years later, we maintain our support as the country continues to recover. Since 2010, GFC has invested nearly half a million dollars in grassroots organizations in Haiti that are rebuilding their communities from the ground up. GFC commonly supports long-term relief efforts for three to five years following large-scale disasters, ensuring a lasting recovery for the community.

We've learned a few things about emergency response along the way. Our learning is not about the immediate response to chaos, or media coverage, or urgent needs, but about supporting in the longer term. Here's what we know about disasters:

Emergency relief is the first phase. It is the foremost necessity in the aftermath of a disaster. This includes rescue efforts to help survivors and immediate relief in the form of food, water, shelter, and medical supplies. Needs are acute, and first responders from emergency services, other government departments, and relief agencies are the most experienced in delivery. Family reunification is another aspect of this response. During this time, media attention is high, and people around the world feel compelled to donate in response to the devastation. This phase may last a few days to a few months.

Rehabilitation is the next phase. Taking stock of the damage and prioritizing infrastructure reconstruction take place a month to a year following the disaster. Rebuilding roads and utilities is the focus here. Systems infrastructure such as health care and education is also part of this phase, though most citizens are already adapting to a new reality. Their focus and strategy are diverted from "business as usual" to a different set of short- and medium-term responses to diminished services.

Recovery and renewal is the final and longest phase toward full recovery, often lasting a number of years. Psychosocial needs and the effects of post-traumatic stress are present for years after a disaster. Children may have to adapt to the loss of one or both parents. Families may have to adapt to a decrease in their income stream, defining a new normal. Normalcy in itself -- the stability of routines--takes a long time to reestablish.

The recovery and renewal phase has an important role for community-based organizations, the type of organizations GFC supports. These are the trusted, local, credible, and lasting responders who will be there long after the media and relief agencies have left the scene. They are the adapters that provide ongoing services and support to community members. They reknit the fabric of communities to establish routines and stability.

The stronger a community is, with a wealth of community-level assets, the more quickly and effectively it can rebound. One reason why the path to recovery for Haiti has been long is the level of vulnerability it had to begin with. Poverty and instability were hallmarks of pre-earthquake Haiti, and with these frailties, it could not weather the devastation of the earthquake.

The earthquake of four years ago gave the country a chance to rebound even stronger. I am ever confident that this will be the turning point for Haiti's future growth. I am also even more convinced that strong communities are the foundation to strong recovery, as well as a critical part of disaster preparedness. Let's invest in community-based organizations and assets in any long-term disaster response. Let's include community strengthening as a core part of disaster preparedness. And let's support community actors and community-based organizations as a sound long-term investment for all countries, and for a strong global future.

The presidential campaigns of former senators George McGovern (1972) and Bob Dole (1996) have long taken residence in the history books. However, one campaign they started continues even after McGovern's passing. It's fighting world hunger by providing school meals to hungry children.

You can help this campaign by asking Congress to support the McGovern-Dole Food for Education program. This initiative, run by the U.S. Dept of Agriculture, provides school meals to hungry children around the world.

Both McGovern and Dole witnessed the terrible child hunger of Europe during World War II. Feeding programs became a top foreign policy priority for the United States. The experience was felt very much by members of the greatest generation. McGovern and Dole emerged as leaders from this group in the fight against hunger.

McGovern became the Food for Peace director during the Kennedy administration. He emphasized school meals because it would give the children both nutrition and a chance for an education. The school was the perfect place to distribute the food. Brazil, India, South Korea and Poland were some of the countries that received the millions of school meals provided by Food for Peace.

McGovern teamed up with Dole to improve the U.S. national school meals programs, including summer feeding. They knew that the success of this nation, or any other, depends on healthy and educated children. Their partnership crossed party lines, showing an example too that Democrats and Republicans can work together and get results.

That teamwork led to the creation of the McGovern-Dole Food for Education program, which got its start in 2000. Every year funds are given to aid groups like the World Food Programme (WFP), Catholic Relief Services, Save the Children so they can provide school meals in developing countries.

For example, in war-torn Mali, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is using McGovern-Dole funds to provide school meals. Kristina Brayman, of CRS in Mali said last year,

"It means children receive a hot, nutritious meal each day, using US donated food complemented by both local foods from school gardens and purchased through funds collected by the community. Without that food, many students would not eat a square meal at all. It motivates parents to send their children to school, especially girls, and means the children are able to grow, develop, and maximize their learning potential. It really is essential."

The same for the World Food Program in Haiti and Kenya. Countries that have suffered through war, natural disasters or poverty need the support in their recovery. Feeding and educating children is so crucial for this to be achieved.

By writing to your member of Congress you can encourage funding for McGovern-Dole. The recent passage of the Omnibus Spending Bill was favorable to McGovern-Dole, allowing an increase of 40 million more meals to be provided this year. More advocacy on the upcoming farm bill can further increase the funding. Rick Leach, the president of the World Food Program USA, says it's urgent food aid programs get this boost from Congress:

"The McGovern-Dole Food for Education funding plays an equally vital role in responding to the long-term needs of hungry children. As the escalating crisis in Syria, coupled with emerging humanitarian conflicts in South Sudan and the Central African Republic, threaten to put a serious strain on WFP's resources further U.S. support will be needed."

The public can also donate to the McGovern-Dole School Meals fund that was created last year by the World Food Program USA. Erin Cochran, the WFP USA communications director, says, "The new fund honors the legacy of Senators McGovern and Dole and offers Americans, and the private sector, an opportunity to support their legacy. Contributions to the fund will provide food to children in schools around the world who suffer from chronic hunger."

The new fund will also have a special emphasis on supporting the local production of food for school meals, an area where U.S. government programs have not focused enough attention. Aid groups, for example, have been trying to push reforms through Congress that would allow more use of locally produced food for relief operations. The Congress will have another opportunity on this year's farm bill legislation. Local food production is key because it means less funds being spent on shipping food and more towards feeding children. It gives the developing countries a way to take ownership of the program rather than relying on outside help. It's a path to self-sufficiency.

Congress will also have opportunities to strengthen the summer feeding program in the United States so it can reach more children.

McGovern and Dole will continue to bring attention to the world's suffering children, those whose lives can be changed if they can only get school meals every day. It is very much the soundest investment we can make around the globe: food, education and hope for children.

Their presidential campaigns ended in defeat on cold November days long ago. The story though is still being written on their campaign to end world hunger with school meals. This campaign needs volunteers like you.

Every day of the week, The Pollination Project provides $1000 in seed funding to a deserving individual who is working to make the world -- or just their own community -- a better, more peaceful and more sustainable place.

Last week, we introduced you to several people who made such an impressive impact with their grant that we've awarded them another grant to continue seeding the change. Here are a few more of these special projects to be awarded an impact grant:

Caroline Lovell began Shelter to Shelter to creatively bring voice and healing to survivors of domestic violence, conducting workshops at women's shelters in California, Wyoming, Kansas, Illinois, West Virginia, Texas and more. In the workshop Traveling Postcards, every woman created an intimate handmade card that was then sent to another woman living in another shelter. Each card created became a gift of compassion and solidarity that told the recipient that she is not alone. Caroline is currently working on a "hospital bag" for survivors of sexual assault including information about legal rights and a handmade postcard from another survivor.

Solidarity Uganda works in Northern Uganda, primarily in the Amuru District, where thousands of agrarian families are being victimized by attempts at land grabs on behalf of corporate food and oil interests. The group furnished an entire village with technology equipment that is not only used to document the stories of local people and their struggle to protect their traditional lands, but has also helped the village prepare for intimidation from government authorities and mobilize the community. Learn more about them here and read this remarkable firsthand story here.

Dana Mahon supports children and families through yoga and mindfulness with her program Child's Pose Yoga in Quadra Island, British Columbia. Dana helps young people calm their minds, manage their anxieties, strengthen their bodies, practice wellness, play, and find peace. As a result of her work, the local school is creating a "calm" room for the kids during the day, and schools in Vancouver are requesting Child's Pose Yoga's mindfulness and yoga practices in their own classrooms. Dana not only used Pollination Project funds to outfit her students with yoga and meditation props and supplies, but also built this wonderful new website which has helped her work expand.

On Jan. 1, we began another year of daily giving, beginning with these extraordinary people and ideas changing the world:

Debbie DuPey works with The Corazon de Mujer Center in Guatemala serving twenty women weavers, who were displaced during the country's civil war, and their children. The Corazon Center offers educational enrichment, workshops, and courses in self-esteem, understanding their children's developments stages, and healthy family relationships. "The indigenous people of Guatemala suffer greater poverty, disease and illiteracy," Debbie said. "A long history of oppression and violence has kept them in near-slave conditions."

Caitlin Costello is a Peace Corps Volunteer in Jinja, Uganda who works with the St. Francis Health Center, focusing on HIV prevention, education and treatment. The team is creating an ongoing peer education workshop so youth leaders can lead peers in learning about HIV/AIDS, malaria, goal-setting, leadership, reproductive health, hygiene, community development, environmental stewardship and entrepreneurship skills. Peer educators run basic games and icebreakers within the youth group during down time, and one pair even co-taught a peer group on puberty and personal hygiene.

Casey Taft is the founder of Vegan Publishers , which publishes books to raise awareness and promote compassion towards animals. Drawing on his past work in psychology and domestic violence research, Casey works to help others see the connections between violence towards humans and animals. Casey and Dr. Will Tuttle are working together on the upcoming book Injustice Anywhere: Essays Connecting Human, Animal, and Environmental Well-Being, which is a collection of essays from several notable authors and activists on the topics of animal, human and environmental rights.

Vandana Agarwal works with Earn N Learn, a program under the umbrella of Manav Sadnha, an NGO based in the Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad, India. More than fifty underprivileged teens participate in Earn N Learn, where they receive educational support and mentorship, nutritious food, and arts and crafts instruction. Earn N Learn also helps the talented students market and sell their handicrafts online and in retail stores so they earn income for their families while having fun. Earn N Learn artisans created the beautiful upcycled water-bottle banks we are offering our Daily Giving participants.

Congratulations to our grantees this week for continuing their outstanding work.

These are just a few examples of what a little seed money can do when put in the hands of someone with a vision and a plan to change the world.

If you were given $1000, how would YOU seed the change?

The Pollination Project makes $1000 grants every day, 365 days a year to individual changemakers. Please go to our website at www.thepollinationproject.org for funding guidelines and application.

Much has been said about Pope Francis during his first year in office. We have celebrated him as a spiritual leader, a politician, and even a diplomat. After being named Time's Person of the Year, one might be tempted to argue that all has been said that can be for now.

I disagree. There's at least one more thing to say.

I would posit that, right now, Pope Francis is also the world's greatest social innovator.

Definitions of what makes a social innovator abound. They range from the leader who can start something new, to the one who can incorporate essential business practices into nonprofit undertakings, to those who take radical new approaches to old, intractable problems. Check, check, and check.

At the risk of sounding like a starry-eyed groupie instead of a critical thinker, I would argue Pope Francis embodies all of those definitions, and a few more that truly mark social innovation.

Let's start with the social innovator as the one who starts something new. In December 2013, the Pope launched a global campaign against hunger. He used social media, including a YouTube video, to get his message out, and even identified a specific day (Dec. 10) around which people worldwide could rally. Our culture has been calling such campaigns "innovation" since the days of Bob Geldof's first Live Aid.

Indeed, the Pope has made fantastic use of social media technologies -- another trait often lauded as a hallmark of the social innovator. In addition to YouTube videos, this Pope tweets - @Pontifex. He's also incredibly savvy about the communication power of a connected world. When he washed the feet of a Muslim woman in prison, he knew that image would hit the blogosphere faster than you could say "God bless you." Francis is altering radically how a Pope communicates change. Speeches and documents? Yes. Pictures worth a thousand words at a gazillion bites a minute? That, too.

Some prefer the innovator-as-user-of-good-business-practices definition. Pope Francis is flattening his organizational structure and shaking up his management team. He has restricted use of the honorific title of "monsignor" in order to reduce the sense of hierarchy and distance between priests and the faithful. He also has begun internal investigations of the finances of the Vatican Bank, and he has replaced a number of powerful senior officials with outsiders, such as Archbishop Pietro Parolin -- most recently of Venezuela -- as Secretary of State.

For those who judge social innovators on their ability to create radical new approaches to old, intractable problems, Pope Francis offers a new mission of love, empathy and the call to get "bruised, hurting and dirty" serving the poor and marginalized. Doesn't sound "new" to you? How many mainstream leaders have you seen even talking about the poor? Sneaking out to serve them without publicity or credit? Kissing the hurting and disabled?

Sometimes "new" means reminding us of what is old and important, but woefully forgotten. Calling people to deep solidarity with those who are suffering is radical, all right. And after more than a decade in the poverty fight, I believe it's the right idea at the right time.

Last, all of these actions reflect another key definition of the social innovator favored by my very smart colleagues here at the Boston College Graduate School of Social Work -- the social innovator as "intrapreneur." This definition values those who can create true, innovative and lasting change in large, existing institutions -- especially those that have, perhaps, been slow to change in the past.

Enough said.

Sunday was the four year anniversary of the tragic Haiti earthquake that took the lives of hundreds of thousands, left so many more with serious injuries, and quite literally reduced much of the capitol city of Port-au-Prince to rubble. Thirty-five seconds. That's all it took. I remember standing awestruck as we tried to reach our Ambassador and colleagues on the ground. Minutes felt like hours.

Four years have passed. There has been meaningful progress. But you might not have seen much about it.

Why?

To see the change, you need to follow its progress on a regular basis, not just a story once or twice a year. Recently I wrote about the media and the public's fascination with disasters. While an actual disaster is by far the most circus-inspiring event, anniversaries allow for a quick and often bleak looks back helping to perpetuate an existing narrative. Once search and rescue operations are over and rubble begins to move, progress can be difficult to see making it a much more difficult story to tell -- but it's one we must tell. Articles that summarize a year, or several years', worth of work into one piece often focus only on what the eye can see. And with each passing year the incredible stories of heroism give way to ones of failure. As we've seen, stories about suffering sadly tend to get more eyeballs than those of progress and lessons learned.

So what has happened since the stories we saw four years ago of mind-boggling selflessness and unprecedented collaborations have faded? The work has continued and progress has been made. But, I will be the first to say it has not been as fast anyone, myself included, would have wanted, but unless we could snap our fingers and fix a situation, no progress is fast enough. And long-term, sustainable change? While its impact is greater overtime, it takes more time.

In 2009, when Secretary Clinton called for a review of the U.S. government's work in Haiti (finalized a few hours before the earthquake) we saw that we had spent billions of dollars in Haiti but our lasting impact was harder to find. What we had done was given aid and aid is not the answer. Like the government of Haiti, the U.S. determined investing in long-term development and the future of Haiti was the only way to create lasting systems that would help Haiti on a path to prosperity -- and ultimately put foreign assistance organizations out of business. The earthquake tragically reinforced this decision.

Today, we are seeing results of the investments the U.S. and other nations, the private sector, and NGOs have made. Here are just a few: GDP grew by 4 percent; inflation fell from 8 percent to 4.5 percent; 180 miles of new roads built; 90 percent of displaced population have returned to safer homes; 97 percent of the more than 20 million cubic yards of rubble (enough to fill Louisiana Superdome five times) has been cleared; seven new hospitals and 46 new health centers opened; crime is down substantially; school is now free; cholera cases cut in half; and opportunities continue to grow tourism.

But I'm also a realist. Haiti has a long way to go, just as it did before the earthquake. While More than 1.3 million people have moved out of camps, 170,000 remain and we must work to help them home. The country needs to continue to work to modernize business laws to attract private sector investment. Calls for calm by the many must trump those for violence by the few. And perhaps most importantly, Haiti needs the all of us to stay invested. To continue to care. This means the media needs to continue to shine a light on the country, not just once a year or when tragedy strikes. Trust me, there are so many moving stories of resilience and the triumph of will over the easier option of indifference to fill the pages of any paper.

What can you do? Well, whether you're a reporter or not, please stay engaged. And you can start right now. Listen to what the Haitians have to say. Read this interview with the Prime Minister and this World Bank's piece. Go on Twitter and follow leaders like @LaurentLamothe and @MichelJMartelly. Follow the work of the Clinton Foundation and J/P HRO. And then share what you read. Let's pledge to not wait another year to look at progress in Haiti.

As I remember back four years ago, we were finally able to reach our ambassador, but we had lost four of own. And Haiti suffered loss I still can't wrap my head around -- more than 300,000 died because of 35 seconds. Yet in spite of the tragedy they faced, the Haitian people are stronger than ever. So while we mourn for those lost, we follow Haiti's example of strength and hope in the face of what so many can only see as despair.

The end of 2013 hit me hard. Shortly before Christmas, my husband and I felt like boxers pummeled in a ring, and not from any blows from one another. We soldiered on, committed to entertaining our kids during our preplanned trip to Los Angeles. One day we visited the Page Museum and La Brea tar pits. It's a rather strange site to discover alongside the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Warner Brothers Studio tour, and other attractions celebrating the silver screen -- a pocket of ancient history extracted from below our feet. The oil seeps remind us that the past bubbles up in the midst of human creations devoted to glamour and celluloid immortality. Our Page Museum tour began with an animated video that explains how so many fossils accumulated in the pits. It was this rather sad video -- and not our sighting of Tarantino in a yellow convertible nor our relaxed lunch in the sunshine on the beach -- that comprised my first dream of the new year.

For those who haven't been, the tar pits are a naturally occurring percolating marshy mixture of black oil and sand. Early twentieth century excavators discovered fossils of prehistoric animals that were forced into slow cruel death after becoming stuck in the tar. That deadly trap, however unfortunate for the animals, enables us, thousands of years later, to see skeletons from a long-gone past. Out of the tar, models of prehistoric beasts were built, models that now enthrall hordes of grade-schoolers filing through the museum. The very substance that wrote the tragic fates of so many ancient creatures also preserved their bones for those of us passing by in the present. The sticky liquid marks death, time, and knowledge.

I tried to translate my new year's dream onto paper. The thing is, I'm not a poet. But the writing exercise taught me what I can do when I feel stuck in the metaphorical tar pits. When the quicksand threatens, I need to embrace those writing dreams -- to mold my experience into words that can rise above the muck.

So I am posting my "non-poem" for those who didn't have a rockin' New Year's Eve or are simply having a day when the tar pits bubble up. It may be those sinking moments -- that entrapping tar -- produce meaning through which we mark our state of bring. Through imagination and productivity we can move from the skeleton to the model, from the fossilized bone to the reconfigured mammoth that enthralls a sixth grader. So this is for you, if you feel pulled into the tar pits.

***

Over fifty thousand of years ago,
A Western horse unsuspectingly stepped into a tar pit.
Thirst may have lured him to the entrapping reflective surface, like Narcissus.
Maybe he didn't even see the oily sheen and simply made one faulty step.
That was it -- his hoof began to sink.
The more the horse struggled to pull out of the viscous matter,
the more he shifted other parts of his body into the unforgiving liquid.

A saber-toothed cat spied the immobilized horse -- easy prey.
With piercing fangs in place, it leapt upon the poor beast's neck.
The delightful taste of fresh meat was eclipsed, moments later.
The cat felt its own paws pulled beneath.

From high above in the clear skies that would later become clouded by city smog, hawks' eyes zeroed in on the prize.
They swooped in to feast upon cat and horse flesh.
Full of hubris, the birds were accustomed to resisting earth's gravitational pull.
But they too felt a claw, a wing, or a feather, touched by warm tar.
Glimpsing abundance led them only to join the wolves, mastodons, sloths, mammoths, bison, and camels in the burial muck.

You would think that I, a scholar of memory and narrative,
would focus on the process of dusting off the archaeological finds, assembling the fossils, creating a story from the ruins.
But I can't stop thinking about that horse.
One wrong step, one simple mistake, was all he made.
If his hoof hadn't slid into the patch of tar,
the saber-toothed cat never would have had such easy access to his neck,
nor the hawks to his sinking body.
He could have lived a stress-free life,
perhaps living until old age surrounded by his horse grandchildren.
If only someone had warned that poor soul that there was deadly tar lurking.

***

"Touch the tar," my husband suggested to my children during our visit. Braver than I, each immersed an index finger in the area cordoned-off for a genuine tactile encounter. The sticky oil was hard to wipe off but my daughter made a clever turn. She wiped her finger to mark her initials on a wall where others had also scribbled names in tar. With the dark stain, she asserted her life.

Coda:

***
Perhaps I should rethink the horse's predicament.
After all, the horse that fell into the tar is the one whose story and bones are preserved.
Will sticking our fingers into the tar pull us in or give us the tools to paint our way out?

The Street Store isn't really a store, if a store requires money being exchanged -- or an actual building with walls.

The Street Store, which opened on Tuesday in Cape Town, is a charity pop-up "shop" consisting simply of cardboard posters, each hung with clothing items and accessories. Everything is free for the taking for the neighborhood's homeless.

The clothing, reports Between 10 and 5, is all donated, and everything is up for grabs. There are assistants on site to help "customers" select items as they browse, and anything they choose to take will be wrapped up for them before they go. It's a true retail experience, with all the variety, leisure, freedom and dignity we love about shopping.

Ladies clothes :) #thestreetstore pic.twitter.com/WrvgxvP0xT
— The Street Store (@TheStreetStore) January 14, 2014

On his way to an interview, he got a new pair of shoes !!! #thestreetstore pic.twitter.com/GgRfO68ZCD
— The Street Store (@TheStreetStore) January 14, 2014

"It makes it easy to make donations as it is hosted in a public area, but it also dignifies the receiving process," Kayli Levitan, one of the The Street Store organizers and a copywriter from M&C Saatchi Abel, told Between 10 and 5. "Instead of feeling like they're having old clothing thrown at them, the homeless get to have a full shopping experience. They can browse through the clothes, we'll help them find an outfit they like, it's wrapped up and off they go."

And it's not only Cape Town's homeless population that can benefit. The beauty of The Street Store's concept is that it can be replicated anywhere. All you need to do is print out The Street Store artwork from the website to make your own posters, add your own logo and find a public space (along with proper approvals from local government).

"We realized that homelessness and poverty isn’t a uniquely Capetonian problem. It isn’t even just a South African problem," Levitan said to Between 10 and 5. "It's world-wide." And now we all just have one more way -- one very easy way -- to help. Find out more at TheStreetStore.org.

It's time to shop #thestreetstore pic.twitter.com/ENf4Ud03MQ
— The Street Store (@TheStreetStore) January 14, 2014

Thank you for the support @ElanaAfrika #thestreetstore pic.twitter.com/9YfEj48r7n
— The Street Store (@TheStreetStore) January 14, 2014

We've helped hundreds of people so far - and it still keeps going #TheStreetStore pic.twitter.com/LXZtCJABbB
— The Street Store (@TheStreetStore) January 14, 2014

Shopping time! #thestreetstore pic.twitter.com/HGmPLTMjaD
— The Street Store (@TheStreetStore) January 14, 2014

[h/t Racked]

Fashion gives back:

Want more? Be sure to check out HuffPost Style on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram at @HuffPostStyle.

One company trying to make it less awkward for women to carry condoms around has figured out a way to help sororities raise money.

Lovability Condoms announced this week they were launching a new initiative called the "Lovability Lady" Brand Advocate Program. Women can apply to become brand advocates, then purchase Lovability Condoms at wholesale prices and sell them to make money for their sorority. The women would keep all the profits for their Greek house.

Lovability is a condom company founded by Tiffany Gaines, a New York University graduate and current School of Visual Arts grad student, along with her mother, Pam. They sell FDA approved male condoms packaged in small tins, designed to mimic the appearance of a cosmetic product.

"We feel Lovability's mission of empowering women to take responsibility for their sexual health coincides greatly with many sororities' missions," Tiffany Gaines said in an email. The program would also be open to other non-profit organizations.

Post by Lovability Inc.

Gaines told Forbes in December her goal with Lovability is to "de-stigmatize the purchase of condoms for women" and sell them in places they may feel more comfortable. She wants condoms to be viewed as "a positive symbol of women's self protection and therefore self-love."

"For years, condoms have been marketed as a masculine product," Gaines said. "Because of this, they're often associated with macho-sexuality, promiscuity, and conquest. Although these connotations have helped many men feel more confident buying and carrying condoms, this messaging has had the opposite effect on women. The masculine stereotypes associated with condoms have caused many women to feel uncomfortable purchasing, carrying, and providing them when needed."

Gaines explained in a TEDx talk the idea for her company actually came from a humiliating experience having to purchase tampons at a convenience store in front of a group of men. The tampons were located high on a shelf behind the register, next to the condoms, and the clerk had to retrieve an "orange-picking" claw to get them, she explained.

In the TEDx talk, Gaines also laid out some ideas about how to buy condoms without being embarrassed, tips such as buying cheese or birthday cards with the rubbers or going to a sex shop because the male contraceptives will be "the tamest thing in there." But ultimately argued taking care of their health shouldn't be something women need be ashamed of.

The start of a New Year is typically a time for setting resolutions. For many, these resolutions might mean staying fit and healthy, becoming more organized or spending more time with family. We don't know if Congress makes New Year's resolutions, but in this spirit we thought we would suggest one: community investment.

The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) has proven to be one of the most important tools we have for investing in communities. For over 40 years, royalties paid by oil companies on offshore oil and gas drilling leases have provided hundreds of millions of dollars per year, enabling states, cities and local communities to make dollar-for-dollar matching grants to protect parks and recreational resources. LWCF funding has benefited nearly every county in America, yet is set to expire in 2015. Congress should put LWCF reauthorization and full funding high on the agenda for 2014.

For the Latino community, LWCF is critical in the fight to eliminate childhood obesity. One third of all American children are overweight. The obesity statistics for young Latinos are particularly frightening. 40 percent of Latino children are overweight, and 50 percent are on track to develop diabetes. Creating safe parks and playgrounds through LWCF might help to reduce or reverse these trends.

As Salud America! a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, has reported, "Physical activity is important for good health, physical and cognitive growth and development, and maintaining a healthy weight." Hispanic kids ages nine to 13 are only half as likely to participate in organized physical activity outside of school; but the reason is these children often have limited options for physical activity. In a study cited by Salud America, 81 percent of Latino neighborhoods did not have a recreational facility, compared with 38 percent of White neighborhoods.

LWCF can help to address these disparities by creating safe, local parks and playgrounds. This in turn may help Latino children become more physically active and maintain a healthy weight.

Last year, the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, a coalition of 30 leading national Latino organizations, sent a letter to First Lady Michelle Obama, asking for her leadership on LWCF on behalf of Latino communities. Access to local parks is important for the health of urban families and communities, and could be a centerpiece of the First Lady's Let's Move agenda.

Despite the LWCF's obvious benefits, the program has rarely been funded at the level that it was originally intended. Most alarming is Congress' broken promise to the American people to provide quality outdoor recreation resources for present and future generations. Nearly every year, Congress diverts much of this crucial funding to other uses. Since 1967, more than $17 billion from revenues designated for the fund have been diverted and used for non-conservation purposes. Congress should uphold its promise to the American people fully fund LWCF.

Although LWCF has provided billions of dollars for conservation and recreation, the vast majority of that funding has gone to federal projects, more than 80 percent in the past 25 years. This affects our communities and families. Financially-stretched state and local communities report an $18.5 billion backlog of park and recreation projects that await LWCF matching grants. A greater focus on community investment in LWCF funding is imperative.

Washington has the opportunity to make community investment a top priority in 2014. Reauthorization and full funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund will be a step forward for our families and our communities. It's one New Year's resolution worth keeping.

By Brent Wilkes, LULAC National Executive Director and Jose Calderon, President of the Hispanic Federation

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