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Archives for February 2018

by Rachel Simon

Empowered Women International

(Feb. 28, 2018) Catherine Read interviews Sarah Bodley, Associate Director of Empowered Women International to talk about their organization that helps minority women in the United States start and grow their own businesses. Founded 16 years ago by an immigrant woman, they empower women in the Greater DC Metro area facing economic and social challenges, including immigrants, refugees, and Americans with low income, to become economically mobile, financially stable and socially engaged.

EWI helps immigrant, refuge and low-income women turn their creative or cultural assets, artistic abilities and skills into successful businesses. Many women lack the understanding of how to start and run a business of their own. Perhaps they don’t speak the language, or are not familiar with how to keep the accounting books, or handle their taxes. Empowered Women International has developed training programs, including mentorship opportunities, to help these women succeed beyond their wildest dreams.

In this first segment, Catherine interviews Zenib Cherkaoui, Zineb ZenaArta Morrocan woman who immigrated to the United States in 2010 with her children, and spoke no English. She is a talented artist and thought about selling her artwork, but had no idea how to market or sell her products. She met a woman connected with EWI at her local mosque, became a student at EWI’s Entrepreneurship Training for Success program, and is now happily selling her artwork in galleries. This program gave her the skills she needed to have confidence and grow her business. Her company, ZenaArt based in Falls Church, is now thriving. EWI has established many successful relationships with  community partners over the past 16 years. This network of businesses and organizations provide resources to help sustain the programming, teach classes and provide mentor opportunities to women.

In the second segment Catherine speaks with Maribel Rodriguez, owner of Marble Arch Gardens. Maribel’s business sells a variety of herbal remedies. Her story is unique because she started her business after retiring from the Army. She was always fascinated with her Grandmother’s knowledge of herbs and carried memories and stories from her youth in her heart and mind. She obtained her master’s degree in Nutrition and Integrative Health, with a Certificate in Herbal Studies, but had no practical knowledge of how to start or run a business. After completing the Entrepreneurship program, she will now graduate to the next class called Grow My Business, which provides more of a strategic focus.

EWI is excited to celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8th. They will be running special programming to help support the women owned businesses that they are helping to develop.

On March 7th from 6-8pm, EWI will be sponsoring a special panel discussion and networking event, including lessons and inspirations from female business leaders.   The event is titled Pathways to #HerStory, and it will take place at WeWork in Crystal City. Click here for registration information.

On March 8th they will be hosting a marketplace on the George Washington University campus from 12-6pm where people can purchase products produced by the women-owned businesses that are part of the Empowered Women International network.

You can follow Empowered Women International in the following ways:

Website: www.ewint.org

Twitter: @EmpowerWomenInt

Facebook: www.facebook.com/EmpoweredWomenInternational

Instagram: www.instagram.com/EmpoweredWomenIntl

Filed Under: Blogging, Entrepreneurship, TV Shows, Women, Your Need to Know Tagged With: Empowered Women International, George Washington University, Grow Your Business, immigrants, International Women's Day, Marble Arch Gardens, Maribel Rodriguez, Pathways to #HerStory, Sarah Bodley, Training for Success, WeWork, women-owned business, ZenaArt, Zenib Cherkaoui

by William Zuhl

Sandy Evans – Your Need to Know

(Feb 21, 2018) Sandy Evans is the Fairfax County School Board member from Mason District. She has been on the FCSB for 8 years after having first been elected in a special election in March of 2010. She and Catherine Read take a look at the issues facing Fairfax County Public Schools, the nations 10th largest school system.

Sandy Evans started out as a parent advocate, supporting the PTA of her daughter’s school. When her daughter entered middle school Sandy Evans was made aware of the then early start times for Fairfax Country middle and high schools. Seeing the early start times as a serious health issue, she cofounded SLEEP (Start Later for Excellence in Education Proposal) and then ran for the school board. In Fall of 2014 the school board approved the change of high school start times from 7:20 AM to 8:10 AM starting in the Fall of 2015. Currently, Sandy Evans and SLEEP are advocating for later middle school start times as well.

Currently, Sandy Evans is the budget chair of the school board, and they are currently debating the school superintendent’s proposed budget ahead of an expected early February vote to send the budget to the Fairfax Country Board of Supervisors. The new budget makes a priority of creating new teacher pay scales in order to make the country more attractive for talented teachers. While the new pay scales will take time to go into effect, more than 54 million dollars have been set aside in the current budget to raise teacher salaries into the new scale. The current overall budget is 2.9 billion dollars providing services for over 188 thousand students.

The members of the school board have also been working with legislators in Richmond to try and increase state level support of the county schools in support of special need, ESL (English as a Second Language) and impoverished students. Currently, about 25% of FCPS students qualify for free or reduced cost meals, 29-30% need ESL services and 14% qualify for special needs. These numbers are currently expected to grow going into the future, and local community support is not expected to be enough to fill the gap. The current state funding formulas mean that Fairfax County Public Schools receive less funding proportional to their size in spite of the fact that over 54,000 students qualify for free or reduced price meals, a number equal or larger than many other school systems entire enrollment in some parts of the state.

Going into the future, Sandy Evans is determined to make sure the school board is committed to school equity, using needs based staffing to make sure every student has equal opportunities regardless of the school they attend. FCPSOn is an initiative dedicated to making sure that every student has access to a computer. Students attending schools with high poverty rates will be offered laptops which they can take home and use, then return at the end of the school year. FCPS have also recently put their Parent Liaisons on contracts to work full time as opposed to their older hourly system. Parent Liaisons are particularly important in schools with high ESL or poverty rates, which frequently have either no or underfunded PTAs, having a person dedicated to communicating with parents and providing translation services to ensure that parents feel welcome to speak concerns and keep informed of how their children are doing.

Talks have also been on going about using schools as a platform for community services. The school board has been in talks with County Supervisor Penny Gross about building a new school in the Wilston area which could potentially be combined with a health facility or a public library to provide services to the population at large while reducing costs for students in particular.

The school board has also recently made changes to the school discipline system. They’ve aimed to replace out-of-school suspensions with in-school suspensions overseen by people versed in restorative justice and positive behavior approaches. They’ve also attempted to speed up the process of informing parents of troubled students, and Sandy Evans wishes to make that process even faster going into the future.

In July, the Fairfax County School Board voted to change JEB Stuart High School’s name. The public suggested 73 different names but failed to produce a majority opinion. The school board took the five most popular names and picked Justice High School. Students attending the school were allowed to pick their new mascot and following a school-wide vote chose to become the Wolves. The school board has allowed 2 years to make the transition to the new name, but the school superintendent expects the process to be finished by next fall.

For more information, contact Sandy Evans at [email protected], or www.fcps.edu/index.php/school-board/Sandy-Evans or go to fcps.edu for more information about Fairfax County Public Schools.

 

Filed Under: Blogging, Education, TV Shows, Virginia, Your Need to Know Tagged With: Catherine Read, education, Fairfax County, Fairfax County Public Schools, Sandy Evans

by Catherine Read

Community Healthcare in Virginia – Dr. Basim Khan of Neighborhood Health

(Feb 19, 2018) Catherine Read talks with Dr. Basim Khan, Executive Director of Neighborhood Health, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) located in Northern Virginia. Neighborhood Health was started in an apartment complex by nurses from the Alexandria Health Department back in 1997, becoming an FQHC in 2004. In their first year as a clinic, they saw 1,500 patients and in their 20th year they saw 18,000 patients through their 12 clinics located in Alexandria, Arlington and Fairfax County.

Neighborhood Health provides an integrated medical home to community residents regardless of their ability to pay. Their goal is high quality healthcare that is affordable and accessible to everyone in the community. Their clinics provide Family Practice/Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Women’s Health, Behavioral Health Counseling and include health screenings, cancer screenings, on-site lab services, immunizations, mental health screenings, dental services and a pharmacy program. They provide language interpreters (sometimes via phone), offer sliding scales to patients who may have high deductibles for their health insurance plan, and provide medications to patients less expensively than through retail pharmacies. Community health centers provide primary healthcare to over 300,000 people in Virginia and to 27 million patients in the U.S. Providing high quality primary care delivers better health outcomes for patients and helps to drive down overall costs.

Dr. Kahn talks about how Neighborhood Health strives to serve as a patient advocate in a really “complicated health system.” In talking about issues of equity and social determinants of health, he points out that our healthcare and social services spending in this country is comparable to other developed nations, but we spend far more on healthcare and far less on social safety net services. Social determinants of health include factors such as education levels, income, the zip codes we live in, the type of housing and employment we have, and our access to adequate healthy food. Working to provide better equity in healthcare outcomes includes Neighborhood Health’s strong partnerships with other local agencies, non-profits and service providers. They work closely with local Community Services Boards to help patients get mental health services and case management when needed. They work with Departments of Health and Human Services that also provide employment assistance, and help with issues of aging and disability. This is the “community” in community health services that treat the whole patient through providing social services that impact health outcomes.

Neighborhood Health continues to expand their services, meeting patients where they are in the community. They currently work with Alexandria City Schools to provide dental care to low income students in 8 elementary school through a mobile bus that provides the services right on school grounds. That includes routine cleanings, x-rays, and fillings as needed. Catherine Read pointed out that this is an example of the type of partnership that is at the core of the Community School model – a model of education we don’t currently have in Virginia. Providing needed services to students through the school impacts educational and health outcomes for many students who lack access to things as basic as food, clothing, dental and healthcare, school supplies and tutoring.

Dr. Khan addresses public health issues such as the opioid crisis and how the trend of medicalizing so many issues has resulted in the over prescribing of pain medications. The epidemic of chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and cancer are tied to social determinants, yet we seem to lack the political will to prioritize key things that need to be addressed, such as affordable housing, which impact health.

Inside Scoop Basim KhanIn the last segment, Medicaid Expansion in Virginia is addressed and what the impact would be on the patients Neighborhood Health serves. The most immediate impact would be the ability to refer patients to local specialists instead of having the University of Virginia as the only option. There are substantive discussions taking place during the 2018 Legislative Session in Richmond that have both parties negotiating terms that now include a “work requirement” proffered by the Trump Administration as an option states can elect to mandate. At the time of broadcast, Medicaid Expansion was still very much up in the air with the future outcome very uncertain.

For more information about Neighborhood Health visit www.NeighborhoodHealthVA.org, follow them on Twitter @NeighborhoodHth or on Facebook,  or call their main number for assistance at 703-535-5568.

Filed Under: Inside Scoop, Political, TV Shows, Virginia Tagged With: Alexandria, Basim Khan, Healthcare, Medicaid Expansion, Mental Health, Neighborhood Health, opioid epidemic, Primary Health Care, Social Determinants of Health, Virginia

by Catherine Read

Code Girls – Liza Mundy

(Feb 2018) People in her family knew Dot [Dorothy Braden Bruce] was doing something for the war, but they assumed it was secretarial and low-level. She could not even tell her mother. But even as she admired the Navy women’s outfits, it never occurred to Dot that the WAVES might be engaged in the same war work that she was, endeavoring – just as she was – to beat back the fascist menace and break the codes that would bring the boys home.

I’m familiar with the wonderful writing of journalist and author Liza Mundy. A long time resident of Arlington, VA, she attended North Cross School in Roanoke, VA, before going on to earn degrees at both Princeton University and the University of Virginia. She is a talented writer who brings to life this amazing story of the thousands of women who helped the Allies win in World War II.

My aunts, Maggie Catasca and Madeline Catasca, left their home in Roanoke to join the war effort as well. Aunt Maggie was a WAVE and Aunt Madeline had a civilian job and they shared an apartment in Arlington, VA, along with another roommate. My Aunt Mary Jane recalls that she and my mother went up to visit them over the summers while they were there. I recalled that my mother told me Madeline had worked on the code team that decoded the Japanese surrender. When I asked her daughter, my cousin Maggie, what her mother did during the war, she responded, “She never talked about what she did in the war. Neither did my father. I think it was secretarial.”

All the women who worked on code breaking teams were sworn to secrecy. Even roommates did not talk about their work with each other. And ALL OF THEM were told to say they did secretarial work.

On the eve of Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Army had 181 people working in its small, highly secret code-breaking office in downtown Washington. By 1945 nearly 8,000 people would be working stateside for the Army’s massive code-breaking operation, at a much-expanded suburban Virginia venue called Arlington Hall, with another 2,500 serving in the field. Of the entire group, some 7,000 were women. This means that of the Army’s 10,500 person-strong code-breaking force, nearly 70 percent was female. Similarly, at the war’s outset the U.S. Navy had a few hundred code breakers, stationed mostly in Washington but also in Hawaii and the Philippines. By 1945, there were 5,000 Naval code breakers stationed in Washington, and about the same number serving overseas. At least 80 percent of the Navy’s domestic code breakers – some 4,000 – were female. Thus, out of about 20,000 total American code breakers during the war, some 11,000 were women.

And they were sworn to secrecy. Which may account for why the children and grandchildren, parents and siblings of these 11,000 women had no idea what they did in the war. This story NEEDS to be told! The comparison to Hidden Figures is justified – why did it take decades for these stories to be told? There is a whole generation of girls who grew up with no idea that women were mathematicians, scientists, technology pioneers . . . and war heroes.

In 1942, only about 4 percent of American women had completed four years of college. Both the Navy and the Army recruited these young women right out of their college classrooms in a highly secretive mission where they themselves were not certain of what they had signed up for. They next set their sights on recruiting school teachers from all over the country, as they too showed an aptitude for code breaking work. But as the war progressed and more and more women came to Washington and Arlington, they discovered there was no way to really predict who would be good at this type of work.

Administrators were finding to their chagrin that there often was not a correlation between a person’s background and how well that person would do at breaking codes. Some PhDs were hopeless, and some high school dropouts were naturals. There was a stage actress who was working out wonderfully, as was a woman with little formal education who had been a star member of the American Cryptogram Association, a membership group for puzzle and cipher enthusiasts. Code breaking required literacy, numeracy, care, creativity, painstaking attention to detail, a good memory, and a willingness to hazard guesses. It required a tolerance for drudgery and a boundless reserve of energy and optimism. A reliable aptitude test had yet to be developed.

The research here is excellent and captivating. The personal stories of these women really shine a light on what it was like to live and work in such an intense time where the lives of their husbands and brothers hinged on how well they could do this work. Liza Mundy did extensive interviews with Dorothy Braden Bruce, a native of Lynchburg, VA, and a long time resident of Richmond, VA. Dot saved the many letters that were sent and received while her future husband, Jim Bruce, was overseas and that contemporaneous account of that era is priceless.

This is one of those books that needs to be a “must read” for those who believe they know the history of World War II. That knowledge is incomplete without understanding the contributions of 11,000 women whose stories have never been told. Their contributions to victories like the Battle of the Midway and other pivotal battles of the war,  saved the lives of countless U.S. soldiers and sailors. They are truly unsung heroes, many of whom went to their graves committed to keeping the secret of their work as they promised. I highly recommend this book to everyone who can read.

Filed Under: Good Books, Virginia, Women Tagged With: Arlington Hall, Code Breakers, Liza Mundy, WAVES, women, WWII

by Catherine Read

The Lost Art of Listening – Michael P. Nichols, PhD

Lost Art of Listening(Feb 2018) Genuine listening involves a suspension of self. Holding your tongue while someone speaks is not the same thing as listening. To really listen, you have to suspend your own agenda. Forget about what you want to say, and concentrate on being a receptive vehicle for the other person.

Just because something is simple, doesn’t mean it’s easy. Actively listening is much harder than we believe it is and this book covers the subject from so many aspects. The author is a family therapist and his wisdom comes from years of helping individuals, families and couples to figure out better ways of communicating – which starts with cultivating better listening skills.

How we communicate – and listen – goes back to how we learned to do that in our families. Our parents may be the most important unfinished business of our lives.

We relate to people in the present on the basis of expectations from the past. We continue to live in the shadows of the families we grew up in. The sometimes vast difference between words spoken and message intended is nothing compared to the often vaster difference between what is said and what it heard.

Nichols makes an excellent point about self acceptance as the foundation of being an empathetic listener.

When you are trying to figure out why you or anyone else overreacts, keep in mind one of the great ironies of understanding: We are likely to be as accepting of others as we are of ourselves. That’s why those lucky enough to be raised with self respect make better listeners. If you learn to respect other people’s feelings, you will learn to treat your own feelings more kindly in the process. What we can’t tolerate in others is what we can’t tolerate in ourselves.

In addressing the hurdles encountered by couples, he has some very profound observations to make:

A relationship isn’t some you have, it’s something you do.

Sometimes marriage isn’t about resolving differences, but learning to live together with them.

Second and third marriages don’t fail because people keep picking the wrong partners. They fail because it’s not differences that matter, but how they are negotiated.

If you want the truth from someone, you must make it safe for him or her to tell it.

While he addresses listening in the work place in very effective ways, I found the most interesting parts of the book to be about the challenges of listening to the people who matter the most to us – our family members.

Ironically, our ability to listen is often worst with the people closest to us. Conflict, habit and the pressure of emotions makes us listen least well where listening is most needed. As we move outside the family circle to those we care about but don’t live with, we tend to be more open, more receptive and more flexible. Primarily because those relationships are less burdened with conflict and resentment.

In struggling to figure out just how much bandwidth I have to truly listen to the people I engage with everyday, I’ve come to the conclusion that not every person I encounter needs my full and undivided attention. In fact, there are people who demand attention in ways that mean it’s being taken away from others in my life who are important to me. Social media demands attention in ways that are often overwhelming and many times unproductive. Emails come flowing into several email accounts at all hours, seven days a week, with an immediate response expected. So intentionality is required to make certain that the people who should have our undivided attention are the ones actually getting it.

Sometimes it makes sense to write off unrewarding relationships that aren’t central to your life. That is a hard thing to do. Ultimately, saying “no” to that which is unrewarding means leaving more room for that which is rewarding.

I found this book an excellent read. If for no other reason, it reminded me of things I know to be true, but don’t always practice. Honing the skill of being an active listener is an endeavor worth undertaking.

Filed Under: Good Books Tagged With: Communications, Empathy, Listening, Michael P. Nichols, Relationships

by Rachel Simon

Dr. Klara Bilgin – Diversity Visa Lottery Program

(Feb. 14, 2018) Catherine Read interviewed Dr. Klara Bilgin, Dean of the School of Public and International Affairs at Virginia International University to discuss the Diversity Visa Lottery Program. Born in Bulgaria, Dr. Bilgin has spent her academic career in America, starting in 1997 when she attended the University of Delaware. She was fortunate to be a winner of the Diversity Lottery, and was happy to share her views on why she feels strongly that cutting this program would be detrimental to the United States.  In October of 2017, Donald Trump called for the complete shut-down of the program after a truck attack on civilians in New York City, citing the fact that the truck driver who committed the crime immigrated via the lottery from Uzbekistan.

The history of the Diversity Lottery Visa dates back to 1986, when it was originally designed to help Irish and Italian immigrants gain a legal path to citizenship . The program has evolved over time, and now includes a random lottery that allows entry for 50,000 lucky winners out of approximately 14 million applicants on an annual basis. Applicants apply online through the State Department in October of each year, and entrants find out if they have won the lottery by the following May. After the winners have been selected, an extensive vetting process then takes place to ensure that the applicant has the required education, 2 years of job experience, proper documentation, health records, and passes a safety and criminal background check.

Dr. Bilgin asserts that it would be a grave mistake to allow this program to be eliminated. In her travels across the globe, as an election observer and in academics, she meets people who put their hopes in this lottery year after year. These people are looking for a second chance to make a better life for themselves and their families, a quintessentially American ideal. From a political perspective, this lottery is a critical element in the Soft Power model. Millions of people across the globe will continue to be invested in the prosperity of the United States if they believe that they have a chance to come to the country. As people do win entry via the lottery, they will send money and gifts back home, creating a dense network of people who are intimately connected to the United States. This creates good will, a positive bond, and a strong connection with America.  Dr. Bilgin notes that if this program is eliminated we will make more enemies than friends,  and would send the wrong message to the rest of the world.  She also believes it would create a vacuum, and allow space for other world powers to step up and fill the void.

Filed Under: Blogging, Political, TV Shows, Your Need to Know Tagged With: Dr. Klara Bilgin, immigrants, Immigration, visa lottery

by Rachel Simon

Crossover Legislative Update – VA. General Assembly

(Feb. 12, 2018) Catherine Read speaks with several advocates to look at where their legislation is headed during the 2018 VA General Assembly. February 14 marked “crossover”, which was the halfway point of the General Assembly session. The bills that made their way through the House will “crossover” to the Senate, and the bills in the Senate will make their way to the House for debate and discussion. Additionally, they will take up the Governor’s Budget starting on Monday February 19th.

SALT

Catherine’s first guest was John Horejsi, director of SALT (Social Action Linking Together ), a network of persons in Virginia embracing the principle that “The justice of a society can be measured by how the most vulnerable members of society are faring and being treated”.   Their legislative agenda is very robust, here is a breakdown of how their bills are faring this year:

HB 797: Electronic Visitation for Correctional Facilities

This bill would not allow the prisons to limit in-person visitation, if the facility also offers video visitation as an option. Studies have shown a lower rate of recidivism and higher success rates upon re-entry to society when they have the opportunity to see their loved ones in person.

SB 593: Health Insurance Coverage for Autism Spectrum Disorder

This bill would require Insurance companies to provide medical insurance coverage for children ages 10-18. Currently they are only required to cover children ages 2-6 years old. Passed the Senate and referred to Appropriations.

SB 27: TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) Scholarship Pilot Program:

A temporary 2 year pilot program would establish a scholarship fund for students in poverty of up to $4000 per student, should the student meet the requirements. This bill passed the Senate and was referred to House Appropriations. Unfortunately, it’s companion bill in the House (HB 285) was killed, so the fate of this bill does not look promising.
HB 50: School Lunch Shaming

Requires local school boards to develop policies of how to deal with students whose lunch accounts are overdue. They would be required to communicate with parents, instead of shaming the children by singling them if their account it overdue. It would prohibit the school board from having the children perform chores in order to get food. It would also not allow the school to put a sticker or hand stamp on a child whose account is overdue. Passed the House 100-0.

HB 1333: Kinship/Guardianship

This bill would give the needed financial support to Grandparents or other extended family who are raising children who cannot live with their parents. The bill sets forth eligibility criteria, payment allowances to kinship guardians, and requirements for kinship guardianship assistance programs. The bill passed the House and was send onto the Committee for Rehabilitation and Social Services in the Senate.

SB 181: Drivers License, Suspension for non-payment of fines

This bill would repeal the requirement that a driver’s license of anyone convicted of any violation of the law who fails or refuses to immediately pay the fine or cost be suspended. This bill disproportionately affected those in the lowest income bracket. If someone loses their license and cannot get to work, then they cannot ever afford to pay their fines. This bill has passed the Senate and has been referred to House Appropriations.

BRAWS

Catherine’s second guest was Holly Seibold, Founder of BRAWS (Bringing Resources and Aid to Women’s Shelters ).  Their mission is to bring dignity and empowerment to women and girls living in shelters by providing them with new, personally fitted undergarments and menstrual supplies. Holly’s group has several initiatives that they were working on this year.

HB 83: Feminine Hygiene Products – No Cost to Female Prisoners or Inmates

Directs the State Board of Corrections to implement a standard to ensure that all women prisoners have access to feminine hygiene products at no charge.  This bill passed the House 100-0.

HB 24: Make Feminine Hygiene Products Exempt from Sales Tax

This bill would have made feminine hygiene products exempt from sales tax.   A sister bill (HB 25) was put in to make these products exempt from tax during the sales tax holiday each August for back to school shopping. Both of these bills died in the House this year.

FEA

Catherine’s final guest for this week’s show was Kevin Hickerson from the FEA (Fairfax Education Association)  His organization advocates to make Fairfax County Schools the best school system possible. They are trying to work with the General Assembly to assist with the teacher shortage, without reducing standards of quality.  Kevin spoke about one of their largest initatives, which would allow local schools to increase recess time without having to increase overall instruction time (HB 1419).   He also noted his excitement about working with Atif Qarni, the new Secretary of Education under Gov. Ralph Northam.  Hickerson noted that having a former classroom teacher at the top of the hierarchy will be a great asset to the Commonwealth.

HB 1419 – Public Schools Instructional Time

This bill would give local school the ability to expand recess without having to increase instructional time. Studies have shown that if students are given more time for unstructured play and the ability to move around, that they have more success in the classroom and are better able to focus on their learning. This bill has passed the House and is moving on the Education and Health Committee in the Senate.

Filed Under: Education, Inside Scoop, Political, TV Shows, Virginia, Women Tagged With: Autism, BRAWS, Bringing Resources and Aid to Women's Shelters, Correctional Facilities, drivers license suspension, Fairfax Education Association, FEA, feminine hygeine products, feminine hygiene products tax free, Guardianship, Health Insurance, Holly Seibold, John Horejsi, Kevin Hickerson, Kinship, Menstrual Equity, SALT, Scholarship, School Lunch Shaming, Social Action Linking Together, TANF

by Rachel Simon

Virginia Education Funding Coalition – Your Need to Know

(Feb. 7, 2018)

Catherine Read met with Joanne Walton and Tony Bennett Shivers, co-founders of the Virginia Education Funding Coalition (VEFC),  a unified non-partisan voice advocating for fully funding public education in Virginia. The mission of the VEFC is to ensure that the commonwealth of Virginia adequately invests in its public education system, so that all students have access to a high quality education with well-paid and well-trained teachers.

Currently, Virginia is ranked 38th in the nation in per pupil state funding and ranked 29th overall for average salary for K-12 teachers. The state is also facing a deficit of 1000 teachers. As baby boomers retire, Virginia will continue to face a shortage of teachers, and as a commonwealth we will be facing a crisis situation. The best indicator of student success is having effective teachers in the classroom. VEFC advocates for stronger recruiting, support and training of our teacher workforce, and strives to bring people together across the commonwealth to advocate for stronger support for public education.

Tony Shivers Joanne WaltonWalton notes that VEFC aims to build a coalition of teachers, parents, businesses and community leaders who are understand the critical relationship between well-educated children, strong local communities and the future workforce. The goal of VEFC is to create a platform for everyone to come together to advocate before the Virginia General Assembly to improve the LCI (Local Composite Index) so that all Virginia counties and school districts receive adequate funding based on their enrollment needs. Additionally, VEFC supports passage of legislation giving Virginia counties and school districts the authority to diversify and raise revenue on a local basis.

Shivers cites a study by the Georgetown University Center for Education Workforce that indicates there will be 55 million job openings by 2020, 34 million of those will be new jobs and 31 million will be posts vacated by retiring baby boomers.   He believes it is imperative for Virginia to adequately invest in educating our children today for the workforce of the future. It is estimated that 65% of the jobs by 2020 will require post secondary training. He shared that learning in the 21st century needs to be individualized and personal, where we can teach children to think critically and problem solve so they can be prepared to step into jobs that do not even exist today.  In order to do this, we need to adequately fund our schools and invest in our children and teachers.

Shivers and Walton invite all who are passionate about improving education in Virginia to join their coalition. They currently have an online petition  asking Governor Ralph Northam and the Virginia General Assembly to increase funding for public education, which has not been increased in 10 years. You can follow them on Facebook and Twitter (@VAEdFunding) and by using the hashtag #FundVaSchools.

Filed Under: Blogging, Education, TV Shows, Virginia, Your Need to Know Tagged With: fully fund Virginia schools, Governor Ralph Northam, Joanne Walton, K-12 Education, LCI, Public Education, Tony Bennett Shivers, Virginia, Virginia Education Funding Coalition, Virginia General Assembly

by Rachel Simon

Dr. Lora Vece – Virginia Council of Nurse Practitioners, HB 793

(Feb. 5, 2018)

Catherine Read interviews Dr. Lora Vece, Nurse Practitioner and member of the Virginia Council of Nurse Practitioners (VCNP) to talk about the House Bill 793 which would allow Nurse Practitioners to be on the path to having full practice authority in the state of Virginia. Today, a Nurse Practitioner (NP) is required to have a Collaborative Practice agreement with a designated physician, meaning that an NP cannot practice independently even though they are trained and nationally board certified to do so. While 22 states and the District of Columbia allow Nurse Practitioners to have full practice authority, Virginia is one of only 12 states in the nation that require physician oversight.   This burdensome requirement can adversely impact access to care, especially in rural and underserved communities, while also driving up the cost of health care.

Lora Vece Nurse PractitionerIn America today there is a shortage of primary care doctors , as many physicians choose to focus on areas of specialty. Dr. Vece indicates that Nurse Practitioners are uniquely qualified to fill the gap in primary care. Quality studies show that patient care management is as good, if not better, under Nurse Practitioners. NP’s take a holistic approach to medicine, looking at wellness, screenings, diet and exercise, family history, chronic disease management and acute medical problems to name just a few. Patients who work with Nurse Practitioners indicate higher satisfaction with their NP than with their physician, as they believe that their NP is a good listener and that they pay closer attention to their individual needs. Over 100 studies have proven that NP’s provide safe, high quality healthcare.

Under current Virginia law, an NP must secure a business contract with a physician in order to practice, and each physician can collaborate with no more than 6 Nurse Practitioners at a time. According to Dr. Vece this is a costly and burdensome requirement that can have adverse affects on access to care. For example, if a NP works with a doctor, and that doctor goes out of practice or gets ill and cannot practice medicine, then the NP can lose access to seeing their patients. This is a significant problem in underserved rural communities where NP’s outnumber doctors. Dr. Vece shared that additional challenges include NP’s who cannot find a physician who will enter into a collaborative relationship, a physician may charge a fee so excessive that the NP cannot maintain a sustainable business model, or the physician’s malpractice insurance carrier may prevent collaboration with an outside provider.  For these reasons, and many more, Dr. Vece and the VCNP are advocating to do away with this burdonsome requirement.

The proposed legislation is designed to put NP’s on the path to full practice authority in Virginia. It requires that NP’s have a practice agreement with a collaborating physician or Nurse Practitioner for a specified number of hours (1040) during the transition to practice period. After the NP has met this requirement, the practice agreement would be removed. The removal of the Practice Agreement would break down barriers, and allow for better access to care for patients. VCNP is hopeful the legislature will see this as a good faith compromise and an incremental step forward. Dr. Vece shared that VCNP would welcome support from any Virginia voter who thinks this legislation is a good idea.   If you support Nurse Practitioners and would like to expand access to more affordable care across the commonwealth, contact your legislator directly to voice your opinion.   Every Senator and Delegate keeps track of constituent requests, will take feedback into account when voting on legislation.

Filed Under: Inside Scoop, Political, TV Shows, Virginia Tagged With: Collaborative Practice Agreements, Dr. Lora Vece, HB 793, Nurse Practitioners, Primary Care, Virginia, Virginia Council of Nurse Practitioners

Catherine S. Read
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