The Daily Tell

The McKnight Foundation announced that it will contribute $5 million each to two loan funds to help stabilize communities impacted by the foreclosure crisis in Minnesota.

The funds will be administered by the Family Housing Fund and Greater Minnesota Housing Fund, toward helping organizations acquire vacant, boarded homes to repair and sell to responsible homeowners, the foundation said at a press conference Tuesday.

The new loan funds will also help create new affordable housing opportunities for individuals and families so they can afford to purchase newly rehabilitated energy-efficient homes.

"The McKnight Foundation is pleased to support this coordinated response to community needs statewide," said Kate Wolford, president of the McKnight Foundation. "Through a nationally unique network of innovative programs and partnerships, our partners will reach thousands of Minnesota families hit hardest by the foreclosure crisis."

The foundation said the $10 million contributions to the loan funds are investments, rather than grants, which offer a potential modest return of capital within an established time frame.

The $5 million to the Family Housing Fund will support the organization’s Home Prosperity Fund that was established in early 2008 to revitalize neighborhoods and increase housing opportunities for families throughout the Twin Cities metropolitan area.

Initial investments totaling $16 million from Wells Fargo, US Bank, TCF Bank, Thrivent Financial and Minnesota Housing initially launched the Family Housing Fund, which has grown to $25 million with the new McKnight commitment and more recent investments from Wells Fargo and the Pohlad Family Foundation.

The Greater Minnesota Housing Fund will use the McKnight funds to support its Greater Minnesota Foreclosure Recovery Fund to help stabilize communities throughout Greater Minnesota.

The United Nations Foundation and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) will send over 346,000 life-saving bed nets to refugees in temporary camps in 11 African countries, the UN Foundation announced this week.

The bed nets, which protect people from malaria-carrying mosquitoes, are part of the UN Foundation’s Nothing But Nets campaign, a global, grassroots initiative to prevent malaria. The campaign’s partners include the National Basketball Association’s NBA Cares, the people of The United Methodist Church and Sports Illustrated.

The UN Foundation said the campaign has already sent more than 275,000 nets to 27 camps in Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and Sudan. Malaria is the number one killer of refugees in Africa.

Long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets are one of the easiest and cost-effective methods of preventing the spread of the malaria, the UN Foundation said. Bed nets prevent malaria transmission by keeping out mosquitoes at night, when the vast majority of transmissions occur.

It costs just $10 to purchase and deliver a net to a refugee in need and to educate the recipient on its proper use.

"Thanks to the incredible work of our partners and supporters, we’ve already been able to protect more than 600,000 refugees from malaria in eastern Africa," said Elizabeth Gore, executive director of Nothing But Nets. "Now we’ll be able to help protect over a million of the world’s most vulnerable people."

Due to inadequate shelter, unsanitary living conditions and lack of medical care and supplies, refugees are particularly susceptible to contracting malaria and dying from the disease. Two thirds of the 33 million refugees worldwide live in malaria-endemic countries, the foundation said.

Due to successful campaigns like the Nothing But Nets campaign, the death toll from malaria has been dropping – malaria now accounts for just 10 percent of all refugee deaths, down from 33 percent just three years ago.

The high cost of healthcare has reached crisis proportions in the United States, putting millions of Americans in debt or into bankruptcy. But a report from the nonprofit Patient Advocate Foundation (PAF) found the vast majority of chronically ill patients with medical debt are insured.

Ninety-three percent of patients whose cases PAF handled for arbitration and mediation were insured through plans, but were still unable to obtain physician-prescribed healthcare, reflecting "an alarming trend of medical debt crisis issues in the nation’s healthcare system," the organization said.

Nearly eighty percent of PAF patients are cancer patients. The remaining twenty percent have chronic diseases including diabetes, hepatitis, asthma and osteoporosis.

"We continue to see thousands of patients and family members struggle with rejected insurance claims, citing denials based on pre-existing conditions," said Nancy Davenport-Ennis, PAF’s founder and president.

Davenport-Ennis said the PAF’s 2008 report – called the Patient Data Analysis Report (PDAF) – shows a dramatic increase in job loss and unemployment, as well as a shifting of cost burdens onto patients through accelerated co-payments.

"These challenges, in combination with caps on services, pharmaceutical products and medical devices and reduced annual benefit caps, pose serious risks for patients that can lead to life-or-death delays in treatment," she said.

Last year, PAF received in excess of 9.5 million contacts from patients, family members and care professionals requesting information and assistance. Of those, PAF’s professional senior patient navigators successfully managed 48,369 cases for patients that required direct, sustained mediation and arbitration services, the organization said.

Globally, more than sixty percent of all patients who contacted PAF in 2008 reported debt crisis issues as their primary concern.

The nonprofit advocacy group said its annual PDAR provides information on healthcare and insurance trends that can serve as a reference for healthcare policymakers and other stakeholders as they work to address the healthcare crisis.

Fears of a pandemic of the virulent strain of swine flu were spreading at least as fast as the virus that has infected more than 60 people inside the United States and perhaps thousands in Mexico by Tuesday.

As President Obama called for $1.5 billion in funding to respond to the public health crisis, nonprofit aid organization AmeriCares announced it would be sending medical and infection control supplies to help several Texas health clinics treat and prevent the swine flu.

Some clinics report patients with flu symptoms while others are taking precautions to prevent the spread of the disease, the nonprofit said. The shipments include face masks, medicines and other vital supplies.

The flu has been spotted in 45 people in New York and cases have been reported in California, Texas, Kansas and Ohio. As many as 152 deaths in Mexico have been linked to the virus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

"AmeriCares is watching this outbreak very carefully," said Frank Bia, AmeriCares medical director and an expert in infectious disease. "As swine flu infects more people, it can adapt and become more dangerous, like a hurricane picking up strength over warm water."

In addition to Texas, AmeriCares sent a shipment to Mexico which included medicines – antibiotics, fever and pain reducers and an inhalant to help those with breathing problems – and face masks for infection control and nutritional support for people who have been infected, the group said.

The international disaster relief and humanitarian aid organization, established in 1982, has distributed more than $8 billion in humanitarian aid to 137 countries, it said.

The green building movement has caught on in the construction industry in the past few years and with good reason – a report by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) released Monday shows buildings account for 40 percent of the world’s energy use, more than any other sector.

At the Energy Efficiency in Buildings conference held this week in Paris, the WBCSD – a consortium of some of the biggest construction companies in the world – laid out an ambitious goal of reducing the industry’s carbon footprint by 60 percent by the year 2050.

"To achieve an energy-efficient world, governments, businesses and individuals must transform the building sector through a multitude of actions, which include increasing energy awareness globally," the new report states.

If the world is to slow down the rate of climate change, the report says, it will take cutting the planet’s energy-related carbon footprint by 77 percent or 48 Gigatons to stabilize carbon dioxide (CO2) levels to reach the level called for by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

In its report, Transforming the Market: Energy Efficiency in Buildings, the WBCSD said the building sector must undergo a transformation through a combination of public policies, technological innovation, informed customer choices and smart business decisions.

United Technologies Corp. (UTC) and Lafarge, which co-chaired the study, said the technologies exist and the opportunities to fix the carbon problem are bound only by a lack of will.

UTC chairman George David said that, unlike other industries that must undergo a more radical departure from past practices, the construction industry has at its disposal technologies and products to make buildings more energy efficient today.

"We have the capacity to reduce the carbon footprints of buildings by half over a decade and with reasonable financial returns," David said.

The Communications Workers of America (CWA) has joined forces with two nonprofits in advocating for expanded deployment of broadband across the country to drive economic growth and create jobs.

The partnership, announced Monday by the CWA and the nonprofit organizations Alliance for Digital Equality and Connected Nation, seeks to educate consumers about the benefits of new broadband technologies and retrain the workforce for new job opportunities in technology-related fields.

The organizations said the partnership also seeks to build on the so-called broadband stimulus outlined in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which allocates more than $7 billion in grants to expand broadband access in remote and underserved areas.

"The nation’s leadership has made improving our broadband infrastructure and job creation a top priority and this new partnership is uniquely positioned to help make the connection a reality in the neighborhoods that have been hardest hit by the economic downturn," said Alliance chairman Julius H. Hollis.

Collectively, the three organizations are leaders in advocacy work related to expanding access to broadband in 38 U.S. states and territories – with plans to blanket the nation with progressive programming by end of 2009, the groups said.

Connected Nation CEO and chairman Brian Mefford said the partnership brings together organizations with "an unmatched history of working locally to ensure affordable access to broadband and to provide the training and support that encourages every American to engage in the networked world."

The Obama administration’s economic stimulus plan could close the current gaps in broadband coverage, said CWA president Larry Cohen. An estimated 10-12 million households lack high speed internet access, which could deprive them of economic and educational opportunities, he said.

Lockheed Martin Corporation, the world’s largest defense contractor by revenue, has become the premier sponsor of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) annual Dean Acheson Lecture for five years beginning in 2009.

The company will be recognized as a sponsor in all lecture-related materials and will be included as a founding corporate partner for the Institute’s new headquarters and public education center campaign, located on the National Mall in Washington, DC, the company said.

Defense secretary Robert Gates was the Dean Acheson Lecture series’ first keynote speaker in October 2008. The $1 million gift to the institute’s endowment fund will enable the continuation of the series through 2013.

"As USIP celebrates its 25th year of operations and prepares to move to our permanent office and training space, we are proud to have launched a lecture series worthy of its namesake and that Lockheed Martin is partnering with us in this endeavor," said J. Robinson West, chairman of USIP’s board of directors.

USIP’s permanent headquarters, located at what can be seen as the "war and peace" corner of the National Mall near the Vietnam, Korean and World War II memorials, is expected to be completed within the next two years.

The building will host a public education center for some 500,000 visitors each year. Lockheed Martin said its contribution to USIP’s endowment will be recognized in the building.

"As the world’s leading global security company, we are pleased to support the work of the USIP and its international partners," said Robert J. Stevens, president, chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin. "With thousands of employees supporting peacekeeping, stability operations and capacity building efforts around the world, Lockheed Martin understands the importance of working to prevent conflict and promote peace as vital components of global security."

Today’s college students will be saddled with enormous debts from student loans, even as the job market means new graduates will be earning less – if they find a job at all.

To help students and other members of generation Y cope with debt and other financial responsibilities, youth-oriented cable network MTV and the Peter G. Peterson Foundation have unveiled a video game that "challenges young people to avoid destructive financial behavior," the organizations announced this week.

MTV’s 24-hour college network, called mtvU, is hoping to spread the embeddable online flash game Debt Ski in a way it seems the wired generation can understand – virally, through social networks and blogs. The college network is also promoting the game on-air and at mtvU’s Movies & Music Festival.

In the game, players must maneuver the game’s central character, Piggy Banks, through a series of obstacles to maximize his savings, limit his debt and maintain his level of happiness – all while making payments for necessities like housing and food.

Piggy Banks has the option to purchase discretionary items like electronics and clothing, which can boost his happiness but also plunge him deep into debt if not purchased in moderation.

Brian Haveri, a 26-year-old Lehigh University graduate from Scotch Plains, New Jersey, won $10,000 in the Indebted Digital Challenge for his video game concept, which served as the inspiration for Debt Ski.
The game is part of a broader Indebted campaign sponsored by the cable network and the foundation. The Peterson Foundation said it uses innovative means to reach younger Americans and make them aware of the threat that personal and government fiscal irresponsibility poses to their economic well-being.

In 2008, the foundation supported the feature documentary I.O.U.S.A., which was nominated for a Critics’ Choice Award and short-listed for an Academy Award nomination.

Cisco and San Francisco have launched a new web tool called the Urban EcoMap, which gives citizens the ability to track their community’s greenhouse gas emissions down to the ZIP code level.

The Urban EcoMap program provides information on carbon emissions from transportation, energy and waste among neighborhoods, allowing users to follow their own neighborhood’s carbon footprint and compete with other neighborhoods to reduce their emissions, Cisco said.

Urban EcoMap is scheduled to be available for public use by citizens of the Bay Area on May 21, 2009. San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom said it was "apropos" that Cisco chose the city for its pilot program.

"With our city’s effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2012, we are pleased – and think it’s apropos – that Cisco selected San Francisco as the first city in the world to launch Urban EcoMap," Newsom said.

As part of the Connected Urban Development (CUD) program, the Urban EcoMap for the Bay Area is a pilot program coordinated by the City and County of San Francisco’s Department of the Environment and Cisco’s Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG), the company’s strategic global consulting arm.

Cisco said the program provides "real-time environmental intelligence" and is the first global open-standards approach that allows people to contribute and share eco-data in a public forum via any application or device, just as they would contribute data published on the internet.

The Urban EcoMap encourages citizens, communities, cities, countries and businesses alike to make smart ecological decisions and to develop policies that improve the sustainability of cities, Cisco said.

"Because cities produce 80 percent of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, they present the largest opportunity for innovation and social behavior changes," said Simon Willis, vice president of Cisco IBSG. "Citizens want to see the collective results of their individual climate-change actions."

As part of a community service initiative called "The Helping Hands and Linking Arms Project," the Mormon Church is organizing hundreds of thousands of volunteers to participate in a single day of service on April 25th.

The purpose of the project is to bring relief to those struggling because of the economic downturn across 11 southern states, according to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Elder Walter F. Gonzalez, who presides over church affairs in the southern United States, said he challenged over 665 congregations from Florida to Indiana to join forces with other faiths and civic organizations to render community service.

"It’s powerful when like-minded people join together to meet a wide spectrum of needs in diverse communities," Gonzalez said. "We can bring help and hope to others no matter what their circumstances."

The project includes activities such as gleaning crops, restocking community food banks, holding career fairs and blood drives, cleaning and repairing community facilities, building a Habitat for Humanity home, planting container gardens for low-income families, sponsoring a 5k run for charity and preparing Mother’s Day gifts for homeless children.

In Tennessee, volunteers will prepare and plant eight vacant lots in the inner city with vegetable gardens that will be cared for by neighborhood organizations; and in North Carolina, foster children will be "adopted" for the day of service to show them the benefits of giving to others.

In states hit hard by hurricanes, the project will focus on helping communities become better prepared. Two thousand volunteers will distribute disaster prevention materials to 40,000 homes in Florida and hundreds of young people will install smoke alarms and reflective address signs for the elderly in Louisiana as part of a newly enhanced 911 service.