The Daily Tell

The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), a nonprofit dedicated to helping young people in low-income communities become economically productive members of society, has recognized Akisha Campbell as the group’s volunteer of the year.
Campbell, who works as a program manager at IT consulting company Enlightened in Washington, DC, was given the award by NFTE for her work to bring "real world" experience to students at Hyde Public Charter School in the District of Columbia.

Enlightened, a member of NFTE for more than three years, sponsored the charter school this year through NFTE’s adopt-a-class program. As a NFTE adopter, Enlightened provides full financial resources for the class as well as having corporate personnel mentor the students.

"Enlightened is happy to support NFTE’s mission in providing educational programs to young kids from low-income communities," said Antwanye Ford, Enlightened’s president. "I am pleased with Akisha’s involvement with the NFTE program and her commitment to helping these young entrepreneurs foster the skills necessary to achieve their dreams."

As an NFTE volunteer, Campbell organized and conducted customer satisfaction sessions, marketing lectures, job shadowing events, offered assistance with the students’ business plans and hosted a selling event.

"I am honored to have been recognized with this award. Supporting the NFTE students has been a truly rewarding experience," Campbell said. "The students were a joy to work with and I look forward to continuing my support of the NFTE program."

NFTE, founded in 1987, helps young people to build skills and explore their entrepreneurial creativity. The students study business concepts and work on completing business plans for their own individual business.

With the proliferation of cell phones and text messaging as a main form of communication for teenagers, the nonprofit National Safety Council (NSC) is highlighting the growing use of electronic devices while driving as a major concern.

A recent survey of cell phone users by Vlingo found that some 26 percent admitted to having sent text messages while behind the wheel. That rises to almost 60 percent of those aged 16-19 and 49 percent of people aged 20-29.

Drivers talking on cell phones is even more widespread – NSC estimates that 100 million Americans use their phones while driving each day.

These statistics are alarming, but recent research published by NSC may explain the phenomenon. According to a study published in NSC’s Journal of Safety Research, drivers tend to overestimate their driving skills and underestimate their distraction caused by other activities while they drive.

NSC president and CEO Janet Froetscher identified cell phone use while driving as one of America’s most urgent traffic safety issues.

Cell phone use while driving contributes to 6 percent of crashes, according to NSC estimates. That works out to 636,000 crashes, 330,000 injuries, 12,000 serious injuries and 2,600 deaths each year. The same research put the annual financial toll of cell phone-related crashes at $43 billion.

Hands-free devices do not make cell phones any safer for driving, Froetscher said. NSC research shows that "the principle risk is the cognitive distraction," she said.

In January NSC became the first national organization to call for a total ban on cell phone use while driving. As part of its National Safety Month campaign in June, the organization is offering a free online course for parents about the risks teen drivers face.

Through this two-hour online program, parents will learn how to reinforce basic driving skills and good decision-making that can help teens become safe and responsible drivers. Registration is free June 1-7 only.

Four million square feet of green roofs, 31,000 high performance buildings, 11 million metric tons of carbon saved from the atmosphere. Those impressive statistics are the direct result of the green building initiatives of this year’s recipients of honor awards presented by the National Building Museum in Washington, DC.

The National Building Museum will bestow its honor awards on some of the titans of the sustainable building movement, including the founder of the LEED certification program, the city of Chicago and a major technology and construction company. The awards will be presented June 4th at a gala event in Washington, DC.

S. Richard Fedrizzi, the founding chair and president of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), has revolutionized the construction industry in the 10 years since establishing the LEED program for energy efficiency and environmentally sustainable design.

One of the greatest examples of LEED’s potential is the city of Chicago. In the 20 years under Mayor Richard M. Daley, 15 million square feet of municipal buildings have been retrofitted for energy efficiency.

Last year, Chicago launched its Climate Action Plan, a comprehensive strategy to combat climate change in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent below 1990 emission levels by 2050.

Two other award recipients demonstrate the power of green building to transform cities and the environment.

Majora Carter in the late 1990′s led the design of the South Bronx Greenway and in 2001 founded Sustainable South Bronx – one of the country’s first and most successful urban green collar job training and placement systems.

The final award winner, construction supply firm UTC, has recorded a 22 percent overall reduction in energy use and 50 percent reduction in water consumption since 1997.

UTC leads the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s Energy Efficiency in Buildings project to develop a road map to achieve zero net energy buildings all over the world and is a founding member of the USGBC.

Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco (H4H) has begun acquiring foreclosed homes as part of its new Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP), the nonprofit announced.

The foreclosure crisis of the past year has effected thousands of families in California, one of the states hardest hit by the collapse of the real estate market. Families who have lost their homes are displaced and, in some cases, have to leave their communities for good.

H4H said it has committed $500,000 to launch the neighborhood program, which will enable new affordable homeownership opportunities for local working families following rehabilitation of the homes.

The organization has also entered into a partnership with the city of Menlo Park, which is investing an additional $500,000 in the program. H4H plans to acquire and rehabilitate five vacant bank-owned properties in the Belle Haven neighborhood of Menlo Park, with a possible program expansion following the initial pilot phase.

"I have seen first-hand the impact of foreclosures on Menlo Park and know that we must take immediate action to address the problem," said Heyward Robinson, mayor of Menlo Park. "I’m grateful that we have a community that is willing to step up and address this challenge when the federal and state governments couldn’t."

Families selected for the new program will help with the reconstruction and refurbishment of the homes as part of the standard sweat equity requirement of the Habitat program. They will also have access to the same terms of Habitat’s homeownership program, including no down payment and a zero-interest mortgage, to purchase their homes.

The families will undergo significant homeownership education and training, just as all Habitat families do, helping to keep Habitat’s foreclosure rate at less than one percent locally and around the country.

The greater San Francisco H4H has set a goal of building 100 new homes in five years, including 15 as part of NRP.

For colleges and universities, it pays to go green. The Kresge Foundation, which provides facilities-capital grants, has announced it will only consider proposals for certified green building projects in the higher education sector, beginning next year.

The foundation said it will require applicants for its challenge grants to propose projects that meet the Silver-level or higher certification standards established by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Engineering and Environmental Design (LEED) program or an equivalent rating agency.

Kresge said it is giving one-year advance notice to colleges and universities to allow them sufficient preparation time to meet the new standards and will provide assistance for financially strapped institutions.

The foundation said it based its decision to fund only green projects on "broader national trends in the environment and education that are emerging from the Obama Administration."

"The Kresge Foundation is very concerned about the long-term impact of global climate change and deeply committed to environmental conservation, which is one of our nine core values," said education program director William F.L. Moses.

Moses said the new challenge-grant requirements for higher education represent a natural next step in addressing environmental issues more broadly. It may feel like tough love, but Moses said investing in high-performance buildings is better for the schools in the long-run – greener facilities will enable schools to become more energy-efficient and reduce their energy costs.

With a three-year, $1.2 million Kresge grant, the group Second Nature will help Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, Tribal colleges and universities and the U.S. Department of Education’s Title III and V institutions develop green building projects for their campuses.

Since March 2004, the foundation has made 199 awards of green planning grants to public and private institutions.

As higher education grows ever more expensive – and further out of reach for families of modest means – two policy institutes have recently pledged to study ways to improve so-called 529 college savings plans to make them more effective for broadening college affordability.

The New America Foundation and the Center for Social Development (CSD) at Washington University in St. Louis announced a new College Savings Initiative to study 529s – state-sponsored college savings plans established to encourage families to save money for postsecondary education.

Money contributed to these plans grows tax-free and contributions are tax deductible in most states. Yet 529s have yet to reach their full potential for low- and moderate-income families who have the most difficulty saving for their children’s education, the two policy groups said.

In other words, those who face the most barriers to sending their children to college receive the least benefit from 529s.

"Structured and invested properly, 529s hold enormous, untapped potential to get more students, especially those least likely headed to college, on a path to attend and complete college," said Ray Boshara, vice president of domestic policy programs at New America.

Some states have established programs to better include lower- and moderate-income families in 529 plans – including outreach, initial deposits, matching deposits, low fees and setting up 529s at birth. In Maine, a philanthropist has bequeathed money to set up a 529 plan for every newborn.

The College Savings Initiative will examine a number of new ideas – for example, how 529s might connect to federal tax and student aid policies.

"Saving money is not easy, but research shows many people can save when they have incentives and a way to do so," said Margaret Clancy, policy director at CSD. "We will study 529 innovations to see which ones are effective. This will inform 529 policy so that it can benefit families of all income levels."

The Entergy Charitable Foundation (ECF), the nonprofit arm of nuclear power provider Entergy Corporation, announced $1.4 million in grants to organizations in seven Southern states, including more than $1 million for groups in Louisiana.

ECF, which has a special focus on low-income initiatives, educational and literacy programs and efforts to protect the environment, issued grants to several nonprofit organizations in the still recovering city of New Orleans.

Approximately $800,000 in grants went to nonprofit groups in the New Orleans metro area working to help the region continue its recovery from Hurricane Katrina, ECF said.

The St. Bernard Project received a grant of $511,975 to help it expand its home rebuilding program to the Gentilly neighborhood in New Orleans, where it plans to rebuild 25 Gentilly homes and 25 homes in St. Bernard. All of the homes will be built and furnished to Energy Star energy efficiency standards.

The next largest grant, $150,000, went to KIPP New Orleans, which runs five elementary and middle schools in New Orleans targeted to students of low-income families.

The Gulf Coast Housing Development Corp. received a $75,000 grant to help fund a "gateway project" that is part of a larger effort to revitalize the Old South Baton Rouge area with mixed-use developments.

The foundation gave $30,000 to the Arkansas Single Parent Scholarship Fund. The fund gives scholarships to low-income mothers and fathers who are working to earn a college degree.

ECF provided other education-oriented grants to the Project SMART program run by the Oswego College Foundation and the Peekskill City School District. Project SMART helps teams of educators develop curriculum that connect students with real-life applications of educational principles.

As the Obama administration announced new fuel efficiency standards for the auto industry, America’s steel companies said they are accelerating development of materials to make cars lighter and greener.

The American Iron and Steel Institute’s Steel Market Development Institute (SMDI) said last week that North American steel companies are moving ahead with development of affordable advanced high-strength steel (AHSS) solutions that can reduce automobile mass by up to 25 percent, allowing cars to burn less fuel.

This type of steel could provide a benefit to society in multiple ways – AHSS can cut auto emissions of greenhouse gases and, unlike plastic, is better for automobile safety and is fully recyclable. A recent study by Ducker Worldwide shows that AHSS are the fastest-growing material in today’s new vehicles.

"North American steel companies are committed to collaborating with automakers to develop vehicles that are safe and meet all environmental requirements with cost-effective, lightweight steel technologies," said David C. Jeanes, president of SMDI.

Life cycle assessments (LCA) of steel, a measure a material’s total carbon footprint, show that steel produces up to 15 percent less CO2 emissions than any other automotive material.

"LCA demonstrates steel’s contribution to lower vehicle emissions through the use of highly energy-efficient AHSS coupled with steel’s full recyclability at the end of the vehicle’s useful life," said Ron Krupitzer, vice president automotive applications for SMDI.

President Obama’s new fuel economy standards for passenger cars and light trucks raise the required industry average to 35.5 miles-per-gallon (mpg) by 2016. The new rules would raise the average fuel efficiency of a new car by 30 percent.

The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) last week recognized four winners of its inaugural E Pluribus Unum Prizes for exceptional immigrant integration initiatives to reward exceptional efforts that uphold and update the ideal of "out of many, one."

The winners, which each received a $50,000 award supported by the J.M. Kaplan Fund, included government and non-government organizations from Texas, New York, Colorado and Tennessee. They were recognized at an awards gala at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.

"There is a pressing need to bolster immigrant integration efforts at the national, state and local levels," said Margie McHugh, co-director of MPI’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy. "Too often our national immigration debate proceeds without addressing immigrant integration issues."

The four prize-winners were:
* AVANCE of El Paso, Texas, an early childhood and parenting education initiative hosted by 14 schools in the nation’s fourth poorest city
* Internationals Network for Public Schools, 11 small public high schools operating on existing school campuses in New York City and Oakland, California
* Littleton Immigrant Integration Initiative, a Littleton, Colorado citizenship mentoring program
* Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition’s Welcoming Tennessee Initiative, a public education campaign aimed at fostering constructive public dialogue in a state facing profound demographic change.

"From the outset these awards have sought to identify exceptional programs that assist immigrants and their children in joining the mainstream of U.S. society and that build stronger relationships between immigrant and native-born communities," said MPI senior vice president Michael Fix. "The award winners represent innovative, sustainable and replicable programs whose success benefits both newcomers as well as Americans who have been here for generations."

In addition, two finalists received recognition for the positive impacts they have had on immigrant integration in the United States: Queens Library in Jamaica, New York; and Latino Community Credit Union in Durham, North Carolina.

Drug store and supermarket chain Safeway earned the highest honor from Easter Seals after raising $10.2 million for children and adults with autism and other disabilities in 2009 – exceeding the $100 million milestone for lifetime contributions.

The national nonprofit recently designated Safeway its All-Time Top Corporate Partner during an awards ceremony recognizing Easter Seals’ family of corporate partners.

Safeway stores in the U.S. and Canada raised funds this past April for people with disabilities, inviting customers to support Easter Seals services for children and adults with autism and other disabilities at checkout.

In one month, Safeway raised $8.8 million through in-store fundraising, while employees chipped in an additional $1.4 million through local market events, golf tournaments, galas and fundraisers.

"Ten million dollars can literally change the lives of thousands – and it does," said James E. Williams, Jr., president and chief executive officer, Easter Seals.

Williams emphasized that Safeway’s commitment to Easter Seals and the millions of families it serves goes beyond fundraising. The company employs more than 10,000 adults with disabilities, giving many a career and a means to live independently, he said.

Safeway said its partnership with Easter Seals is now more than 20 years old. Larree Renda, Safeway executive vice president and chair of the Safeway Foundation, said the company has embraced people with disabilities in the workplace.

"Most important, is the message that people with autism and other disabilities are valuable members of the workforce – even in these tough economic times," she said. "Too many businesses don’t take the risk in hiring people with disabilities."

This year, funds raised by Safeway will support a variety of Easter Seals services in several states. Those services include job training and employment opportunities, pre-school and after-school services, independent living options, services that help adults learn daily living and social skills and early and intensive intervention for toddlers recently diagnosed with autism.