helping

5Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

It’s Not The Whole Story But Safety Net Policies Are Helping Reduce The Number Of Americans Below The Poverty Line

On The Record Elena Delavega, University of Memphis CC BY-ND The share of Americans living in poverty shrank to an estimated 9.2% in 2020, according to the Urban Institute, a think tank that closely tracks this rate with a widely used model. There were 29.3 million Americans living below the poverty line, the institute’s researchers found. Another 10.3 million appear to have been kept out of poverty through government efforts to cushion the blows from massive economic upheaval triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. This new estimate contradicts many prior predictions and is significantly lower than the 10.5% of the U.S. population the U.S. Census Bureau said was in poverty in 2019, the most recent official data available. If confirmed when the government agency releases official 2020 numbe...

Helping Make Society More Respectful And Equitable – Nurturing Dads Raise Emotionally Intelligent Kids

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS

Helping Make Society More Respectful And Equitable – Nurturing Dads Raise Emotionally Intelligent Kids

Kevin Shafer, Brigham Young University When my oldest son, now nearly 13, was born in July of 2008, I thought I could easily balance my career and my desire to be far more engaged at home than my father and his generation were. I was wrong. Almost immediately, I noticed how social policies, schools and health care systems all make it difficult for dads to be highly involved and engaged at home. Contradictory expectations about work and family life abound. As a fatherhood researcher with four kids of my own, I am convinced that fathers are transformative figures for children, families and communities. But a man’s mere presence, paycheck and willingness to punish misbehaving children is not nearly enough. Many of the benefits of fathering for children come from dads being nurturing, lovi...

Helping Nursing Homes Recover From COVID-19 Fears And Become Safer Places For Aging Parents

14Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19, Journalism

Helping Nursing Homes Recover From COVID-19 Fears And Become Safer Places For Aging Parents

Two weeks after the first U.S. case of COVID-19 was identified in Snohomish County, Washington, in early 2020, my dad had a stroke at his home just across Puget Sound. More COVID-19 cases were about to surface at a nearby skilled nursing facility, marking the beginning of a crisis for nursing homes across the country. My dad was incredibly lucky. It was minor stroke, and he didn’t need nursing home care. But the type of stroke he had is a leading risk factor for cognitive impairment and vascular dementia. I know that nursing care may be in his future. Throughout the pandemic, nursing homes have been in the headlines as places with uncontrolled COVID-19 cases and social isolation, which research shows can worsen people’s health. About a third of all reported U.S. COVID-19 deaths have been...

Layers Of Peatlands Trap Huge Amounts Of Carbon Helping To Cool The Climate, But That Could End With Warming And Development

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ENVIRONMENT, VIDEO REELS

Layers Of Peatlands Trap Huge Amounts Of Carbon Helping To Cool The Climate, But That Could End With Warming And Development

Peatlands are a type of wetland where dead plant material doesn’t fully decompose because it’s too soggy. In these ecosystems, peat builds up as spongy dark soil that’s sometimes referred to as sod or turf. Over thousands of years, yards-thick layers of peat accumulate and trap huge amounts of carbon, helping to cool the climate on a global scale. More valuable than it looks. David Stanley/Flickr, CC BY But that might not be true for much longer. Warming temperatures and human actions, such as draining bogs and converting them for agriculture, threaten to turn the world’s peatlands from carbon reservoirs to carbon sources. In a newly published study, our multidisciplinary team of 70 scientists from around the world analyzed existing research and surveyed 44 leading experts to identify fa...

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Helping Veterans Every Day

As the nation celebrates our 17 million living veterans, it is also important to know that the number of these heroes who are ending their own lives prematurely is rising. In the general population, suicide is the 10th most common cause of death, but among veterans with PTSD, it’s fourth. Among veterans younger than 35, it’s second. Suicide rates are also rising among members of the military. Since 2017, rates for active-duty service members have been above those of civilians. The same is true for National Guard service members since 2015 and and nonactive veterans for the past decade. I’m a researcher who studies risk and resilience in military and veteran families. I can tell you that the single most common stressor for those who attempt or complete suicide is a serious relationship di...

Plants might be able to tell us about the location of dead bodies, helping families find missing people

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ENVIRONMENT

Plants might be able to tell us about the location of dead bodies, helping families find missing people

The notion of plants talking to us about dead people sounds like a bad horror movie. But that’s the theme of a recent scientific paper I co-authored. Each day, over 160,000 people die in the world. Most people die with family members present or nearby; their family and friends mourn their loss, which includes having the loved-one’s body present. Sometimes people die in the wilderness, in war and under questionable circumstances. In so many of these cases the body is never recovered and loved ones don’t get closure. In cases of murder or genocide, perpetrators go unpunished without a recovered body. I didn’t usually think about this topic, until recently. I am a plant biologist who uses biotechnology and synthetic biology approaches in research. Nearly 20 years ago, I coined the word “phy...

Slave Cabin Sleepovers Are Helping Black And White Participants To Create Healing Conversations

24Feb

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

LIFESTYLE

Slave Cabin Sleepovers Are Helping Black And White Participants To Create Healing Conversations

By 1860, more than 40,000 plantations in the United States each had 20 or more enslaved Africans. Today, hundreds of those same plantations operate as museums, but only a handful tell the stories of the enslaved who lived, toiled, and died there. Meanwhile, lifestyle magazines tout plantations as a destination—weddings have become the latest trend—emphasizing their idyllic verdant settings and stately architecture. The Whitney Plantation is the only plantation, of the 375 existing locations, expressly designed to center the narrative of slavery, but Black conservationists and historical interpreters such as Joe McGill are collaborating with plantation owners, government agencies, and the public to center the history of enslaved Africans at those historical 46,300 plantations, and broade...

Helping Pregnant Parents To Be With Addictions Navigate Aspects Of Life

29Jan

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

Helping Pregnant Parents To Be With Addictions Navigate Aspects Of Life

Coaches help pregnant people with addictions navigate all aspects of life, from doctor visits to finding housing. “Look at that little bald head,” Jewel Adams said. Moving toward Adams in the arms of her mother, and wearing a ruffled, magenta onesie, is 3-week-old Safiyah James. “Hi Sophia,” Adams said. “It’s Sah-fiyah,” said Kia Nassik, 27, as she allows Adams to hold her daughter in her apartment just south of Madison, Wisconsin. Safiyah sticks out her lower lip, squints her eyes and lets out a small cry. “She saying, ‘these ain’t my mama’s hands.’ I know, I know,” Adams said, rocking Safiyah for a few moments before handing her back to her mother. Though this is Nassik’s second child—she has a 5-year-old daughter as well—she feels like a first-time mom. During her first pregnancy, ...

Black Girl Magic: How Tarot Is Helping Women of Color Connect

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ASTROLOGY

Black Girl Magic: How Tarot Is Helping Women of Color Connect

The Detroit Blk Gurls Do Tarot Facebook group empowers women in traditional spiritualities. Once taboo, tarot reading is considered spooky, and even wicked by some. But the form of divination that uses cards dates back to the 15th century—and has become the latest spiritual trend. Decks are sold at almost any store, and hundreds of thousands of Instagram and Facebook pages are dedicated to the art of divination. But some practitioners in the United States have been using the cards for decades as a tool in their spiritual practices as they turn away from Western religions for traditional African-centered and Indigenous spiritualities. Thirty-five years since the release of Jambalaya: The Natural Woman’ s Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals, by teacher and auth...

Oscar Grant Was Shot by Police 10 Years Ago. Now His Family Is Helping Others to Heal

18Jan

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIAL JUSTICE

Oscar Grant Was Shot by Police 10 Years Ago. Now His Family Is Helping Others to Heal

His life was cut short on a train platform. Now his family is building bridges between police and the community, and connecting families affected by such violence. Oscar Grant III was an unarmed Black man killed by a police officer in Oakland, Calif., years before Black Lives Matter drew national attention to the growing number of unarmed Black men, women and children who die at the hands of law enforcement officers—what some scholars are calling an epidemic. Jan. 1 marked 10 years since the 22-year-old father was fatally shot by the Bay Area Regional Transit officer in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day. In the decade since his tragic death, Grant’s family has helped to create a police citizen review board of BART, established a foundation, and launched a camp...