PAGE 20
MORNING STAR • NOVEMBER 11 - 17, 2010
Grant will protect state archives ABA awards racial justice grant
these targeted funds will be used to purchase foreclosed homes at a discount and to rehabilitate or redevelop them in order to respond to rising foreclosures and falling home values. Today, 95 cents of every dollar from the first round of NSP funding is obligated – and is in use by communities, buying up and renovating homes and creating jobs.
RAM DELI MARKET & Central Ave. Package Store
302
875-9233
511 North CeNtral ave. laurel, De 19956
Full Line of Groceries Beer - Wine - Liquors hot & CoLd deLi
New Releases Starting at & Hot Movie $ 4.99 Hits VIDEO GAMES Starting at $
7.99
Nintendo Wii Play Station 2 • Play Station 3 X Box • X-Box 360
OVER 600 TITLES!
We Receive New Titles Every Month!
County employees help Habitat
Nearly two dozen Sussex County government employees traded in their computers and calculators for hammers and hardhats recently to benefit a local charity and needy family. County employees in October volunteered their time to Sussex County Habitat for Humanity by helping build a house at the corner of Greene Avenue and West Sixth Street in Laurel. Volunteers gave six hours of their ‘sweat’ to hang walls and perform other jobs in the home that benefits a single mother and her four children, who hope to move in by Christmas. The Build Day is the latest partnership between Sussex County government and Habitat for Humanity, a non-profit organization whose mission is to build decent, affordable homes in partnership with lowincome families. In March, the County donated to Habitat for Humanity the use of two vacant houses near Georgetown, which will be used as temporary housing for families waiting to move into their new homes and as quarters for AmeriCorps volunteers.
The Portsville Annual Fall Bazaar Saturday, Nov. 13, 2010 Dogwood Lane, Laurel
8 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Lunch Starting at 11 a.m. Menu: Oyster Fritters, Chicken Salad, Vegetable Soup, Hot Dogs, Baked Goods & Homemade Pies White Elephant Table & Raffles!
Hand-Crafted Items On Sale!
Criminal Justice Council that certifies compliance with the Declaration will be given preference over any applicant that does not certify compliance. The Declaration is available at http://cjc.delaware.gov. The Declaration of Leading Practices began to take shape in 2007 when the Delaware Supreme Court and the Delaware Criminal Justice Council co-sponsored a two-day summit on racial and ethnic fairness. The summit brought together more than 70 key stakeholders from state government and the community, representing every element of the justice system from arrest to prisoner re-entry, to meet with state and national experts in criminal justice and juvenile justice systems. In 2008, the Sentencing Project recognized the summit as an administrative best practice for state agencies. Justice Ridgely said, “This grant recognizes Delaware’s ground-breaking work to protect civil rights and promote racial and ethnic fairness in our criminal justice system. It will allow us to move forward with achieving and maintaining throughout Delaware the important leading practices which the Delaware Criminal Justice Council has endorsed.”
Delaware will receive a portion of $330 million to develop a new generation of tests designed to provide ongoing feedback to teachers during the course of the school year, measure annual student growth, and move beyond narrowlyfocused bubble tests. The tests will assess students’ knowledge of mathematics and English language arts from third grade through high school. The grant requests are part of the Race to the Top competition and will be awarded to the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) in the amounts of approximately $170 and $160 million respectively. Delaware is part of both coalitions. The PARCC coalition will test students’ ability to read complex text, complete research projects, excel at classroom speaking and listening assignments, and work with digital media. PARCC will also replace the one end-of-year high stakes accountability test with a series of assess-
ments throughout the year that will be averaged into one score for accountability purposes, reducing the weight given to a single test administered on a single day, and providing valuable information to students and teachers throughout the year. The SMARTER coalition will test students using computer adaptive technology that will ask students tailored questions based on their previous answers. SMARTER will continue to use one test at the end of the year for accountability purposes, but will create a series of interim tests used to inform students, parents and teachers about whether students are on track. For both consortia, these periodic assessments could replace already existing tests, such as interim assessments that are in common use in many classrooms today. Moreover, both consortia are designing their assessment systems with the substantial involvement of experts and teachers of English learners and students with disabilities to ensure that these students are appropriately assessed.
Grants will improve assessments
CHANGE YOUR ADDRESS TODAY. DON’T HESITATE! OLD Address
U.S. Senators Tom Carper and Ted Kaufman (both D-Del.) recently announced $5 million in funding to help reverse the effects of the foreclosure crisis in Delaware. The funding was made possible through the U.S. Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Neighborhood Stabilization Program and will provide targeted emergency assistance to state and local governments to acquire, redevelop or demolish foreclosed properties. “Communities across Delaware, and across the nation, were hit hard by the foreclosure crisis,” said Senators Carper and Kaufman. “This HUD funding will help speed up the process of redeveloping and reselling foreclosed properties, nurturing our communities back to their former health. The Neighborhood Stabilization Program also helps prevent similar problems in the future by offering economic assistance and housing counseling for low income homebuyers. It’s programs like these that will ultimately help our state get back on track.” The funding is provided under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. To date, there have been two other rounds of NSP funding: the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) provided $3.92 billion and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) appropriated an additional $2 billion. Like those earlier rounds of NSP grants,
Grant helps area neighborhoods
The American Bar Association has selected Delaware as one of four states to receive a two-year $24,000 grant to support a Racial Justice Improvement Project. The grant will allow Delaware to enact key practices to support a justice system that strives to be fair, efficient and accountable. The grant will build on the state’s existing efforts to protect civil rights and promote racial and ethnic fairness. In April 2010, the Delaware Criminal Justice Council, which is dedicated to making positive changes throughout Delaware’s criminal justice system, unanimously approved a “Declaration of Leading Practices to Protect Civil Rights and Promote Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Criminal Justice system in Delaware,” which has been recognized as a model for other states. The Declaration addresses early intervention strategies to protect civil rights and to promote racial and ethnic fairness, civilian and internal complaint processes, management of the use of force by law enforcement, bias-free decision making, personnel and data management, and community outreach. Effective Jan. 1, 2011, any applicant for a grant administered by the Delaware
Name: _________________________________________ Old Address: ____________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________
NEW Address
such as temperature and humidity. The results of the Heritage Health Index (HHI), found that 80 percent of collecting institutions throughout the country did not have an emergency plan for their collections or trained staff to carry it out. They concluded that approximately 190 million objects could be lost in just a few short years without immediate attention. The following workshop will be held at the Lewes Public Library: Collections Management: Essential Policies and Procedures for Cultural Institutions - Thursday, Dec. 2 - Discover how to design and implement a collections management policy and handling and maintenance guidelines. You will also learn how to delegate staff responsibilities and work with volunteers and boards of directors. To register, call 302-739-4748, ext. 5116 or e-mail beth-ann.ryan@state.de.us.
MOVING?
The Delaware Division of Libraries (DDL) has been awarded a $220,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences (IMLS) to train staff and volunteers in small museums, libraries, archives and historical societies to properly care for collections that are important to their communities. Delaware is one of only five states to receive this grant. A large portion of the grant funding will be used for staff education. The funding will also be used to develop a methodology and custom databases for cultural heritage organizations to properly inventory their collections. Working with leading Delaware institutions, such as the University of Delaware, will allow for sustainability of the project past the end of the grant period. A portion of the grant will be used to purchase kits with equipment to measure conditions which can damage collections,
Name: _________________________________________ New Address: ___________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________
Mail to the Seaford/Laurel Star Circulation, PO Box 1000, Seaford, DE or call Karen direct at 752-4454