Chicago Weekend 7-29-2020

Y O U R S O U R C E F O R C O R O N AV I R U S N E W S

Citizen The Citizen: Serving The Black Community For 55 Years Week of July 29, 2020

| Vol. 51 | No. 31 | www.citizennewspapergroup.com

CHICAGO WEEKEND

The CTA Building Small Business Program provides small businesses with a banking professional who assists with asset procurement. Banking professionals also help businesses attain more working capital. Photo courtesy of CTA

SMALL BUSINESS PROGRAM HELPS CONTRACTORS INVOLVED IN CTA PROJECT CTA has partnered with Walsh-Fluor and Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) Chicago to create a Building Small Business Program that helps contractors interested in working on the Red and Purple Modernization Phase (RPM) One Project. PAGE 2

Study: Major Cities are Slow to Recover After Public Transit Usage Dropped 75% Amid COVID-19

Wellable Partners with Sweat Factor for On-Demand Fitness Classes

Students Emerge as Leaders During COVID-19 Through Service Learning

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2 | CITIZEN | Chicago Weekend | Week of July 29, 2020

NEWS briefly EDUCATION NATIONAL COLLEGE FED CHALLENGE TO BE HELD IN A VIRTUAL FORMAT IN 2020 The Federal Reserve Board, along with co-sponsoring Federal Reserve Banks and other regional partners recently announced that the National College Fed Challenge will be held in a virtual format in 2020. The new format will include a video submission, a virtual judged question and answer session, and a virtual event announcing the winners in November. The new format will allow schools outside current Fed Challenge districts to compete in a newly created at-large region.

Interested colleges and universities should see “College Fed Challenge 2020 Rules and Steps” on the Board’s website for details on how to enter the 2020 competition. The deadline to register for the competition is September 30, 2020.

College Fed Challenge, in its 17th year, is a team competition for undergraduate students. Teams analyze current economic and financial conditions and formulate a monetary policy recommendation, modeling the Federal Open Market Committee.

More information can be found on the Fed Challenge website at https://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/ educational-tools/fedchallenge.htm

HEALTH

CDPH CONDUCTS A COMPREHENSIVE MOSQUITO SURVEILLANCE AND CONTROL PROGRAM The Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) has confirmed the first West Nile Virus (WNV)-positive mosquito batch in the city for 2020. CDPH will continue to monitor the area where the mosquito batch tested positive. Following additional tests, CDPH will determine the appropriate next steps to be taken. No human cases of WNV have been reported to date in 2020.

CDPH began its annual mosquito control activities on May 26th. This includes treating 40,000 catch basins in Chicago with larvicide, which kills immature mosquitoes and is the most effective control strategy. In addition, CDPH places up to 83 traps throughout the city and tests mosquito samples every week. This information guides CDPH’s efforts throughout the season, allowing teams to respond quickly in specific geographic areas to further reduce risks through neighborhood outreach and spraying.

The most effective way to prevent infection from WNV and other mosquito-borne diseases is to reduce the number of mosquitoes around your home and avoid mosquito bites. Residents are encouraged to take personal precautions against mosquitoes.

For more information about mosquito-borne diseases, including symptoms and prevention, visit www.chicago.gov/health.

Call 311 to report standing water, dead birds or high grass/weeds.

LAW & POLITICS

OJJDP RELEASES 2019 ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention recently released its 2019 Annual Report to Congress. The report describes programs and activities that OJJDP carried out in fiscal year 2019.

OJJDP awarded more than $323 million to fund programs, research, training and technical assistance, and information dissemination activities that enhance public safety, ensure juvenile offenders are held appropriately accountable, and that empower youth to live productive, law-abiding lives.

“OJJDP continues to stay focused on issues of national concern. We work with communities plagued by gang and gun violence, as well as neighborhoods affected by drug abuse,” said Caren Harp, OJJDP Administrator. “We pursue better methods to protect children who are abused, exploited, or exposed to violence — and to inspire young people who need positive adult mentors. When young people are empowered to live up to their potential, our communities become stronger and safer places in which to live and learn.”

Small Business Program helps contractors involved in CTA Project Continued from page 1

BY TIA CAROL JONES

CTA has partnered with Walsh-Fluor and Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) Chicago to create a Building Small Business Program that helps contractors interested in working on the Red and Purple Modernization Phase (RPM) One Project.

The CTA Building Small Business Program (SBP) aims to provide financial and technical support to small businesses that are certified disadvantaged business enterprises, or DBEs. DBE’s include businesses that are at least 51 percent owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals.

JuanPablo Prieto is the director and disadvantaged business enterprises liaison officer of CTA diversity programs.

Prieto said the aim is to assist small firms to increase their financial capacity and access to working capital, equipment loans and other financial resources. “We look to connect small businesses with financial resources they need to participate on the RPM Phase One Project and not only participate, but [to] grow their firms financially,” he said.

Prieto said 91 firms have attended the workshop portion of the program and 76 have completed the one-on-one sessions with a banking professional. He said the program has helped firms get $4.1 million in financing which includes Payment Protection Plan and Economic Injury Disaster Loan funds through the Small Business Administration due to COVID-19.

Prieto added the SBP program is targeted to construction and construction related companies because that is where the opportunities exist.

Companies that are interested attend workshops and learn about maximizing capital, equipment and real estate, as well as how to get more capital and how to increase cash flow. The companies go into a one-on-one session with a banking professional, who goes through the company’s profile to see what assets exist. The banking professional also assists with a path towards gaining more working capital.

“Some firms might need to purchase another piece of equipment to expand their scope. Say they do drywall and they want to get into masonry, but they need a set of equipment to do that, he

[the banking professional] can help set them up with an equipment loan [so] they can purchase whatever they need to start competing in different types of work,” Prieto explained.

Prieto said the RPM contract was awarded at the end of 2017. In fall 2019, ground broke on the project. Prieto added, it will take four to five years before the project is completed.

The goal of the project is to rebuild and modernize the North portion of the CTA Red Line and to build a Red-Purple Bypass so those lines can keep running while the Brown line goes west.

Prieto said that because of the size and scope of the project, it allows the CTA to hire more individuals and contractors to work on it. He said the CTA always strives to make sure those contractors and individuals working on the project reflect the community that CTA serves.

“The partnership between CTA, Walsh-Fluor and (LISC) Chicago is what makes this unique,” Prieto said. “We have the public organization, private contractor and the non-for-profit to really understand the needs of small businesses and have the resources to address those needs as best that we can.”

Marijuana sales create $52 million in state revenue in first six months

BY JERRY NOWICKI Capitol News Illinois jnowicki@capitolnewsillinois. com

Springfield — Since January, Illinois residents and visitors have spent nearly $240 million on legalized recreational marijuana, producing $52 million in state revenue, according to a news release from the governor’s office.

Of that, $34.7 million came from excise taxes, while $18 million came from sales taxes.

Per the law, 8 percent of that revenue will be shared with local governments, while the Illinois Department of Revenue estimates $25.9 million from excise and sales taxes will be directed to the state’s General Revenue Fund.

Also under the law, 25 percent of revenues collected from recreational cannabis sales will be reinvested

Since January, Illinois residents and visitors have spent nearly $240 million on legalized recreational marijuana.

through the R3 program (Restore, Reinvest and Renew) in communities that have been disproportionately impacted by the justice system, and to address substance abuse and prevention and mental health concerns.

Recently, the R3 program announced $31.5 million in grant opportunities to

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organizations working in historically underserved communities across Illinois.

“Illinois has done more to put justice and equity at the forefront of this industry than any other state in the nation, and we’re ensuring that communities that have been hurt by the war on drugs have the opportuni-

ty to participate,” Gov. JB Pritzker said in a recent news release.

The announcement signals progress for one of the legalization bill’s three main social equity measures.

Another, which is aimed at allowing groups from areas disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs to obtain an ownership stake in the industry, has stalled amid licensing delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

A lead marijuana advisor to Pritzker has said September is a goal date for when new dispensary and craft grow licenses will be released.

Another key equity measure is expungements for low-level marijuana offenses, and the governor’s office said Pritzker is working with Chicago State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, the Illinois Prisoner Review Board, and Illinois state’s attorneys to advance those goals.

CITIZEN | Chicago Weekend | Week of July 29, 2020

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NEWS

Enhanced YouthCare Program to Begin September 1 With more than three times the number of providers and more providers across nearly every major category, the Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) announced that youth in the care of the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) will transition to the new YouthCare program on September 1st.

The transition follows months of close collaboration with stakeholders and families to bring significant improvements to the program and ensure a smooth transition.

“There is nothing more important than the health and well-being of our most vulnerable children,” said HFS Director Theresa Eagleson. “With more providers than ever and dedicated care coordinators focused on finding the right services, we look forward to improving healthcare options and outcomes for these children through the YouthCare program.”

“DCFS is deeply committed to ensuring vulnerable children and families receive the quality health care they deserve,” said DCFS Director Marc Smith. “Throughout this process, we have made it a priority to listen to stakeholders and advocates who share our mission to care for vulnerable children, and the program HFS is moving forward with today is better because of those voices. Over the coming weeks and months, we will continue to work closely with our community of providers, stakeholders and families to ensure this program lives up to its obligation to provide quality care to our children.”

YouthCare is a specialized healthcare program designed specifically to address the needs of DCFS youth in care and former youth in care. The program brings unprecedented levels of care coordination to DCFS youth, with 188 care coordinators currently focused solely on connecting youth and families with providers and ensuring they receive the quality care they deserve. Twenty more are

scheduled to be hired.

It moves away from the old feefor-service model, with families lacking advanced care coordination and left to navigate today’s complex health care system and find providers and services on their own. With YouthCare, families have a personal care coordinator who helps manage the youth’s overall healthcare, researches providers, and schedules appointments.

The YouthCare network is significantly more robust than the current DCFS system, with more providers across nearly every major category, including primary care physicians, vision and dental.

Additionally, the 3,300 professionals of Northwestern Medicine were recently added to the YouthCare network.

Eighty-nine percent of providers currently serving DCFS youth are now a part of the YouthCare network, with ongoing outreach to any providers not yet a part of the network. To help ensure a smooth transition, YouthCare has also established a continuity of care period to ensure families can access current providers through February 28, 2021, even if those providers have not joined the YouthCare

network. Those who ultimately choose not to join the network may be offered single-case agreements to care for an individual child.

To ensure families are fully informed on the transition, YouthCare, HFS and DCFS have launched an aggressive outreach program to reach families through mail, phone, text and in-person sessions. These include notification and welcome information as well as outreach to ensure providers are contacted and offered the opportunity to join the YouthCare network.

By contract, YouthCare must meet a range of specific requirements in serving these youth.

These include standards on the size and scope of the network, distance to providers, response times to address concerns, provider payment schedules and appeals processes.

HFS has reporting systems in place that monitor these performance measures, and penalties can be applied when they are not met. When the health needs of a youth in care can be better served by a plan other than YouthCare, DCFS can decide to change the managed care plan for that child.

HFS and DCFS built the program cooperatively with input from

parents and other stakeholders, including the ACLU of Illinois.

In November of 2019, YouthCare began conducting individual screenings and assessments for DCFS youth in care to understand their unique needs and how best to provide quality care. More than 13,000 screenings and assessments have already been completed.

Former youth in care began directly receiving healthcare services through YouthCare on February 1.

They also have other healthcare options they can choose from outside YouthCare.

“At first, I was frankly leery about YouthCare because it meant change,” said Tina Reed, a nurse and mother of three pre-teenage children. “But I can’t say enough now about the services. Our care coordinator truly does care and it shows, as she goes above and beyond. The personal care we get makes me so much more comfortable, helping cut through the red tape and getting us the services we need.”

Reed’s children face significant physical and mental health challenges. Their care coordinator helped find an ideal doctor and assists with their medications.

YouthCare also offers specialty providers not currently available, as well as additional dental care and more resources on LGBTQ issues, developmental disabilities, care for survivors of human trafficking and expanded telehealth options.

“With help from our care coordinator, YouthCare has been absolutely amazing. She made the whole transition easy,” said Amber Bell, a business owner and mother of a young child facing major health challenges after brain cancer treatment. “To have someone in my corner to help out has given us peace of mind.”

Bell’s son has more than two dozen doctors treating a large range of issues. This challenge has made assistance from their care coordinator especially valuable. During the early weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic, her son needed crucial medicine from Italy, which had been hit especially hard. But their care coordinator tracked down possible sources and secured the medication. The care coordinator also calls before and after surgeries to check on the child’s progress.

“YouthCare is caring for us and has been a real blessing,” said Natasha Allen, the mother of a teenage girl with autism. “Our care coordinator checks up on us, telling me about services I didn’t know about and asking how they can help. My daughter is my life and I’m hers, and I’m really appreciative of YouthCare for their help for us.”

Allen particularly appreciates the assistance with transportation she has received, saving the family money and making care more accessible. Her care coordinator intervened to obtain vital medication that had been delayed, and an “after care” was very helpful when her daughter left the hospital after a recent procedure, checking on her condition and ensuring continued assistance.

For more information, please visit ilyouthcare.com

Justice Department Files Civil Action to Shut Down Chicago Area Tax Return Preparer The United States has filed a complaint seeking to bar a Chicago area tax return preparer from preparing federal income tax returns for others, the Justice Department recently announced.

The civil complaint against Anthony Jones was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and alleges that Jones prepared federal income tax returns for several Chicago area taxpayers that significantly understated his customers’ tax liabilities by fabricating or manipulating his customers’

business income or expenses. The suit also charges that Jones misrepresents his customers’ filing statuses.

According to the complaint, the IRS interviewed several of Jones’ customers, who allegedly stated that they did not generate the business income or incur the business expenses reported on the returns Jones prepared for them, and did not give Jones any reason to believe that such income or expenses were legitimate.

The complaint alleges that, by repeatedly

understating his customers’ tax liabilities, Jones has caused substantial harm to the United States.

Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’s Dirty Dozen Tax Scams and taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant. The IRS has information on its website for choosing a tax return preparer and has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers.

In the past decade, the Department of Justice Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax

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preparers.

Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s website.

An alphabetical listing of persons enjoined from preparing returns and promoting tax schemes can be found here: https://www.justice.gov/tax/program-shut-down-schemesand-scams If you believe that one of the enjoined persons or businesses may be violating an injunction, please contact the Tax Division with details.

4 | CITIZEN | Chicago Weekend | Week of July 29, 2020

BUSINESS

Tech Job Gains Confirm Pockets of Strength in Recovering Labor Market The two components of information technology (IT) employment – industry and occupation – each showed signs of an improving labor market, according to an analysis of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics #JobsReport by CompTIA, the nonprofit trade association for the global tech industry.

While overall tech industry employment showed a slight decline of 5,600 jobs, three of five sectors experienced positive gains. Tech manufacturing led the way with a net increase of 7,300 jobs, covering both technical and non-technical positions.

On the tech occupation front, IT jobs across all industry sectors of the

economy increased by an estimated 227,000 positions. Through the first half of the year, tech occupation employment increased in five of the six months.

“The latest employment data for tech was generally positive, with continuing signs of momentum,” said Tim Herbert, executive vice president for research and market intelligence at CompTIA. “While uncertainty is still a major concern, the forward-looking employer job posting figures suggest hiring will accelerate in areas such as software development, IT support, cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, and certain emerging tech fields.”

In addition to tech manufacturing, the other industry sectors that

experienced jobs gains for the month include data processing, hosting and related services (+ 5,600) and the other information services category, which includes search engines and portals (+ 2,200).

The IT services and custom software development segment lagged, with an estimated loss of 20,400 positions. The telecommunications sector also continued its downward slide, with a net loss of 300 jobs.

“Because the IT services and custom software development segment is dominated by small firms, they tend to be more sensitive to disruptions in customer spending,” said Herbert. “As the broad small business market

“While uncertainty is still a major concern, the forward-looking employer job posting figures suggest hiring will accelerate in areas such as software development, IT support, cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, and certain emerging tech fields,” said Tim Herbert, executive vice president for research and market intelligence at CompTIA.

recovers, we expect hiring will resume among IT services and customer software development firms.”

Wells Fargo Names Kristy Fercho to Lead Home Lending Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: Housing Council, and a member of WFC) recently announced that Kristy its Residential Board of Governors.

Fercho will join the company at the She also serves on the boards of beginning of August as the new head City Year and the Detroit Zoological of Wells Fargo Home Lending.

Society. Her industry accolades Fercho has 18 years of leadership include MReport honoring her as experience in the mortgage industry one of the Top Women in Housing, and will replace Michael DeVito, who Diversity Journal listing her among has announced plans to retire after its Women Worth Watching, more than 23 years with Wells Fargo.

National Mortgage Professional Fercho will join the company Magazine naming her to its list of from Flagstar Bank, where she has Most Powerful Women, and the served since 2017 as president of the Michigan Chronicle selecting her for company’s mortgage division. its Women of Excellence recognition.

Under Fercho’s leadership, the DeVito’s retirement comes after a mortgage business flourished, financial services career that spans expanding to over 87 retail more than 30 years, including 23 home lending centers and 2,300 at Wells Fargo. He was selected to correspondent and broker lead Wells Fargo Home Lending relationships. Prior to joining in January 2018 after serving as Flagstar, she spent 15 years with head of mortgage production for Fannie Mae, where she led the the company and previously ran its strategy and business performance mortgage servicing operations. of single-family customers in the DeVito also was head of western United States and also served Education Financial Services for Kristy Fercho, new head of Wells Fargo Home Lending in customer engagement and human nearly three years and led retail Photo: Business Wire resources roles. fulfillment for Home Lending.

Fercho began her career and served Previously, he was a leader in Home in a variety of sales, operations, and human at Wells Fargo. “Buying a home remains Lending’s early e-business initiatives and resources roles at Baxter International before one of the most important financial managed retail home equity. moving to Pepsico Inc., where she ultimately decisions our customers will make in their “Michael has always been an active was director of worldwide corporate human lifetime, and Kristy is the right person to advocate for his teams, our customers, resources. help us ensure that no one can do it better our industry, and the communities “Kristy is a customer-first business for them than Wells Fargo.” where we work,” stated Weinbach. “I am leader with deep home lending experience.

Fercho currently serves as vice chair exceptionally grateful for his dedication She has been an inspiring and vocal leader of the board of the Mortgage Bankers to doing what’s right for our customers across the mortgage industry while driving Association, vice chair of the MBA’s and his passion for helping people become transformational growth at Flagstar,” said Diversity and Inclusion Advisory homeowners, and wish him all the best in Mike Weinbach, CEO of consumer lending Committee, co-chair of the Affordable his retirement.” www.citizennewspapergroup.com

The CompTIA IT Employment Tracker is available at https://www. slideshare.net/comptia/comptia-itemployment-tracker-july-2020.

Study: Major Cities are Slow to Recover After Public Transit Usage Dropped 75% Amid COVID-19 For those who depend on public transit, severe drops in ridership can be detrimental. With fewer riders comes limited scheduling and days where public transit may not run at all. For the busy metropolises on ValuePenguin’s list, that could mean fewer people are able to get out to grocery stores or medical facilities.

ValuePenguin examined bus, subway, and train ridership in the top 10 major cities across the country, and even as major cities like New York City and Seattle open up, transit usage has recovered more slowly in those cities than in others.

Key findings: Transit usage plummeted 75% nationwide in March, and only reached 49% of pre-coronavirus usage rates as of July 1.

Cities hit with earlier COVID-19 outbreaks have had bigger drops and slower recoveries than those cities hit later.

Transit usage is recovering more slowly than other modes of transport: Walking and driving are both well over 100% of pre-coronavirus levels nationwide, though not all cities are recovering at equal rates.

Cities ranked by biggest drops in transit ridership post-coronavirus: Seattle New York City San Francisco - Bay Area Washington DC Boston Chicago Los Angeles Philadelphia Denver Atlanta To view the full report, visit: https://www.valuepenguin. com/2020/07/transit-usage-drop-during-covid-19

CITIZEN | Chicago Weekend | Week of July 29, 2020

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FASHION

HOW LONG SHOULD YOU FAST FOR WEIGHT LOSS? Two daily fasting diets, also known as timerestricted feeding diets, are effective for weight loss, according to a new study published by researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

The study reported results from a clinical trial that compared a 4-hour timerestricted feeding diet and a 6-hour time-restricted feeding diet to a control group.

“This is the first human clinical trial to compare the effects of two popular forms of time-restricted feeding on body weight and cardiometabolic risk factors,” said Krista Varady, professor of nutrition at the UIC College of Applied Health Sciences and corresponding author of the story.

Participants in the 4-hour time-restricted feeding diet group were asked to eat only between the hours of 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. Participants in the 6-hour time-restricted feeding diet group were asked to eat only between the hours of 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.

In both the study groups, patients were allowed to eat whatever they wanted during the 4-hour or 6-hour eating period. During the fasting hours, participants were directed to only drink water or calorie-free beverages.

In the control group, participants were directed to maintain their weight and not change their diet or

Two daily fasting diets, also known as time-restricted feeding diets, are effective for weight loss, according to a new study.

physical activity levels.

The participants were followed for 10 weeks as weight, insulin resistance, oxidative stress, blood pressure, LDL cholesterol, HDL

cholesterol, triglycerides and inflammatory markers were tracked.

The study, published in Cell Metabolism, found that participants in both daily fasting groups reduced

calorie intake by about 550 calories each day simply by adhering to the schedule and lost about 3% of their body weight. The researchers also found that insulin resistance and oxidative stress levels

were reduced among participants in the study groups when compared with the control group. There was no effect on blood pressure, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol or triglycerides.

There also was no significant difference in weight loss or cardiometabolic risk factors between the 4-hour and 6-hour diet groups.

“The findings of this study are promising and reinforce what we’ve seen in other studies — fasting diets are a viable option for people who want to lose weight, especially for people who do not want to count calories or find other diets to be fatiguing,” Varady said. “It’s also telling that there was no added weight loss benefit for people who sustained a longer fast — until we have further studies that directly compare the two diets or seek to study the optimal time for fasting, these results suggest that the 6-hour fast might make sense for most people who want to pursue a daily fasting diet.”

Varady and her colleagues also reported that there were no major adverse health events reported by study participants during the study and that the mild adverse events — such as dizziness or headaches — were limited to the beginning of the trial.

Co-authors on the study are UIC’s Sofia Cienfuegos, Kelsey Gabel, Faiza Kalam, Mark Ezpeleta, Eric Wiseman, Vasiliki Pavlou, Shuhao Lin and Manoela Lima Oliveira. The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health (R01DK119783)

Wellable Partners with Sweat Factor for On-Demand Fitness Classes Wellable, a leading employee wellness technology and services provider, is partnering with Sweat Factor to help employers better address their employee well-being needs, especially with challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. The partnership will allow Wellable customers to access the Sweat Factor library of on-demand fitness classes.

Resulting from shutdowns of nonessential workspaces and closings and capacity limits on gyms, employers are looking to their wellness partners to help them provide employees with

the resources to stay active.

Through Sweat Factor, top trainers from across the globe deliver exclusive content for all fitness levels.

There are more than 300 classes to choose from, with new content being added each month.

Class categories include Pilates, yoga, Barre, boot camps, and more as well as address a wide range of goals (strength, cardio, prenatal, etc.) and areas of focus (core, upper body, lower body, etc.).

“As a provider of wellness services, we recognized the void created by employers no longer being

able to offer fitness classes to their employees. This was exacerbated by the closing of gyms,” said Nick Patel, president of Wellable. “This is why we wanted to offer a solution to the problem. Our clients can now provide their employees with a wide array of on-demand classes to stay physically active from their home and without a gym.”

The partnership will allow Sweat Factor to expand its reach into www.citizennewspapergroup.com

employee well-being programs, helping even more people reach their physical fitness goals.

“I am so glad to be partnering with a company that has such a strong track record in delivering success for employers across the country,” said Mike Donavanik, president of Sweat Factor. “I am looking forward to growing our library of exclusive content and helping employers improve the health and well-being of their employees alongside a great partner.”

Wellable works with employers, health plans, and properties of all

sizes across the world, with active users in more than 23 different countries. Visit Wellable online at www.wellable.co.

Sweat Factor provides a library of more than 400 on-demand, at-home workouts through internationally recognized trainers like Mike Donavanik, Anja Garcia, Gideon Akande, Sarah Kusch, Betina Gozo, Ashley Joi, Kenta Seki, and more.

Classes can be watched on a Mac/ PC or from a Sweat Factor app on iPhone, Android, Roku, or Apple TV. For more information, visit www. sweatfactor.com

6 | CITIZEN | Chicago Weekend | Week of July 29, 2020

NEWS

Students Emerge as Leaders During COVID-19 Through Service Learning StatePoint - As learning has gone virtual to curb the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, educators and parents have been left with a pressing concern: how will this experience impact social and emotional development?

“The pandemic is having profound effects on children’s mental well-being, their social development, their safety, their privacy, their economic security and beyond,” a policy brief by the United Nations stated. “While children are not the face of this pandemic, its broader impacts on children risk being catastrophic and amongst the most lasting consequences for societies as a whole.”

While maintaining progress in core subject areas is imperative, a curriculum that develops leadership skills is equally essential to ensure that emotional development continues virtually.

An independent research study commissioned by Lead4Change found that students who completed the Lead4Change Student Leadership Program experienced tangible emotional growth. The program involves lessons in leadership, as well as creating and implementing team projects to meet a need in the community. Those that completed the program experienced significant changes in leadership skills (60 percent of students improved), respect for others (54 percent) and ambition and innovation (53 percent). Programs of this nature can be completed virtually by adapting projects to address current concerns, and they can not only succeed without physical contact, but offer unique challenges that help students to grow as leaders.

Students at Mohave High School in Bullhead City, Ariz. recon-

sidered their project when quarantine began, creating a readaloud library of developmentally appropriate books for preschoolers. With high schoolers reading preschoolers books and teaching them literacy and social development skills, this resource allowed an early childhood program to continue virtually.

“The students developed a ‘can do attitude’ while working collaboratively to adapt to their new normal,” said teacher, Michele Leyendecker. “With so much uncertainty, this project truly gave them purpose.” The “T-Bird Readers” team was awarded Lead4Change’s grand prize, a $10,000 grant for a nonprofit of their choice.

In Garner, N.C., students participated in service learning and emerged as community leaders by directly addressing the local impact of the pandemic. The “Corona Relief Crew” collaborated with volunteers and vendors to create and distribute kits with essential food and supplies for the homeless and those in nursing homes who have been severely impacted by the pandemic.

“Being an adult leader for the Corona Relief Crew has caused a paradigm shift in how I view youth strength and their ability to lead,” educator Dr. Cleopatra Lacewell shared. “This experience has taught me when students have well-organized plans, identified goals and established team structures, they can then perform as stellar leaders with minimum support.”

The Corona Relief Crew was also honored with Lead4Change’s $10,000 grand prize for their initiative. For more information about the Lead4Change Student Leadership

An independent research study commissioned by Lead4Change found that students who completed the Lead4Change Student Leadership Program experienced tangible emotional growth.

Program, visit lead4change.org.

While distance learning’s impact on students’ education has been unprecedented, this disruption also has presented a unique opportunity for students to overcome obstacles and grow as leaders. With a service-learning project, students can gain a sense of purpose, lead real change in their local community and maintain a sense of unity that is integral during challenging times.

COMMENTARY

DA 5 BLOODS AND AMERICA ABROAD

BY OSCAR H. BLAYTON

I get an ache in my heart every time someone who learns that I am a Vietnam veteran, says “Thank you for your service.”

Even before I returned to the United States from my combat tour in Vietnam, I had decided that we were fighting an unjust war. More than 50 years later, watching Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods” set off my internal alarm bells, warning against African Americans blindly participating in U.S. foreign policy.

Lee’s latest movie is an excellent commentary on some of the complexities of the Vietnam war for African Americans, which he boils down to a single line spoken by a central character: “We fought in an immoral war that wasn’t ours… for rights that wasn’t ours.”

I am a big fan of Spike Lee, and Da 5 Bloods is among his best work, but the film points out how Black folk were victims of America’s foreign policy while understating our complicity in it. I do not fault Lee for this because this war was too broad in its social and political ramifications to fit into a single movie. But it omits two lessons Black folk should have learned from this painful bloodbath.

First, the American War in Vietnam was an attempt to maintain

Oscar H. Blayton

white supremacy in Southeast Asia.

U.S. involvement in that part of the world did not ramp up until after the Vietnamese had forced out their former colonial masters – the French.

Having abandoned Vietnam to Japanese invaders during World War II, France returned at the end of that war and demanded – with an outrageous sense of entitlement bourne of white supremacy – that it be allowed to continue its rule. The bloodied and proud Vietnamese, who had engineered their own resistance to the Japanese, were having none of it.

After the Vietnamese rid themselves of the French in 1954 at the cost of many more lives, the United States – in its role as the Chicken Little of anti-communism – raised

the alarm that the sky was falling.

Self-proclaimed “foreign policy experts” in the United States warned that Southeast Asian countries would fall like dominos if communists were allowed to gain control of all of Vietnam. North Korea had securely established itself as a communist nation a decade earlier and foreign policy advisors in Washington reasoned that preventing the spread of communism was in America’s national interest.

When we make a critical examination of Vietnam today, we see a trading partner of the United States and a respected member of the global community. We see economic and social progress under a communist government that exposes the lies of American demagogues who, foaming-at-the-mouth, protested the rise of communism.

In the late 1950s and early 1960, with Blacks being murdered with impunity and denied basic constitutional rights in America, the U.S. government chose instead to focus on the “rights” of people half a world away. But “freedom” was not what Washington was seeking to establish in Southeast Asia; it was “compliance.” The United States wanted to bend that part of the world to its will – a world order based upon white supremacy. www.citizennewspapergroup.com

If one ignores the rhetoric and examines America’s actions towards Africa, Asia and South America, the evidence is clear that white supremacy has driven U.S. foreign policy throughout its post-World War II history.

Secondly, African Americans have been complicit in U.S. aggressions towards people of color around the world. Handicapped by the blindfold of anti-communist rhetoric, Black folk have too often been enablers in America’s efforts to keep whiteness perched upon its global pedestal.

Even those of us who knew that Washington’s anti-Communist zeal made no sense, particularly as it related to Africa and South America, did not make the connection between U.S. foreign policy and white supremacy.

It was not the rise of communism that these demagogues feared; it was the loss of white privilege around the world. In the 1960s, the newly emergent African nations were being successfully oppressed by a network of political, economic and military resources that put a lid on any threat to white supremacy from the “Dark Continent.” But with the rise of the People’s Republic of China and the defeat of the French in Vietnam, the white supremacy lid was coming off of Asia.

Revisiting the American War

in Vietnam, we see one aspect of America’s attempt to maintain global domination by white supremacy and we see our complicity in this effort. It is not enough for Black folk to plead innocence as draftees just trying to make it back to the “World” alive. We must own our part in the oppression of others.

Attempts to deny our complicity in spreading misery around the globe in support of white supremacy is not unlike Confederate sympathizers refusing to acknowledge that the underlying cause of the Civil War was the preservation of slavery, not the noble South.

As Confederate statues finally come tumbling down, African Americans are asking, “Why has it taken so long? There was no just cause.

There was no noble South.” By that same measure, we must ask ourselves, “What was the true cause and where was the nobility of America’s involvement in Vietnam?”

Not only must we ask ourselves these questions about Vietnam, we must continue to ask these types of questions about all of America’s foreign policies.

Oscar H. Blayton is a former Marine Corps combat pilot and human rights activist who practices law in Virginia.

CITIZEN | Chicago Weekend | Week of July 29, 2020

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