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OMAHA STAR
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Nebraska’s Only Black Owned Newspaper Vol. 82 - No. 9 Omaha, Nebraska
Friday, May 1, 2020
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Omaha Public Schools Continues Serving Students, Families Since the official move to distance learning among all area school districts, Omaha Public Schools has worked to help navigate this time for its 53,552 students. Top among its priorities are engaging students and addressing food. While schools are physically closed, ongoing efforts focus on ending the academic year strong while preparing for a safe and productive start to the next school year. During the first virtual OPS Board of Education meeting held April 15th, Superintendent Dr. Cheryl Logan detailed these efforts.
Virtual Learning Opportunities “Our teachers, principals and technology teams have dedicated countless hours toward migrating lessons online for our students to continue learning at home during this unprecedented time when they themselves are also under stress and concern for their loved ones and their families,” Dr. Logan said. Since the closing of schools, teachers have provided weekly activities online for students. The district printed eight weeks of grade-specific elementary learning packets for math, reading and writing. While the pack-
OPS Nick Wennstedt, Bryan High teacher working on distance learning with students.
ets and activities do not need to be physically turned in, it is encouraged that families try to keep students on a schedule throughout the day. A number of virtual tools have been provided on an Omaha Public Schools distance learning resource page. “As a part of our immediate work to support student learning, we are in the process of purchasing an additional 2,000 iPads for students to use during summer school,” Dr. Logan shared during the last special meeting for the Board of Education on April 20, 2020. “In addition, we’re working to remove some obstacles we know some families are currently experiencing in terms of devices and connectivity. We are contingency planning to position our school district to support our families as best as we can to minimize disruption to our students’ education.” Fighting Food Insecurity “We’ve served more than 30,000 meals a week to families in our community these past several weeks, Dr. Logan said, adding that other meal distributions “continue to operate through our partnership with Food Bank for
Community Health Ambassadors on COVID-19 Training Creighton University’s Health Science – Multicultural and Community Affairs (HS-MACA) Department and its affiliate, the Center for Promoting Health and Health Equity (CPHHE) have significantly advanced Creighton’s mission of partnering with and serving our neighboring community through education, programming development and resource sharing. A prime example is CPHHE’s training and certification over 60 Community Health Ambassadors (CHA’s), most lay individuals in North and South Omaha. CHA’s play crucial roles in community engagement services, health education, motivation and empowerment of Omaha underserved communities. The CHA program, established through (1) our previous CDCfunded CPHHE-REACH project (Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health), and (2) the CPHHE and HS-MACA community health advocates program initiated through seed money from CHI Health and the Omaha Housing Authority, has continued empowering African American, Native American and Hispanic communities in Omaha. These community health ambassadors/advocates (CHA’s) are lay community members to provide information, resources, and connections to health services in the communities in which they live and work. Currently, CHA training is in partnership with the
Creighton Office of Excellence. The Covid-19 pandemic is a crucial reason for HS-MACA and CPHHE to remotely expand CHA training and education through online mechanisms. Recent UAA reports show that African Americans are disproportionately infected by and die from the Coronavirus. Nebraska is no exception. Closely comparable is the devastating effect on the Hispanic population. We have started remote CHA train-the-trainer education on Coronavirus prevention and transmission. The plan is to empower CHAs to provide training and education through telephone calls, social media, etc., to minority communities that they serve in North and South Omaha. The train-the-trainer activities are biweekly basis to allow translation of updated information from the CDC and local health department into lay terms. We also advise about local resources for testing and referrals for COVID-19. These trainings are also opportunities for Creighton University personnel in HS-MACA and CPHHE to reconnect with the CHAs and the community. Through this mechanism they can boost morale and information among our local community partners that we have impacted over two decades. During the training via video conferencing HS-MACA and CPHHE have the opportunity to learn from the
Next Issue: May 15, 2020 Submissions to paper by May 7, 2020
CHA’s about what their respective communities want to know and what services their communities need to survive and thrive during the pandemic. These COVID-19 trainings are spearheaded by the following: • Dr. Sade Kosoko-Lasaki – Assoc VP HS-MACA and CPHHE Co-Director • Dr. John R. Stone – CPHHE Co-Director, Professor, Creighton University, Dept. of Interdisciplinary Studies, Graduate Program in Bioethics • Mrs. Doris Lassiter – CPHHE Immediate Past Chair, Community Partner, Director for the Nebraska Center for Healthy Families • Dr. Kate Nolt – CPHHE Associate Academic Partner, Assistant Professor and, MPH Practicum Program Coordinator, Department of Interdisciplinary Studies • Mr. Errik Ejike, CPHHE Community Liaison and Program Supervisor • Mr. Mervin Vasser, HS-MACA Assistant Director If you would like more information regarding how to become a Community health advocate, please visit this website: http:// www.creighton.edu/health/ cphhe/interventioncore/communityhealthadvocates/ For more information regarding the Center for Promoting Health and Health Equity, please visit this website: https://www. creighton.edu/health/cphhe/us/
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OPS Vicky Florian, nutrition services supervisor organizing meals at a recent distribution outside Gateway Elementary.
the Heartland.” Currently, OPS Nutrition Services is providing grab-andgo meals each week to children in need. On Mondays at 11 a.m., OPS provides a graband-go package with a week of breakfasts and lunches for students. Eight locations participate: Benson High, Beveridge Middle, Bryan Middle, Gateway Elementary, Nathan Hale Middle, Norris Middle, Skinner Magnet, South High. Upon arriving at each school, families will drive through to pick up food. One package of
meals will be available per student/child in the vehicle. If you are unable to bring children in the vehicle, please bring a student ID, report card or other verification for each student. “We care and we are here for our students,” said Nutrition Services Director Tammy Yarmon. “I am glad that this support can help students focus on learning activities, reading and staying active during this time.” For a list of other community feeding sites, visit https://foodbankheartland.org/covid-19/.
From the iPublisher’s Pen By Terri D. Sanders
Today STILL finds us in the midst of Covid19. While some states have opened establishments in the name of economic stimulus, common sense should rule everyone’s day. “Necessity is the mother of invention.” Do what is necessary for you and your household. That hairdo, haircut and nail appointment, is it a necessity? My parents were part of the beauty industry, I am not saying NEVER return to your hair specialist, but I am saying stay safe. Nebraska has established the Get Nebraska Growing Task photo credit: StableGray Force and Covid19 safety standards are being enforced in establishments that are reopening. Do not compromise your health for cute/handsome. We could have never imagined that we would be living in a pandemic. The key word is we ARE LIVING and let’s keep it that way. What are you doing since many social activities have been cancelled? What are you doing for self care? Have you planted a garden? Are you reading from your bookshelf? Do you have a new hobby? Did you start a business? Start a family game night? Write letters or notes to friends? Are you binge watching those tv shows you missed? Increased your exercise routine? How about less texting and more phone calls to friends and family. Do not socially isolate yourself in the name of social distancing, keep in touch, your mental health is as important as your physical health. Tend to keeping a healthy mindset. At the Omaha Star we strive to share with our readers information important to health, safety and well-being. Please be advised that the editorial committee and myself evaluate and monitor the content of the Omaha Star and publish according to our content mix and publishing real estate (room on pages for content) for each published issue. If an article does not appear, it is not that we do not value the submission, but the article at times could not be published due to the space availability criteria or the mix of content standards. This is in no way intended to be personal and is a non-biased decision. We welcome submissions by the public and articles on church activities, social gatherings, organizational information, recipes, book reviews and more … Soon we will be conducting a survey of our readers to determine what YOU want to read about. If you would like to be on our email list, please send a message with the subject: email list to publisher@omahastarinc.com. See you on the other side of the pandemic, because there will be another side. This is not the time of Benjamin Button, we cannot go back. This is not a rehearsal, we are live, we can move forward, so let’s DO IT.
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