Atlanta Tribune

OP-ED: The Shutdown Will Harm the Health and Safety of Americans, Even After It’s Long Over

ATLANTA TRIBUNE — With the U.S. federal government shutdown now the longest in history, it’s important to understand what a shutdown means for the health and safety of Americans.

Published

5 years ago

January 19, 2019

Oakland Post

By Morten Wendelbo, Research Fellow, American University School of Public Affairs

With the U.S. federal government shutdown now the longest in history, it’s important to understand what a shutdown means for the health and safety of Americans.

The good news is that in the short run, the consequences are relatively few. But, as a researcher who studies natural disaster planning, I believe that Americans should be worried about the federal government’s long-term ability to ensure good public health and protect the public from disasters.

As the shutdown draws on, it increasingly weakens the government’s ability to protect Americans down the road, long after federal workers are allowed to go back to work. Many of these effects are largely invisible and may feel intangible because they don’t currently affect specific individuals.

However, the shutdown poses a very real threat to preparedness for future emergencies, such as natural disasters and disease outbreaks. It also damages the government’s ability to recruit and retain the experts needed to work at the cutting edge of public health.

Much funding for disaster recovery that is already underway is funded in appropriations separate from those that fund the shuttered parts of government.

On Dec. 26, however, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which contracts private contractors for a large share of their work, ordered its contractors to cease working on several projects. Even for programs with funding, progress is made difficult by a shortage of several thousand staff members.

When President Trump signaled to the Senate that he would not sign into law the appropriations bills that had passed the House, leading to the shutdown, funding with bipartisan support for disaster recovery died too. This impedes disaster relief efforts in the states that experienced disaster in the past two years. Among others, it leaves victims of the forest fires in California and victims of Hurricane Florence in the Carolinas waiting for crucial help needed to recover.

The shutdown also weakens the government’s ability to foresee, prevent and respond to upcoming natural disasters. For example, hurricane modelers with NOAA, the agency chiefly responsible for storm forecasts, are furloughed.

In California, dozens of people recently died in the worst forest fire in the state’s history, while more than 10,000 homes were destroyed. These forest fires were so severe in part due to how forests have been managed. However, more than half of all of California’s forests are managed by the federal government. During the shutdown, those forests are not being managed at all.

In general, first responders and emergency experts use the off season to prepare for the next disaster season, but reports show that the prolonged shutdown is preventing some of this preparation, such as training for essential staff and forecasters.

More scary still is the possibility of a widespread disease. The lapse in funding also means that Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act did not renew as expected. This act lets the federal government fund the development of emergency medicine, as well as new medications in advance of future outbreaks, among many other disaster preparedness functions it funds. Even with a fully functioning federal government, several critical supply chains broke down during last year’s flu season, preventing delivery of basic medical goods like saline.

The shutdown severely weakens the ability of the federal government to respond to new threats, even after the shutdown has ended.

Losing dedicated public servants in public health

After the shutdown is over, it will probably also prove difficult for the U.S. to retain some of the staff who are crucial to the success of public health – even more so than in most other sectors of the federal government which will also struggle to retain its public servants.

Roughly half of the staff at the Department of Health and Human Services are deemed essential and continue to work despite the shutdown. The other half has been sent home. But neither group is getting paid.

During brief shutdowns, many of which have historically lasted only one to three days, such a lapse in pay is frustrating, but typically a surmountable challenge for most federal workers. During a shutdown lasting weeks, with no end in sight, it means hundreds of thousands of families struggle to pay for rent, school fees, medical care and other expenses essential for their own safety and well-being.

For many personal contractors, who make up hundreds of thousands of the federal government workforce, the loss of pay may be permanent.

This will all make it substantially less attractive to be a federal worker in the future. That is especially true for workers in public health. Although federal jobs often pay as well or even better than the private sector, that is not true for the field of public health, where workers often take pay cuts to become public servants.

To make matters worse, the president has signaled that federal salaries will be cut for 2019. Together, the pay cut and the shutdown may push government employees to join the private sector, leaving the federal government less capable of taking on public health challenges and disasters in the future.

This article originally appeared in the Atlanta Tribune.

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PRESS ROOM: SunTrust Foundation Awards $2.7 Million in Grants to Winners of the 2019 Lighting the Way Awards

ATLANTA TRIBUNE — The SunTrust Foundation announced the winners of the 2019 Lighting the Way Awards, giving a total of $2.7 million in grants to 36 nonprofit organizations across the South and Midwest, including four in Atlanta. The awards support the work of the organizations to build self-sufficient families and more financially confident communities through financial education, financial counseling, career readiness/workforce development and small business/entrepreneurship. Each nonprofit was awarded a $75,000 grant.

Published

5 years ago

September 3, 2019

Oakland Post

(From left to right) Bill Rogers, Chairman and CEO, SunTrust Bank, and Chairman, SunTrust Foundation; Monica Kaufman Pearson, renowned Atlanta television broadcast journalist; and Stan Little, President, SunTrust Foundation, honor the winners of the SunTrust Foundation’s Lighting the Way Awards. (Photo by: newsroom.suntrust.com)

By The Atlanta Tribune

The SunTrust Foundation announced the winners of the 2019 Lighting the Way Awards, giving a total of $2.7 million in grants to 36 nonprofit organizations across the South and Midwest, including four in Atlanta. The awards support the work of the organizations to build self-sufficient families and more financially confident communities through financial education, financial counseling, career readiness/workforce development and small business/entrepreneurship. Each nonprofit was awarded a $75,000 grant.

“Every one of these nonprofits has created impactful programs to support specific needs of their communities, and it is a privilege to recognize their efforts,” said Stan Little, president of the SunTrust Foundation. “The Lighting the Way Awards illustrate our commitment to Lighting the Way to Financial Well-Being in partnership with organizations that make a difference in the lives of those who need
help the most.”

The SunTrust Foundation also is committed to helping nonprofits improve their organization’s financial well-being by providing workshops, case studies and training on organizational economic sustainability. Following the Lighting the Way Awards event, winners participated in collaborative sessions about using the power of storytelling to engage their stakeholders better and demonstrate their impact in the community. Speakers included Kate Atwood, founder and CEO, B.Essential, and founder, Kate’s Club; David Eidson, president and CEO of Coxe Curry & Associates; Lucy Hall, founder and CEO of Mary Hall Freedom House and Grant Millsaps, lead consultant, The Frontier Project.

There were four Atlanta nonprofits included among the winners: Start: ME, Trinity Community Ministries, North Fulton Community Charities and Communities In Schools of Georgia.

This article originally appeared in The Atlanta Tribune.

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Morehouse College Launches Student Success Program As Strategy To Improve National Student Loan Debt Crisis

ATLANTA TRIBUNE — Morehouse College is launching a ground-breaking program that will enable graduates to pursue advanced degrees, start careers, and build wealth without being tethered to undergraduate student loan debt.

Published

5 years ago

August 19, 2019

Oakland Post

Morehouse College (Photo by: atlantatribune.com)

Gift fund is established to pay loans, offer scholarships, and provide financial freedom for graduates

By The Atlanta Tribune

Morehouse College is launching a ground-breaking program that will enable graduates to pursue advanced degrees, start careers, and build wealth without being tethered to undergraduate student loan debt.

The new Morehouse College Student Success Program, a fund-raising and research initiative, was established by the Board of Trustees as a national investment strategy to curb student loan debt and help graduates to prosper faster. Under the Student Success Program, Morehouse will solicit and accept donations made specifically to reduce or eliminate the student loan debt of Morehouse Men, thus creating an opportunity for greater financial freedom for new alumni and their families.

Morehouse will study the impact of the cost of higher education on Morehouse Men, and the freedom of choice that alumni experience in their careers when their student loan balances are paid in full or reduced to manageable levels.

According to UNCF research, 80 percent of HBCU students use federal loans to fund their education, compared to 55 percent of their peers at other private and state institutions. HBCU graduates also borrow nearly twice as much—$26,266 on average—than non-HBCU students. And one in four HBCU students borrows $40,000 or more to attend college. At Morehouse, the student loan debt threshold at graduation is between $35,000 and $40,000.

“The Morehouse College Board of Trustees believes that student loan debt can be an obstacle in the path of Morehouse Men that can cause them to delay enrolling in advanced degree programs, working as K-12 teachers, or pursuing other interests that they are passionate about,” said David A. Thomas, President of Morehouse College. “The Morehouse College Student Success Program will provide students with a liberating gift that will wipe away or greatly reduce their student loans, allowing them to pursue their dreams and lead lives of leadership and service immediately after graduation.

“We, at Morehouse, see the Student Success Program as an important step toward improving outcomes for our graduates and addressing the income disparities that people of color experience when they are overburdened by debt.”

America’s student loan debt—now more than $1.5 trillion, according to the U.S. Department of Education (more than the nation’s $1.3 trillion in auto loan debt)—can exacerbate the wealth gap that exists between black families facing generational poverty and other groups. Black households nationally have the lowest median net worth, lagging behind Asian, white, and Latin Americans respectively, according to the U.S. Census.

In its study of student loans in the HBCU community, the UNCF’s Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute found that HBCU students are more likely to seek loans from more costly sources and encounter more difficulties in repaying their loans in the seven years after leaving college. Repayment of student loans can be aggravated by the economic status of borrowers, labor market conditions, and factors such as a student’s educational program choice.

The Brookings Institute projects that based on current trends in student loan defaults, two in five of all borrowers—nearly 40 percent—will default on their loans by 2023.

UNCF officials agree that offerings such as Morehouse’s Student Success Program could become a new model for HBCUs and other liberal arts institutions seeking strategies to offset the stress of student debt on alumni and their families.

“Morehouse’s program to provide debt relief to new graduates is a fund-raising opportunity that should be studied and duplicated nationally,” said Michael L. Lomax, president and CEO of the United Negro College Fund. “The impact of such a gift, particularly for minority or economically disadvantaged families, could accelerate the growth of a more diverse and robust middle class.”

The Morehouse College Office of Institutional Advancement is in talks with a number of philanthropists, corporate partners, and other supporters who have expressed interest in donating to the new Student Success Program. Gifts are tax-deductible and will be disbursed directly to designated students or graduating classes.

“We look forward to charting the progress of those who receive generous support from the Student Success Program,” Thomas said. “We encourage those who receive gifts to pay it forward and help upcoming classes to enjoy a significant level of financial independence from student loan debt.

This article originally appeared in The Atlanta Tribune.

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On Our Radar: Leadership Conferences in Atlanta

ATLANTA TRIBUNE — According to a 2017 SHRM/Globoforce Employee Recognition Survey, 93% managers need training on coaching employees. Consequently, many surveyed said they felt ill-equipped to lead their peers because they were never properly trained. Studies suggest that when an employee is being led by someone who lacks efficient leadership skills, productivity in the workplace decreases and the likelihood that an employee will leave the company increases.

Published

5 years ago

July 14, 2019

Kadejah Brathwaite

By Kadejah Brathwaite, Editorial Intern

Fine-tuned leadership skills in the workplace are what separate the good from the great in business.

According to a 2017 SHRM/Globoforce Employee Recognition Survey, 93% managers need training on coaching employees. Consequently, many surveyed said they felt ill-equipped to lead their peers because they were never properly trained. Studies suggest that when an employee is being led by someone who lacks efficient leadership skills, productivity in the workplace decreases and the likelihood that an employee will leave the company increases.

Perhaps you are in this same boat and want to develop better administrative skills to boost your business. Atlanta will host some leadership summits that you should attend.

Boost Leadership with Ian Cron

Best-selling author of “The Road Back to You,” Ian Cron, will discuss the usefulness of the Enneagram personality test and how it can help professionals learn about themselves and their development as leaders. This free function will take place at the Renaissance Atlanta Waverly Hotel and Convention Center on July 17, 2019.

Building Better Organizations One Individual at a Time

This one-day seminar is created for new managers who need guidance and tips on how to make a smooth transition from a successful team member to a successful manager. Attendees will discuss ways to give constructive criticism to their peers and how to effectively add value to their teams. The event will be at Cobb Galleria on July 25, 2019, and tickets can be purchased here.

Management and Leadership Skills for First-Time Supervisors and Managers

Attend this workshop on July 30-31, 2019 and learn the ropes on successful leadership techniques. This highly interactive event will provide feedback on how to build supervisory skills through self-assessment tools, checklists and a Leadership Style Analysis. Register here.

This article originally appeared in the Atlanta Tribune.