Category Archives: Make a Difference

Projects that are making a difference, improving lives, and building communities.

Authors I-Q, Social Issues

Peace: Through Religion Cast Anew – by Andrew Lefton

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How does one consider achieving peace while living in a world that is currently confused, polarized and disunited? How do we live in a manner that leads to peaceful cooperation? We have, historically, tried various political and economic systems and yet we, as a society, continue to exist in a seemingly endless downward spiral with only brief peace-like respites. Given our current set of conditions, we can guess where it all leads if a fundamental change doesn’t occur.

It appears that humanity is in need of asking itself certain fundamental questions, such as: Who am I? What is the purpose for my existence? What do I believe in? How should I correctly act towards others?  Once we begin to discern answers to these and other questions of value and character can we start to move ourselves and our society towards a more unified and productive direction. A direction that leads us out of ourselves and begins to widen our vision.

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Authors I-Q, Social Issues

Good Works: Perspective from India  – by Tuhin Mukharjee

Look inside to shape your impact

This pandemic has affected the world population and we are facing different kinds of problems. But we believe that we will come out much stronger from this crisis. Hence we need to take some steps to ensure that the world becomes a better place for living in post pandemic era. We need to take some steps towards that. Helping others is not only good for them and a good thing to do; it also makes us happier & healthier too. It also helps us to build a strong communities & a society at large. It is not only making money & creating wealth, but also sharing time, energy and ideas.

“The greatness of humanity is not in being human, but in being humane… Change yourself – you are in control.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi

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Authors A-H, Make a Difference, Social Issues

Good Works and Repair of the World- by Marc Brenman

A couple of mornings before Thanksgiving (or Indigenous Heritage Day, depending on how politically correct or “woke” you are) I got a call from a Native American friend who has run into a patch of bad luck. He initiated a conversation on the political situation in the United States, and how he was glad that he could go to sleep and not be afraid of waking up to more craziness by President Trump. My first thought was “It’s a new morning in America.” Only later did I remember that this was a slogan used by Ronald Reagan in his 1984 Presidential campaign.

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Authors A-H, Pandemic, Social Issues

Becoming a better (No Bullies) nation – by Terry Howard

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Organizations gripped in COVID-related fear, uncertainty and job insecurity these days are ones that are most vulnerable for empowering bullies who thrive and exploit those realities.

Keep that thought in mind as you read this recent email.
“Terry, those in our office love your articles and want to know if you have written – or could write – something on bullying; not the overt type, but the subtle kind we’re seeing that’s hard to put your finger on. Got anything?”

When I got that email, two things entered my mind. First, given the havoc COVID is wreaking today, why on earth should we worry about bullying of all things?

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Authors A-H, Race & Ethnicity, Social Issues

Diversity & Speech Part 16: Creating an Anti-Racism Vision Statement – by Carlos E. Cortés

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The May, 2020, Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd launched thousands of anti-racism proclamations.  Millions took part in that performative aftermath.  Include me among those millions.

Like many people, I wear multiple hats.  One is chairing the Mayor’s Multicultural Forum in Riverside, California.  My half-century hometown is a sizable (330,000-person) city, whose steady but not explosive growth has enabled it to maintain a community feeling.  My wife and I continually encounter people we know when we go to a restaurant or take our daily two-mile walks around a nearby lake loaded with noisy ducks, geese, and egrets.

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Levine articles, Religious Diversity Kit, Social Issues

Explaining antisemitism – by Deborah Levine

Antisemitism goes back long before the term was  coined by a German historian in 1781. Violent attacks and expulsions of Jewish communities span centuries. The Babylonians exiled Jews from Zion, the earliest use of the term, into Middle Eastern and Mediterranean regions. The Romans forced Jews into Europe. Blamed for causing the Black Plague, Jews were driven out of England, France, Germany, and Italy. They fled to Eastern Europe but experienced violent pogroms and isolation into The Pale. Throughout it all, the elements of antisemitism rarely changed.   

For example, the Blood Libel dates as far back as the Temple in Jerusalem with claims that Jews sacrificed Greeks. It reappeared in the Middle Ages when an English cult announced that Passover Seder wine was actually Christian blood. Centuries later, a mob destroyed a synagogue in Damascus for this blood libel. As recently as 1928 in New York, Jews were accused of kidnapping and ritually killing a young girl.

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Authors A-H, Education, Social Issues

Diversity & Speech Part 15: English Language Learners – by Carlos Cortés

It has become a truism that COVID-19 has widened the gap between America’s haves and have nots.  As the wealthy add to their corpus, the poor struggle to survive.  But beneath this master plot lie millions of disparity narratives, stories that repeat themselves over and over.

So it is with the narrative of English Language Learners (ELLs), educationese for kindergarten-twelfth-grade students who live in homes where English is not the primary language.  Their parents may speak little or no English.  Add the fact that many of these students — maybe most of them – come from working class families and are students of color.  The absence of privilege triple whammy.

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Black-Jewish Dialogue

Black-Jewish Dialogue Nov.: Economics and COVID-19

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The November Black-Jewish Dialogue focused on the economic impact of COVID-19 on our communities. With participants from coast to coast, Bermuda and Hungary,  the dialogue has grown from a local Chattanooga initiative to a global discussion. Hosted by  Chattanooga’s Mizpah Congregation in partnership with the American Diversity Report, the dialogue began in August of this year with monthly virtual sessions.  Many thanks to Dr. Gail Dawson, Dr. Les Petrovics, and John Miles for sharing their expertise and experience with us.

CLICK for the November Dialogue
recording

Dialogue Partners:
American Diversity Report,  Chattanooga News Chronicle, Mizpah Congregation, Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga, C.U.R.B. – Citizens Uprooting Racism in Bermuda.

Make a Difference Podcasts, Race & Ethnicity, Social Issues

Forest Harper: INROADS Closing Corporate DEI Gap

InroadsForest T. Harper Jr. is the President and CEO of INROADS, the nation’s largest non-profit model of salaried corporate DEI internships and corporate and community leadership development for outstanding ethnically diverse talent at the pipeline and mid-career level.

This year marks 50 years for INROADS. Hear how the organization is important to corporate America’s landscape today and is proving effective in closing America’s Racial Wealth Gap.  Understand how to execute diversity & inclusion strategies to accelerate organizations in today’s multicultural market.  Harper shares how vital it is to establish talent pipeline development for attracting, recruiting and sustaining diverse talent as well as securing C-Suite alignment.

CLICK for INROADS podcast

Make a Difference Podcasts, Social Issues, Workplace Strategies Podcasts

Laurel Taylor: Student Debt Specialist

student debt Laurel Taylor is the Founder and CEO of FutureFuel.io, a student loan repayment platform that uses innovative, technology driven solutions for customers to pay down student debt quickly and efficiently. Financial wellness and equal opportunities should go hand in hand, however, historically that’s not always the case. Regardless of one’s diverse background, financial literacy should be at the forefront of an overall healthy relationship with financial wellness. Laurel  has used her own personal experiences with student debt as a catalyst to founding FutureFuel.io and dedicating her life to help those burdened with student debt.

CLICK to hear Laurel Taylor’s podcast interview