Author Archives for Michael

Trump’s donations to LGBT groups were part of reality TV show, not private philanthropy

March 9, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – Donald Trump donated tens of thousands of dollars to homosexual lobbying organizations but the donations were dictated by the terms of his reality TV show “Celebrity Apprentice.”

Trump Foundation donated $30,000 to two LGBT groups, including a national organization dedicated to teaching homosexuality in the public schools beginning kindergarten and promoting “fisting” to children in middle school.

However, those donations came as part of Trump’s role in his reality television show, which allowed celebrities to earmark money for charities of their choice, and Trump would make a matching donation.

A spokesperson for Gay Men’s Health Crisis also told The Advocate that its Trump Foundation donation came because comedienne Lisa Lampanelli “raised $130,000 on the show for GMHC, with a $10,000 match from Trump, a routine part of the show during its respective seasons.”

Angelo, president of the Log Cabin Republicans, an LGBT Republican group, said the circumstances of the donations don’t change the fact that it was made.

He similarly critiqued LGBT organizations that tried to minimize Trump’s role in donating to their cause.

The Log Cabin Republicans has asked Trump to clarify his stance on same-sex “marriage,” although Trump has consistently said he opposes redefining marriage since he considered running for the Reform Party presidential nomination in 1999.

Trump Foundation did not respond to LifeSiteNews’ requests for comment before the original story was published.

Carly Fiorina endorses ‘true conservative’ Ted Cruz for president: criticizes ‘liberal’ Trump

2016 republican primary

MIAMI, Florida, March 9, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – Former presidential candidate Carly Fiorina has endorsed Ted Cruz for president.

“I ran for president because I believe it is time to take our country back,” Fiorina said during a speech introducing Cruz in Miami.

Just days after giving a rousing speech at CPAC, Fiorina joins the leading evangelical, marriage, and conservative activists who have endorsed Cruz for the Republican nomination.

Several moderate Republicans have begun to grouse that they may have to coalesce around Cruz, long the bane of his fellow senators for his opposition to Beltway compromises that he believed sold out the GOP’s conservative base.

Some in our party are saying they’d prefer a liberal like Donald Trump because he is a deal maker. Donald Trump buys politicians like Hillary Clinton and then we are surprised when Washington continues only to serve the big, the powerful, the wealthy, and the well-connected. These are the same Republicans who tell us Ted is just too conservative, that they don’t like it when he won’t back down from a fight, that they wish he would quit making their jobs harder by forcing them to do what voters elected them to do.

Of course, there are also many Republicans who are now horrified at the prospect of Donald Trump as our nominee. The only way to beat Donald Trump is to beat him at the ballot box. And guess what, the only guy who can beat Donald Trump, who has beaten Donald Trump is Ted Cruz.

If we want to defeat Donald Trump, we must defeat him by offering citizens conservative solutions to the problems in their lives.

Ted Cruz has done that, Ted Cruz is doing that and Ted Cruz will continue to do that. We need a real conservative to beat Donald Trump.

County selects new public health director – Victoria Advocate – Victoria, TX March 9, 2016 at 8:31 p.m.
Updated March 10, 2016 at 6 a.m.

Victoria County officials announced the hiring of a new public health director Wednesday. Neal, the current public health director for the City of Abilene and Taylor County, is expected to start April 11. “We know he will hit the ground running in Victoria and we’re eager for him to begin next month.”

Some of Neal’s listed accomplishments include across the board grant increases of 35 percent and developing a strategic plan to help lead the Abilene-Taylor County Public Health District to accreditation.

The Houston Department of Health and Tarrant County Public Health are the only public health departments accredited in the state. He will oversee all aspects of the public health department for the city, county and public health district, which includes DeWitt County.

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Erik Ragsdale, an IU biologist, has been awarded a $750,000 research grant from the National Science Foundation.

His research will focus on identifying a genetic mechanism that allows genetically identical species to develop totally different characteristics based on their environment.

The worm species in the IU study, Pristionchus pacificus, can develop different types of mouths, despite possessing the same genome, based on their environment.

Likewise, if they live and grow in an overcrowded or starved environment with limited resources, they will grow a wide mouth with large, moveable teeth, which allows them to consume other worms.

As a postdoctoral researcher at Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in 2013, Ragsdale was part of the team that first discovered the gene that acts as the switch in these worms, according to an IU press release, triggering the “irreversible decision” determining how the worms will feed during their lifespan. Both groups will get the chance to contribute to the research through the Jim Holland Summer Science Research ProgramTT, an intensive, weeklong research training program for underrepresented high school students pursuing careers in STEM, and the IU Biology Summer Science Institute, which pairs high school science teachers with IU researchers to develop classroom curriculum based on University research.

Taylor Telford

And, conducting a social media audit is the perfect way to get the ball rolling on that.

A social media audit? An audit of that nature involves analyzing your financial accounts.

However, a social media audit is really quite similar except that it involves your social media accounts.

It’s essentially a step-by-step process that allows you to look at your current social media operations and online presence and determine how well things are working for you. This will allow you to clearly see the big picture of your current social media presence.

Create a column for the type of account, the profile name, the URL, number of followers, and the date of your last activity on that specific profile.You’ll end up with something that looks like this:

This exercise alone will start to clearly show you where you’re doing well, as well as where you could devote some extra time and attention.

However, this is also an important step to help you determine if there are any accounts you should eliminate altogether. Sit down and identify what exactly your nonprofit’s goals with social media are.

Do you want to use social media to increase awareness of your organization as a whole?

Do you want to use your accounts to recruit more volunteers?

Are you hoping to use them to drive more traffic to your donations page?

Clearly outline exactly what social media should accomplish for your nonprofit.

Next, it’s time to determine a specific mission for each of your accounts. What really resonates with them?

Finally, you should also do a quick Google search of your nonprofit’s name to see which social media accounts show up.

Not only will this allow you to see which of your accounts are ranking in that space, but also if there are any imposter accounts that were set up that you need to request be shut down.

When you put a lot of effort into your social strategies, you don’t want a poser out there that could undo all of your hard work with a few foul posts or crude tweets.

Step Four: Make Necessary Updates

Chances are, you change things here and there when it comes to your social media accounts but then neglect to make the same update across the board.

This results in a hodgepodge of branding across all of your different platforms. So, analyzing your competitors is also a great exercise for determining if there are any new platforms you should be a part of.

New networks are constantly cropping up (like Periscope or Blab, for instance), and you’d hate to be missing out on an opportunity to share your message in a innovative and fitting new way particularly if your direct competitors are active in that space.

Wrapping Up: Where Do You Go From Here?

Now that you’ve put in the legwork by going through your existing accounts and strategies with a fine-tooth comb, you’re armed with the knowledge you need to pull together a solid nonprofit social media strategy for this year.

Creating your overall strategy is a separate process from your comprehensive social media audit but the two rely heavily on each other.

‘Century 21 Midtown Kidtown’ edges closer to reality at Grand Cities Mall | Grand Forks Herald Jesse Trelstad/ Grand Forks Herald
‘Century 21 Midtown Kidtown’ edges closer to reality at Grand Cities Mall
‘Century 21 Midtown Kidtown’ edges closer to reality at Grand Cities Mall Grand Forks

Berks County Community Foundation invests almost $60,000 in rural arts programs – bctv.org – Local news about Berks County and Reading, Pa.: Arts, Museums, Exhibits In Berks Berks County Community Foundation invests almost $60,000 in rural arts programs

Berks County Community Foundation is a nonprofit corporation that serves as a civic leader for our region by developing, managing and distributing charitable funds aimed at improving the quality of life in Berks County.

READING, PAA a The board of Berks County Community Foundation has approved $59,717 in grants from the Berks County Arts Fundas Rural Arts Grant Program to seven organizations that are bringing the arts to under-served areas of the community.

The Community Foundation created the Berks County Arts Fund to encourage local residents to support the arts in Berks County through their donations. In 2014, the Community Foundation’s board of directors approved a grant of $50,000 a year for five years from the Hawley and Myrtle Quier Fund to the Berks County Arts Fund to support arts programming in outlying areas of Berks County where residents do not have ready access to the offerings provided by the established arts community.

Programs may include performances, exhibits, interactive activities or other creative ideas that bring art aout of the establishmenta and to the residents of our community. Since the Arts Fest has drawn far fewer people, the Our Town Foundation plans to add venues, interactive art activities such as a community mural, and more live entertainment to draw more local residents.$12,625 to the Yocum Institute for Arts Education, Wyomissing, to bring a live performance of the jazz story aBalloonacya to rural elementary schools. For weeks after that opening run, the grant will bring the performance to nearly 3,000 fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students at Tilden Elementary Center and Perry Elementary School in the Hamburg Area School District; Oley Valley Elementary School in the Oley Valley School District; Bethel Elementary School and Penn-Bernville Elementary School in the Tulpehocken Area School District; and Honey Brook Elementary Center, Robeson Elementary Center, and Twin Valley Elementary Center in the Twin Valley School District. In addition to the performances, Yocum Institute will provide pre-show study guides for teachers to use with their students and Yocum-led post-show workshops with the children.$10,450 to Art in the Fields to develop an interactive, community-led art history project for Alsace Township, including the collection of oral histories to turn into performances. In addition, Clay on Main will work with Berks Encore to bring fused glass workshops to senior centers in several communities.$4,500 to the Reading Pops for a free aside-by-sidea concert with Hamburg Area School District students at the band shell at Hamburg Community Park on Sunday, July 24, in an effort to repeat the successful side-by-side concert held at Tulpehocken Junior-Senior High School in 2015. A side-by-side concert allows students to practice, play, and perform with the Reading Pops musicians.$3,300 to the Ringgold Band for a free, traditional Americana concert at the band shell at Hamburg Community Park on August 20.$3,000 to Reading Choral Society to bring its aSummer Sing!a program to three additional communities. 19604 | 610-374-3065 | bctv@bctv.org

Copyright 2016, bctv.org – Local news about Berks County and Reading, Pa., Reading, PA.

For children in low-income families, it can be very hard to find the same opportunities as those in middle or upper class households.

And The Community Foundation, a local non-profit group, has completed a three-month research project on this so-called “opportunity gap.”

The research consisted mostly of listening sessions with parents, teens, and advocacy groups on behalf of those directly and indirectly impacted by this issue.

The findings didn’t surprise those that conducted the research.

They show that both Duluth and Superior have childhood poverty rates above state averages.

And that while grants for community programs are important, sometimes children just need caring and nurturing adults in their lives.

The Community Foundation wants a more collective approach to taking care of children’s issues.

“So often we think about our kids, we think about our sons and we think about our daughters.

Community Foundation launches $1.5 million grant fund to address opportunity disparity
Community Foundation launches $1.5 million grant fund to address opportunity disparity

“What we’re really talking about is our generational differences, where 30 or 40 years ago there wasn’t much of a distinction on outcomes for low-income kids and kids living in higher-income families,” said Holly Sampson, president of the Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation.

However, that’s not the case today, she said. Cargill Foundation, will be used to offer grants to partner organizations working to help financially disadvantaged families find pathways to a brighter future.

Sampson noted that 23 percent of children in Duluth and 31 percent of children in Superior are living in poverty.

“We think those numbers aren’t OK,” she said.

Sampson contrasted the Twin Ports’ elevated local child poverty rates with statewide child poverty rates of 14 percent in Minnesota and 18 percent in Wisconsin.

In all, she said an estimated 5,500 children in the Twin Ports experience poverty on a daily basis.

Jim Zastrow, a retired banker who served as chairman of the foundation’s Opportunity Gap Convening Committee, said an assessment of the local scene revealed that people of color were disproportionately poor.

Henry Banks, a radio show host and community activist, called for at least one-quarter of the funds to go “directly to African-American and Native American communities that have organizations in Duluth that are run by members of our communities, because what we find is that typically those folks who say they’re representing us within organizations in Duluth don’t look like us. “We’re starting with a three-year initiative, but we want to secure additional resources to really work over a five- and 10-year period.”

Keri Cavitt, director of community philanthropy for the Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation, said most grants will likely be offered in the range of $100,000 to $300,000, but she said larger awards could perhaps be provided, depending on the scope and duration of a project, up to a maximum three-year commitment.

The foundation will host a workshop to provide more information on the grant program from 3-4:45 p.m.