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6 unconventional ways to become a better PR pro

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You might already have mad PR skills. But in our ever-changing game, there’s always room for improvement. To that end, here are six things you can do right now to become a better PR pro: 1. Read some Charles Bukowski. Rather… (See more articles »)

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You are all probably equally besieged by emails, notices and articles craving readership, and for me, time is the deciding factor about downloading and taking that extra step to “click,” but this article was clever in that it is targeting food bloggers, and recognizing the important and expanding role they play in “talking” about food!

comfort food when sick

Between last night and today, I picked up something from somewhere.  A painful stomach ache kept me up but hopefully is just a 24 hour thing.  What we eat and crave when we’re sick is almost more important than when we’ re healthy, often it is only certain foods that have any appeal at all.

“Jewish penicillin” or chicken broth is undeniably at the top of the list, it’s medicinal benefit has been documented and held in highest regard forever.  If I’m not the one sick I make matza ball soup with an organic chicken, the flavor is light and tender, and if I’m sick, it is a can of chicken broth until I can muster the strength for something better.

There are websites touting food to eat when one is sick and there is a certain appeal to the recipes, they are simple, easy and nutrient laden.

This came up several times, chicken broth combining spice and coconut milk.  There were many respondents to the blog and some favorites were:

soft boiled eggs, grits or porridge, Campbell’s tomato soup, buttered noodles, smoothies, Popsicles, and tea.  Many ideas repeated again and again as ” my grandma made me, my mom, etc.”  Tomorrow I think I need the recipe below, “something about the spicy creaminess is very healing.”

• 1 quart chicken stock, homemade preferably
• 1 can full fat unsweetened coconut milk
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon ginger, freshly grated
• 1 clove garlic, freshly grated
• Juice of one lemon or lime plus zest
• Sea salt to taste
• Optional garnishes: cilantro, basil, scallions, green onion, mint, mushrooms, carrots

Every website had the same advice!!!http://www.webmd.com/diet/guide/healthy-eating-when-you-are-sick and another:

http://cheaphealthygood.blogspot.com/2008/10/cheap-healthy-sick-10-easy-nutritious.html

These seem to be the only foods that have any appeal at all!

Aubrey’s Final Reflective Entry

Final Reflection:
Throughout this project, I was able to be involved in something that I had never done before. I was able to work with individuals within our community to try and make a difference in schools and children’s lives. It has been a really interesting and I believe that me and Tammy have been able to provide some help to these members of the AQE who fight so hard to make a difference. Hopefully they feel as though we made a difference and perhaps by doing this we have made an impact on the lives of children throughout Monroe county. By being involved, I personally have gained some skill at working with others, thinking of ways to make a difference, and being able to investigate people to reach out for. These things that I have learned will not soon be forgotten and I am glad to have been able to meet such wonderful people.
Aubrey

Reflective Entry

Tammy Gurowski

SPF 204

 Last Blog Post/Reflective Entry:

This blog was fun to do, even though saying that means more work, but I have never blogged before and it’s pretty cool.

Re-connecting with AQE made me realize how much time and effort I have spent with them, and how important education advocacy work is.  As communities and people in general become busier and need to juggle many demands, it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain outside volunteer commitments.

Public education is one of those commitments that is worth any investment though, and people need to continue to keep education issues in the forefront of the public’s mind.  For me there is no greater cause, I think education is the single most important thing that can change lives, offer hope and opportunity and inspire.  Like many good causes, there is always a need for the next person to come along, contribute, and try to make our world a better place.

This class demonstrated through texts and a variety of resource materials, that there are serious challenges in the realm of public education that deserve our attention.  At the very least, understanding and awareness predicate any action and serve as the foundation to create insight into a dynamic and challenging world, one that invites us at every turn to participate.

Sources:

http://www.aqeny.org/

http://www.goodflow.net/static.php?page=about_us

http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/pubs/research/financingeducation.pdf

http://citizenactionny.org/

http://www.mcsba.org/districts.htmlhttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204449804577068854152824544.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Additions to report & facebook page for event 12/10/11

When I submitted the report in an earlier blog for AQE, I also copied in my friend Rosemary for her review since she was the Organizing Director when much of the mentioned work was done.  She had some good information to add:

Members were encouraged to organize their own events.  For instance, Jim Bearden put together an event in Geneseo, you put together event in Webster with no help from an organizer.
Presentations:  No matter what was going on, members and organizer went to different venues and actively sought doing presentations to different groups like (Hart Street, EmPower, Teen Empowerment, Baden Street, schools, TIAR, church groups, bible study groups, Kwaanza group, etc)  We presented at a lot of colleges as well.  
We identified allies like SWAN, CONEA, 19th Ward Association, Monroe County Youth Group, Children’s Institute, etc.  and always kept these groups informed about what we were doing and asked them to support whether or not they could.  We met with a lot of professors to see if what we were doing could be used as extra credit or some type of class project.  

The beauty was that we maintained somewhat of a small group but had a large base of folks that we could pull from for events, etc.

Rosemary Rivera
Citizen Action of New York
Organizing Director
(585) 520-6542
rrivera@citizenactionny.org
twitter: protectrfuture

Also, from Colin O’Malley, current Organizing Director for Rochester AQE, he created a facebook page to publicize an event this Saturday to get out into the community and knock on some doors!  Check it out and feel free to join the effort!

 
http://www.facebook.com/events/306970639324512/

Update from Aubrey on her work

Recently, I have been using the Monroe City Schools Board Association website (http://www.mcsba.org/districts.html) to gather names for AQE so that they can try and get contacts in all of the Monroe county schools. I have come up with a list of people with whom they can contact along with their e-mail addresses and, where possible, phone numbers. This was an interesting task to undergo because I had never gathered information on people before and I’m actually a little surprised how much information the Internet can provide a person with. My other project was to create a postcard design to pass out and collect so that we can mail them to influential people within our community. It is coming along nicely. One of the things that AQE is trying to achieve is to make the millionaire’s tax bill pass. Here is an interesting article about that: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204449804577068854152824544.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Until next time,
Aubrey
 

AQE report to share previous work

Submitted by:  Tammy Gurowski

Purpose of Report:

Colin O’Malley, Organizing Director of AQE Rochester, asked me to look through my notes and identify key work that had been done in the past, tactics that were assessed as being successful and key people who were involved in the work.  In creating sustainable interest and commitment for the organization, he thought it would be helpful to understand some organizational history that was effective.  Below are major initiatives that work was planned around and the tactics employed that were utilized.

Major Initiatives:

Agenda 2007

Funds named Foundation Aid were allocated to districts to begin the down payment of overdue funding and the settlement of CFE (Campaign for Fiscal Equity landmark lawsuit).  This lawsuit initiated in 1993 and finally settled in 2006, asserted that NYS inadequately funded education.  Programs designated to be most effective and eligible to receive this funding were called Contracts for Excellence in order to track the money, how it was spent and account for results in a systematic way.

FAIR (Fairness, Accountability, Innovation and Results) was an attempt by the Brooks Administration to divert sales tax revenue to school districts to pay for the county’s portion of Medicaid.  The proposal undermined a long standing and bipartisan agreement (the Morin-Ryan agreement) and drew a firestorm of criticism.  The resulting backlash created such momentum that all school districts banded together in a show of solidarity to fight back.  The ensuing lawsuit, joined by all the Monroe County school districts, challenged that the Brook administration did not have the authority to change that agreement and that it would place school districts in a deficit position mid-year. The court ordered payments back to school districts.

Agenda 2008

AQE NY had an agenda but AQE Rochester altered it slightly to address what the local committee identified as Rochester’s needs- a unique, local platform was created to primarily address three major issues: literacy, parent involvement, racial justice.  Meetings were conducted to inform and educate RCSD, parent groups, ally organizations and other interested parties.

Platform for local AQE chapter (1)[1].doc

Another local effort involved the Maintenance of Effort which is a local mandate for City of Rochester to comply with involving forwarding of city tax dollars to Rochester City School District.  The city must comply without a voice in how the money is spent and wanted to lend structure and accountability.  I think fear that money would be diverted from schools pitted the City of Rochester against RCSD and lead to the mayoral control issue.

There were federal dollars slated for facilities improvement, another area needing attention and upgrades.  I am less informed about this large amount of money, and believe the project was postponed because funding was threatened; I am not sure about the status.

Agenda 2009

FAIR Share Tax Reform is a statewide initiative with resulting revenue targeted to fill the education budget gap.  The initiative supports a tax on the wealthiest New Yorkers to alleviate the strain on school budgets; the amount collected could address widening gaps and stave off damaging cuts to education.  This initiative included postcards, letter writing and legislative visits to persuade local legislators to vote in favor of implementing the plan.

Tactics that Worked and Were Implemented in Above Initiatives:

¶  Forums- invite allies to align thinking and develop strategies and goals

¶  Define issues and develop platforms of common interest and concern

¶  Meet with local Regents to learn their positions and ask for assistance, advice and direction

¶  Meet with local legislators to learn their positions and ask for assistance, advice and direction, learn from them which tactics work best

¶  Create an email group of interested people and provide ongoing information, updates, from local, statewide and national perspectives.  Regular, ongoing communication keeps people informed and up to date and eliminates the need to back track and re-educate.

¶  Identify professional allies, RCSD administrators, Warner School of education, Boards of Education, Superintendents

¶  Hold Press Conferences to highlight public education issues

¶  Create alliances to strengthen  momentum and align thinking

¶  Create media contact charts and update

¶  Furnish talking points to committee members to create common message

¶  Encourage people to write letters to the editor to keep the conversation of public education and education issues in the forefront of the public’s mind

¶  Conduct rallies and marches for youth and adults

¶  Teen Empowerment is a powerful group, engage and maintain contact with them

¶  Camp Justice was held by Metro Justice a few years ago and was a great training model for constructive social justice engagement

Aubrey made a facebook page for us!

Recently, I have made a new Facebook page to encourage all of my friends and acquaintances to get involved with our cause and community. There is a link on there to the AQE web page where they can send an email to Governor Cuomo about how he should be supporting quality education and not the millionaires extra money. Our hope is that this page will generate at least some support for the Rochester branch of AQE and that some younger people will take the time to try and make a difference in their community. Here is the link to the Facebook page and we will keep you updated on our progress.  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alliance-for-Quality-Education/255820344475859?skip_nax_wizard=true#!/pages/Alliance-for-Quality-Education/255820344475859
 
Thanks, Aubrey

Changes to the plan

We have had to adjust our initial plan and expectations and that’s ok, that is something that happens often in life and the important thing is what you do next, how we can keep this work meaningful and relevant for AQE, and fulfill our requirements (and hopes!)

I have been involved with AQE for many years, have seen both members and organizers come, do good work, and move on, and understand momentum shifts.  We had a very powerful victory with the passage of a funding formula that was fair, predictable and based on student need; namely winning the CFE court case that provided the necessary political backing to make a relevant funding formula a reality.  The economic disaster that followed quickly changed all expectations about the state of New York being able to meet the court ordered funding commitment.  Such a shame, but much was learned, and a lot of progress was made about the importance of public education and the need to adequately fund it.

The challenge is continuing the work in a sustainable and engaging way.  We live in a very busy, demanding world, and one that doesn’t allow everyone the ability to become engaged, informed or even to understand how important education advocacy is.

We (Aubrey and myself) agreed to publicize the work, its importance and to help with connecting people in the community in an effective way.  Aubrey is going to develop a contact chart of PTSA leaders, Communications Directors or Parent Liaisons in each school district in Monroe County.  This document will be very helpful in assisting the organizer and AQE committee members in reaching out to other stakeholders who may be interested in joining and supporting this work, and how they, in turn, can reach out to their communities.  I am going to create a poster that will have information about AQE, its background and purpose, and dates about upcoming events should someone like to support the effort or become involved. I also agreed to compile a report on past work that was successful, tactics that worked to engage people.

We will include our efforts and updates in next post….thanks!

Tammy

AQE Next Steps

AQE Meeting Summary:

November 17, 2011

A meeting was held Tuesday November 15, 2011 at MJ headquarters to further identify work for AQE in the coming months and think about tactics and ways to accomplish this work.

v  Summary of last meeting

v  Review upcoming dates and what is involved in terms of work and goals:

v  December 10^th:

o   Door to Door in districts that align with political leaders whose legislative support is needed (Alesi & Robach)

v  January 10^th:

o   Conference Day and Day of Action in Albany (reconvening of legislature)

v  March 14^th:

o   Lobby Day in Albany (rally & visits scheduled with legislators)

Actions/ Methods of Outreach:

v  Identify upcoming dates and discuss ability to recruit and rally people to participate

v  Discussion about logistics, ways to identify possible interested participants, what methods may be successful and what has worked for AQE before

v  Suburban districts represent different opportunities and ways to look at engagement (letter writing, hosting tables at previously scheduled events, presence in newsletters, handouts/fliers, call ins, emails, letters to the editor, facebook pages,  and websites)

v  Identify key leader/ allies in schools and districts in Alesi and Robach’s districts, inform and educate them about issues and ask for their support

Identified Work:

v  Gather contact information from school websites and create contact list of PTSA/PTO leaders (Tammy)

v  Research past work and look for effective methods (Tammy)

Specifically for Naz Project:

v  Given limited time and resources, we will look at ways to help AQE, still have a campus presence and meet project requirements.

Addition:

THNKING AS OF 11/18/11:

Tammy:

v  Will do research of past work

v  Will create poster of upcoming AQE dates, include dates of identified events and share on line and on campus, inviting all to participate in identified actions and events

Aubrey:

v  Create chart of schools, including parent leaders where possible, but at least communications persons for each district in Monroe County, including RCSD

v  Create postcard that can be used to gather signatures and support, to be mailed to Governor with education message (TBD)

Ideas for Naz Project:

v  Share poster designed to support upcoming AQE work

v  Tabling with postcards

v  Possible messages include:

v  I support Public Education because: ______________________________

v  Education cuts hurt kids because: ________________________________

v  Combining:  I am public education and I had “x” I don’t want any children to lose that

v  Support Millionaire’s Tax and Use for School Funding

v  I don’t support the Governor’s Proposed cuts to Education in this year’s budget

/tg