The Community Socioeconomic Information System (CSIS) is a tool that allows users to retrieve 1990 and 2000 U.S. census data to examine conditions and trends for communities in western Washington, western Oregon, and northern California. The tool includes socioeconomic data for 1,314 communities in the entire region, including incorporated and unincorporated places. The tool delivers socioeconomic data using mapping and database features. In addition to providing data for one community, the tool produces community-level data at a variety of scales, including communities in areas surrounding Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management lands, all communities in the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) region, and communities within planning provinces within the NWFP region. One feature allows users to customize community data by creating boundaries and socioeconomic data for group of selected communities. The CSIS tool was designated to increase the usefulness of socioeconomic information at the small scale. Typically community socioeconomic assessments use U.S. census designations called census places. However, census places only represent a portion of the rural population. The CSIS uses a smaller unit of analysis (block groups) that we have aggregated to represent contiguous communities across the landscape, thereby representing the entire population. Community data can be printed as reports with graphs and tables, queried within an Access database, mapped and queried as geographic information system (GIS) data within ArcExplorer (a free GIS software included), exported as a table for use in Excel, or exported as GIS data for use in ArcGIS. The tool has features that allow users to locate communities by county or state and become familiar with local geography. The CSIS includes GIS data, such as major land ownerships, political boundaries, and physical landscape features. Applications produce maps that can be printed for specific communities showing community boundaries, water features, roads, metropolitan areas, community population centers, public land ownership, census places, planning provinces, counties, and state boundaries. Or, using the spatial data provided on the CD and ArcExplorer, users can produce custom maps.

The Community Socioeconomic Information System (CSIS) is a tool that allows users to retrieve 1990 and 2000 U.S. census data to examine conditions and trends for communities in western Washington, western Oregon, and northern California. The tool includes socioeconomic data for 1,314 communities in the entire region, including incorporated and unincorporated places.

The H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest (Andrews Forest) is both an idea and a particular place. It is an experimental landscape, a natural resource, and an ecosystem that has long inspired many people. On the landscape of the Andrews Forest, some of those people built the foundation for a collaborative community that fosters closer communication among the scientists and managers who struggle to understand how that ecosystem functions and to identify optimal management strategies for this and other national forest lands in the Pacific Northwest. People who worked there generated new ideas about forest ecology and related ecosystems. Working together in this place, they generated ideas, developed research proposals, and considered the implications of their work. They functioned as individuals in a science-based community that emerged and evolved over time. Individuals acted in a confluence of personalities, personal choices, and power relations. In the context of this unique landscape and serendipitous opportunities, those people created an exceptionally potent learning environment for science and management. Science, in this context, was largely a story of personalities, not simply a matter of test tubes, experimental watersheds, or top-down management sponsored by a large federal agency or university. Ideas flowed in a constructed environment that eventually linked people, place, and community with an emerging vision of ecosystem management. Drawing largely on oral history, this book explores the inner workings and structure of that science-based community. Science themes, management issues, specific research programs, the landscape itself, and the people who work there are all indispensable components of a complex web of community, the Andrews group. The first four chapters explore the origins of the Forest Service decision to establish an experimental forest in the west-central Oregon Cascades in 1948 and the people and priorities that transformed that field site into a prominent facility for interdisciplinary research in the coniferous biome of the International Biological Programme in the 1970s. Later chapters explore emerging links between long-term research and interdisciplinary science at the Andrews Forest. Those links shaped the group's response to concerns about logging in old-growth forests during the 1980s and 1990s. Concluding chapters explore how scientists in the group tried to adapt to new roles as public policy consultants in the 1990s without losing sight of the community values that they considered crucial to their earlier accomplishments.

Wood has become an important energy alternative in Alaska, particularly in rural areas where liquid fuel costs can be substantial. In some cases, wood fuel is readily available to communities, increasing the attractiveness of wood energy. Wood energy systems in rural Alaska can also lead to employment gains as well as benefits to local cash economies. Many Alaska villages are now considering wood as a fuel source for community heating, several have completed feasibility studies, and others are moving forward with design and construction activities. Cordwood is readily available in many regions of Alaska, although not always in commercial quantities. However, for many small-scale applications, efficient cordwood systems could be a viable energy option. In this paper, we provide a qualitative review of factors such as wood fuel availability, cordwood system size, wood fuel cost, wood quality, labor, fuel drying, and underground piping. Other general observations are noted, based on case studies of operating cordwood systems in Alaska.

Quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) is a valuable species that is declining in the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon. This publication is a compilation of over 20 years of aspen management experience by USDA Forest Service workers in the Blue Mountains.

This handbook and financial app is a guide to help communities quickly determine if biomass energy projects might work for them so that this option is not overlooked. Its purpose is as a screening tool designed to save significant time, resources, and investment by weeding out those wood energy projects that may never come to fruition from those that have a chance of success. It establishes technical, financial, and social criteria and indicators to evaluate proposed biomass investment options. Through showcasing of successful projects using text, photos, video interviews, and diagrams, it facilitates virtual project planning and interaction with experts. The interactive wood energy financial app allows estimation of capital investment costs to facilitate project design and screening across a variety of wood energy options. The calculator can be accessed from the eBook or from the Web.

If you’re a local businessperson, an entrepreneur, a tribal partner, a community organizer; a decision-maker for a school district, college, or hospital; a government leader; a project developer; an industry leader; or an equipment manufacturer, the Alaska Community Handbook will be helpful to you.

Over the past decade, the use of wood for thermal energy in Alaska has grown significantly. Since 2000, nearly 30 new thermal wood-energy installations in Alaska have been established.

This book is intended to help people better understand how wood energy is helping to revitalize rural Alaskan communities by reducing energy costs, creating jobs, and helping to educate the next generation.

The Community Biomass Handbook Volume 4: Enterprise Development for Integrated Wood Manufacturing is a guide for creating sustainable business enterprises using small diameter logs and biomass. This fourth volume is a companion to three Community Biomass Handbook volumes: Volume 1: Thermal Wood Energy; Volume 2: Alaska, Where Woody Biomass Can Work; and Volume 3: How Wood Energy is Revitalizing Rural Alaska. This volume is designed to help business partnerships, forest managers, and community groups rapidly explore and evaluate integrated manufacturing opportunities.

Stop by the message board on the ALL ACCESS Country section, the Country Forum. It's fun to read and even more fun to tell everyone what you think. ou can also be a part of the ALL ACCESS … more

FRIDAY night, MAY 1st, from 7 to 10P (ET) was the kick-off of #United4Cincy, a virtual community telethon produced by NUVOODOO MEDIA SERVICES, directed by NUVOODOO's RUSS GILBERT, and … more

The Seahawks have been delivering care packages to vulnerable residents during Covid-19 pandemic

DALLAS, April 29, 2020 — As the shortage of many goods, resources and services grows during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the American Heart Association, the leading nonprofit organization focused on a world of healthier lives for all, has launched ...

When Andrea Wilson approached me five years ago with her idea of creating a space for writers in our community separate from any offered by the University of Iowa, I must admit I was a bit skeptical,...

One in five people will have some kind of mental illness in their lifetime. Yet despite how common these conditions are — as common as silver cars, and more common than being left-handed — stigma remains the greatest barrier to individuals seeking help regarding their mental illness.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. This serves as a great opportunity for our community to begin eliminating stigma by starting conversations and increasing understanding about mental illness.

Now, more than ever before, it is important to talk about mental illness. Many of us could be feeling increased anxiety, stress and feelings of isolation due to the COVID-19 outbreak and social distancing requirements. For those Iowans who already live with a mental illness, this pandemic could be causing symptoms to compound.

A recent study released by a team at Iowa State University states that increased unemployment and social isolation measures related to COVID-19 could result in an increase in suicide rates of close to 50,000 individuals.

Despite the challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic, there still is help available: Telehealth services during this crisis is critical. Our state leaders, Iowa Insurance Commissioner Doug Ommen and Gov. Kim Reynolds responded immediately by encouraging health providers, insurers and businesses to work together to remove barriers and ensure telehealth is accessible.

Your Life Iowa, a state-operated service, offers referrals for problems related to alcohol, drugs, gambling, mental health or suicidal thoughts and can be contacted by phone, text or online chat 24/7.

Between March 1 and April 19, Your Life Iowa received nearly 500 contacts related to COVID-19 and traffic on the website — YourLifeIowa.org — is up 27 percent. Crisis lines and mental health counselors around the state and country are also reporting an uptick in patients reaching out for resources or virtual counseling. This is important progress.

However, the greatest barrier for those in need of mental health services is stigma.

If you know someone who is struggling, be a voice of support. The silence around mental illness is preventing our fellow Iowans — our friends, neighbors, co-workers and family members — from feeling better. By breaking down the stigma around mental illness, we can help them access the resources and treatment they deserve.

If someone opened up to you about their mental illness, would you know what to say? Do you have a general understanding of the most common mental illnesses? Do you know how to support loved ones dealing with mental illness? There are free resources available at MakeItOK.org/Iowa to learn more.

You can also read stories of Iowans who live with mental illness, take a pledge to end mental illness stigma and learn more about how you can get more involved with Make It OK through ambassador trainings, upcoming events and workplace programming.

Together, we can end the stigma and Make It OK.

Jami Haberl, Iowa Healthiest State Initiative; Lori Weih, UnityPoint Health — St. Luke’s Hospital; Tricia Kitzmann, Linn County Public Health and Mona McCalley-Whitters, Ph.D., NAMI Linn County.

When Andrea Wilson approached me five years ago with her idea of creating a space for writers in our community separate from any offered by the University of Iowa, I must admit I was a bit skeptical, if not defensive. Over a long coffee discussion, I shared with her a detailed look at the literary landscape of Iowa City and all of the things my organization, the Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature was doing to make those assets more visible and accessible.

• Coronavirus closes the Iowa Writers’ House - for now

Despite this, Andrea mentioned the need for an “on ramp,” a way for people who don’t feel a part of that community to find their path, to access those riches. It was there, I thought to myself. She just hadn’t looked in the right place.

Then she built that ramp in the form of the Iowa Writers’ House. As she and her team defined what that ramp should look like, what role it should play, the Writers’ House evolved from being an idea with promise to a vital part of our literary infrastructure. She showed that people were hungry for further instruction. They desired more and different ways to connect with one another. These were things beyond the scope and mission of the UI and the City of Literature. She had found her niche, and filled it, nicely complementing what was offered by my organization and others.

But those services do not come without cost. Andrea and her team scrambled, using the house as a literary bed-and-breakfast that was used by many visiting writers. They scheduled workshops. They held fundraisers. But that thin margin disappeared with the onset of COVID-19. Unable to hold those workshops, to serve as a bed-and-breakfast, to provide meaningful in-person connections, the Writers’ House was unable to carry on in its current configuration.

We have every hope and expectation that the Iowa Writers’ House and Andrea will continue to be a part of our literary landscape in the future. This will come perhaps in another form, another space. Conversations have been underway for months about the needs of the literary community beyond the UI. Andrea has been a key part of those discussions, and the work that she and her team has done offer vital information about where those conversations need to go. Gaps have been identified, and while they won’t be filled in the same way, they will be filled.

These conversations join those that have been taking place in our community for decades about the need for space and support for writers and artists. As we all have realized over these past few weeks of isolation just how much we miss when we are not able to gather to create and to celebrate those creations, perhaps those conversations will accelerate and gain focus once we reconvene. The newly formed Iowa City Downtown Arts Alliance, of which we are proud to be a part, is an additional voice in that conversation.

In the meantime, we want to thank Andrea, Associate Director Alisha Jeddeloh, and the team at the Iowa Writers’ House, not just for identifying a need, but for taking the rare and valuable step of actually rolling up their sleeves and doing something to meet it.

John Kenyon is executive director of the Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature.

It has almost been two months. First, allow me to apologize for not providing any updates during this time. As … Continue reading Returning to Our Community Roots →

Not an infographic today.

Free online classes, discounts on software, extended trial periods, free online data sources, etc. as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the Organizer for the DFW Data Visualization Meetup Group, I've started this publicly viewable Google Sheet for the local DataViz community listing various resources that companies are making available during the pandemic. Turns out, these are valuable to DataViz designers everywhere, not just DFW, so I'm sharing the link with all of you.

I’ll continue to update this list as I learn about new resources during the pandemic. Please use the submission link in the spreadsheet if you know of any DataViz-related offers or deals I should add!

-Randy

Most optimization-based community detection approaches formulate the problem in a single or bi-objective framework. In this paper, we propose two variants of a three-objective formulation using a customized non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm III (NSGA-III) to find community structures in a network. In the first variant, named NSGA-III-KRM, we considered Kernel k means, Ratio cut, and Modularity, as the three objectives, whereas the second variant, named NSGA-III-CCM, considers Community score, Community fitness and Modularity, as three objective functions. Experiments are conducted on four benchmark network datasets. Comparison with state-of-the-art approaches along with decomposition-based multi-objective evolutionary algorithm variants (MOEA/D-KRM and MOEA/D-CCM) indicates that the proposed variants yield comparable or better results. This is particularly significant because the addition of the third objective does not worsen the results of the other two objectives. We also propose a simple method to rank the Pareto solutions so obtained by proposing a new measure, namely the ratio of the hyper-volume and inverted generational distance (IGD). The higher the ratio, the better is the Pareto set. This strategy is particularly useful in the absence of empirical attainment function in the multi-objective framework, where the number of objectives is more than two.

By Timothy Schoechle Courtesy of Solar Today A Colorado community is developing a community-based clean energy economy. Boulder, Colorado, sits at the foot of the Rocky Mountains a half-hour drive northwest of Denver. It is a city, but still small … Continue reading →

There’s a cliche that always follows a big tragedy — something we say after natural disasters, economic collapses, school shootings, acts of terrorisms.…

It's all right there in the name: "Community Pint."…

As soon as state Rep. Marcus Riccelli returned home from Olympia, he jumpstarted a community-wide effort to feed Spokane constituents deeply affected by the COVID-19 crisis.…

Jada Imani strives to reflect her inner dreams in her recorded work. Jada Imani has been writing songs since she was five years old. At 21, she is committed to forging her own way as a rapper, writer, emcee, and youth organizer in the Bay Area.…

COMMUNITY CC celebrated winning the Southampton Evening Cricket League at the end of season awards dinner at Trojans Club.

THE largest producing community theatre in Europe is looking forward to a season of new plays in 2021.

TWO HAMPSHIRE based, community football teams will soon be facing off in a charity game analysed by top ex-professionals.

TRIBUTES have been paid to an inspirational Hampshire businessman who has died on holiday in the Caribbean.

Omid Safi, professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Duke, knew that the months of April and May would be difficult for the Muslim community this year. Like Easter and Passover, the holy month of Ramadan will be celebrated much differently due to COVID-19’s ongoing social distancing restrictions.

President of Isothermal Community College, Walter Dalton was guest on this segment of 'The Friday Feature' to recap 2019 at the school and look ahead to the future. Dalton discusses ongoing studies and expansion with new buildings here in Rutherford County and new growth coming to the Polk campus. This interview originally aired Dec. 20, 2019. Posted by Host and Producer of WNCW's Friday Feature Interview of the Week- Paul Foster, Senior Producer, News Director, and Morning Edition Regional Host

It's safe to say that the COVID-19 crisis will be more than a footnote in world history. In fact, a new initiative is underway to see that this moment in time will be never be forgotten and that "we're all in this together." For this week's "On the Ground-Ypsi," WEMU's Lisa Barry and Concentrate Media's Sarah Rigg talk to local historian Kim Clarke about the "Ypsilanti Coronavirus Digital Archive," a new photo project designed to preserve memories of everyday life during the pandemic.

The 'Community' cast members are going to reunite for a virtual table read without Chevy Chase who was fired from the show due to his increasingly aggressive and racist antics.

The 'Community' cast members are going to reunite for a virtual table read without Chevy Chase who was fired from the show due to his increasingly aggressive and racist antics.

Partnership aims to build communities through sport.

West Midlands charities receive donations from Mondelēz International.

Voyage of local Mayflower Pilgrim to be commemorated.

Solihull development to inject over £1.3 million into local services.

Aston station adoption planting project helps local people grow.

£25 million awarded in 25 years.

Questions implying that terrorism is encouraged under the Islamic faith elicited a public apology from Scottsdale Community College after they appeared on a class quiz.

Molly Melching first went to Senegal in 1974 as an exchange student from the University of Illinois. But, instead of returning to the United States, she stayed on, eventually creating a nonprofit organization to educate and empower women and communities. That organization Tostan created and implemented educational programs focused on human rights, health, literacy, financial management and childhood development. It may be best known for leading thousands of communities in Africa to end female genital cutting and forced childhood marriage. WPSU's Anne Danahy talked with Melching about her work. Transcript Anne Danahy: Welcome to take note on WPSU, I'm Anne Danahy. Molly Melching first went to Senegal in 1974 as an exchange student from the University of Illinois. But instead of returning to the United States, she stayed, eventually creating a nonprofit organization to educate and empower women and communities. That organization, Tostan, created and implemented educational programs

Jessie Sage is a sex worker who writes and speaks publicly on issues related to sex work, feminism, and social justice. James Tison is a stand-up comedian in New York who uses humor to fight stigma against his LGBTQ identity and life with HIV. Sage and Tison recently spoke at an event at Penn State called “Facts not Fear: A Night to Fight Stigma,” and talked with WPSU about fighting the sigma their communities face. This Take Note interview talks about sex work and might not be suitable for children to hear.

Matthew Ferrari is an epidemiologist and associate professor of biology at Penn State who studies infectious diseases and how they spread across populations. He uses mathematical and statistical tools to understand patterns of disease incidence. He talked with WPSU's Cheraine Stanford about the new coronavirus, what we know, what we don’t and what it means for our community and our country.

There’s been a lot of news about strained relationships between police officers and the citizens they serve. Police officials say they’re making changes to improve relations and build trust within the community but critics claim not enough is being done. WNIJ's public forum, “Context - Safe Neighborhoods, Safe City: Changing Roles of Police and Community,” was held Thursday, August 27, 2015, at the Kresge Hall in the Riverfront Museum Park, in Rockford. WNIJ Reporter Sue Stephens moderated the Context panel. Guests were: Rockford Mayor Lawrence J. Morrissey Rockford Police Chief Chet Epperson State Representative Litesa Wallace United Way Community Impact Manager Matthew Simpson For more information about WNIJ's Context series, please contact Maria Boynton, Director of Community Engagement, at mboynton@niu.edu or at (815) 753-9000.

The coronavirus crisis has changed the way we congregate but it hasn’t changed the way we come together. The DeKalb community is supporting nonprofits that provide much needed services to the community. The Give DeKalb County campaign, a 24-hour fundraiser, takes place May 7. Ben Bingle is the director of the DeKalb County nonprofit partnership. He said they’ve had to cancel their walk-in donation option due to COVID-19. This option was replaced with a mail-in one. Bingle said this change hasn’t impacted the generosity of the community. “We’ve seen a really strong response so far through the mail,” he said. “And so, we believe we’re going to have a very strong turnout.” Bingle said donors can also support by using the Give DeKalb County website or their mobile phones. He said the website will include profiles for each organization. Bingle suggested that the community may not even know what services are out there for them and the profiles allow them to see what’s available. “It’s

Shops are closing. Newspaper sales are falling. But we’ve chosen to keep our online journalism free because it’s so important that the people of Glasgow stay informed during this crisis.

As Colorado Springs and El Paso County move into a safer-at-home model in line with state guidelines that eases some novel coronavirus-related restrictions, community officials are urging people to practice social distancing when using shared greenspaces.

Your Legal Rights host Jeff Hayden welcomes John L Burris and Carlos Bolanos for a discussion about inclusiveness and community. With law offices in Oakland (johnburrislaw.com) Mr Burris, known as is both a civil rights activist and police misconduct lawyer, is active in the community as well as in the courtroom. San Mateo County Sheriff Carlos Bolanos has previously served as Chief of the Redwood City Police Department, after serving the cities of Palo Alto and Salinas; he is also active in the Rotary Club and in the Redwood City and San Mateo County communities. Questions for John and Carlos? Please call Your Legal Rights toll-free 866-798-8255.

Dan Lynch (filling in for Karen) and Bradley discuss a few examples where licensing decisions by companies impacts the health of the software development community.

Show Notes:

Segment 0 (00:00:36)

• Dan interviewed the CentOS developers on FLOSS Weekly. (00:05:52)
• Bradley has a blog post that describes RHEL licensing model. His previous blog post to that one, while mostly off-topic here, has a few points of interest. (00:10:36)
• Dan Lynch mentioned The Smoking Man from the The X Files television series. (00:17:22)
• Bradley mentioned that Lennart Poettering is a Red Hat employee working on systemd, which is now in Fedora, but not in RHEL yet (as far as we know). (00:18:53)
• Bradley suggested that developers starting projects read Karsten Wade's The Open Source Way, and Karl Fogel's Producing Open Source Software: How to Run a Successful Free Software Project, and Bradley's blog post about developing in public. (00:22:16)
• Dan and Bradley briefly discussed copyright abolition. Dan mentioned Stallman's writing on the Pirate Party's copyright positions.

Segment 1 (00:32:30)

• Bradley briefly discussed the history of StarOffice, and the creation of OpenOffice.org. (00:33:40)
• Bradley explained issues related to the LibreOffice fork of OpenOffice.org. (00:37:30)
• Bradley has talked about how proprietary relicensing is very dangerous (00:39:50)
• Fedora, Ubuntu, and OpenSUSE all switched to LibreOffice as a default. Bradley didn't know at recording time that the OpenOffice package in wheezy is a transition package to switch to LibreOffice. (00:41:24)
• Bradley and Dan mentioned a blog post by IBM's Rob Weir that misquotes the FSF to support IBM's positions on the OO.o relicensing issue. (00:58:26)
• Bradley mentioned the idea that Apache-2.0 work can be relicensed under LGPLv3-or-later, as he discussed in his blog post about the OO.o relicensing (01:00:45)
• Dan mentioned Jeremy Allison's comment on the aforementioned post on Rob Weir's blog. (01:02:08)

Segment 2 (01:16:09)

Bradley thanked Dan, on behalf of Karen, for all his work to make Free as in Freedom possible.

Send feedback and comments on the cast to <oggcast@faif.us>. You can keep in touch with Free as in Freedom on our IRC channel, #faif on irc.freenode.net, and by following Conservancy on on Twitter and and FaiF on Twitter.

Free as in Freedom is produced by Dan Lynch of danlynch.org. Theme music written and performed by Mike Tarantino with Charlie Paxson on drums.

The content of this audcast, and the accompanying show notes and music are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike 4.0 license (CC BY-SA 4.0).