Building Indian Country’s Future through Food, Agriculture,Infrastructure, and Economic Development in the 2018 FarmBill

With the potential of approximately $1 trillion in spending over 10 years in rural America, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs authorized by the Farm Bill have the ability to build and support thriving economies in rural America. Nowhere is this potential greater, or needed, than in rural Tribal communities. This paper will examine why the unique circumstances of Tribal governments, individual Native American food producers, and Tribal citizens necessitate changes in several USDA programs to serve Indian Country. Further, it will review several policy changes in various titles of the next Farm Bill reauthorization that will help empower Tribal governments and individual Native food producers to utilize the full breadth of opportunities the Farm Bill offers and allow USDA to invest in Indian Country. This includes the ability to develop and expand Tribal infrastructure, utilities, broadband, water systems, and community buildings like hospitals and fire stations; provide the means for Native agriculture businesses to thrive; and continue to address and improve the health of American Indians and Alaska Natives supporting he already great work happening in Natives communities surrounding food and agriculture. Finally, this paper will discuss how improving the Farm Bill programs for Indian Country will help bolster our work to achieve the truest form of sovereignty: feeding ourselves in our own foods systems with our own foods

Exploring the criteria used by managers to measure the effectiveness of customer loyalty programs

Since the 1970s there has been a paradigm shift away from mass marketing towards the establishment and maintenance of individual relationships known as relationship marketing. Customer loyalty programs can be seen as the tactical strategies that have resulted from this change in focus, as they attempt to retain existing customers by developing a long-term, mutually satisfying relationship. The first of these such strategies was introduced in 1981, and they are still a relatively new and unexplored phenomenon. The limited research on these strategies conducted thus far has shown the many purported advantages to be doubtful at best, yet their number and scope continue to increase exponentially (Bejou, 1997). As a result of this apparent contradiction between the published research and what is being observed in practice, this study used exploratory, qualitative methods to investigate the objectives of management when implementing loyalty programs as well as the criteria they used to assess the effectiveness of these programs. The sample for this study comprised six managers of several large organisations within Australia. Individual depth-interviews probed managers\u27 motivations for implementing customer loyalty programs and their perceptions of the performance of these programs to date. The results of this study suggest that the objectives behind the implementation of customer loyalty programs may have evolved over time to a more bottom-line orientation. Furthermore, the informants contend that exclusive loyalty is virtually impossible to achieve with a loyalty program, or any other method. Nonetheless, this research suggests that those loyalty programs offering rewards that aim to improve the value proposition of the core product, may be more successful in terms of differentiation and loyalty. Finally the results suggest that despite the fact that many organisations are forced to offer a loyalty program to maintain their competitive position, if well constructed and well managed there appears to be benefits to the company in terms of marketing flexibility and alternative revenue streams. Due to the nature of the research design, the objective of this research was not to provide statistical indicators about the performance of sample members\u27 loyalty programs. It is hoped that the findings drawn from the data can enhance the understanding of the customer loyalty program phenomenon, from a qualitative perspective, and thus guide future research into areas in which the current literature is deficient. For example, this study highlighted the confusion that surrounds the definition of a customer loyalty program and the implications this has had for the appraisals of these programs. Further research into this, and other important areas of inquiry raised in this study, may enable academics and practitioners to better explain the continued growth of loyalty programs, and fully understand the real benefits and costs associated with them

Barriers and Bridges: An Action Plan for Overcoming Obstacles and Unlocking Opportunities for African American Men in Pittsburgh

Among the region's residents, Pittsburgh's African American men have historically and disproportionately faced unprecedented barriers to economic opportunities. This study, supported by The Heinz Endowments, focuses on structural barriers that contribute to persistent racial disparities in the Pittsburgh region. Structural barriers are obstacles that collectively affect a group disproportionately and perpetuate or maintain stark disparities in outcomes. Structural barriers can be policies, practices, and other norms that favor an advantaged group while systematically disadvantaging a marginalized group. A community touched by racebased structural barriers can be identified by the racial and economic stratification of its residents; Pittsburgh, like many large cities in the United States, fits that description

Science Theater as STEAM: A Case Study of Save It Now

What are the markers of a successful STEAM program? How and when can educators be reasonably sure that an interdisciplinary unit or project, rich in both the sciences and the arts, has delivered on its implicit promise – by adding value to a student’s education in ways that are beyond the scope of traditional discipline-specific learning? I attempt to address this question with a case study of Theatre of Will’s “Save It Now,” a pilot program for 4th, 5th and 6th graders at eight Los Angeles public schools that integrates theater arts, music and the STEM disciplines in a 9-week unit on energy, water and climate change. I am one of the program’s four teaching artists. My goal here is not to convince readers that “Save it Now” is successful, but rather to propose a theoretical framework for understanding, categorizing and evaluating STEAM programs in general. theatreofwill.or

A framework for P2P application development

Although Peer-to-Peer (P2P) computing has become increasingly popular over recent years, there still exist only a very small number of application domains that have exploited it on a large scale. This can be attributed to a number of reasons including the rapid evolution of P2P technologies, coupled with their often-complex nature. This paper describes an implemented abstraction framework that seeks to aid developers in building P2P applications. A selection of example P2P applications that have been developed using this framework are also presented

Today's Children, Tomorrow's America: Six Experts Face the Facts

Compiles essays about trends in family structure; how federal, state, and local budget deficits and projected cuts affect child poverty rates and health; and their long-term implications of reduced investment in children. Includes policy recommendations

Community-based trial of screening for Chlamydia trachomatis to prevent pelvic inflammatory disease: the POPI (prevention of pelvic infection) trial.

BACKGROUND: Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) is common and can lead to tubal factor infertility, ectopic pregnancy or chronic pelvic pain. Despite major UK government investment in the National Chlamydia Screening Programme, evidence of benefit remains controversial. The main aim of this trial was to investigate whether screening and treatment of chlamydial infection reduced the incidence of PID over 12 months. Secondary aims were to conduct exploratory studies of the role of bacterial vaginosis (BV) in the development of PID and of the natural history of chlamydial infection. DESIGN: Randomised controlled trial with follow up after 12 months. SETTING NON-HEALTHCARE: Common rooms and lecture theatres at 20 universities and further education colleges in Greater London. PARTICIPANTS: 2500 sexually active female students were asked to complete a questionnaire on sexual health and provide self-administered vaginal swabs and smears. INTERVENTION: Vaginal swabs from intervention women were tested for chlamydia by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and those infected referred for treatment. Vaginal swabs from control women were stored and analysed after a year. Vaginal smears were Gram stained and analysed for BV. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Incidence of clinical PID over 12 months in intervention and control groups. Possible cases of PID will be identified from questionnaires and record searches. Confirmation of the diagnosis will be done by detailed review of medical records by three independent researchers blind to whether the woman is in intervention or control group. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinical Trials NCT 00115388