Hasta La Gadget!

This post by Tracy Hoover, Points of Light’s CEO.

Chances are that when you receive a package from UPS you don’t give a second thought to the complex logistics underway to deliver nearly 20 million packages a day. That’s because world class logistics is their expertise and core to their business strategy. But also core to UPS’ business strategy is a dedication to using that expertise to solve some of our world’s most pressing challenges.

When UPS employees learned that the inability to deliver life-saving medications results in millions of preventable deaths each year, they decided to act. This year, UPS will transform the delivery of humanitarian aid and life-saving vaccines by using drones. Through a new partnership with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and Zipline, a robotics company, UPS employees will use drones to deliver vaccines to remote clinics throughout Rwanda. This cutting-edge partnership is a win-win for the people of Rwanda, for innovation at UPS, and for the talented employees who can do what they are really good at and save lives.

This is just one example of the many, many ways in which the companies on this year’s Civic 50 list are identifying the needs in their communities that are strategically connected to their business, and then aligning their community involvement and their employees’ skills towards those issues. These companies set the standard for good corporate citizenship across the country and demonstrate that service to others has become a fundamental part of successful businesses spanning every sector of the American economy.

Founded in partnership with Bloomberg and the National Conference on Citizenship in 2012, this annual survey and resulting top 50 list honors a culture of social responsibility in business. The survey considers four aspects of each company: its investments in the community (measured largely in volunteer hours, pro-bono donated talents, in-kind donations, money contributed to charity and leadership); the degree to which the company integrates its community service programs with key business functions; the ways in which community engagement is institutionalized as part of the business itself (for example, included the company’s mission statement); and how it measures the social and business impact of the company’s community involvement.

Civic 50 companies have gone beyond simply opening their checkbooks and are employing an “all-of-the-above” approach to community engagement — integrating input from employees, customers, and their local communities into everything from their employee handbooks to their workplace culture to their product design. As a result, Civic 50 companies are putting themselves at the center of change to create more enduring and sustainable business models.

Here’s a snapshot of how the Civic 50 are doing it:

• 90% have a formal, structured effort to solicit community feedback.
• 78% included community engagement on department scorecards. This was an increase from 70% in 2014.
• 56% included community engagement as a formal written component of employees’ performance reviews. This is an increase from 50% the previous year.
• 62% said they took a leadership position on four or more national public education or policy advocacy efforts.
• Half use community engagement to support skill-development for employees, an increase from 46% in 2014.
• Nearly one-quarter of employee volunteer hours are skill-based. This represents an increase from 20% the previous year.
• The top five business functions that their community engagement programs support are: diversity and inclusion, recruiting, stakeholder relations, marketing/PR, and employee engagement.  

This year’s Civic 50 winners demonstrate that they are doing the hard work of building more community-minded businesses, and that the business sector plays a critical role as a catalyst for civic engagement. This is big news. Increasingly, American businesses are partnering with government, nonprofits and individuals to solve the biggest challenges facing our communities. Both socially-minded employees and consumers are driving businesses to place social-oriented values at the center of their operations.  This ingrained ethic of service helps socially responsible businesses recruit better employees, build customer loyalty, find bottom-line rewards, and become better corporate citizens. 

Check out this year’s Civic 50 and join us September 8th for this webinar to get an inside look at the secret sauce that helped these companies make the list. 

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A simple hand gesture has taken on a very important meaning across social media over the past month.

When people post selfies with their thumbs and pointer fingers connected in a circle, commonly interpreted as a gesture of “OK” ― they’re actually trying to save lives.

As part of the #ItsOkayToTalk campaign, these photos are promoting the idea that encouraging conversation about mental health and suicide could reduce the stigma that prevents men from speaking up about their struggles. 

This initiative couldn’t be more necessary: In the U.S., the national suicide rate is the highest it’s been in 30 years, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. What’s more, men are at greater risk. White men accounted for seven out of 10 suicides in 2014, and the highest suicide rate was in middle aged men, according to a data analysis from the National Center for Health Statistics.

Stigma is a huge factor in mental health issues and also in suicide, according to Kristin Holland, a behavioral scientist in the CDC’s Division of Violence Prevention Surveillance.

“Even when at-risk individuals do seek health care, stigma about suicide can prevent them from disclosing their thoughts about suicide with their medical providers,” Holland told The Huffington Post. 

That’s why Luke Ambler, whose brother, Andy, died by suicide at the age of 23, created #ItsOkayToTalk in July, along with the Facebook group, Andy’s Man Club ― to give guys a place to “reach out, speak to people, tell them how you’re feeling, and never let it get too bad… because it’s okay to talk, and we all go through struggles in life,” he told The Telegraph.

How masculinity gets in the way of good mental health 

“Some scholars talk about suicide among U.S. men as a ‘silent epidemic’ because of how often it occurs and how little public awareness there is about this fact,” Tristan Bridges, assistant professor of sociology at The College of Brockport in New York who focuses on masculinity, told HuffPost in an email.

“There are lots of contributing factors to men’s heightened risk of suicide, and masculinity is a big one,” he said. “The emotional stoicism often thought to characterize masculinity also holds men back from actually opening up about their feelings and struggles. Challenging our cultural definition of masculinity is often framed as ‘male-bashing.’ But suicide is one of many issues that demonstrates that men have a stake in challenging gender inequality, too. Some of their lives depend on it.” 

There are lots of contributing factors to men’s heightened risk of suicide, and masculinity is a big one.
Tristan Bridges, assistant professor of sociology at The College of Brockport in New York

Of course, suicide is not just a male issue ― it’s a public health issue, and we have a long way to go to address it. But by opening up about the specific influence of gender norms, we’re taking a big step in the right direction. 

Read on to learn about six men who are participating in the #ItsOkayToTalk campaign:

If you or someone you know needs help, call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Outside of the U.S., please visit the International Association for Suicide Prevention for a database of resources.

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The movie theater in Kahala, on the backside of Diamond Head on Oahu, was fairly empty with only a handful of cineastes scattered about the small town cinema. The latest work, Knight of Cups, from auteur Terrence Malick, was in for a week. I doubt no longer.

Halfway through the edgy film, I pointed to the screen and freely shouted with pride, “There it is!” Then I nudged my friend; I think I woke her up. We had been waiting for the moment. Or at least, I was.

Halfway through the film, lead Christian Bale is jumping around, or at least the camera was. Then, the wide screen cuts to: Christian Bale’s hand turns the page of the Los Angeles Weekly. The next page offers a wide, colorful banner of bright, exotic art that illustrates a well-written art review. The camera swoops in on the compelling and attention-grabbing artwork. Then, the camera cuts away to Bale or Natalie Portman or Cate Blanchett jumping around an urban L.A. without any traffic.

This shot in the film was of great interest and honor to me. In the Artist’s Life, the rewards are few and light of weight. When something slightly good happens, it must be celebrated, on par with the Second Coming. Even if the prize is a Whoopie Cushion, a fine artist will gladly crawl through glass with gratitude in their heart and blood on the floor.

This key shot in Knight of Cups was meaningful as the artwork was mine. The beautifully composed article, a review of my art show, was written by arts journalist Shana Nys Dambrot. It is a shame that Malick didn’t linger on the shot to let the audience read the review. It’s much more interesting than the movie.

Every visual artist in Los Angeles will cross into Hollywoodland at some point in their sojourn. Paintings are needed on the walls of a drug lord, a society matron or a space capsule. Over the years, a few galleries and prop houses hawking fine art have popped up and faded. There’s no way to corner the market; in Los Angeles, there are artists everywhere.

No one gets rich placing their artwork into Hollywood product. The payoff is generally a hearty handshake and maybe a name in the credits, though that honor is generally left to the Blue Chip artist or the producer’s nephew who just graduated from CalArts.

In my career, I have had several pieces appear in movies, but for the life of me, I forget. Like all pleasures in life, glory is fleeting.

I read the reviews of the Terrence Malick film in the New Yorker, the LA Times, Variety and Cahiers du Cinéma. Not one mentioned my shot. Maybe journalism and thoughtful criticism are dead.

I have to agree with the general consensus of our international cultural elite. Terrence Malick has an amazing eye and a keen sensibility. Natch.

Gordy Grundy is an artist, arts writer and creative producer. His visual and literary works can be found at www.GordyGrundy.com.

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In cracking what must be one of the coldest cases of all time, scientists at the University of Texas claim to have figured out what killed “Lucy,” the iconic human ancestral specimen who lived and died more than 3 million years ago.

In a paper published Monday in the journal Nature, the researchers argue that the pattern of fractures seen in Lucy’s 3.2-million-year-old fossilized bones show that she died as the result of a “vertical deceleration event.”

In other words, a severe fall from a considerable height.

Scientists have long debated whether Lucy, a small bipedal creature who belonged to an extinct species known as Australopithecus afarensis, spent time in trees (arborealism) as well as on the ground ― a point referenced by the paper’s lead author in a written statement.

“It is ironic that the fossil at the center of a debate about the role of arborealism in human evolution likely died from injuries suffered from a fall out of a tree,” Dr. John Kappelman, a professor of anthropology and geological sciences at the university, said in the statement.

For their research, Kappelman and and Dr. Richard Ketcham, a geological sciences professor at the university, used a CT scanner to create an archive of more than 35,000 “slices” of Lucy’s fossilized skeleton (which was found in Ethiopia in 1974 and whose name was inspired by the Beatles song “Lucy In the Sky with Diamonds,” according to the website of Arizona State University Institute of Human Origins).

Subsequent analysis of the slices revealed sharp, clean breaks seen at the end of Lucy’s right humerus (the long bone that runs from the shoulder to the elbow) that the researchers maintain are similar to bone fractures seen in victims of falls.

The researchers concluded that these and other fractures in her skeleton show that Lucy, who is believed to have stood about 3 feet 6 inches and weighed about 60 pounds, fell feet first and used her arms to brace herself ― but that the impact was too severe to have been survivable.

The researchers estimate that Lucy was going about 35 miles an hour when she hit the ground after falling from a height of roughly 40 feet, according to the statement.

That sounds plausible, if a bit gruesome. But other scientists are skeptical.

Dr. Rebecca Ackermann, an archaeologist at the University of Cape Town in Africa, told The Washington Post that the study had failed to disprove alternative explanations for the breaks ― though she didn’t dismiss the research out of hand.

“In my opinion this is a nice study that tells us something interesting about an individual who has played an important role — both scientifically and historically — in our understanding of human evolution,” she told the Post.

But others were harsher in their appraisal of the new research.

“There is a myriad of explanations for bone breakage,” Dr. Donald C. Johanson, director of the Institute of Human Origins and one of the scientists who discovered Lucy, told The Guardian. “The suggestion that she fell out of a tree is largely a “just-so story” that is neither verifiable nor falsifiable, and therefore unprovable.”

Johanson said it was more likely that Lucy’s fractures occurred long after she died, telling The New York Times that “elephant bones and hippo ribs appear to have the same kind of breakage. It’s unlikely they fell out of a tree.”

But the new research focused on “a small subset of fractures” that are consistent with “high-energy bone-to-bone impacts” and which differ from the sorts of breaks commonly seen in fossilized bones, Kappelman told The Huffington Post in an email. “These appear to have occurred perimortem (at or near the time of death).”

In any case, the fresh look at Lucy’s old bones seem to have humanized her ― at least for Kappelman. As he told HuffPost in the email:

“Our hypothesis suggests that the fractures in Lucy’s shoulder were produced when she stretched out her arms in a last desperate attempt to break her fall.  We have all done this when we fall.  It was in the moment of understanding her death, of literally being able to experience what she went through, that I felt empathy for her. My understanding of her death brought her to life for me.”

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In early June, Israel detained the director of the World Vision charity organization in Gaza. Two months later, early August, Israeli security authorities stated that Mohammed El Halabi was arrested because he diverted millions of dollars to Hamas, which were spent for its activities. If this story is accurate, which I doubt, it must be powerfully condemned. It is wrong to channel money that its purpose was to help needy people, and improve the quality of the lives of almost two million besieged Palestinian in the Gaza Strip. Knowing the problematic situation in the Gaza Strip, we have to look at this matter from a policy perspective, where Hamas, as an Islamic movement, has a strong coupling with charities, historically.

The story began in 1987 when Hamas was established as a charity organization. In 1994, PLO returned to Gaza and West Bank, and Islamists were allowed to have charities. From 1994 until 2008, the Palestinian authority, led by Fatah, imposed “No-Jobs-For-Islamists” policy. Thousands of them were denied jobs in public institutions despite their academic and professional excellence. While most of Fatah’ members and its supporters joined the PA, very few of which turned to working for Non-Governmental organizations or charities. Simultaneously, the Palestinians left who opposed Oslo and found civil society as their proposer option, led NGOs that focused on democratization, civic engagement and human rights. For example, the current foreign affairs’ minister, Riyad Almalki, established Panorama Center for Democracy with a substantial fund from European countries. Therefore, Islamists who did not believe in democracy and were excluded from working in public institutions (even as teachers), went around to set up their own parallel organizations, creating hundreds/ thousands of jobs for themselves. As a result and a reality, the biggest three charity organizations in the Gaza strip until 2007 were ” Al-Mujam’a Alislami”, “Aljamiya Al Islmiya” and “Al Salah charity” which are affiliated to Hamas.

As Hamas supporters were denied public offices, they went to work in charities and its affiliated institutions, such as hospitals, Islamic University and schools. The Fund(s) used in these institutions was channeled from the Gulf countries and rich Arabs. Hamas charities were well organized, structured and competent, yet their fiscal system was an unfathomable province. No one identified from whom they have got the money exactly, and how they spent it. They distributed the food packages and humanitarian assistance, including clothes and schools’ material, basic food, and sometimes cash, to their supporters and members, at most. I do think there was nothing wrong with that, as the donors knew from the beginning that they are supporting Hamas, and their money would go for Hamas only. The donors were not interested in knowing where their money goes, and maybe even preferred, it would go to Hamas military wing. This all changed after 2008 as Hamas became the governing power in the Gaza Strip, and their charities were shut down in the West Bank.

When international organizations such as World Vision started to function in Gaza, they, for sure, were looking for qualified employees who have expertise or worked at charity organizations before. While there is much expertise in the field, few had deep and elevated mastery and experience in faith-based and charity organizations in the Gaza strip. In principles, World Vision is a faith-based charity organization that works in dozens of countries. It collects donations from churches of USA, Australia and UK and other countries too. On the other side, Hamas has led effective and widely known faith-based charities in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. In reality, Hamas was set up as a charity organization, and got its working permission from the Israeli government in 1987.

Not only World Vision, but also possibly other organizations have employed Hamas supporters, which is normal and according to the meritocracy’s routines and ethics of international charities. No single organization can work as an intelligence agency when they hire their employees. They are not a security organization. They are a charity. They are an NGO. And Hamas members and supporters are a part of the Palestinian people. They cannot be excluded at any cost. Exclusion means more radicals and harms to the society, and perhaps increased violence.

Of course, I have to doubt that ElHalabi had been funneling money to the military wing of Hamas. It is considerably unlikely. Nevertheless, he may, unknowingly or deliberately, diverted funds to local organizations or communities that are affiliated with Hamas. His actions were according to the standards and procedures of WV. From a policy perspective, this is legitimate and not wrong, as Hamas’s local charities are registered and active in the Gaza Strip. It undeniably means that funds and programs that intended to be public for all people had become selective and mean-tested, which generate more inequality among people, subjecting them to more suffering.

To sum up, three main points need to be considered; first, all should stand firm against any imposition of charities or exploiting humanitarian aid that comes to the Palestinians in Gaza. It should be condemned and should be investigated fittingly if it (this) is true (what?). Second and more importantly is the reason, why Gaza has become absolutely dependent on international humanitarian aid. Israel besieges Gaza since a decade not allowing imports or exports and bans people movement. Ending the military rule is the only way, to effectively, eradicate radicalization, including Hamas, and opening doors of hope for, not only the Palestinians, but also the Israelis. Third, it seems that the Israeli government has decided to crack down the humanitarian organizations that work in Gaza, restricting their work or even, intervening in their policies, which is hazardous and will affect the lives of the two million people living in Gaza.

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