Thursday, June 28, 2012

The Network for Good: Nonprofit Websites that Drive Dollars


What Makes a Great Nonprofit Home Page

A new project. (?!?)

Much of Ryan’s time lately has been on an anti-bullying campaign in schools that will be launched this fall. “We spend so much time focusing on the bully or the victim,” he said. “This campaign will be about empowering those who are watching the bully. As a culture we need to change. If someone is getting picked on, we want people to stand up and not tolerate it.” The campaign will include a video with discussion guides, a television PSA, a website resource for parents and teachers.
Ryan Courtade and Northern Kentucky Youth Foundation | Good Things Going Around by Lisa Desatnik
goodthingsgoingaround.com


I've heard the excuses before as to why Cincinnati BBB Foundation’s Charity Education Services are not used by several local Non-Profits, among them: AIDS Volunteers of Northern Kentucky, Inc, Northern Kentucky Pride, Inc, Northern Kentucky... Pride Festival, LLC, Kentucky Equality Federation and recently, The Northern Kentucky Youth Foundation... Organizations that comply with these accountability standards have provided documentation that they meet basic standards:
In how they govern their organization,
In the ways they spend their money,
In the truthfulness of their representations, and
In their willingness to disclose basic information to the public.
These standards apply to publicly soliciting organizations that are tax exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and to other organizations conducting charitable solicitations. The standards are not intended to apply to private foundations, as they do not solicit contributions from the public. Bottom line is they've got something to HIDE...

5. No transaction(s) in which any board or staff members have material conflicting interests with the charity resulting from any relationship or business affiliation. Factors that will be considered when concluding whether or not a related party transaction constitutes a conflict of interest and if such a conflict is material, include, but are not limited to: any arm's length procedures established by the charity; the size of the transaction relative to like expenses of the charity; whether the interested party participated in the board vote on the transaction; if competitive bids were sought and whether the transaction is one-time, recurring or ongoing.

10. Avoid accumulating funds that could be used for current program activities. (AVNK currently has hoarded funds and only supports ONE program/service: the monthly dinner which is no longer publicly promoted) To meet this standard, the charity's unrestricted net assets available for use should not be more than three times the size of the past year's expenses or three times the size of the current year's budget, whichever is higher.
[Meeting certain public disclosure requirements described in the Implementation Guide may enable a charity to satisfy this standard.]

11. Make available to all, on request, complete annual financial statements prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. When total annual gross income exceeds $500,000*, these statements should be audited in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards. For charities whose annual gross income is less than $500,000*, a review by a certified public accountant is sufficient to meet this standard. For charities whose annual gross income is less than $250,000*, an internally produced, complete financial statement is sufficient to meet this standard. *Note that new financial statement thresholds for Standard 11 are effective for fiscal years ending 12/31/2011 and thereafter.

12. Include in the financial statements a breakdown of expenses (e.g., salaries, travel, postage, etc.) that shows what portion of these expenses was allocated to program, fund raising, and administrative activities. If the charity has more than one major program category, the schedule should provide a breakdown for each category.

13. Accurately report the charity's expenses, including any joint cost allocations, in its financial statements. For example, audited or unaudited statements which inaccurately claim zero fund raising expenses or otherwise understate the amount a charity spends on fund raising, and/or overstate the amount it spends on programs will not meet this standard.

14. Have a board-approved annual budget for its current fiscal year, outlining projected expenses for major program activities, fund raising, and administration.
See More

Photo: Rules for keeping the federal non-profit status:
 
Method not educational. The method used by an organization to develop and present its views is a factor in determining if an organization qualifies as educational within the meaning of section 501(c)(3). The following factors may indicate that the method is not educational. 

The presentation of viewpoints unsupported by facts is a significant part of the organization's communications.
 
The facts that purport to support the viewpoint are distorted.
 
The organization's presentations make substantial use of inflammatory and disparaging terms and express conclusions more on the basis of emotion than of objective evaluations. 

The approach used is not aimed at developing an understanding on the part of the audience because it does not consider their background or training.
 
Exceptional circumstances, however, may exist where an organization's advocacy may be educational even if one or more of the factors listed above are present.
Rules for keeping the federal non-profit status:

Method not educational. The method used by an organization to develop and present its views is a factor in determining if an organization qualifies as educational within the meaning of sect...
ion 501(c)(3). The following factors may indicate that the method is not educational.

The presentation of viewpoints unsupported by facts is a significant part of the organization's communications.

The facts that purport to support the viewpoint are distorted.

The organization's presentations make substantial use of inflammatory and disparaging terms and express conclusions more on the basis of emotion than of objective evaluations.

The approach used is not aimed at developing an understanding on the part of the audience because it does not consider their background or training.

Exceptional circumstances, however, may exist where an organization's advocacy may be educational even if one or more of the factors listed above are present.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

What PRIDE doesn't mean to me...

Some day, maybe... The early days were about empowering ourselves to harness and direct our political power. These days it's about empowering our $$ to harness their ability to maximize a Return on Investment... To paraphrase what Michael Douglas said in "Wall Street"; GREED has become Good for Queens...
Actually, I try very hard to complain about what's wrong in mine because I know that someone somewhere is fighting the same battles to survive... & it galls me to no end that people, especially in the LGBT community; don't comprehend that p...art of The Solution is pointing out and fixing the incredible gaffs that have already been made. You've heard of that thin Blue line that the Law Enforcement community insists their membership toe; in our Community it's the thin Purple Line. As I've said before; The Intolerance of those pushing Tolerance never ceases to amaze me...
"I bite my lip and
Hold my head up high

I try my best not to let you
See me cry
I can take a joke
And you can be unkind
If you love me at all
Let this be the last time
That you break my heart..."
"The Last Time" Bette Midler
For as long as I can remember, I have pursued my interests
and beliefs with a passion that was driven by my feelings of

unworthiness. I always tried to do my very best and then
some to make up for that and try to prove my worthiness. At
Newport Catholic High School I was Editor of "The Beacon" -
our school paper, Sid Sawyer in "Tom Sawyer", a member of
the National Honor Society, and heavily involved in planning several major events like a Homecoming Parade, Proms, Dances and a post-graduate reunion... That same passion fueled my interests in Drum & Bugle Corps, Business & Marketing in general/The Family Business in particular, Coming Out/Gay Issues/Human Rights, my Friends...and now - in my golden years - AIDS/HIV/The Disabled/HUD-Section 8 Reform/SlumLords and living the rest of my life as a totally open book with no secrets, lies, shame, embarrassment or any of the strangeness I used to feel at being who I am. My family
always emphasized the value of money as something to pursue in order to make a better life, so when I had it I poured it into whatever cause I was currently crusading for. To me, money had its most value when it was shared, not hoarded.
On this weekend before Northern Kentucky Pride; I was feeling pretty good about what I'd done to make US feel PROUD and took some time off to attend RoeblingFest, these are my observations following the experience...
SO SORRY! That philosophy won't fly in the Cov! & I'm so f**kin' tired of being told to walk The Thin Purple Line... Apparently, it's OKAY to demand MORE of everyone else but NOT each other. Get a GRIP, Kids; if you F**K it UP, admit & own it. I so often feel like Larry Kramer's bastard son when one of our Gay Elites gives me that "If you're not part of the Solution, ..." crap. DENIAL is, indeed, a f**kin' river in Egypt. Happy Pride to you too...
NORTHERN KENTUCKY Pride has been around for 3 years now and is a proven failure. Oh, don't believe; the Goddess Karma has been watchin...g over them from the get-go being displeased by their motivation to start. It rained the 1st year when they scheduled the weekend before NCOD in order to ride the FairyFest's coat tails, last year's problems ended up with a bunch of pissed-off volunteers and this year she's bringing rain to start Saturday afternoon lasting overnite into Sunday...

Michael --
In the past year, LGBT Americans and allies have seen incredible progress -- from the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" to the President's statement affirming his personal support of marriage equality.
End this Pride Month on a ...high note: At Pride festivals across the country, we've been building support for the President by registering voters, signing up volunteers, and talking to supporters about the stakes in this election.
But the work isn't over yet. If our community is going to stand strong all the way to November, we need to keep up the momentum.
Jamie Citron, National LGBT Vote Director: Obama for America


Op-ed: Reasons for Pride and Shame

BY Michael Lucas in The Advocate

"What are your reasons for Pride and Shame this June?"GAY SHAME: HIV infection on the rise
"When the AIDS epidemic hit New York in the 1980s, those lucky enough to survive it took dramatic action to stop its spread, by teaching each oth...er — and younger gay people — about the necessity of safer sex. Now that HIV is no longer a death sentence, those lessons are being forgotten; after years of hard-won health, barebacking is prevalent and HIV is once again on the rise. We have failed in our responsibility to educate young people about the very real risks and complications about living with HIV, and we need to take up that fight again."

















Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen

"Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought."
- Albert von Szent-Gyorgyi


Help not wanted in distressed urban neighborhoods

(In more ways than one...) Job-readiness programs can't meet demand for work among poor, ex-offenders

AVONDALE — The line forms at 7:30 on the first Monday morning of every month. Men in baggy jeans, some clutching manila folders with application forms, stand on red commemorative donor bricks outside the Urban League of Greater Cincinnati. A woman, wearing a backpack, waits by the door.
Most don’t have high school diplomas, but many have criminal records. None has a job, and some have been unemployed for more than a decade. They’re hoping for one of about 25 spots in the Urban League’s successful flagship program, SOAR (Solid Opportunities for Advancement and Retention). The three-week employment boot camp might be their last best chance to find work and start inching their way out of poverty...

OMG! Sounds a lot like my good friend Rachael; whom I first met when my 1st ever-roommate (purely houshold split expenses)/landlord booted me OUT on the Streets in Latonia back in 2005... She was My CaseMgr & Friend @ Welcome House and helped me find and get into my current HOME...
One of the keys to saving Avondale COVINGTON – more than rehabbing houses or putting up new commercial buildings – is helping more of its residents find and keep jobs.
“Joblessness triggers all kinds of other problems – crime, drugs, family dislocations, neighborhood disorganization,” says Harvard University sociologist William Julius Wilson, author of “When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor.” He warned that the loss of steady jobs for the urban working class would further decimate places like Avondale.
Just the same, the rippling negative effects of joblessness in Avondale and similar communities are attracting attention here and

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH COVINGTON!

The pitfalls of "entertainment districts' Downtown’s are, and are, not Entertainment Districts. It depends, as certain policies can give them similar qualities. That being said, giving further caveats to these differences is necessary. It... is best to breakdown Entertainment Districts into two categories: overnight vs. naturally-occurring. http://bettercities.net/news-opinion/blogs/anonymous/17976/pitfalls-entertainment-districts
Jon Ryker This article is right up the tree I've been barking....get residents in who have spendable cash, and let the business fabric evolve from THEM....do not chase tourists.....in the long haul, you must have families....this means that something like the Banks or 4th St Live or the Levee or anything else you want to just transplant from somewhere else is not what we should be trying to do....make the place liveable....make filling the vacant houses and apartments above empty stores AFFORDABLE for individual developers....then, when you've added a couple thousand people with spendable cash who LIVE here, see what evolves....  Douglas - Exactly so...if you want to be useful as a local government, remove the barriers to that sort of development...take the buildings you own for back taxes....knock some down and give the lot away to neighbors or make parks out of them....those which are marketable, sell for a dollar to small developers with strings on the quality of development...these can then be sold to people who like and can afford nice houses....some could be repurposed....between the addition of parks and nice new houses and apartments your'e ripe for serious move-in's, IF you get the school system fixed! Then, when that happens, you can start being concerned about how you're going to develop the riverfront and the other larger development projects....
Michael Connett ‎"these can then be sold to people who like and can afford nice houses..." In other words, stop creating affordable housing for low-income families and they'll go away, eh! "People who have what they want are very fond of telling people who haven't what they want that they don't want it." -Samuel Clemens
Covington Kentucky What has happened, and continues to happen is that Covington has grown into the social services capital of Northern Kentucky.
Stephen Casper Sadly, but true. We have to find a way to raise the bar for everyone! Even those who drew the short straw deserve better. I continue to ask for city to develop an overall housing strategy, sometime soon we will begin.
 

Friday, June 15, 2012

C+V=G? SILENCE = DEATH


I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Elie Wiesel
Jon Ryker: I oppose the notion that poor people can't contribute and can't be responsible and must be carried by their "betters". I know this isn't true, because I've seen it and lived it. I've also lived with the paternalistic attitude that kills the spirit, and is the core of the problem in this district. If you aren't willing to ask what is necessary from everyone, you will not succeed....
There is no way to tell good parents or good students from bad when the district leadership demands nothing of anyone and covers up the lack of learning. When you get the district standards up to where they should be, you can start to see what parents, kids, and teachers are actually doing their part and which ones aren't. None of that doom and gloom is at all inevitable....we as taxpayers control how this district behaves through the school board....if you want a better school system, vote people in in November who have high expectations for the administration, teachers, parents, students, and taxpayers. This has concrete ramifications at all levels, including, how school books are paid for, which is the venue in this morning's discussion.....if you believe people to be inferior because of income, they will, after years of socialilzation like this, prove to be so. The good news is that high standards work just as well....and high standards are income-independent....
I'm paying tons of taxes for having no kids in school. I'm also paying for the books that many kids throw away because they are not charged for them. It will cost less if the kids don't throw the books down in the hall...to make that happen, you must charge for them....this has the additional advantage of putting a tangible value on what's IN the book...
Ann Longo Actually, you can't fail the child for its parents failure to pay for the book. Jon, you're talking about running the public schools- which are public by constitutional amendments- as private schools. That is exactly the mentality that will take this country even further towards becoming the largest third world country. The right to a public education has nothing to do with the ability to pay for that same education.
Jon Ryker Incidentally, I don't know of any right to a free public education.....first of all, it's not free....somebody pays....second there is nothing in the founding documents about that that I'm aware of....there is certainly no role for the feds in it in the founding documents.....this is yet another example of the feds butting in and ruining things.....in a district where they spend 15k per head, they are limited to 300k in book spending....why, because the feds fund it.....it doesn't have to be that way.....this district put its priorities on other expenditures......namely, directors and associate directors....they could fund books any number of other ways.....of course, with the kids unable to read them, spending a lot on books isn't a priority for them....
And Ann, not for anything, but when I was growing up and books weren't funded by the feds, everybody rented books, and if you lost a book at the end of the year or if you didn't pay your book rent....you didn't get your grades and you did not progress.....many of us were considerably poorer than the people we're talking about here...the books got paid for and weren't lost.....because there was a price for losing them.....also, the vast majority of kids could read them.....because education was valued, at least to a basic level.....
Ann Longo If you charge a fee for the books, you may be challenging federal guidelines regarding free education. That said, you can hold the charge off as negated unless they do not return the books at the end of the term.
Jon Ryker That's what I said....you get the money back if you don't damage the book....although, we never got it back when I was growing up, and everybody had to rent books.....over the course of 5 years, the books got paid for....almost no one, rich or poor, lost a book....they certainly didn't just drop it in the hallway......basic human psychology: what is free is not valued....drove past the projects today....most windows have satellite's anchored outside them....
I can promise you that anybody can come up with 50 bucks over the course of a year for something they know is coming, if it is valuable to them. Now, a more interesting question is not whether people could afford to do that, which they clearly could (they have cell phones and cable), but are the books worth 50 bucks in rental? Another interesting question is, even if the books are good, are they worth 50 bucks if you don't require the students to learn to read so that they can be used?

Ann Longo I'm done. The mentality expressed by others here seems to be of a 'survival of the fittest/richest' brand. This conversation has become a waste of time.


 Of Liberty and Justice for All
Michael W. Connett - Covington, KY.
{August 23, 2004 – Cincinnati, Ohio} The skies are clear, bright, beautiful and beckoning as The Freedom Center Choir sings in anticipation of the arrival of the Parade of Light to approach from the formerly un-free South Bank…
I felt it was important to be here and be visible as a Gay American, because this North Bank of the river does not represent Freedom for me. I came with a glimmer of hope that my people would seize the opportunity to express their personal pride, our continued quest for Freedom and stand with our African-American brothers and sisters even though many of them continue to stand with our oppressors.
The crowd was, for the most part, attentive and respectful for the evenings activities. The Chief Guardian Angel whom I consider a mentor, Oprah Winfrey, believes in the mission of The Center and that Cincinnati – for more reasons than one can count- is exactly the place it needs to be. While I understand it in my head I find it hard to wrap my heart up in this celebration of crossing over to The North Bank.
What about the racial unrest and the April 2001 riots? What about the 1993 passage of Issue 3 that continues to haunt us as Article 12 of this shiny city to the north’s City Charter? A city where folks are afraid of their downtown after dark and where even an event dedicated to The Black Family couldn’t escape the wildings of its own youth? What about our fellow Americans concerted efforts in 2004 to actually write discrimination into our venerable Constitution?
My people were there in numbers, but blended into the crowd who seemed oblivious to this fact that the North and South Banks of the river had swapped ideologies. I enjoyed the entertainment, took note of the inclusive presentation of the struggle for freedom that continues today and was ultimately disheartened that my people and our struggle were not mentioned even once. Not by the people on stage and not by my brethren in the audience. By the time the prayers had ended and they prepared to light the Flame of Freedom I could contain myself no longer. This night could not pass without at least one reminder that We ALL are NOT FREE here on The North Bank. So in the stillness of the night before the Diva’s sang and the Flame was lit I bellowed out that reminder: "REPEAL ARTICLE 12". Then I turned and walked back over the river to the safety of The South Bank listening to the most appropriate song of the evening "The Impossible Dream"...

"True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else." - Clarence Darrow

Copyright©:
The Michael W. Connett Living Trust

Saturday, June 9, 2012

PRECISELY, MY POINT!? PROUD as a CommUNITY Member of being a SURVIVOR...

"Coming OUT of Hiding: A Retrospective Journey Through AIDS..."
A Memoir * Michael Wallace Connett"
"I used to be afraid of dying, but I'm not anymore.
I'm more afraid of what happens to the people who live..." from "And The Band Played On"
"What I am PROUD of, as a gay man, is being a SURVIVOR..."

NHTD MAYORS CAMPAIGN

Mayors Campaign Against HIV This year, the National Association of People With AIDS National Association of People With AIDS (NAPWA) will be hosting the eighth annual Mayors Campaign Against HIV. Mayors are requested to support National HIV Testing Day (NHTD) by hosting HIV testing campaigns in their cities, conducting press conferences to discuss local HIV testing resources, or issuing proclamations in support on NHTD.
Moreover, to assure communities have the resources to mount an effective HIV testing campaign, NAPWA makes available materials to local health departments, community clinics, and other community-based organizations that participate in NHTD. These materials can be downloaded from NAPWA’s Web site at www.napwa.org.
For more information, contact NAPWA at 240-247-0880 or visit their Web site at www.napwa.org.
 

Michael Connett shared Steven L Frank's status: Interesting, Steve! What happens when the CUSTOMERS aren't Happy & The Stakeholders are throwing a Party OR Vice versa... I can think of at least 2 situations we're wrestling with currently ;-)

"I have been reading a book on Government called Building High Performance Government Through Lean Six Sigma. It has reinforced much of my critique of government: that we should be treating our residents and businesses as valued customers and that it is the customer's perception of quality and value of services received from government, not the stakeholders. Stakeholders are interested parties who do not directly consume the product. In education, the children and their parents are the customers. They can vote with their feet and leave your community... thereby leaving you stranded costs say in unused or underutilized school buildings. Teachers, administrators, state educrats are stakeholders. As the book states, "When it comes to evaluating what your organization does and why it id important, it is customer opinions thst matter more than anything else. A more subtle reason for considering customer opinoon first is thst making your customers happy is the way to keep your stakeholders happy." I would say that that is true in healthy organizations. In dysfunctional ones, the workerd and administrators opinion counts for more than the customers. In business this resolves itself quickly in bankruptcy. In government, the torment can go on for way too long."
Someone recently posted this good news for me: "I myself am personally offended by his lack of restraint with the vulger language. I feel that if he is angry by something someone posts, before he spews obscene language on this page, he should also rememeber that not only the person he has directed to is going to see it, PRECISELY, MY POINT!? everyone on THE INTERNET this site will see it. If he has crude comments with obscenity in them he needs to post, I feel he should instant message his offender and not make the rest of us have to deal with his anger agenda" How couldn't Zuckerberg not invented FB in College; IM is slow & uncertain these days, LOL...
I hope that there are wheels in motion by The Commission to acknowledge that JUNE is also National HIV Testing Month as well as LGBT National Pride Month. As @SoBankQueenBee of The South Bank HIVe; I'd also like to Recognize Covington's High Standards for Human Rights & Diversity by also proclaiming it as a time to express OUR "C+V=G" PRIDE

PRIDE Lag; the Day After...

by Michael Connett on Monday, July 11, 2011
I never made it to any of the Northside Celebrations, perhaps because after all the years I worked at The Dock when Pride was in the parking lot I was "over it". I awoke this morning and saw this posted; "Oh my, haven't we come a long way since the mayor of Cincinnati declared it "Gay TOLERENCE Day"!" To which I replied: Yes & No! Someone said earlier; "Like jet lag... There is also pride lag!", however, it differs from jet lag in that it's more like a Hangover... Sure, we're more visible, vocal & tolerated, but we've used it recklessly to assume a higher position than others on the ladder of "Worthiness". Someone else said; "I'm thinking that gay pride weekends might really be about surviving with your pride still in tact. i think i saw some claws extend last night. funny funny." As I've said before, "The Intolerance of those pushing tolerance, never ceases to amaze me..." And when you try to point out the error of our ways; you're told to get a life because you seem to have too much time on your hands, just come have a DRINK and chill out. Unfortunately, I do not have too much time; according to current views, I've already used up 20 of the 25 years "the medicine" extends my life expectancy! Still, so much work left to be done...

On Pride... by Brad Crothers on Saturday, July 30, 2011

June was gay pride month and I didn't care. Why? All of my adult life I've always believed that being gay was not something I chose. Why would I be proud of something I had no part of? Likewise, why would I be ashamed of it? I'm white and I'm sure as hell not proud of that. So June being "Gay Pride Month" meant nothing to me and even less after Obama's empty gesture of proclaiming it as such. It was nothing to me but a way to distract people from the fact that he's not been equal parts talk and action. Don't get me wrong, I don't think we'd be any better off if anyone else had been elected. But I have a hard time respecting someone who says "This is done" when they clearly know it's only the beginning and then allows inactivity and worse to take the lead. You can label yourself a Democrat all you want, it doesn't make you one anymore than labeling yourself a Christian, Muslim or even Atheist.
Having said all that, within the past few weeks I've had a sort of revelatory change in thought. I still feel like being gay is nothing to feel proud or ashamed of.
What I am proud of, as a gay man, is being a SURVIVOR. I'm even more proud of the fact that I belong to a community who has survived the neglect, abuse, religious intolerance, hate, crime, spiritual rape and indifference of far too many people and we will continue to fight back against all of the above in order to continue surviving. It's sad that some of us have developed that as our greatest skill while others walk passively through life, paying no attention to those not afforded the same basic human rights as them. But make no mistake: We will continue to do so despite the attempts (successful or otherwise) to kill us and/or our souls and we will do it for our past, present and future selves. I've said this a million times before but it's the core of everything I believe: Feeling that one has no voice that's being heard is the root of most of the horrible things that people do to others and themselves. To quote ACT UP: "Silence = Death." So scream at the top of your lungs as if your life depends on it. It just might.
~Brad Crothers
If you've been tagged it's because you've contributed to the pride that I've discovered and hopefully share with you, and would like to pass on to others. Feel free to tag yourself and anyone else who you're proud of and SHARE!




Ryan Courtade in posted toFix Covington Schools--OPEN
Hey everyone, I just wanted you all to know that you probably won't be seeing me as much on this group as you have before. While I still will be very involved in these issues, and will continue going to Board Meetings and being vocal through my personal Facebook profile, I need to keep myself focused on my mission, which is success of students for all of NKY. I invite any of you to friend request me, or contact me if you ever have anything you'd like me to look into. Something I am looking for immediately is representatives from each school in NKY, so if you have a passion for a school or have a child in a school contact me for more information. I will definitely still be conducting an open investigation at the district office sometime this next week and will be in attendance at the picnic on the 21st. I would definitely echo Diane's advice for those of you posting "I would preface with "in my opinion" or reference the research to support your post." Pick your focus and stick with it, whether it be budgets, administration, SBDM, BOE, or student success... I wish everyone of you luck on making a difference in Covington. - Ryan

Welcome To MY World...
"Home is not a place; it is an attitude. It is an attitude which depends on how much we are able to feel at home with ourselves as well as with others.
Home is something which happens to a person; homecoming has less to do with geography than it has to do with a sense of personal integrity or inner wholeness.
The most important of all endeavors in life is to come home. The most terrifying of fears is loneliness. It means that one has become a stranger to himself, and consequently, to others. To be lonely is to feel fear, to be forever unsettled, never at rest, in need of more reassurance than life can give.
Someone truly loves us when he brings us home; when he makes us comfortable with ourselves, when he takes from us the strangeness we feel at being who we are. We are loved when we no longer are frightened with ourselves."
April Love Emblem
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