Faith Community in Charlottesville Addresses Affordable Housing

The 13th Annual Assembly of the Interfaith Movement Promoting Action by Congregations Together (IMPACT) took place at the First Presbyterian Church in downtown Charlottesville. For its focus on affordable housing, several speakers gave insights into the current efforts made on the part of the City and the community to tackle the issue. / Picture: Marguerite Gallorini

Tuesday night [Oct. 30] was the 13th Annual Assembly of the Interfaith Movement Promoting Action by Congregations Together, or IMPACT for short. And the focus of the faith community yesterday was: affordable housing. WMRA's Marguerite Gallorini attended the assembly at the First Presbyterian Church in downtown Charlottesville.

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Twenty-six local congregations came together yesterday under the banner of IMPACT, to tackle the issue of affordable housing in Charlottesville. Rev. Albert Connette, from Olivet Presbyterian Church, is a member of IMPACT's housing research team.

ALBERT CONNETTE: The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment has risen to over $1,300 a month; meaning a minimum-wage earner would need to work three and three quarters full-time jobs for that apartment to be affordable.

In response, interim City Manager Mike Murphy also came to the assembly to provide details and updates on the City's efforts to address this issue.

MIKE MURPHY: [City] Council determined that the Planning Commission should conduct additional community engagement, to ensure that more voices from low-wealth communities were heard. That engagement is wrapping up. I encourage all of you to come out on November 26th as we discuss the possibility of funding for the redevelopment of public housing sites in Friendship Court; to comment on our comprehensive plan in December; and to participate in our budget work sessions between January and April of 2019.

This story appeared on WMRA News.

Women's Prison Trains Inmates - as Yoga Teachers

The non-profit Common Ground Healing Arts has been offering yoga classes to inmate
at a local women’s prison since 2009. / Picture: Common Ground Healing Arts

Common Ground Healing Arts in Charlottesville is expanding its wellness services beyond the general population.  This year, the non-profit is reaching out to the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women to provide a yoga teacher training program. WMRA’s Marguerite Gallorini reports.

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What if yoga could benefit body and mind, even while incarcerated? That’s the experiment made by the non-profit Common Ground Healing Arts in a local women’s prison.  This goes back to 2009, says Marketing and Outreach Director Paige Ryan.

PAIGE RYAN: The goal was to serve about 200 women and to offer about four classes per week.

And this year, they actually have the staffing and resources in place to offer a 200-hour professionally-certified yoga training. That means that inmates can become yoga teachers inside the prison as well as outside once they're released.

SARAH MOSELEY: Now we're offering over seven classes a week; we have five instructors. We're planning to do it over about three months.

Sarah Moseley is a volunteer and one of the lead instructors of this program.

MOSELEY: They've got training Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday nights; and for four to five hours on Saturday. So it's a very rigorous training. We also offer yoga to the segregated populations now, so offering more kind of one-on-one specialty classes.

RYAN: So "segregating" meaning that the person is in isolation?

MOSELEY: Yes. So, what could happen is that a person in segregation would be practicing in their space while you are leading them and practicing alongside them, on the other side of the door. Women will tell us that coming back from solitary or from segregation, they'll tell us about how they've been practicing yoga and how having that yoga practice helped them get through those times.

And on November 3rd, the festival ARTCHO in Charlottesville will be fundraising for Common Ground, which only relies on donations for all of its services, including this yoga teacher training.

RYAN: The partnership started because they reached out to us: they identified with our mission of making healing services affordable and accessible.

This story appeared on WMRA News.

A Preview of the 31st Virginia Film Festival

This year’s Virginia Film Festival [Nov. 1-4] is expanding the scope of its film selection. WMRA’s Marguerite Gallorini has this preview.

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[Music from the Virginia Film Festival’s 2018 Promotional Video]

The 31st Virginia Film Festival showcases more than 150 films in four days, special guests, free events and parties: it can be hard to know where to start. So let’s take it from the beginning: 2018 marks exactly 50 years since 1968, and the social landscape is again shifting now, just as it did 50 years ago. So the festival will open its film line-up on November 1st  with the docuseries 1968: The Year That Changed America.

[Clip from 1968: The Year That Changed America]

RICHARD NIXON: I hope to restore respect to the presidency.

And on the theme of change and social movements, the festival will shine a spotlight on important issues of our time, such as Race in America. In this category, the two-hour feature simply called Charlottesville provides an in-depth reading of the town in the wake of August 12 last year, from racial divides to local government mistakes.

INTERVIEWEE: It is disheartening to see Charlottesville be pegged as this one attack and this one weekend.

The screening will precede a community address by guest speaker Martin Luther King III, followed by a discussion moderated by Larry Sabato from the UVA Center for Politics.

Beyond Charlottesville, the festival’s “Spotlight on Virginia Filmmaking” celebrates movies and short films from around the state, on a variety of issues – such as dementia.

[Clip from Revolutionizing Dementia Care]

BRIAN LEBLANC: It’s hard. Your whole life changes in an instant when you hear those words – that, you know, you have Alzheimer’s disease.

Close to 6 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s – and the number is projected to rise to 14 million by 2050. The documentary Revolutionizing Dementia Care, supported by the Richmond-based Community Idea Stations, explores dementia awareness.

[Clip from Revolutionizing Dementia Care]

LAURIE SCHERRER: A lot of mentoring is helping people to understand: no, you can’t do all the things you did do, but you still can do a lot; you still have a lot to be thankful for.

The film will premiere at the festival on November 1st at the Violet Crown Theater, and will be followed the next day by a related workshop in Richmond for care partners, to share new and best practices for people living with dementia in the U.S. And if you can’t make it to the festival, the film will air on various PBS stations on November 15.

[Music from Rafiki]

The festival will also focus on the struggles of the LGBTQ community everywhere. In the Kenyan film Rafiki – which means “Friend” in Swahili – Kena is the daughter of a local politician and always hangs out with the guys. But Kena will make her first female friend when Ziki, the daughter of her father’s political rival, moves to town. But when the two girls’ relationship develops into romance, they must defend themselves against Kenya’s anti-gay laws.

[Clip from Rafiki]

ZIKI (played by Sheila Munyiva): Let’s make a pact, that we will never be like any of them down there.

KENA (played by Samantha Mugatsia): Instead, we’re going to be something… real?

ZIKI: Yes, something real.

The festival also features a whole section entitled “Middle Eastern & South Asian Sidebar.” The light-hearted movie Hell in India will be introduced by guest speaker Samhita Sunya, who’s the Assistant Professor of Cinema at UVa’s Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures. In this Egyptian comedy, a misunderstanding propels a band of musicians to India as a special forces squad to free the Egyptian ambassador and his family, kidnapped by an evil billionaire.

[Music from Hell in India]

The festival definitely has something for everyone: local, national and international movies, comedies, classics, documentaries, drama and more experimental films. Many guest speakers are set to make an appearance, including actor Christoph Waltz.  There will be discussion panels; and visitors can even catch a glimpse into immersive film technologies with the Virtual Reality Lab.

[Clip from The Other Side of the Wind]

Juliette Riche (played by Susan Strasberg): I just want to know what he represents.

Last but not least: the festival features four films in tribute to director Orson Welles, including his unfinished last movie, The Other Side of the Wind, which has finally been completed after decades of speculation.

[Clip from The Other Side of the Wind]: Is that what this movie’s about?

A Netflix documentary mixing archival footage and contemporary interviews also chronicles the somewhat “cursed” making of this movie, and the director’s maddening and tragic end. Its title:

[Clip from They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead]: They’ll love me when I’m dead.

This story appeared on WMRA News.

UVa Hosts Teacher Retention Summit

The "Teacher Retention Summit" on October 23rd gathered education leaders, policymakers and academic researchers at the University of Virginia - including Virginia Secretary of Education Atif Qarni - to discuss strategies and policies to better retain - and recruit - teachers in Virginia. / Picture: Marguerite Gallorini

On Tuesday [Oct. 23], a day-long summit at the University of Virginia gathered education leaders, policymakers, and researchers to discuss teacher retention in Virginia. The summit was hosted by the Office of the Secretary of Education. WMRA’s Marguerite Gallorini has been following this issue, and has this report.

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Here’s the Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. James Lane, laying out the issue:

JAMES LANE: I heard that there were about 1,200 teacher vacancies when we started the school year. 90,000 of our 1.2 million students in the Commonwealth are potentially impacted by the teacher shortage.

So how can we retain teachers? One way is better teacher pay. Virginia still lags behind the U.S. average by $8,000. But it’s not just that, says Dr. Jeffrey Smith, President of the Virginia Association of School Superintendents:

JEFFREY SMITH: The other piece that I have heard as superintendent - and I know my colleagues have heard as well - is greater and more autonomy within the classroom, so that teachers can teach and young people can indeed learn. Another area where we need some help and assistance: that's when we look at the licensure program. We heard that today as well: greater flexibility in converting the provisional license to that of the collegiate license in the teaching profession.

Virginia did take a first step this year with House Bill 1125, signed into law in June, which makes it easier for out-of-state teachers to get license reciprocity in Virginia. But at the end of the day, the main problem often goes back to money. In the words of Jim Livingston, President of the Virginia Education Association:

JIM LIVINGSTON: We have to put our money where our mouth is.

This story appeared on WMRA News.

Can a Local Workshop Fight Fascism?

Charles presented his work on the wave of fascism that hit Europe in the mid-1970s, and the "Battle of Wood Green" where fascists and anti-fascists clashed in the streets of that London suburb. Charles then asked for feedback from the audience. / Photo: Marguerite Gallorini

After the deadly white supremacist rally last year in Charlottesville, two grad students in history at the University of Virginia are trying to bridge the divide between academia and the rest of the city by starting a monthly community conversation on far-right and fascist groups. WMRA’s Marguerite Gallorini and 10 others sat in on the first workshop of the “Far Right and (Anti-)Fascism Group.”

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[CHARLES and NATASHA: Thanks for coming!]

How can we read current events such as August 12 in Charlottesville with a historical lens –more broadly, how can we create a safe and open space to talk about fascism and anti-fascism? Natasha Roth-Rowland and Charles Hamiltonare two doctoral students in history at UVa.  They have created a monthly workshop, open to all students and to the public, to discuss just that.

NATASHA ROTH-ROWLAND: It's a very common refrain that racism doesn't go away, it just adapts to the society that it's in. And I think failing to tease that out in public discourse and in education - I don't think it directly puts us where we are but it facilitates the gradual normalization of politics and social development where this kind of resurgence of fascism and authoritarianism becomes possible.

CHARLES HAMILTON: It’s certainly my hope – and I think I speak for Natasha as well – that we're providing the tools to understand this movement in a historical context. Because there are things that are new, but it's not fundamentally new: there is this history to it, and that's what we're trying to tease out, we're trying to see what, from history and from related disciplines, can we use to understand our current times and this situation better. 

Charles studies queer anti-fascism and the far right in twentieth-century Europe, with a focus on Britain, France, and Germany. He talked about the wave of fascism that hit Europe in the mid-1970s, following a lot of fear mongering aimed at immigrants and refugees – much like what they say is happening now in the U.S.

ROTH-ROWLAND: The elephant in the room which was discussed early on is what happened in Charlottesville last year, specifically: Neo-nazis bringing a tremendous amount of violence to the streets in Charlottesville, and lack of sufficient action on the part of the police.

[Far-right crowd chanting on August 12, 2017]

This inaction also rings a bell from the past. Here’s Charles talking about what came to be known as the Battle of Wood Green, in Britain, on April 23, 1977 – when fascists and anti-fascists clashed in the streets of this London suburb.

HAMILTON: 74 of the 81 people arrested are antifascists, and the police actually - similarly to what happened here - were not able to keep the groups separated. So there was just fights in the streets, and reports that the police actually defended the National Front in fights because they viewed them as the victims.

These workshops, which are funded by the Power and Violence Inequality Collective, will be held each month in various locations– either on UVa grounds or elsewhere in Charlottesville. The meetings will culminate in a conference next Spring.

HAMILTON: Soon, within the next few weeks, we're putting out a call for people who are interested in possibly being on those panels. We want to hear from them. That’ll be out soon.

ROTH-ROWLAND: I think that's also part of the emphasis in having somewhat of a public profile –is to try and open up access and visibility to what we're doing. Because you know, it can sometimes feel a little bit academic, ivory tower – but as much as we can, we want that to be able to, on some level, interface with a lot of the really, really incredible organizing and activism that's been going on here in the past year, by people of color, queer people, housing rights activists, etc, etc. So we want to try and develop contact in whatever way we can.

This story appeared on WMRA News.

Guatemalan Refugee Seeks Sanctuary in Charlottesville Church

On Monday, María Chavalan’s attorney Alina Kilpatrick, her support team, and community representatives held a press conference at Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church in Charlottesville,
where María was granted public sanctuary. / Picture: Marguerite Gallorini

María Chavalan is from a persecuted ethnic group in Guatemala. She fled to the U.S. in 2015. Now, ICE is pressuring her to buy a ticket back to Guatemala, but she is pleading her case in court, and seeking sanctuary in a church in Charlottesville. WMRA’s Marguerite Gallorini attended her press conference yesterday.

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María Chavalan is not alone: that was the rallying cry yesterday at the Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church in Charlottesville, where she asked for sanctuary. Indeed, ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] has ordered her to go back to Guatemala without even giving her a chance to claim asylum. Here's her attorney, Alina Kilpatrick, explaining the situation.

ALINA KILPATRICK: Maria did not receive notice of her court date. She actually has a really good case for asylum, but she hasn't been able to present that case for asylum because ICE neglected to put a date and time on her notice to appear, as is required by law. We're here because of the legislated racism that is the Immigration and Nationality Act. I am here to stand up to this administration and do everything I can within the law and fight them, and lobby them, everything possible until María and all of my other clients are safe and free.

This press conference took place yesterday on Columbus Day. María Chavalan, through the help of translator Flor López, said a few words as well.

MARÍA CHAVALAN (interpreted by FLOR LÓPEZ):  I don't feel like I am an immigrant on my own continent. All my ancestors are from this continent. Many years ago, when the colonizers came from other places, we received them and welcomed them. So, I came here to the United States because I was not feeling safe in my country.

This story appeared on WMRA News.

Farm to School Week in Charlottesville

Venable Elementary School took part in the "Farm to School" week in Charlottesville,
promoting healthy nutritious foods with varied meals and educational activities. / Picture: Marguerite Gallorini

This week was “Farm to School” week in all nine city schools of Charlottesville.  The aim was to promote local agriculture and produce in schools and to get children interested in eating healthy.  On Thursday, Delegate David Toscano and Virginia’s Secretary of Education Atif Qarni visited Venable Elementary School. WMRA’s Marguerite Gallorini has this story.

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A variety of food and garden educational activities took place throughout the week, and a special menu each day featured foods provided by local farmers. Yesterday, kids at Venable Elementary school shared their special meal with Virginia Secretary of Education Atif Qarni.

ATIF QARNI: It was great to have lunch with the students. I had lunch with the second graders, talked about school nutrition and it was great to see the variety of lunches that students are having.

He says talking to kids about nutrition and gardening is more than just about food.

QARNI: We really should try to scale this at a state level and try to integrate this in our instruction. There's an opportunity through all of the variety of content areas where we can take Farm to School opportunities and talk about preservation and conservation of our surroundings, environmental education, school nutrition; it can be done in science classes, it could be done in English classes, where you can write about it, and reflect on your experiences. If you're talking about gardens and building gardens, there's a lot of mathematics - I've been a mathematics teacher - so I can see how students can engage and help and build gardens. There’s a lot of geometry aspects involved. I can see that there's a lot of connections that we can make with our curriculum.

After enjoying their meal, students went outside to learn more about goat cheese and how it is made – by meeting real-life goats.

CAROMONT FARM WORKER: What are some of the first things that you notice about how the goats look?

CHILD: It kind of looks like one of the goats has a beard because all the hair is sticking down.

CAROMONT FARM WORKER: Yeah, so they’re really furry, right?

Delegate Toscano also paid the kids a quick visit.

DAVID TOSCANO: This is exciting because there are so many wonderful things happening in local schools to make sure the food the kids eat is nutritious and it's locally-sourced. From what I can see the kids love the food. And they don’t always realize what’s nutritious and what’s not, and part of what’s happening here is helping recognize the good things that you can eat that actually taste good. That's a wonderful change from when I went to school where we got things out of a can and there were a lot of things that weren't the best, that we ate at the time. If you have good nutrition, it helps you learn better.

Several studies over recent years have shown that better nutrition of schoolchildren leads to better performance in class. A recent paper from UC Berkeley showed that students at schools that partner with healthier school-lunch vendors perform better on state tests. Not only that: this option is also more cost-effective compared to other policy interventions like, for instance, class-size reduction.

Trista Grigsby is the Farm to School specialist for the VA Department of Education, and she was there at Venable Elementary to enjoy the fruit of her labor as well.

TRISTA GRIGSBY: This is really exciting.

She says that over the past 4 to 5 years, local food procurement in schools has doubled, from less than 8 million dollars back then, to more than 15 million dollars now coming into schools each year.

TRISTA GRIGSBY: It makes a huge difference in your local economies, especially for rural farmers.

TOSCANO: And anytime you’re transporting locally, you’re saving money on transportation and hopefully you can get good nutrition out of it as well.

This story appeared on WMRA News.