World 021920

®
Announcing the 2020
Discovering Community
Summer Institute August
10-13, 2020, Alumni Hall,
Barre Civic Center
Registration is now open for the Vermont Folklife Center’s
2020 Discovering Community Summer Institute. The
Institute will bring together educators from across the state
for a four-day intensive course from August 10-13, 2020 at
Alumni Hall in Barre’s Civic Center. This year, the whole of
downtown Barre will provide an exciting site for experiential
learning. With an emphasis on place-based education and
media-making, the course will serve as both a project incubator
and a professional development program.
Stories and storytelling are at the center of this experience;
as one participant observed, “The personal gain of
realizing that there are millions of stories in our own backyards
that are ten times more interesting than People
Magazine is something that I will cherish.” The Institute
builds on the Vermont Folklife Center’s many years of collaboration
with educators on community-based projects, the
ever-expanding array of digital devices with audio and visual
recording capabilities, and the do-it-yourself editing and
production opportunity that digital technology affords.
Past participants hail from a broad spectrum of roles in the
K-16 system, including classroom teachers, special educators,
librarians, guidance counselors, and administrators.
The diversity of attendees ensures a rich opportunity to
explore a variety of models and ensures a collaborative space
to visualize diverse applications. By engaging with cultural
researchers, community-based artists, media specialists, and
fellow educators, participants gain access to the power of
ethnographic field research and digital audio, video and photography
as storytelling tools. With Barre as a microcosm,
the Discovering Community Summer Institute will model
simple strategies for deepening students’ relationships to
their own communities.
Participants may take the course for three graduate credits
through Castleton University or a professional development
certificate. Included in the cost of the Institute are 8 hours of
ongoing support from VFC education staff in the form of inclass
coaching, workshops and technical assistance throughout
the 2020-21 school year. For registration, tuition or other
information, visit www.vermontfolklifecenter.org or feel free
to contact us at 802-388-4964 or education@vermontfolklifecenter.org.
Check out the Institute webpage here: https://
www.vermontfolklifecenter.org/summer-institute; see a testimonial.
The Vermont Folklife Center seeks to broaden, strengthen
and deepen our understanding of Vermont and the surrounding
region; to assure a repository for our collective cultural
memory; and to strengthen our communities by building
connections among the diverse peoples of our state.
• • •
Amid Coronavirus Outbreak, Leahy
and Others Press Trump
Administration to Fully Fund
Pandemic Preparedness and
Response Efforts
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and three other senators
urged the Trump Administration to fully fund pandemic
preparedness and response efforts in light of the global
Coronavirus outbreak, which has infected tens of thousands
of individuals and killed more than 500 worldwide. Also
sending the request were U.S. Senators Gary Peters (D-MI),
Patty Murray (D-WA) and Bob Menendez (D-NJ). Leahy is
the Vice Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, and
Peters, Murray and Menendez serve as the Ranking Members
of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Committee, the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and
Pensions, and the Committee on Foreign Relations, respectively.
In a letter to Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
Director Mick Mulvaney, the senators expressed concern
that the Trump Administration’s annual proposed funding
cut for pandemic preparedness and response efforts could
threaten the government’s ability to effectively combat the
spread of the deadly virus. The Trump Administration has
repeatedly proposed dramatic cuts to programs and offices
that spearhead efforts to respond to this and other pandemics,
including a 2020 budget proposal that cut critical pandemic
response programs by nearly 20 percent.
“As we have learned from past public health crises such as
the Ebola, SARS, and H1N1 outbreaks, pandemics require
an aggressive, coordinated response across the federal government,”
the senators wrote. “In light of the current novel
Coronavirus outbreak and the persistent threat of global
pandemics, we urge you to fully fund infectious disease and
pandemic preparedness and response efforts in your fiscal
year 2021 proposed budget. A failure to do so would not only
be a danger to the health and welfare of all Americans, but
also a threat to our national security.”
On January 30th, the World Health Organization (WHO)
declared the Coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency
of international concern, a designation reserved for
extraordinary events that pose a public health risk by threatening
to spread internationally. While the immediate health
risk to the American public from 2019-nCoV is considered
low at this time, as deaths and infections from Coronavirus
continue to rise, the U.S. government has sought to dramatically
escalate its response efforts, which has required some
agencies to tap into additional funds. Just last week, the
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) notified
Congress that it may need to reallocate over $130 million to
be able to continue response efforts to Coronavirus, indicating
that current funding levels may be insufficient.
Leahy, Carper, and Others Introduce the Clean Economy Act of 2020
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on Tuesday joined Senator
Tom Carper (D-Del.) and other senators in introducing the
Clean Economy Act of 2020, to empower the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) to set a national goal of net-zero
greenhouse gas emissions by no later than 2050. The bill
would also promote American competitiveness and healthier
communities, while fostering a fair and growing economy.
The Clean Economy Act also requires the EPA to set
interim national greenhouse gas targets for 2025, 2030, and
2040. This net-zero plan prioritizes public health, lower
costs, and economic growth. To do this, the Clean Economy
Act requires other federal agencies to implement policies
that increase the ability of the United States to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions while staying globally competitive
though investments in innovation, worker training, and
strong labor standards. The EPA net-zero by 2050 plan prioritizes
infrastructure investments that are more resilient to
a changing climate. It also builds on existing state, local and
private sector climate programs. The bill was drawn to
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distressed communities, communities of color, and
indigenous communities.
Leahy, the Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations
Committee, which writes and negotiates the EPA’s annual
budget bills, said: “Climate change is one of the defining
challenges of the 21st Century and its impact on the American
people, our economy, and our communities will be profound.
Future generations will surely judge us by how we
choose to meet this challenge. The Clean Economy Act
recognizes the reality that climate action is both a necessity
and an economic opportunity.”
The EPA net-zero by 2050 plan prioritizes infrastructure
investments that are more resilient to a changing climate.
Additionally, the EPA plans on building up existing State,
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this act also addresses the cumulative environmental effects
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February 19, 2020 The WORLD page 3