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Real rap; introducing Pockets Change, educating youth on financial resilience through hip-hop

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BY JANIECE CAMPBELL

Financial literacy is low among many adults, especially within the Black community. According to the Federal Reserve’s 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances, the average American White family had over eight times the wealth of the average Black family. Closing the disparities within the racial wealth gap is a very complex issue with no one-size-fits-all solution, but there’s one organization that stands out in their goals of educating the next generation on financial resilience.

Pockets Change takes pride in helping individuals build an effective relationship with money, as they believe that financial education is more than just numbers, but a means for self-care and social justice. They do so through an interactive learning environment using hip-hop, an unlikely but efficient way to process information.

“We all learn differently. The ways that we learn are important, and it’s important for us to help students find the place where they learn how they learn. Because once you learn how to learn, you can learn anything. The elements of hip-hop are all those different modes of learning. The expression, the dancing, the deejaying, the graffiti. Those are all ways that we learn as well,” says Brian Kushner, prominently known as ‘Dyalekt’, the Director of Pedagogy at Pockets Change.

Though he brings over 20 years of experience in the New York City theatre and hip-hop scenes, Dyalekt has been a key part of Pockets Change for about seven years now. The organization, founded by his wife Pamela Capalad and Andrea Ferrero, has provided education to K-12 students across the nation and outside of it as well, particularly in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, where Dyalekt hails from. They have rewritten programs for financial institutions, schools, and even wrote the national financial literacy curriculum for the country of Uganda.

“We learn a lot about how personal finance is a revolutionary act but it doesn’t sound like it because the stuff that we’re teaching about is banks, insurance and the stock market… these are all terrible institutions that hate us and want to exploit us. The thing that I found is that there’s no real way to escape the things that they’re doing, so if we’re being exploited by it, I should at least get a piece of it. To get a piece of it is making sure that I have my head above water through getting my credit score together, ensuring that I have some savings in my account, and that I have some property. Then, I’m less likely to be taken out of the game. It’s important for us to make sure that folks can get that financial foundation so that they can make the decisions they want to make in life for themselves and their community.”

He continues.

“That’s the connection between the revolutionary mindset and getting your personal finances together that we find important at Pocket Change. How we translate that to the youth is that we give them the information about the institutions, here is why it’s harmful, here is why you would need to use it anyway, now tell me how you feel about that and what you want to do about it.”

In partnership with Spondulics, Pockets Change is producing Hip-Hop FinFest Vol 2, a live virtual concert taking place on July 16th, 2022. The concert is inviting middle and high school students to explore provided lessons on building financial skills, then furthermore apply that knowledge to write, perform and submit an original song. The theme for the show is “Wants Are Needs Too,” a commentary on people condemning others for purchasing non-essential things such as the newest shoes, games or whatever makes them content when in reality, desires can equally be a necessity.

“It’s talking about the way that we save and spend money. Everybody always tells you to only spend money on your needs. Not only is that not practical, but it’s not something you’re going to do. It’s important for us to know that our wants are needs too. It’s important for us to spend money on the things that matter to us as long as we have a plan and a budget for the things we buy.”

Alongside U.S. residents, The Hip-Hop Fin Fest competition will be open to residents of Canada and the U.S. Virgin Islands for the very first time. Contestants must be 12-18 years old to participate. The top three song submissions will win an abundance of prizes including cash, a Studio in a Backpack equipment set to encourage making music and future creative projects, as well as six months of financial mentorship from Pockets Change.

All submissions are due by May 31st, 2022. In order to qualify, contestants must use content from the free financial literacy lessons provided, and songs must include a minimum of 16 bars along with a chorus. A full list of rules and regulations is available at http://www.hiphopfinfest.com.

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Are citizens the ones causing harm to the environment, or is it our world leaders?

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BY MICHAEL THOMAS

For many years now, we the public have been hounded by the climate change hoaxers in government and climate zahrs who have lied to us, lectured us, and now have subjected us to punitive financial steps to make us comply with their climate change lies. In this piece, we shall first look at, and then reveal who the real climate vampires are.

A recent study published by PubMed has revealed what many others have long suspected, which is that wireless radiation emitted by cell towers and other wireless technology harms both human health and the environment.

All these mentioned in the paragraph above fall under electromagnetic fields (EMF), which seriously affect many different life forms, from plants and animals to insects and bacteria.

This is exceptionally serious considering that from the depths of the soil to the highest layers of the atmosphere imbalances caused by this wireless radiation emitted by cell towers can affect the universe in ways that we as humans never thought possible; here is how this is happening.

It is important to note here that as recently as August 2021, The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled in favor of Children’s Health Defense (CHD) in its landmark case against the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), challenging the FCC’s decision not to review its health and safety guidelines regarding 5G and wireless technology.

This happened because the court recognized that the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) did not fully disclose the harmful effects of these radiations upon the public. This ruling also made it clear that the FCC was arbitrary and capricious in its failure to respond to comments concerning environmental harm caused by RF radiation.

Here are the findings of this study about what, how, and who is affected.

As mentioned earlier studies have shown that radiofrequency EMFs can have detrimental impacts on plant species, some of these impacts include: A shorter lifespan in certain plant species and trees that are exposed to cell towers being damaged on the exposed side which over time spreads to the entire tree.

In animals the effects are devastating; here is how. Radiofrequency EMFs have also been shown to adversely affect several animals such as: birds, frogs, rats, and mice.

These studies show that electromagnetic pollution from wireless telecommunications may be a factor in reducing certain mammal populations. There has been a notable decline in the number of babies and irreversible infertility in mice due to radiofrequency radiation.

Cell towers can cause developmental problems and death to the tadpoles exposed to them. Then there is the inability for birds to navigate their path safely because of electromagnetic noise, which blocks out their magnetic compass.

Even rats that come into contact with the waves from these cell towers give birth to babies with altered genetic expression in the brain. Insects experience changes in their: behavior, physiology, and morphology because of the trauma of these 5G networks and their towers.

This study revealed that even bacteria are not exempt from the harmful effects of EMF sources such as Wi-Fi, which have also been shown to have significantly altered their growth rate.

Studies have shown that even the extremely low-frequency EMFs from power lines can produce changing effects in the magnetosphere, the region of space around the earth.

As promised in paragraph one, we looked at and explained the damage caused by these: cell towers, WIFI, radiofrequency EMF, and 5G radiation. In closing, we will examine who is responsible. I will be concise in my answer by saying that it is those mentioned in the same paragraph.

Imagine hypocrites and liars like: Al Gore, Tony Blair, John Kerry, Justin Trudeau, and the little WEF climate actress Greta Thunberg lecturing us on climate change.

These are the liars who use private jets to circle the globe religiously, while climate taxing us and attempting to shame us for using our little cars.

Finally, we must follow the money. Who owns and benefits from the 5G rollout? Readers, I am sure your surname is not BlackRock or Vanguard, is it? Now we know who is controlling these greedy climate puppets mentioned above.

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Public Service Alliance of Canada calls on government to ensure pension surplus goes to workers and not o federal coffers

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BY PAUL JUNOR

The issue of what to do with the federal public service pension surplus of $9.3 billion is of significant concern to more than 700,000 federal public service workers, retirees, and territorial government employees. The federal government has expressed an interest in utilizing the surplus and this has prompted the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) to launch a national campaign to bring awareness of the government’s plan. PSAC released information in a press release on Wednesday, November 20th, 2024, to express its concerns about the government’s planned actions.

Sharon DeSousa, National President of the PSAC states, “This is a betrayal of trust. Workers and the government contribute equally to this pension fund, but now the government is taking a break while workers are left to shoulder the burden.” PSAC believes that the government’s desire to put its hands on the surplus pensions would be a precedent-setting move. It could prompt private and public employers to do the same thing to their employees’ pension plans. This is an essential issue for the largest public sector union in Canada. “This is more than a fight for public sector workers; it is a fight for everyone who believes in: fairness, accountability, and the retirement security of workers.” National President Dsouza notes further, “If the federal government (the largest employer in the country) can raid its own workers’ pensions, what stops other employers from doing the same thing?”

PSAC is optimistic and hopeful that the federal government will reverse its course of action as it is still early. They have presented three possible solutions to protect retirement security and tackle the pension surplus. These include:

  • Reverse the two-tier system:

Reverse the two-tier system introduced by the Harper government in 2012. Under the Harper changes, federal workers who started their jobs on, or after January 1st, 2013, must work five years longer to reach full retirement. This inequality is fundamentally unjust.

  • Equitable retirement options for frontline workers:

Follow through on the government’s commitment to provide equitable retirement benefits for frontline public safety workers.

  • Suspend employee contributions:

If the government gives itself a contribution holiday, workers who equally pay into the pension plan should get one too, ensuring fairness and equality.

DeSousa states, “This isn’t about pensions; it’s about fairness, accountability, and doing the right thing for the workers who serve Canada every day.”

In a press release on Monday, November 25th, 2024, issued after the federal government’s announcement of a multi-billion-dollar surplus, PSAC notes that “This represented a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in the future of Canada’s public service, and righting the wrongs of the Harper era.” The press release referred to a report by the independent Chief Actuary of Canada, which acknowledged that there was a $1.9 billion surplus in the Public Service Pension Plan (PSPP) that is more than the optimal surplus allowed according to prescribed legislation. These funds will be transferred to the Consolidated Revenue Fund by the government.

PSAC is not pleased that federal workers who commenced on, or after January 1st, 2023, have to wait five years later to get a full pension. For PSAC, “This inequality is fundamentally unjust.” President DeSousa notes, “Federal workers built this pension surplus through their hard-earned contributions, and taking these funds is a betrayal of their trust. It also sets a dangerous precedent for all Canadian employers who may now be eying the pension contributions of other public sector workers.”

PSAC believes that the transfer of these funds into general government revenues rather than to alleviate the unfair two-tier pension system is inherently unfair. PSAC has offered a cost-neutral policy to the government to undo the policies introduced by Harper and will continue its fight to ensure these funds are allocated equitably. “PSAC is determined to express opposition to any actions by the federal government to divert these funds,” DeSousa notes. “A two-tier system is inherently unfair, especially for: racialized, Black, Indigenous, and young workers who make up the majority of recent hires-the same workers this government has confirmed to support and recruit into the public service. If the government is serious about equity and inclusion, we need fair retirement benefits for everyone.”

In an email on Friday, November 29th, 2024, PSAC announced that government’s actuaries revealed that $7.4 billion will be taken from the PSPP as it suspends employer contributions. The government has tabled measures indicating that it will pass the surplus to its coffers. President DeSousa states, “The decision by the government to put itself ahead of workers is wrong. They’re suspending employer contributions for the plan, but not investing in fairer pensions, or a contribution break for workers. That is a betrayal.”

PSAC is disappointed that the government did not engage in consultations with them and hid their true intentions hoping that they would not be found out. DeSousa notes, “The government could have given much-needed financial relief to some of the lowest paid workers in the federal government and make a fairer pension system in a revenue-neutral way, at no cost at all to taxpayers. The question is, why didn’t they?”

DeSousa expressed disappointment at the failure of the government to table pension reform legislation and ensure that frontline public safety and law enforcement workers have access to future equitable retirement benefits. “I spoke with the Prime Minister earlier this week. He must do right by these workers. It’s not too late.”

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Vegetable Pancakes: Wintertime delicious

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BY STEVEN KASZAB

Zucchini Pancakes: A flexible vegetarian meal that allows you to add whatever you desire to it, feeding your family a nutritious main for breakfast, or lunch. The main ingredients need not be zucchini, but perhaps squash, or any other fleshy fiber laden veggie. Also, you can top the pancake with just about whatever you desire be it: hot peppers, fried eggs, jam or even delicious maple syrup.

Family instructions: You will prepare this just as you would a regular pancake.

  • Shred three small zucchini’s and add a teaspoon of salt to draw out the moisture, leaving it to breathe for about 10-15 minutes.
  • While you’re waiting, chop green onions, or scallions finely. You will need 3 – 4 eggs to blend into the zucchini. If you wish to replace eggs with another substitute that will bind the shredded zucchini such as: flax, or chia seeds in water, mashed bananas, or applesauce do so.
  • Mix together and add if you so desire a cheese such as parmesan cheese to your distinctive taste, along with fruit, or berries. Add one cup of flour (more if you want the pancake to be denser).
  • Using a large spoon add to a hot pan, frying to your desired consistency. Flip and add some cheese to melt if you wish.

Another less costly ingredient may be the ever-present Mexican Avocado diced and added to the mix. The Germans often add fried onions with diced mushrooms and in Southern Italy don’t be surprised to find fried anchovies with pitted olives added.

Cooking is limited only by your imagination, so be creative, experiment and enjoy.

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