Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visit Child Bereavement UK Centre
Credit/Copyright: Ian Jones via Royal.UK
The Duke of Cambridge has been Royal Patron of Child Bereavement UK since 2009, a charity which supports families and educates professionals when a baby or child of any age dies or is dying, or when a child is facing bereavement.
While at the Stratford site, Their Royal Highnesses met bereaved families and children who have been supported by Child Bereavement UK in London and attended one of the charity’s Family Support Group sessions for children aged 4-12. These groups, facilitated by Child Bereavement UK’s bereavement support practitioners and trained volunteers, give children, their parents, and carers, the opportunity to meet other bereaved families and to explore the themes of memories, feelings, support networks and resilience. These sessions can help to decrease their sense of being alone and feeling ‘different’ when someone important in their lives has died.
Flowers were presented to the Duchess by Shinobi, aged 12, who was supported by Child Bereavement UK after the death of his grandmother.
Their Royal Highnesses were also introduced to local professionals, volunteers and charity staff and met with funders of Child Bereavement UK’s London services, which include a small dedicated service in West London for parents bereaved of a baby or a child, as well as the centre in Stratford. These have been made possible as a result of the support of many funders including: The Peter Cundill Foundation; The Hon M.J. Samuel Charitable Trust; City Bridge Trust; Gina Levett; and others who wish to remain anonymous.
The Duke and Duchess concluded their visit by marking the first anniversary of the opening of the charity’s Centre in Stratford.
Ann Chalmers, Chief Executive of Child Bereavement UK said:
“The Duke takes a keen interest in our work of supporting bereaved families and training the many professionals whose work brings them into contact with grieving children, young people and parents, helping them to better understand and meet the needs of grieving families.
“We are honoured to have The Duke and Duchess visit our bereavemement service in East London, which opened a year ago in Newham in response to the great need for bereavement support in this area.
“It is a privilege to have The Duke of Cambridge lend his support to our work; his involvement has made a huge, positive difference to Child Bereavement UK, helping to shine a spotlight on the needs of the many families in this country who experience child bereavement every year.”
Jan 13, 2017 10:30 am
On the heels of his headlining performance as the 2016 “Rocker of the Year” at the annual Little Kids Rock Benefit in New York City, Smokey Robinson will be giving students at Pio Pico Middle School in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) a million reasons to make beautiful music.
Smokey Robinson receiving the Rocker of the Year award at the 2016 Little Kids Rock Benefit.
On January 18, Robinson will make a special appearance to hear a new generation’s take on his timeless tunes, deliver brand new instruments, and present a $1 million check donated by Niagara Cares to support Little Kids Rock’s mission of transforming lives by restoring, expanding and innovating music education in public schools.
“Little Kids Rock is such a great organization for supporting the effort for getting our kids in the arts in schools,” Robinson said. “We need to support our kids in as many positive areas as we possibly can. We are not only talking about the future of music; we are talking about the future of our country. We are talking about the future; our future period.”
Robinson’s performance at the sold-out benefit last October not only brought the crowd to its feet but also helped raise $1.1 million to establish youth-centered, culturally relevant music education in schools across the United States. Inspired by Little Kids Rock’s progressive approach, Robinson will second that emotion by presenting a check to the organization for an additional $1 million, on behalf of Niagara Cares, a philanthropic arm of Niagara Bottling that supports initiatives serving children and families in need.
Little Kids Rock partnered with the LAUSD in 2004 and has since distributed more than 7,000 instruments and curricular resources worth more than $2 million. To symbolize the investment that will bring the program to tens of thousands of additional children, Robinson will unveil a surprise of brand new instruments to the school. The nonprofit will then donate instruments and expand the program to 30 more LAUSD schools on Saturday, January 28 at Little Kids Rock’s Modern Band Workshop.
The Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF), a leader in the global effort to end AIDS, today announced it awarded nearly $3.5 million in grants to 57 organizations addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic in critical and innovative ways in December.
This brings the Foundation’s total grant investments for calendar year 2016 to nearly $8.6 million and builds on its ongoing support for organizations throughout the Americas and the Caribbean.
“For nearly 25 years, the Elton John AIDS Foundation has been committed to aggressively confronting the HIV/AIDS epidemic where it exists,” said EJAF Founder Sir Elton John. “We are proud of this newest round of investments, in which we support work in over 50 locations, from vital medical services to creative cutting edge activism on some of the most pressing issues of our time.”
The Elton John AIDS Foundation has four strategic goals for its grants:
• Health and wellness: Ensuring everyone living with or at risk of contracting HIV is healthy, safe, and has unfettered access to high quality medical care and any other services they need to live fulfilling lives.
• Rights: Ensuring people living with or at risk of HIV are treated fairly under the law.
• Quality of life: Ensuring people living with, affected by, or at risk of HIV have a high quality of life.
• Resilience: Ensuring the individuals and organizations working on EJAF’s grant-making priorities have the resources and training they need to support their missions efficiently and effectively.
The grants made by the Elton John AIDS Foundation in 2016 include 27 first-time grants and over 100 renewal grants. The average size of an EJAF grant in 2016 was approximately $81,000, and nearly all of the renewed grantees have been funded for multiple years to achieve impact and lasting change.
Highlights from the December 2016 grants include:
• A new grant in southern Haiti supports crucially needed medical services for people with HIV/AIDS. This region was recently devastated by Hurricane Matthew and this grantee, the St. Boniface Foundation, has been at the forefront of the response to this disaster. Other international investments include two new grants providing HIV-related services in Mexico and an advocacy effort across Latin American countries in response to the Global Fund’s withdrawal from middle-income countries.
• Twenty-five grants totaling $1,398,000 in investments support organizations in the southern U.S. working across EJAF’s grant-making priorities, as well as targeted investments to build up the response to HIV/AIDS in rural areas, including rural West Virginia, Texas, and Kentucky.
• Fifteen grants totaling $783,000 provide services and advocacy supporting LGBT communities, including LGBT Community Centers in New York, Los Angeles, Memphis, TN, Jacksonville, FL, Birmingham, AL, and Philadelphia, PA. EJAF is also investing in efforts to mobilize LGBT individuals in Atlanta, GA, to become engaged as HIV/AIDS activists in their communities. A number of grants will support developing leadership skills in young LGBT people living with HIV.
• Seven grants totaling $305,000 support organizations led by and serving transgender communities in Albuquerque, NM, San Juan, PR, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Bronx, NY. These programs help HIV-positive transgender people connect to medical treatment, train doctors and medical providers to increase sensitivity toward transgender people, and help transgender people facing injustice in the criminal justice system.
• Three grants totaling $180,000 support programs providing legal counsel, medical care, and support services for people engaged in sex work.
• Grants to ACT UP NY and SisterLove in Atlanta include campaigns to increase women’s access to PrEP, the once-per-day pill that reduces the risk of HIV infection.
• Six grants totaling $170,000 support programs working with recently and formerly incarcerated HIV-positive people to help them rebuild their lives and remain on treatment after leaving prison or immigration detention. These programs, many led by LGBT people, also help organize the formerly or currently incarcerated to advocate for their health and rights.
• Grants in North Carolina and Florida help launch the states’ first legal syringe exchange programs.
• Ten grants totaling $520,000 address municipal- and state-level laws and policies affecting people living with HIV. One grant supports a national effort to address issues in the criminal justice system affecting LGBTQ and HIV positive people. EJAF is also funding organizations working to challenge discriminatory laws, including the HB2 “bathroom” law in North Carolina through the Gavin Grimm Supreme Court case.
“Our grantees are on the front lines of the HIV epidemic,” said EJAF executive director Scott Campbell. “As one of the largest funders in the world dedicated to ending AIDS, we are committed to making real-time investments that address the latest trends in the epidemic, while also looking for solutions to address the real drivers of HIV – injustice, discrimination, inequality and intolerance.”
A complete list and descriptions of all 57 December 2016 grants are posted at www.ejaf.org.
A global, one-of-a-kind program developed by the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center in Phoenix is changing the lives of thousands of Hispanics outside of the United States who are living with Parkinson’s disease.
What started as a small group in 2007 with few Spanish education classes and support groups has grown into a comprehensive and far-reaching program with a presence in 16 countries on three continents.
“This kind of outreach program is exactly what Muhammad and Lonnie Ali wanted when they agreed to help open the center in 1997,” says Holly Shill, MD, director of Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center at Barrow Neurological Institute. “Muhammad wanted to ensure that everyone, patients and caregivers alike, would have access to the same great care and support that he received.”
The center’s Hispanic Outreach Program is led by Claudia Martinez, who has been instrumental in both growing the program and developing its unique cultural sensitivities. The program emphasizes helping people with Parkinson’s and their caregivers to maintain a positive quality of life.
The first expansion of the program began after two patients from different cities in Mexico came to the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center for a Spanish Parkinson’s education course and stressed that there was no education or support like this in their communities.
In response, the outreach program held its first international education seminar for which the University of Chihuahua and a group called Parkinson Sinaloa in Mexico, and the Parkinson’s organization called Fundación Parkinson Colombia in Colombia streamed the live internet event. From there, Martinez was contacted by other Parkinson’s support groups and programs throughout the world.
“The Spanish-speaking Parkinson’s community in the Americas is indeed large, committed, and also in need of resources and outreach. In the last three years, our comprehensive Hispanic outreach program has expanded to create a network of Spanish-speaking people with Parkinson’s disease and caregivers in 16 countries,” says Martinez. “The outreach resources that we provide through the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center were previously scarce or non-existent in many of these communities. This unique network has stayed active via social media and online conferences.”
Interacting with this international community inspired Martinez to launch a unique initiative to give Hispanics with Parkinson’s the opportunity to represent their countries at the World Parkinson Congress which was held late last year in Portland, Oregon. The language barrier and cost were prohibitive for them to participate. However, with Martinez’s direction and the help of art instructor Gregory Pearce, the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center developed a mosaic-style poster which allowed more than 100 people with Parkinson’s disease and their caregivers to represent the Spanish-speaking Parkinson’s communities in North, Central and South America.
Comprised of a variety of activities, the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center’s Hispanic Outreach Program includes support groups, education classes, workshops for caregivers, and exercise and art classes. It also offers a Promotores Program for Hispanics with Parkinson’s, which is a first-of-its-kind course taught by specially trained Hispanic volunteers who provide in-home visits for people who otherwise would not receive important education and support. Additionally, its Spanish choir, called Voces Unidas, has received special recognition by the World Parkinson Congress for the song and video they produced which continues to attract media attention.
The Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center at Barrow Neurological Institute is one of the most comprehensive Parkinson’s treatment centers in the world, coordinating patient care, physical therapy, pharmaceutical and surgical care, research, and patient education and outreach. Headquartered at Dignity Health St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center is a Center of Excellence designated by the National Parkinson Foundation.
When the latest season of “The Celebrity Apprentice” premiered on January 2, 2017, it was clear that the newest installment of the reality series has been revamped, and in many ways, for the better.
With an all-new cast of contestants, a new host and even a new filming location, the series is poised to reboot its ratings as well. Here’s what you can look forward to in the eighth season of The Celebrity Apprentice:
A New Host & Host City
Series staple, President-elect Donald Trump stepped down from his hosting duties on the show that helped bolster his star power after announcing his decision to run for the presidency. While Trump will still have some involvement in the series as an executive producer, the hosting duties will be taken over by action-star-turned-politician Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger is sure to bring his own brand of charm to the series as well as numerous classic catchphrases.
Another big change is that the show is moving filming production from New York City to Los Angeles. With this change will surely come a fresh spin on the contestant challenges and also a boost in accessibility to greater star power, whether in contestants, special guests or advisors.
An All-Star Cast
Sixteen contestants will be vying to be the next Celebrity Apprentice, earning the charity of their choice $250,000. Here are this season’s contestants:
• Kyle Richards: Actress, producer and star of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills”
• Carnie Wilson: Singer and member of 90’s girl group Wilson Phillips
• Boy George: Culture Club singer and Grammy Award-winning artist
• Ricky WIlliams: Heisman Trophy winner, ESPN sports anchor and former NFL player
• Laila Ali: Former boxing champion, TV host and daughter of Muhammad Ali
• Vince Neil: Lead singer of Motley Crue
• Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi: MTV reality star of “Jersey Shore”
• Carson Kressley: Television host and celebrity stylist
• Jon Lovitz: Former “Saturday Night Live” cast member and comedian
• Brooke Burke-Charvet: TV host, actress and web entrepreneur (ModernMom.com)
• Carrie Keagan: Actress, former TV host and writer
• Lisa Leslie: Olympic gold medalist and WNBA star
• Eric Dickerson: Former NFL player and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame
• Porsha Williams: Star of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” and singer
• Matt Iseman: Host of “American Ninja Warrior”
• Chael Sonnen: Retired UFC fighter
Impressive Business Advisors
The roster of advisors on this season of “The Celebrity Apprentice” is arguably more impressive than the contestants. Schwarzenegger will be consulting some of the leading minds in the business world as he makes weekly decisions in the boardroom this season. Advisors include:
• Warren Buffett: One of the most successful business investors in the world
• Steve Ballmer: Owner of the Los Angeles Clippers and former Microsoft CEO
• Jessica Alba: Founder of The Honest Company and Honest Beauty, actress and author
• Tyra Banks: CEO of the Tyra Banks Company and TYRA Beauty, accomplished model, producer, TV host and actress
• Patrick Knapp Schwarzenegger: Leading entertainment attorney and nephew of host Arnold
New Technology Integration
With the series set in L.A.’s very own Silicon Beach, you can expect this season to have a bigger focus on technology than ever before. While many challenges will be anchored in integrating technology, the series itself will likely see more technological integration as well.
In addition to watching the show on live TV when it airs on Mondays at 8 (7 Central), viewers can also catch up while on-the-go with NBC’s mobile app. In addition to full episodes, you can also use the app to view clips and special features.
More Charitable Giving
Each contestant has chosen a charity near and dear to them that they will be working with to raise awareness and money for while competing on “Celebrity Apprentice.” Over the course of the series, contestants have raised over $15 million for charity, according to NBC. This season will boost that amount further, with the winner earning a generous $250,000 for the charity of their choosing.
Jan 13, 2017 05:00 am
Founded by Neil Young, the school ensures that children with severe speech and physical impairments achieve full participation in their communities through the use of augmentative & alternative means of communication (AAC) and assistive technology (AT) applications.
Bridge School has established an outreach program to share what is developed at the school with parents, professionals and users of AAC/AT across the world.
