Executive Director
Circles of Color Community Organization
The COC Community Lecture Series is defined to be a college motivational series geared to future first generation college students. First generation college students are those students whose parents have had no college or university experience. There are differences between first- generation and traditional students with respect to their basic knowledge of college, personal commitment, and level of family support. For those students whose parents have gone to college or university, there is no question that they will continue in their parents’ footsteps, but for those whose parents have never gone to college or university there is a tendency to repeat this behavior. The cause is quite easy to understand. Their cultural, social and personal background does not adequately prepare these students for envisioning college as a reality. For many of these students, the idea of going to college is extremely unattainable, it may be something mentioned, but because of their background, they are not adequately prepared to embrace this endeavor as an honest possibility. Therefore, the idea that they may be college material does not become internalized. The basic difference between a student whose parents or immediate family has gone to college and those whose parents have not, is that the first expects the child to go to college. Therefore college is a household word, it is not a dream, it is not a possibility – it is a fact. For those whose parents have not gone to college – this thought is a utopia!
How do we turn dreams into realities?
The COC Community Lecture Series has been designed to bring that expectancy to these students. On a regular basis, in an intimate and inviting environment, guest speakers from a vast array of different entrepreneurial and business/college backgrounds will bring advice, knowledge and anecdotes of their professional experience to students. Always reminding the students of the importance of making high GPA’s and making a decision of having a career! Students will be able to listen to the knowledgeable advice of these experienced guest speakers, ask questions and interact in an inviting and comfortable manner. This constant interaction between students and guest speakers increments the expectancy, it makes going to college attainable a future that they will be able to grasp.
Environment:
For this program to be a success, it is of paramount importance that the same group of students receives these lectures in a repeated manner, be it weekly steadily across the school year. The environment must be one that is inviting and creates the idea of familiarity between speakers and students. There should be no more than 20-50 students for each guest speaker so that each student may be able to hear and be heard by the speaker in a natural manner. These lectures can be held in a classroom, library, meeting hall, etc… The COC Community Lecture Series guest speakers are invited by the students to a luncheon/dinner at the end of the lecture series in which the students get to become the speakers and express and explain their progress and the milestones attained after another year of lecturing from the professionals of the COC Community Lecture Series.
Emotional and Physical Health
The connection between emotional health and physical health sometimes goes unnoticed. We are emotional beings and how we feel affects our overall physical health. Life will bring stress and numerous problems, so it is up to us to be able to accept that and balance our emotions. A key component to a healthy body and mind is to make sure you are emotionally stable. Good eating habits, exercise, healthy relationships and hobbies are good ways to bring peace or contentment to your emotions. So lets manage our stress with healthy habits and strive to be emotionally balanced!!
MPH Candidate 2015
A few weeks ago, I volunteered at the Charm City Health Fair at Lexington Market in the heart of Downtown Baltimore. Lexington Market used to be a gem in this city, a place where you could purchase fresh produce, baked goods and delicious meals; however, more recently, Lexington Market has been marked as a hub for heroin and drug use and is also considered a scary place to many. In an effort to recreate Lexington Market and promote good health, student organizations of the University of Maryland host a community event each year. I had the opportunity to volunteer as a dental assistant offering screenings to anyone interested and willing… It was heartbreaking to see that so many Baltimore residents suffered from poor oral health. Later I realized that many of them have no access dental care whatsoever. This is a social injustice at large.
In one particular case, I saw a 10 year old boy who had grossly decayed teeth that pained him, an obvious sign of infection. His mother was genuinely concerned for her son and wanted to take him to see a dentist but her hands were tied because she had no insurance and could not afford to pay out of pocket. This struck a nerve in me as I recalled Deamonte Driver, a 12 year old boy who died from an infection that started in his tooth and eventually spread to his brain. No dentist would accept Deamonte’s insurance, so he slipped between the cracks of the health care system and was forgotten about until his unfortunate death. A “stupid death.” Health insurance is a tool of structural violence; no coverage excludes one from accessing health care and ultimately puts you in harm’s way. So many people living within my community are victims of structural violence and suffer from the consequences health inequity: malnourishment, limited access to care, poor quality of care, lack of preventive medicine and acute and chronic diseases. And so often, health care providers and policy makers show very little sensitivity towards this.
Oral health is just as important as any other type of healthcare service. Make sure that your do yearly checkups to ensure that your mouth, teeth and gums are in good shape. If you don’t have health insurance, find a clinic or organization that will be able to help your get the support that your need.
Focus on your Net Worth vs. your Bank Account Balances
It always makes sense to take a step back now and then to focus on the big picture where our finances are concerned. Our bank account balances may be significant, and although this is important, you often need to go a step further to ask yourself the question “what’s my net worth?”. If I take my total liabilities from my total assets, what am I left with… This gives us a more true picture of what our personal balance sheet looks like. Chances are if you’re going for a loan or thinking about starting a business, you’re going to be asked to do this analysis at one point or another…
International Speaker and Author of “Debt Sucks!”
Owner of EMACK Consulting, LLC
The answer is simple. Getting out of debt takes work, determination, and a big dose of reality and because of this many Americans rather just stick their head in the sand and hope all the debt just magically disappears. But, there are more and more people who are sick and tired of being sick and tired and have decided they don’t care what they have to do to become debt free, just show them the path and they are ready to hit the ground running. Even though these individuals have made the decision to become debt free they know it won’t be easy because a lot of their behaviors with money will have to change. They will no longer be able to shop for new clothes and shoes, or go out to eat 4-5 times a month. Vacations are non existent, cable is a luxury, and chicken has become the new T-bone steak at dinner. Some will have to sell that car that still has FOUR YEARS of payments left and even more will have to take on a second job because they have cut all they can out of their expenses, but it is still more month left after the money is gone. There is a lot of sacrifice that goes into becoming debt free, but the greater the sacrifice the greater the reward! The reward for those who choose the debt free path is a life of endless dreams that can now become reality. You want to go to Hawaii for two weeks during the winter you can save up the money and go because you are no longer giving that money to a car payment. You want send your children to college without student loans? Now it is a reality because you no longer send $200-300 a month to a credit card company or student loans!
The possibilities are endless and your dreams are just moments away from becoming reality, but the first choice is choosing who you are. Are you the person in debt that chooses to ignore reality and stick their head in the sand? Or are you the person that will decide to be brave, take your head out of the sand, and kick debt to the curb? Don’t wait, choose today!
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