“More than just cash in their pockets…”: ABCD SummerWorks offers teens important skills and support for school work and life, according to Harvard University doctoral student Timothy Cunningham.

Cunningham presented results of his research on ABCD SummerWorks in a presentation entitled Assessing Perceptions of Supports and Barriers to Education and Career Goals among SummerWorks Participants at ABCD’s Parker Hill Fenway Neighborhood Service Center in Mission Hill. The 2008 SummerWorks program kicks off on July 7.

Last year’s ABCD SummerWorks program at Parker Hill/Fenway NSC saw 105 youths participate in the summer jobs program. For this particular study, Cunningham interviewed 21 SummerWorks participants about their experiences with the program. They were asked about what supports are in place and what barriers stand in their way.

Across the board, teens named SummerWorks worksite supervisors and support staff as positive role models in their lives. One teen said the close-knit nature of ABCD contributed to his success: “When you’re with ABCD you grow close to people and you’re almost like family,” the teen said. “You know you can always turn to them.”

As far as obstacles, teens pointed to their peers. One teen said it was hard because his best friend is in a gang and tried to get him to join. He said didn’t want to hurt his friend’s feelings and that made the decision to choose work more difficult.

Cunningham’s research showed SummerWorks works because it offers kids more than just some cash in their pocket for a summer. In addition to on-the-job counseling and mentoring, sites like Parker Hill offer “job readiness” workshops that focus on how to dress, speak and present themselves at job interviews. Cunningham’s presentation noted that students by and large retained the lessons learned in these workshops.

Former SummerWorks participant Alvin Diaz spoke at the presentation. Diaz started with SummerWorks at age 14 (ABCD is one of the only summer jobs program that accepts students that young). He said ABCD taught him to think ahead and realize this job was not just a way to earn some extra money but a way to build a resume. He said it led directly to his acceptance at Wentworth Institute of Technology, where he is currently a junior. Through Wentworth, he works in a program called “Camp Tech” where he teaches elementary school kids how to use computers.

“ABCD SummerWorks provides at-risk youth not only summer employment that can ease the burden on the family,” said ABCD President/CEO Bob Coard, “it also offers potential career pathways that can help these youth climb out of the cycle of poverty for good.” Coard thanked the many institutions in the Mission Hill – Fenway area, including several world famous hospitals, colleges and others, for their ongoing support of at-risk youth by providing jobs and cash donations to SummerWorks.

Volunteers are needed for the ABCD SHINE program: Serving the Health Information Needs of Elders. The Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD) program is designed to help seniors understand their Medicare bills and related insurance issues.

The SHINE program provides free health insurance information, counseling and assistance to Massachusetts residents with Medicare and their caregivers. Information is disseminated by trained and certified SHINE volunteer counselors who provide information on Medicare A & B, Medicare Advantage, Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage, Medigap, Mass Health, Medicaid and other programs that help pay health care costs for people with limited income and resources.

“It’s such a rewarding experience for our volunteers because they see the results of their assistance right away,” said Emily Shea, Director, ABCD Elder Services. “Their interventions immediately make life better for seniors struggling with these insurance issues.”

Volunteers complete a 12-day training program to learn the ins and outs of the healthcare insurance and compensation system that serves older residents. Upon completion, volunteers will answer telephone calls from seniors who have questions about their health coverage and what plan is right for them.

Interested persons can call Emily Shea at 617 348 6340. This rewarding opportunity is open to everyone - a background in health insurance is not required.

The Daily Illini

In late February, about 200 Hindu families in Champaign-Urbana got together to celebrate Maha Shivratri, a Hindu high holiday that honors Shiva, the destroyer, one of the three Gods that comprise the Hindu Holy Trinity. Brahma, the creator, and Vishnu, the preserver, are the others.

On Maha Shivratri, families gather to mark the night Lord Shiva married. And while families joined together in temples across the globe, Hindu families here in Champaign-Urbana settled for the Urbana Civic Center. There is no Hindu temple in the area, but a concentrated group of Hindu families are trying to create a temple where they can worship.

The temple isn't as crucial to Hinduism as a church is to Christians or a mosque to Muslims. Hinduism is a very personal religion. Most Hindu families in the area have shrines in their houses to which they pray to on a daily basis. But the temple is still considered a cultural center of Hindu life.

"There is still a certain communal aspect to (Hinduism)," said Rajmohan Gandhi, director of Global Crossroads and visiting professor.

The idea to build a temple began about three years ago among three University professors, including Professor Shiv Gopal Kapoor.

"We felt we had a critical mass of Hindu families in the area, and it was time," he said.

During Kapoor's early years in Champaign, he and his family would travel to Chicago to attend temple. There is a temple in Peoria, Ill., which is a 90-minute drive from Champaign-Urbana.

"We're doing it for ourselves, but we're also interested in helping the large number of Hindu students who come to the University from Chicago - where they had temples at home," Kapoor said.

Akhil Shah is one of those students. The 22-year-old senior in LAS is the president of the Hindu Students Council. The group meets weekly at the office of Registered Student Organizations and holds bi-weekly discussions on cultural and religious topics. When the group wants to get together and celebrate a holiday, they usually end up at the McKinley Foundation.

"We have to bring in a Hindu priest from Peoria or Chicago whenever we want to celebrate a holiday," he said.

The Board of Trustees of the Hindu Temple and Cultural Society of Central Illinois, the group organizing and funding the temple, estimates a total cost at just more than $700,000.

"We currently have about $300,000 in cash, with another $200,000 pledged," Kapoor said.

They had a site picked out last year, but Champaign County officials never granted permits for land use, a 24-acre site on Airport Road in Urbana. The group was buying the land with a private investor, but the permit process took too long and he eventually dropped out.

This time, they're doing things differently.

"We plan on first buying the land, then applying for a permit," Kapoor said. "That way if we run into any problems, we'll already have the land and not have to go back to step one."

The group is looking at a 4.5-acre plot of land on Willow Road in Urbana. A basic design for the temple has been sketched out. The group has enlisted the help of HDC Engineering, a local firm. They also are working with a local architectural firm.

The temple will house offices, meeting halls, a fully functional kitchen, a 2,000 square-foot prayer hall, and what Kapoor considers to be the most important and unique additions: a cultural and community hall.

"We want this to be something for the community as well," Kapoor said. The group's Web site refers to this particular aspect of the temple as "the first of its kind in temple-building in America."

"We want to make education a core element of the temple," said Professor Pallassana Balgopal, another founding member of the temple's board.

The group has Lord Ganesha, remover of obstacles, and the Goddess Saraswathi, goddess of knowledge, as their central deities.

"Since education is such a core aspect of life in Champaign-Urbana, we wanted that reflected in our temple," Balgopal said.

Kapoor also envisions classes being taught in the building.

"We would like to see everything from Yoga to mythology or language classes," Kapoor said. "I used to have to teach Hindi classes out of my basement. Hopefully that's something we could work on."

Kapoor also envisions a community center that could be used to hold birthday parties and weddings. He also thinks it would be good place for elementary students to tour, just to learn a little about a culture and a religion with which they are unfamiliar.

"Hinduism is a very accepting religion overall," Balgopal said. "We would like to see the temple and cultural center reflect that in our community."

© Copyright 2006 The Daily Illini

The Daily Illini

Stanley stood at the top of the stairs in his house, awkwardly pointing a gun to his head.

"I didn't know the best way to do it, so I figured if I accidentally only grazed myself, the fall down the stairs would take care of the rest."

It was 1971 in a rural Illinois farm town. Sixteen-year-old Stanley was "pretty sure" he was gay, but he didn't know how to handle it. At that time, "gay" just wasn't done. No one knew his secret. He couldn't reach out to his family; they wouldn't understand that, since the age of four, he had been attracted to men. They wouldn't understand that the sight of a bare-chested man lifting a bale of hay made him feel something the "busty calendar babes at the fleet store" didn't.

So he reached out to a friend's father. The man convinced Stanley to join the conservative church on the edge of town. Stanley confessed his feelings to the pastor.

"Pray," the pastor said.

Stanley prayed. He prayed to be straight, to find women attractive. It didn't work. He went back to the pastor, ashamed, confused.

"Pray harder," the pastor said.

Stanley knew his feelings for men were wrong; his church told him so. God wanted him to burn in hell.

He knew where his brother kept his pistol.

"He usually kept it loaded, but I didn't check. I didn't want to know. I wanted to let God decide," he said. "I told myself, if the gun's not loaded, that's God's way of telling me I'm all right. If it is ... well, you know. My mom would be sad, but at least I wouldn't have to tell her I was gay."

He aimed. He pulled the trigger.

- Click -

The pistol wasn't loaded. Stanley survived, and is now a 50-year-old, openly gay man living in Urbana with his partner of 24 years. Looking back, he finds it hard to believe he was that close to committing suicide.

He doesn't attribute the episode directly to the church, "but when that pastor told me to 'pray harder,' that was it for me. I had nowhere left to turn," he said.

Currently, there are churches that accept openly gay people. Stanley is actively involved in the Unitarian Universalist Church in Urbana, 309 W. Green St. It is a denomination that believes in the acceptance of everyone, regardless of age, race, or sexual orientation.

Many people approach ministries that are based on the notion that homosexuality can be changed through prayer, and ask for help in becoming what is now referred to as "ex-gay," and succeeding. The largest and most powerful of these ministries is Exodus International, which claims to seek "freedom from homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ."

Exodus encourages "transformational therapy." It holds conferences and books speakers across the nation. Exodus' Web site operates a referral service as well. If a gay person is interested in transformational ministry, he can find a church in his area that offers this form of therapy.

The Homewood Evangelical Church in Moline, Ill., houses one such ministry. Tim Buhler has been the Pastor of Single Adults at Homewood for a little more than three years. Buhler says he is working with 20 to 25 people in his program, and the program has about an 80 percent retention rate, meaning four out of every five people who approach the church with unwanted same-sex attraction remain in the program.

"I work with people who feel like they were born (gay) but know they weren't," he said.

At the core of Buhler's beliefs is the notion that same-sex attraction is not a sin, but acting on it is. He doesn't try to change sexual orientation, just sexual behavior.

"That seems to be to be a very spiritually violent experience," says Heidi Weatherford, minister at McKinley Presbyterian Church, 809 S. 5th St.

"I currently have two members of my congregation that have gone through this sort of ministry," she said. "They're basically told how awful they are and that they have to change; that they're not worthy in God's eyes. It's a terrible misinterpretation of the scripture."

Buhler says he's not interpreting scripture; he takes the bible literally. He believes it's the word of God and that there are passages in the text that specifically condemn homosexuality. For example, Leviticus 18:22: "Thou shalt not lay with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination."

There is no definitive, scientifically proven answer to the question of whether a gay person can overcome their sexual orientation, but a few things have been established.

In 1957, psychologist Evelyn Hooker published the first empirical work that challenged the then-accepted view of homosexuality: that it was a disorder. This research eventually led the American Psychiatric Association, in 1973, to drop homosexuality from the list of mental health disorders. Since that time, most mainstream mental health organizations have come to support the research. The organization that still prescribes to the original view is The National Organization for the Research and Treatment of Homosexuality.

The organization's president, Joseph Nicolosi, a clinical psychologist in Encino, Calif., has spent 25 years working with men who are unhappy with their homosexuality. Nicolosi's contention, one that he came to believe after meeting with more than 1,000 gay men throughout his career, is that homosexuality is caused by a "deep grievance to the father."

Anderson says Nicolosi points to one study, conducted by Robert Spitzer in 2001. Spitzer, a Columbia University scientist, conducted a survey of 200 men who claimed to be "ex-gay." He measured their same-sex attraction levels a year before therapy and a year after. Spitzer found that 20 of the subjects exhibited changes in their sexual orientation.

"The study is suspect," Anderson says. "First of all, it's not a random sample."

He said 65 percent of the subjects were referred by ex-gay ministries, hardly representative of the broader gay community.

Still, the study did show that it is possible for people to believe they have changed their sexual orientation.

John Powell, clinical counselor at the University, said his 22 years on the job vary greatly from Spitzer's findings.

"I don't think sexual orientation is a choice, or a result of some form of trauma," Powell says. "The more I work with LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people, people who don't want to be gay, the more I realize the best thing for them to do is to just accept how they are, and who they are."

Pastor Weatherford agrees: "When I talk to the two members of my congregation scarred by this therapy, I tell them the most important thing to remember in the bible is that God loves you, in all your variety. He made you in his image, and you're good."

© Copyright 2006 The Daily Illini

Quincy Patriot-Ledger

QUINCY - When the actors in Eastern Nazarene College’s theater department take the stage tomorrow night to perform William Gibson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, ‘‘The Miracle Worker,’’ they will be joined by some new faces: American Sign Language interpreters.

‘‘It’s our first experience with this kind of performance,’’ said producing artistic director Eunice Ferreira. ‘‘We’re very excited about it.’’

‘‘The Miracle Worker’’ tells the story of Helen Keller, the blind and deaf girl who, with the help of her tutor, Anne Sullivan, learned how to communicate with the world around her through touch. Ferreira said she thought the play provided a perfect opportunity to introduce American Sign Language into the theater, something she said she has long wanted to do.

She said interest in the play has spawned a new way of communicating on the Eastern Nazarene campus: TTY technology. TTY is short for teletypewriter, a device that allows deaf people to communicate by telephone.

She also said the college is considering making sign language an option for students seeking to meet their language requirement.

‘‘The Miracle Worker’’ will be performed tonight, tomorrow and Saturday, but American Sign Language interpretation will only be offered at tomorrow night’s show. Jacqueline Crosby and Crista Lambert, both recent graduates of local colleges, will be not only interpreting but performing.

‘‘As interpreters, it’s our job to not just convey the words spoken but also the tone and manner of speech,’’ Lambert said. ‘‘It helps give the viewer the complete theater-going experience.’’

The two women work within a team of five. Their two mentors, Christopher Robinson and Aimee Schiffman, both professional interpreters, recommended them for the job.

‘‘When Chris suggested two recent graduates do the interpreting, I realized it would be a wonderful learning experience for both the interpreters and the actors,’’ Ferreira said. Crosby has been a theater performer once before; this will be Lambert’s first time.

The fifth member of the team is Shira Grabelsky, a deaf woman who acts as an American Sign Language consultant.

‘‘Shira watched us rehearse and then assigned us voices based on our personality,’’ Crosby said. ‘‘So, for example, every time Helen speaks, I interpret her. Crista is always Helen’s father, Captain Keller. The rest of the time we split the parts, acting out the show for the deaf viewers in the audience.’’

‘‘They’ve been amazing,’’ Ferreira said. ‘‘I’d love to do this every year.’’

The show is directed by award-winning local actress and director Jacqui Parker. She and Ferreira have worked together in the past. The two women say they chose ‘‘The Miracle Worker’’ because they wanted to challenge their students - and their audiences - with a powerful, thought-provoking piece.

They considered ‘‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’’ They wanted ‘‘12 Angry Men’’ but couldn’t get the rights.

‘‘The whole time, my mind kept coming back to ‘Miracle Worker,’’’ Parker said. ‘‘It didn’t fit the social-change theme of the others, but I guess we were just drawn to it.’’

Ferreira said they were also focused on realism as this spring’s theme. After a lavish musical in the fall and a new-age production in the winter, Ferreira wanted to make sure that her students got a well-rounded theater education.

Parker said she wants the people in the audience to ‘‘step out of their comfort zones after watching this play. Watch the struggle these two women go through, and don’t be afraid to step outside of your own life and do the uncomfortable. You just might make a change, a miracle of your own.’’

Opening tonight

What: Eastern Nazarene College’s production of “The Miracle Worker.”
Where: Cove Fine Arts Center, 23 East Elm Ave., Quincy.
When: Tonight through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Tomorrow’s show will have sign language interpreters.
Cost: Tickets cost $10; available at the school’s box office.

Robert M. Coard, President/CEO at Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD) announced today that the hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts households that receive fuel assistance dollars just got a little warmer.

The maximum amount of Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funds a household can receive is increasing from $1,305 to $1,495; the minimum amount is almost doubling from $450 to $895. The maximum High Energy Benefit has also increased from $75 to $100 per eligible households.

“This is wonderful news for families who rely on this money to keep the heat on during these long New England winters,” Coard said.

The bump in funding is due to the fact that Mass. Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) released a funding reserve it had been holding.

When it was first announced that LIHEAP would be fully funded this year, income eligibility changed. Before, a family or individual could earn no more than twice the federal poverty level, or $41,300. Once the program was fully funded, that number was changed to 60 percent of the state median income, or $53,608.

Subsequently, fuel assistance applications increased by 20 percent. 30,000 more applications were received this year. ABCD even opened on evenings and Saturdays to meet the demand. Families and individuals of more moderate incomes were able to apply for federal dollars to help keep the heat on. Now it looks like they will receive even more assistance.

“Every bit helps in tough times like these,” Coard said. “This increase in funds will translate to warmer homes across the commonwealth.”

Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD) is offering an Asset Development program that includes free financial education classes. Once completed, enrollees begin saving toward a matched savings account that can provide up to $4,000 toward one of three financial assets: home ownership, continuing education or small business start-up. The money is given only to those who qualify and must be applied toward one of the three assets.

The course is six weeks long and meets one evening a week. It is provided free of charge. Topics range from saving money to maintaining a solid line of credit. Once the classes are completed, enrollees are given a financial assessment. Qualifying participants then begin putting a small amount of money toward a savings account. After saving for a full year, they are rewarded with a lump sum of $4,000 to be directed toward any of the previously mentioned three assets.

“ABCD’s Asset Development program is a great tool to fight poverty,” said ABCD President/CEO Bob Coard. “The classes and matched savings accounts in the program offer a real hand up to the people who need it the most.”

The next round of classes begins in September. Anyone interested should call Asset Development Program Manager Vernette Allen at 617.348.6218 for more information.