Fighting social stigmas in the community

Amid turbulent political and social climates, the Davis community aims to foster and support its local LGBTQ adolescents. Beginning this summer, Davis will welcome its first LGBTQ youth counseling group in an effort to provide local teens with resources for healthy social and emotional development.

The first LGBTQ group session will be held on July 24 and will be facilitated by Julie Weckstein, a licensed clinical social worker who specializes in working with LGBTQ youth. Weckstein recognized the value in establishing the counseling group and considered how the adolescent participants would react to the dynamics of its therapy.

“The kids [and] the issues these days are different,” Weckstein said. “For almost all the kids that are in the group so far, being gay is not the issue anymore. Mostly these kids just want their own safe space to be social and to get support.”

The LGBTQ youth counseling group will strive to provide its participants with social connections and emotional support within the guidelines of traditional therapeutic boundaries. Other goals of the group include the promotion of individual self-esteem, support from others and the acquisition of proper communication skills for dealing with stressful situations and potential discrimination.

While the greater LGBTQ community continues to affirm its identity, presence and rights in a rapidly changing political and social climate, Weckstein explained that the adolescent members of the LGBTQ support group are more comfortable with their identity and social integration compared to previous generations.

“It’s amazing to me how articulate these kids are,” Weckstein said. “They already know what feelings are. They are much more communicative and have good relationships with their parents. These kids are just very different.”

The current generation of young LGBTQ individuals aims to break down barriers and rethink identity labels. Although the word “queer” was once deemed a slur by the LGBTQ community, members of the current generation have largely reclaimed the word as a positive term of self-identification. Weckstein noted that several of her younger clients have adopted the term “SAGA,” or Sexual And Gender Acceptance, as an all-encompassing and alternative group identifier for the terms “LGBTQ,” “LGBTQIA” and “LGBTQ+.”

Lawrence Shweky, a licensed therapist and youth activist, worked with Weckstein to establish the LGBTQ youth group via the EMERGE Center for Social and Emotional Learning. EMERGE caters to local adolescents in need of social and emotional growth by normalizing discussion of mental health. As the executive director of EMERGE, Shweky assessed the unique needs of LGBTQ adolescent community in Davis.

“There’s a lot of really wonderful, positive things about growing up in Davis,” Shweky said. “But it can be a difficult environment in ways that adults don’t often understand.”

While Davis is a liberal and diverse city, the presence of a large university can also cause added stress and difficulty for local adolescents. Shweky highlighted the necessity of providing them with proper guidance and encouragement through “culturally relevant and age-appropriate”  services.

The LGBTQ youth counseling group may help participants to transition from a high school to a college environment. According to Monique Merritt, a recent UC Davis alumna, having exposure and information regarding the LGBTQ community prior to attending college benefits incoming LGBTQ college students. Monique identifies as a queer, black, cisgender woman. During her collegiate career, Monique worked at the UC Davis LGBTQIA Resource Center as its high school outreach community coordinator. Merritt believes that social networking within the LGBTQIA community can positively impact the self-esteem of queer adolescents.

“Outreach lets younger folks know that they are not alone,” Merritt said. “It’s important to remind folks that their identities are valid, that their identities should be celebrated and that they will find other folks like them in the future.”

For more information regarding the LGBTQ Youth Counseling Group, please contact Julie Weckstein, LCSW at jaw@jps.net.

Written by: Eliana Sisneros — city@theaggie.org

Yolo Community Care Continuum receives grant to replace farmhouse roof

After being damaged during this year’s harsh winter storms, the roof at the farmhouse in rural Davis was in dire need of repair. The Yolo Community Care Continuum (YCCC) was able to receive a $6,240 grant from the Sacramento Region Community Foundation to replace part of their farmhouse’s roof.

As the director of development at YCCC, Debbie Woodsford noted the simple nature of reaching out to the foundation.

“The process was very easy,” Woodsford said. “It’s through the Sacramento Region Community Foundation, and every year they put out a grant opportunity that they call their ‘immediate needs’ grants.”

Acquired in 1986, the farmhouse was YCCC’s first facility where people with mental illnesses could work.

“We acquired [the farmhouse] by virtue of a group of parents who had adult children with mental illnesses,” Woodsford said. “Their illness was too severe to live at home, but they didn’t want them to be locked up.”

This facility remains a place where people with mental illnesses can learn to work and live productively before returning to the community.

“People live there; it’s a 10-bed facility,” Woodsford said. “They can stay at the farmhouse for up to 18 months –– they have group counseling sessions, and they learn how to work cohesively.”

The farmhouse was atypical and a place of refuge for the mentally ill. This grant serves a greater purpose in helping the local community.

Vasey Coman, a marketing associate at the Foundation, explained the Foundation’s role.

“The review committee looks for immediate needs. They score the narrative questions, and they also score the budget that the nonprofit provided,” Coman said. “Beyond that, our goal is to make sure that we are diversifying our funding regionally and also by what we are funding that is representative of the needs in our community.”

The Foundation strives to enhance the work that local nonprofits are doing in the region, allowing access for people who want to better serve the community.

“Impactful. Impactful is really the one word I would choose to describe the Foundation,” Coman said. “It started about 35 years ago by a group of really dedicated community leaders who love this place and they thought, ‘How can we better collaborate and pool our funds and resources to make a better impact?’”

Amy Eubank, a senior program associate at the Foundation, described the initiatives within the organization:

“Our foundation has four initiatives that we focus on,” Eubank said. “We focus on nonprofits and capacity building like the Big Day of Giving. Our other three are on food access, the arts and education.”

As advocates for a better quality of life, the Sacramento Region Community Foundation and the Yolo Community Care Continuum continue to serve the city of Davis in different ways. The grant put toward the farmhouse is a step forward in helping people thrive within the community.

Written by: Stella Tran — city@theaggie.org

The fight against GMOs in modern agriculture

While California was waking up on the Monday morning of May 22, the Anti-Monsanto Project was already on the move. As early as 4 a.m., the Anti-Monsanto Project assembled in front of the Woodland Monsanto for a protest. While the protest began with numbers above 30, the crowd eventually thinned out as the Yolo County Sheriff’s office arrived at the scene, with only the most faithful protesters remaining.

“There were a group of protesters outside the business,” said Sergeant Matt Davis of the Yolo County Sheriff’s Office. “A number of them made the decision to sit down in front of the driveway that effectively blocked the entrance, ingoing and outgoing, from the highway onto the property.”

Davis explained the situation and his interactions with the protesters:

“They were advised to move or they would be arrested, and 10 individuals chose to remain,” Davis said. “And they were taken into custody.”

Davis then commented on the nature of the protesters:

“The individuals were cooperative,” Davis said. “There was no incident, other than they stood up, they were placed in handcuffs and walked to a nearby van. It was as simple as that.”  

Although the protesters blocked the entry and exit points for a little over an hour, Davis witnessed no further interaction between the protesters and employees of Monsanto.

“I didn’t see any interactions between any Monsanto representatives and the protesters,” Davis said. “I don’t know if there was, prior to us getting there. I didn’t see that take place, though.”

The Anti-Monsanto Project made a public statement on Facebook, claiming responsibility for the protest and commenting on the day as a whole:

“Yesterday [May 22] we gathered at our meet-up spot,” the Anti-Monsanto Project said. “Once there was a sufficient crowd, approximately 4:15 [a.m.] we gave a ten minute brief, then began shuttling people to the main gate to begin coordinating where to position people.”

The statement also mentioned the arrests:

“Now, we have held shutdowns of Monsanto facilities for five years, and never before had there been arrests, until yesterday,” the Anti-Monsanto Project stated. “Within moments, the [sheriff] gave a warning that he would make arrests. Undeterred, the protectors remained seated. Then came the call of an unlawful order, and three minute warning before arrests would be made.”

The statement elaborated on the time spent in jail, after the arrests:

“While doing jail support, several others joined us as we awaited our allies’ return,” the Anti-Monsanto Project stated. “Some brought food, some brought beverages and snacks, some brought good vibes and compassion. As each individual was released, they left the jail to be greeted with cheers from those outside. After about seven hours, the last of the #Monsanto10 was released.”

Chris Horner, the testing and operations manager at the Woodland Monsanto facility, provided a statement on the event over email.

“The more than 20,000 people of Monsanto are committed to having an open dialogue about modern agriculture and how food is grown as we focus on using digital tools, data and research to find solutions that balance the need to feed people and protect the planet –– we’re proud of the work we do, and we’re eager for people to know more about us,” Horner said. “Through innovation and collaboration with farmers and partnering organizations, we develop new tools that help the world’s farmers grow food using less of the Earth’s natural resources. We know people have different points of view on these topics, and it’s important that they’re able to express and share them.”

Emily Radusovksy, a first-year environmental science major, voiced her opinion on Monsanto.

“As far as Monsanto goes,” Radusovksy said. “A lot of what they do is very unethical because they have so much power. I don’t think any group should ever be given that much power.”

Despite the arrests, the Anti-Monsanto Project does not plan on halting their crusade against Monsanto.

“We may not have succeeded in shutting down Monsanto yesterday, but we proved our conviction and showed that we support each other,” the statement read. “This won’t be the last attempt. We will begin early, and push to have even more people. Next episode, we will shut them down, arrests or not!! We will be back, and we will be stronger!!”

Written by: Nicolas Rago — city@theaggie.org

A nonprofit organization working toward sustainability

There are hundreds if not thousands of charities and nonprofits that work toward helping developing countries by sending aid money and materials its inhabitants may need. It makes people wonder why there are still so many prevailing issues in third-world countries, when there seem to be millions of dollars and lots of aid going into building up these countries. There is a new nonprofit in town that may have an answer to that question.

Academics Without Borders USA (AWB-USA) is a nearly-three-year-old nonprofit organization with strong ties to UC Davis. Their primary goal is to “increase the capacity of colleges and universities in developing nations” to shape the engineers, doctors and teachers that these countries so desperately need in order to face their problems. AWB-USA sends trained academics and experts in their respective fields to universities and institutes all around the world to “teach the teachers.”

AWB is unique in its proposal process. Rather than taking suggestions for projects from professionals here in the United States, the nonprofit has a year-long cycle in which they take proposals from the foreign institutes they assist. When the board decides which projects they are going to fund, they either connect the institute with the experts they need or build on established relationships between foreign institutes and academics that they have already been in contact with.

One of AWB’s recent projects was in Sri Lanka at the University of Peradeniya. Dr. Michael Wilkes had already been involved at the institute, traveling back and forth over the course of a couple of years. Last year, AWB got involved by providing grant money to fund travel expenses for Wilkes and for Patricia Conrad, a professor in the Veterinarian Medicine Department at UC Davis as well as the rest of their team. While Sri Lanka has come a long way from the war-torn third-world country it was at the beginning of the century, problems have continued to come up in the 21st century. Chronic kidney disease, rabies, malaria, Dengue fever and environmental issues with conservation and agricultural impacts are all serious issues the small island country is still facing. Wilkes and Conrad looked to address these problems by helping the future leaders of the country — the students and faculty at the University of Peradeniya — learn how to solve problems together and be leaders. They taught the One Health research approach used at Davis, focusing on collaboration between different fields.

“There’s a lot of overlap between all these schools: veterinary sciences, medicine, nurses and doctors,” Wilkes said. “They learn a lot of the same things. So by teaching these students and faculty how to learn and collaborate, we can get a lot more done.”

A second program in Haiti was also funded by AWB this past year. Dr. Anthony Phillips and Dr. Douglas Gross had already been in contact with the Hôpital de l’Université d’Etat d’Haïti (HUEH), visiting a few times before AWB started funding their efforts. In developing countries, medical experts are often given general training without any specialty or subspecialties due to their lack of resources or even lack of knowledge. Imagine having a general surgeon perform cardiac surgery, or an OB specialist forced to perform spinal surgery. Phillips and Gross addressed this problem by bringing a new subspecialist with them on each visit to help the students, faculty and residents at the HUEH learn how to deal with more specific health issues. On their most recent trip, they brought with them Dr. Jong Hee Chung, a hematologist. Sickle-cell anemia is a huge issue in Haiti, and teaching doctors how to treat blood-related diseases will go a long way in making the country more healthy.

“It’s not good enough to visit and just leave them with a bottle of pills that will run out within a month. We try to make sure everything we teach them is sustainable,” Phillips said.

Sustainability lies at the heart of AWB and all of its projects. The typical AWB grant for travel expenses is around $5,000, which is paltry in comparison to the millions donated by the Red Cross or even the Gates Foundation. But all of these experts are aware that what these developing countries and people need is training, resources of knowledge and experience.

“We’re pretty frugal,” said Bob Agee, the chairman of AWB. “We don’t fund buildings; we don’t fund equipment. It all goes into getting an expert there for enough time to make a difference. We have a high cost-benefit ratio. We’re proud of that.”

What makes AWB unique is the “people” approach. As Agee stresses, the core of the nonprofit is “people who know people.” There is already enough money going into these countries, but that money and aid only provide short-term solutions. For a country to change and for problems to be fixed, real change has to come from among the people themselves. Sending experienced academics and experts abroad to teach willing professionals who only lack resources and training seems like a new, effective model to aid countries in need.

Written by: Ahash Francis — city@theaggie.org