The Justice Department Is Ramping Up Its Anti-Hate Crime Efforts

/in /by

New personnel, guidance and grants were announced on Friday.

The one-year anniversary of the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act was on Friday May 20th, and in response the Justice Department announced a long list of actions to take place. The act came about after the rise of violence and hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders during the pandemic. This couldn’t happen at a better time as just last week a gunman entered a supermarket in Buffalo NY killing so many. Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said “as we mourn with the families of the horrific attacks of hate this past week, all of us here today––DOJ, [the Health and Human Services Department] and agencies across the federal government; legislators and other government officials; advocates like Susan Bro and Haifa and Victoria Jabara; civil rights and community-based groups; public health professionals; victim services; and law enforcement partners across the country––we must leverage all of our expertise to combat hate.”

Some of the new actions are Ana Paula Noguez Mercado, a community advocate and interpreter, will be the Justice Departments first ever language access coordinator. Additionally, Saeed Moody, a veteran of the Justice Department, will take over as the Anti-Hate crimes resources coordinator, and Rachel Rossi will move on to director of the recently restored Office of Access to Justice. “Ana will join our Office for Access to Justice where she will work to improve knowledge, use, and expansion of the department’s language access resources,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland during his remarks. “We know that language access is a major barrier to the reporting of hate crimes and hate incidents.”

The Justice Department also issued new guidance that will seek to increase awareness of hate crimes, and also released 10 million in grant solicitations for new programs to handle hate crimes. “This builds on efforts Justice have taken over the past year such as launching the National Anti-Hate Crimes Campaign led by the FBI; assigning at least one assistant U.S. Attorney to be a civil rights coordinator in every U.S. Attorneys’ Office; and “vigorously investigating and prosecuting hate crimes,” said a press release from the department,” (Bublé 22).

The FBI released a report at the end of 2020 stating that hate crimes had reached their highest level in 12 years with 8,263 during that year. Nonreporting and underreporting of hate crimes to the FBI by law enforcement has been a long-standing issue along with hate crimes being handled in another way. Individuals or witnesses are handling things privately or through a non-law enforcement official.

The Justice is investigating last week’s attack in Buffalo as the majority of the victims were black, making it a hate crime and an act that was racially motivated. Garland concluded that this “was a painful reminder of the singular impact that hate crimes have not only on individuals, but on entire communities.”

By: Beth Gray

https://www.govexec.com/management/2022/05/doj-ramps-anti-hate-crime-efforts/367278/

Conscious spending: The finance approach that’s both smart and fun

/in /by

How often do you feel guilty for living in the moment and spending money on that latte that you really want? Or for taking your family of four out to dinner when you have plenty of food at home? According to Ramit Sethi, the bestselling author of “I will teach you to be rich”, you don’t have to feel this way. His approach to money is called conscious spending which is a flexible finance approach. “Unlike a budget, which looks backward, a conscious spending plan allows you to look forward,” he says. “Conscious spending is all about spending extravagantly on the things you love, as long as you cut costs mercilessly on the things you don’t. It’s not about restriction. It’s about being intentional with your money, and then spending on the things you love guilt-free.”

Sethi doesn’t downplay the normal general guidelines for saving money, like having an emergency fund, they all still apply. Instead, conscious spending according to Sethi is “Yes, I want to go on vacation. Yes, I like nice clothes. Yes, I’m going to spend on these things guilt-free. I’m also going to invest, save, and make sure I can cover my rent.”

So, what exactly is conscious spending? According to Bradley Klontz, financial psychologist and associate professor of practice at Creighton University’s Heider College of Business in Omaha, Nebraska, we tend to experience unconscious spending. Things are just too easy for consumers with credit cards and tap to pay to just spend without any real plan. In order to undo unconscious spending, you must ask yourself important questions about your financial situation, goals, and desires. Questions like: What do I love spending money on? How much do I need for my fixed expenses? How much do I want to save? How much do I want to budget to impulse buys? What have I been spending my money on? Sethi and Klontz both say that your answers must be very clear. Just saying you want extra money for vacation is not enough, it must be meaningful. “What’s not meaningful is just some spreadsheet with numbers in it. Truthfully, nobody cares,” Sethi states. Once you have answered these questions truthfully and not in abstract way, it allows you to be excited about your financial future, and it opens your eyes about what is important to you making it easier to cut things out that really don’t matter.

Sethi refers to your answers to these questions as your “rich life”, they are unique to you and not influenced by what others think you should do with your money. Once you have identified what you value, it frees you up to not stress or feel anxious about certain purchases. For example, when Sethi was a child, his family could not afford appetizers when they ate out. Now something that is important to him or one of his “money rules” is to never question spending money on appetizers. “It gives me great joy to be able to buy any appetizer that I see looks good,” he added. “I don’t have to decide, ‘Should I pay this much? Or should I not?’”

Sethi encourages trying conscious spending for a month. Then check your account and your statements and see what worked, and what didn’t. “It’s not going to work perfectly the first time. It’s a system that you’re going to continually tweak,” Sethi said. “But overall, you’re going to start to get a sense for how it works and what you need to change. And then you just make the change each month after that.”

By: Beth Gray

https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/03/health/conscious-spending-tips-how-to-wellness/index.html

How Managers Can Become More Effective Leaders

/in /by

A new report from Gallup identifies seven leadership traits found among managers of high performing teams and offers tips for how to develop these skills.

As the demand on the economy and workforce from the pandemic rages on, so does the demand for good managers. Managers cannot simply be there to just “supervise” but must have stronger leadership capabilities. Companies are failing to put the time and investment into finding great managers up to the task, and therefore they are struggling. As for the companies that are actually investing in their managers, a new report from Gallup found that these companies are thriving.

The report from Gallup was written by Vibhas Ratanjee who is a senior practice expert on organizational and leadership development. The report focused on private companies, but all the research can be applied to public organizations and local government as well.

The study included more than 550 job roles and 360 job competencies identifying seven leadership traits found among managers who have created high performing, successful teams. Below are the findings:

  1. Building relationships: Establishing connections with others to build trust, share ideas and accomplish work.
    1. Developing others: Helping team members become more effective through developing their strengths, setting clear expectations, providing encouragement and coaching.
    1. Driving change: Setting goals for change and leading efforts to adapt work that aligns with a stated vision.
    1. Inspiring others: Leveraging positivity, vision, confidence and recognition to influence performance and motivate workers to meet challenges.
    1. Thinking critically: Seeking information, critically evaluating it, and applying the knowledge gained to solve problems.
    1. Communicating clearly: Listening, sharing information concisely and with purpose, and being open to hearing opinions.
    1. Creating accountability: Identifying the consequences of actions and holding themselves and others responsible for performance.

According to Ratanjee, “Managers need these skills to lead theirteams now and in the future when they will lead your organization.” In the rest of the study, he explains ways that companies can help their managers develop the seven traits. Another way he suggests helping managers is to invest in them early with mentorship projects or allowing them to practice in leadership experiences that push them past their normal duties. Having great managers within a company can boost productivity and also help retention issues, while also protecting the company and creating a cost advantage.

By: Beth Gray

https://www.govexec.com/management/2022/05/how-managers-can-become-more-effective-leaders/366353/