The Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on Remittance Flow to Cuba: A Glance at the Use of Digital Platforms

Denisse Delgado

Public Policy Ph.D. student UMass Boston

During the COVID-19 crisis, Mexico and the Dominican Republic have been experiencing an unexpected increase in the remittance transactions. However, most of the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean saw a sharp decline in their remittance receipts in April, before they began to rebound in June of this year. The remittance flow to Cuba has been decreasing this year, and it is still expected to continue to drop.

The number of remittances to Cuba have been affected due to the COVID-19 impact on the countries of reception’s economy. Florida is home to the largest Cuban community of emigrants living abroad. As unemployment has increased in Florida, it has directly affected the Cuban community living there. Additionally, the number of remittances to Cuba have also been affected for two other reasons. First, the current Donald Trump administration has imposed restrictions on remittances setting a limitation of $1,000 per calendar quarter to an immediate family member in Cuba. Second, the lower remittance flow is also aggravated by travel restrictions imposed by the Trump administration, as well as the limitation of international flights to Cuba by the Cuban government as a measure to control the spread of the pandemic on the island. A significant part of remittances —be it money or products— enters Cuba through informal channels or the so-called mulas —people who bring money and goods to the island. Travel limitations decrease the number of remittances that enter Cuba through these channels.

During the quarantine, however, Cubans are exploring new ways to send remittances. A source highlights that it has become trendy among Cubans living abroad to send cryptocurrencies to a trusted contact in Cuba. The contact in Cuba delivers the equivalent in the local currency, either in cash or through bank transfers to the recipient’s Cuban bank account. This method favors not only families that receive remittances, but also entrepreneurs and enthusiasts of the cryptocurrency community in Cuba who access cryptocurrencies regularly.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, the impact of digital remittances is relevant, as the digital payment system is becoming popular among the entire immigrant population in the U.S. Digital remittances are now frequently used to pay bills for services such as electricity, water, gas, the home phone line, the monthly rent. Therefore, by sending digital remittances, family members living abroad from their home countries directly contribute to the payment of essential services necessary for their families. But the development of digital technology must go hand in hand with training in digital and financial education. Having a well-developed digital platform to send remittances to Cuba would help Cubans living abroad to keep supporting their families during this challenging time and fund businesses that foment development.

About the Author

Denisse Delgado is a Ph.D. student in the Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Her research focus has been on Cuban migration, remittances, and development. She is an active member of the International Organization for Remittances and Migration (IOREM) and a principal collaborator for Cuban Horizon at Columbia Law School. Denisse has been a visiting scholar at various universities, including the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University and the Cuban Research Institute, Florida International University, where she was a visiting fellow last summer. This summer, Denisse was an intern in the Migration, Remittances, and Development Program at the Inter-American Dialogue, a think tank located in Washington DC. Before that, she was a researcher affiliated with the Havana think tank CIPS (the Research Center on Psychology and Sociology). Denisse earned a BA in Sociology from Universidad de la Habana and an MA in Social Development from Universidad Católica de Murcia. Delgado is currently exploring the impacts of COVID-19 on remittance flows to Cuba, exploring the significant contributions of digital remittances. She also studies Cuba’s diaspora economic and political participation in the process of change on the island.

MPPA Fall 2020 Newsletter

Fall 2020

Message from the Director

Welcome to yet another Fall term! This new academic year and Fall term promises to be both sombre and challenging given the surge of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. & around the world.

I want to take a moment to welcome the newly admitted students. While on the one hand, this is a very challenging time to be a student, given restrictions on in-person meetings etc., on the other, this is also a great time to be a student – you are witnessing how government agencies, civil society organizations and groups of people, including our university, are responding in creative ways to the challenges before us. This pandemic is a once in a lifetime event and will surely offer us many lessons, while it lasts.

With an election looming over us and a policy landscape that is confusing at best, this could be an important moment to both study and teach about public policy & public administration. States and counties seem to have taken on the healthcare and economic challenges and the lessons we learn from local government may be far more enduring than the ones we learn from national level policy making.

As of this writing, the U.S. has more than 5 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 – and experts suggest possibly many times more that are undetected – which means that we are nowhere near getting out of this pandemic anytime soon.

While much has been written about the pandemic and much more will be written about it, the fact remains that the study and practice of public policy and public administration has become more urgent than ever as we navigate this crisis – both individually and collectively.

If there are any heroes that we have come across, then they are the ‘street level bureaucrats,’ – teachers, nurses and millions of other public servants, who risk their lives to make sure that the rest of us stay healthy.

The current scenario reminds me of the famous scholarly debate initiated by public administration scholar Kenneth Meier, that we need ‘more bureaucracy and less democracy,’ meaning that bureaucrats are often more equipped to bring about ‘real’ change and are able to make sound decisions based on evidence, rather than politicians who are often swayed by electoral calculations and other motives that may not have a solid basis in fact. We are seeing this play out in the public sphere, on a daily basis.

With no certainty of how the pandemic will play out and with the world looking like a scary place, all we can do is carry on our tasks, no matter how insignificant or significant, to achieve common good. For students, scholars and practitioners of public administration, public policy and those who want to pursue the ‘common good,’ a good daily reminder is the oath of the Athenian city-state, which is embodied in my alma-mater, the Maxwell School of Syracuse University.

It reads “We will ever strive for the sacred things of the city. Both alone and with many, we will unceasingly seek to quicken the sense of public duty. We will revere and obey the city’s laws, we will transmit this city not only less but greater and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us.”

Sabith Khan

Master of Public Policy and Administration Program Director

MPPA Department Celebrates Our 2020 Graduates

2020 is a year we will never forget. Everyone scheduled to graduate in 2020 shares the distinction of being part of this unforgettable group of students who completed their studies in the middle of the global pandemic. While we look forward to celebrating in person in the future, whenever that time will be, we wanted to take a moment to honor our class of 2020. Congratulations on your remarkable achievement. We look forward to seeing all the wonderful things you will accomplish and all the ways in which you will put your degree to work! Best wishes for all of your future experiences! #MPPAForever

Douaa Addawu
Majd Al Malki
Sultan Al Zaidan
Jesus Alaniz
Abdulla Alkaabi
Mohammed Alshenafy
Kelsey Alter
Asatur Asatryan
Lauren Bueling
Crawford Coates
Audrey Darrett
Josiah Gonzales
Kimberly Dellacort
Lindsay Granger
Ashley Humes
Clara Magana
Haili Matsukawa
Christino Olivo
Miguel Rodriguez
Claudia Romero
Rachel Smith
Alexis Villegas

Teaching During the Pandemic

Loredana, Carson, Ed.D
The virtual classroom has become the new normal. Prior to March 2020, I had not ever taught a class in an on-line environment. However, once the decision was made that our Spring term was going to continue virtually, I learned the way every other teacher in the United States did, by jumping in and doing it. While teachers were scrambling to provide good content, our students had to deal with problematic technology and find a quiet place to go to school from home. I can’t say it was a seamless jump from the in-person classroom to the virtual world, but we made it through the spring and at least in summer had some idea what we were doing. I taught over the summer and will teach online again in the fall, using what I have learned to enhance and improve my virtual classes.

The mantra that I used over and over to myself and others was “Consider the alternative: no school at all.” Without the benefit of the internet and platforms such as Zoom, which allow screen sharing and breakout rooms and sufficient bandwidth, all academic progress would have been halted or classes would have been much less robust and perhaps even more self-directed and less interactive. Students were able to receive credit for courses and no one has had to pause or put their academic plans on hold while the world sorted out how to cope with a pandemic.

Along the way, several good points in favor of on-line learning have emerged. To my surprise, as much as I really enjoy in-person teaching and the energy of an active, engaged classroom, I have found it possible to recreate the relationships I had with my live students with my virtual class. It takes some work and everyone needs to be onboard, but once the strangeness of speaking to each other from our homes wears off, we can have good discussions and I can offer the students the chance to interact through the breakout room feature so they feel more connected to those small boxes on the computer screen. If students are willing to interact with me and with each other, they have even more options to participate through the chat feature and the easy polling function allows for periodic check-ins for comprehension and opinion. For students who sometimes feel dominated by enthusiastic extroverted voices, these alternative means of participation allow for more participation.

Higher education has taken the whole summer to decide how to cope with fall, and although some campuses in other states are opting for hybrid instruction, none that I know of are going for 100% in-person. Graduate programs such as ours are in a different space as we do not have residential students and the majority of our students are mature enough to understand the reason for the rules and regulations.

My students have shared with me the pros and cons of attending class virtually and they feel the same way as I do, for the most part. We all miss the in-class energy and time to get to know each other but we all benefit from less commuting, less time spent away from home and not having to be on our feet and out of the house from 8:00am to 10:00pm if we have full-time day jobs. For those students whose schedules are less taxing, they still enjoy the comfort of not having to arrange childcare for older children or not having to be on campus so late in the evening.

This new experience is what we make it. If we take it as an opportunity to become proficient in this new way of relating, we will be ahead of the pack as the world becomes increasingly dependent on virtual communication. Businesses are finding the same benefits, and additional cost savings, and are unlikely to abandon virtual meetings even after the pandemic has been contained. There are additionally environmental benefits that may improve life in our communities as we have less traffic and less pollution.

While it is not easy to embrace change and new ways of being together, it is necessary in order to keep on track with our academic goals and make progress towards planned degrees and future opportunities. Just like an in-person experience, you will get out of the virtual classroom what you put into it. If you go to class and don’t engage with your professor or other students, you will not get as much out of the experience as if you go in with the attitude that this can have value all around. If you attend class with the intent to meet and engage, you may find that a decade later you still are in touch with classmates (Hello Kim Rodrigues, Laura Romano, Yvette Redmon, Chris Collier, Gary Cushing, Ken Black, Carl Petersen, Raul Zapata, Marjorie Diehl, Tina Strange and others who I went through the MPPA program with 2008-2011).

I urge you to enjoy the experience and get good at virtual communication and participation. Although it came upon us in an unwelcome way, it may remain with us in such a way that we will not be able to imagine life without it. I’ll see you (virtually) in the fall of 2020 and look forward to hearing your experiences with virtual learning. Take the time to learn a few things about camera angles and lighting (light should be in front of you, not behind you; camera should be at eye level) and stay safe!

Reflections from an ASPA Founders Fellow

Josiah Gonzales, MPPA
I was accepted as an ASPA Founders’ Fellow for 2020 and was scheduled to present my topic at the Annual Conference, which was to be held right in our backyard…Anaheim, California. Obviously, things changed for this and everything else once SARS-Cov-2/COVID-19 emerged. The conference was canceled and everything was moved online. I’d like to say that I wasn’t affected by this, but that would be a gross understatement. There are always good and bad that transpire in and out of all change. For me, the change weighed heavier on the negative.

I did attend the conference and introductions online with ASPA Mentors and other Fellows. While there was definitely no shortage of passion, knowledge and experience on the part of both Fellows and Mentors. There was a gap that I was unable to hurdle once the conference and everything else that could be shifted online, went virtual. I made no eye contact. Shook no hands. Read little to no body language outside of facial expressions when meeting the other fellows and my mentor. This can be difficult even when there is not twenty faces on a laptop screen shrunk into a small square.

Although, what was easier for me to do was discuss the nature of my topic (Closing the Disparity Gap) with my Mentor, Maria Aristigueta, the Director and Charles P. Messick Professor of Public Administration at University of Delaware. Initially, I thought that my topic or policy proposal would be assessed and scrutinized as if I was submitting a Thesis paper. However, this was not the case. Maria did more listening, than I ever anticipated. Once she read my policy proposal and expressed her support of such an idea, I expected her to share some inside secrets about public administration that only a person with her experience would have. Secrets and knowledge of how feasible and how best to get it done. But, that was not the case. She just listened and asked more questions.

It was at that point that I realized, I had learned all (well not literally, but principally) that I needed to know in order to submit proposals, implement and administrate policies that reflected a need (politically or legally) that I perceived as important in an individual and society…closing the disparity gap.

Poverty and inequality, are arguably the greatest societal challenge(s) facing advanced societies such as the US. Indicators of such large-scale societal burdens are evident in the reduction of median wages, increases in families without health insurance, rising homelessness, and a lack of affordable housing. What is perhaps the most appalling discrepancy of inequality is not only of financial-economic concern, but those of principle. Personal tax evasion and corporate tax avoidance through offshore tax havens have contributed to a significant reduction of effective taxes. Worldwide, eight-percent of the world’s personal-fiscal-wealth is held in offshore accounts, costing governments over $200 billion every year, despite ambitious policy initiatives.

Now, how do individuals like me, who have defaulted on a mortgage during the last recession; went back to school during the recession; was a part of the transient-homeless-student population while acquiring a bachelor’s degree and simultaneously racking up student debt make sense of the future? Especially, when understanding that the homeless population by and large consists of the working poor? And I can’t top it off there, because I also live in the state of California, where I need to earn 3.6 times the state minimum wage to afford the median California asking rent of $2,225. Yet, corporate tax cuts have blocked 15,000 affordable homes in 2020 alone.

My policy proposal (if it actually was made into policy) would do the reverse and utilize corporate wealth to build what people want most according to Former Chair of The Gallup, Jim Clifton, which is create good jobs on a local level. This experiment should, in my mind, be conducted in states like California…where many of the largest and most profitable corporations are based. Ironically, California cities such as Los Angeles have the highest poverty rates, and, the state has the highest poverty rates in the nation depending on how poverty is assessed.

Although, I wonder…will another policy that the masses don’t know about and perhaps can’t care to know about, while they struggle to live, have any effect when considering the average citizen has no influence on policy in contrast to economic elites? Can a litany of laws and for lack of a better term “policizing” everything create more equality and reduce poverty? If so, why have things gotten worse rather than better? That’s a story that can only be told with a broader scope. At some point, there is only so much that can be done from a policy/legal standpoint. The key to changing the world, which is what MPPA students and practitioners hope for in some way or another, is to understand it and adapt accordingly. That doesn’t necessarily mean doing the same procedure, using the same tools or remaining within a particular field. For me, the changes that are important to me do not lie in the policy arena alone, but beyond as well.

MPPA Alumna Releases Memoir

The year 2020 marks three decades since 25-year-old Maria VanderKolk was elected to the Ventura County, California Board of Supervisors in what local media referred to as a political miracle. VanderKolk has now published a memoir of her four years in office: Mrs. VanderKolk Goes to Ventura County: How a 25-year-old neophyte took on Bob Hope, developers, environmentalists, and the political establishment.

The book documents how one of California’s largest parkland acquisitions came about, beginning with Bob Hope’s desire to develop his Jordan Ranch property (now Palo Camado Canyon National Park); through VanderKolk’s election in 1990 and her negotiations to secure a compromise; and ultimately to the acquisition of not only Jordan Ranch but also Ahmanson Ranch (now Upper Las Virgenes Canyon), Runkle Ranch (now Rocky Peak Park), and Corral Canyon. It is also an intimate account of a naive young woman propelled into the public eye, dealing with a painfully controversial land use issue.

“Often charming, sometimes biting, but always insightful, Maria VanderKolk tells the story of Southern California’s last great development battle of the 20th Century,” states Joseph T. Edmiston, Executive Director of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. “Those who thought she was a doe-eyed waïf were soon disabused when she defeated a powerfully entrenched county supervisor and turned Bob Hope’s development nightmare into a National Park.”
Mrs. VanderKolk Goes to Ventura County is available through Amazon in both e-book and paperback.

About Maria VanderKolk
Maria VanderKolk was elected in 1990 to the Ventura County Board of Supervisors. During her one term in office she helped author one of the largest acquisitions of parkland in California history. After returning to her native Colorado she spent 20 years as the Communications Manager for the City of Arvada. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, a Bachelor of Science in Business, and a Masters in Public Administration. She lives in Arvada, Colorado with her husband Mike.

Webinars

COVID-19 in the City of Pasadena
On April 24, the MPPA program hosted Steve Mermell, the City Manager of Pasadena for a webinar on how the city is dealing with COVID-19 and related challenges. You can watch a recording of the webinar here.

COVID- 19 in Asia
On Monday, June 22, the Cal Lutheran School of Management hosted Dr. Rafiq Dossani from the RAND Corporation, Santa Monica on challenges and impacts on healthcare and economy, and lessons learned from COVID-19 in Asia.
Some key highlights from Dr. Dossani’s talk:
Regime type doesn’t matter, as much as the level of trust. The legitimacy lies in their ability to control COVID-19. In countries such as India, Pakistan, etc the level of trust in govt is low and the government reciprocates. The crisis with internal migration and lockdowns shows how this lack of trust has caused massive chaos
In Korea, national elections were held in the middle of a pandemic and people showed up; this was possible due to the trust.
The government did a wise thing in the U.S by opening the taps on liquidity and there was sustainability to the economy. That has continued as payments through the PPE program are ongoing. It would have succeeded in preventing a big crash. If the US government can bring down the virus, then we have a game-changer. If the breakouts continue, then the economy may be in for a tumble
Sri Lanka, a small country in South Asia has managed to effectively manage the crisis. They haven’t made public their work, the public healthcare worker system is in place. The contact tracing mechanism is in place in that country, which seems to have worked well. In India, there is a similar system.
You can watch the recording here.

Student Projects & Research

Maya Hoholick’s thesis is a case study on the Fox Canyon Groundwater Trading Pilot, which explores the statistical determinants of excessive groundwater pumping, along with better basin plans and actions for bringing California into sustainability. She presented at the Public Administration Theory 2020 Conference on June 11th, which was supposed to be held in Malmo, Sweden, but was rescheduled for a zoom presentation. She also accepted a fellowship from George Mason University, the Don Lavoie Fellowship for Fall of 2020, which explores key ideas in political economy and utilizes these ideas in academic and policy research. She will also present at the Third Annual Western Groundwater Congress on September 15th. Her presentation, The Fox Canyon Groundwater Pilot: Case Study of a California Water, will be featured on the Hot Topics Track.

Greg Sefain’s Capstone project seeks to find policy solutions for restaurants in the City of Pasadena.

On March 19, 2019, in the wake of the Coronavirus Pandemic, California Governor Gavin Newsom ordered 40 million residents into lock down. The “stay at home” order came as the nation’s total COVID-19 cases rose to over 122,000 cases. Since the call was made by Governor Newsom, California has remained on “lock down” to control the spread of the virus. The orders have negatively impacted the state’s local economies.

In the City of Pasadena, the restaurant industry, is a considerable concern for the city during the recovery period. The effect of the “lock down” has caused a dramatic decline in revenue, forcing many restaurant owners to close and lay off employees temporarily. For example, a study conducted by the National Restaurant Association projected that the restaurant industry could reach a net loss of over 240 billion dollars by the end of 2020. In addition to the city’s business environment, the effects of the COVID-19 “lock down” could negatively impact the city’s fiscal year. The city of Pasadena relies on the restaurant industry as a contributor to property and sales taxes. This tax revenue stream is a crucial driver for the city’s revenues and the loss may have negative consequences for Pasadena’s revenue.

Recently, California has begun to issue guidelines for the restaurant industry to start reopening. The city of Pasadena will need to evaluate what restaurants will close permanently and which programs can be released to maintain the business that will remain open to the public.

Greg Sefain, an MPPA student at CLU, is working together with the City of Pasadena to create a solution. Mr. Sefain’s study carefully examines how reopening policies have affected the ability of restaurants to operate. The study also analyzes the impact of the virus on Pasadena consumers and their feelings towards supporting restaurants. In concluding the investigation, Mr. Sefain will present his findings to the Pasadena City Manager and City Council to support the restaurant industry’s financial survival. Mr. Sefain’s study will be the first nationwide to closely examine the economic impact of the COVID-19 virus on a city. As COVID-19 recovery continues to evolve, this study will aid cities across the nation to sustain their restaurant industry.

Student & Alumni Achievements

Cristina Nissen

MPPA Alumna (2019) has been appointed as the Development Manager, Special Events and Volunteers at Foothill Family, Pasadena. Congratulations Cristina!

Sara Rivera

Has been promoted to the Public Health Program Coordinator position with the Ventura County Public Health Department. Sara is an alumna of California Lutheran University’s Professionals Program, and soon to be a graduate of the MPPA program in 2021. Congratulations Sara!

Should we flee the city to suburbia?

Joel Hayes, MPPA

In late March, a new norm took over America’s cities. What were once thriving shopping centers and busy city streets became lifeless and empty as the new way of living in lock down became apparent. Freeways that once were the dismay of workers on their commute to the office were finally free of traffic as remote work became a quick response by companies and corporations to continue business and keep the economy open. In a global pandemic, not seen on this scale in a century, many Americans realized an opportunity to flee the cities (which had become the most dangerous places to be during COVID-19) and move to suburbia. This new movement became a new dream for some; a suburban lifestyle more closely attached to nature with parks and trees that provided a more idyllic escape from cramped quarters where rent for studios ran upwards of three thousand dollars a month.

When COVID-19 eventually ends, what will happen to cities? Is this just a short term way of living for some? How do public policy makers adapt to such changes to make cities safe and sustainable? I will try to answer a few of these challenges for public policy makers in a short post.

A New York Times article explains how, “For the first time since the tech crash of 2000, housing vacancies in San Francisco are skyrocketing, and rents for one-bedroom apartments are down by 11 percent. It’s not just in San Francisco. Real estate services in Florida and Arizona are reporting similar patterns”. Housing affordability, a serious problem in many U.S. cities, has had public policy makers scrambling for solutions. Different policies such as constructing more affordable housing and rent control immediately became divisive topics fought in city council and public meetings around the country. In a trending environment where affordability and lack of housing is no longer a problem, policy makers have a challenge to promote urban safety and sustainability and prove that cities are a place to live, do work and enjoy entertainment.

The same New York Times article points out how,” in the early 1900’s during industrialization many large cities were suffering from the side effects of rapid industrialization: they were polluted, full of high-density housing with bad sanitation. In response, a new wave of utopian thinkers proposed moving to what Ebenezer Howard, a British urban planner, called “the garden city” in his 1902 manifesto “Garden Cities of To-morrow.” Currently, as cities struggle with entertainment venues, dining and offices shuttered, the movement of some to suburban communities is reminiscent of the “garden city” ideas during the early 1900’s. Yet for public policy makers, the allure of cities can be aided by technology, sustainable ideas, and the promotion of wellness values.

The Wall Street Journal predicts that “70% of the global population will be expected to live in urban areas by 2050”. With an increasing urban density, public policy makers will have to create adjustments to daily life such as providing public transportation that efficiently moves people through the city. As evidenced in the same Wall Street Journal video, if We-Work and other open space offices are the future of business, technology can be used to book conferences and social distancing cubicles and tables become the norm. After using a conference room, workers could disinfect and give people an added sense of safety.

During my trip to Asia in 2019, I was impressed by the cleanliness in a large city such as Singapore where public bathrooms displayed tablets where you could rate on a scale how clean the bathroom was. In some large buildings, air quality monitors provided trust as the air outside was heavily polluted. Cities can and will eventually bounce back; by providing visual measures of safety, citizens can feel a sense of security. The collapse of garden cities, as evidenced by the New York Times article, presents a strong argument that cities heavily reliant on automobiles lack the ability to have everything a person needs in a short distance. Urban planners can adapt to changing needs of the populace keeping green spaces to provide air and solace while being just a bike ride away from shops, dining and more.

Cities filled with diversity, culture and great ideas that transpire in their streets keep the economy growing and communities thriving. The pandemic, in the short term, gives those who can work remotely the option to flee city living, yet that way of living cannot be done by all. With rising housing prices in suburban areas, public policy makers have their work cut out for them. There is a way for cities to bounce back and it will be with the new ideas that emerge from public administrators across the country that spur forward a new and better quality of life for city living.

Announcements

http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07eh8i0lrbkdezl1k7/start

The National Association of Health Services Executives (NAHSE), Southern California Chapter Aims to Clear $1.5 Million in Medical Debt for Los Angeles County Families with Community Fundraiser

NAHSE SoCal is launching a digital campaign with national nonprofit RIP Medical Debt (RIP) to help eradicate medical debt in LA County. Every $100 donated forgives $10,000 of medical debt. Individuals, organizations, and businesses can participate by learning more and donating here.

Here’s how it works. With every donation, RIP Medical Debt uses its precise data analytics to pinpoint the medical debt of those Americans most in need of relief: households whose income is less than two times the federal poverty level, whose debts are five percent or more of their gross annual income, and/or are insolvent. RIP Medical Debt uses donated funds to buy debt in bundled portfolios at a fraction of their original cost. Recipients of relief in Los Angeles County then receive a letter that their debt is forgiven. It’s that easy.

Since 2014, RIP Medical Debt has been providing this gift across the country and most recently in Southern California back in 2019. Christian Assembly Church in Eagle Rock was able to cancel $5.3 million worth of unpaid medical debt with over $50,000 donated during their campaign. RIP Medical Debt also works with credit agencies to restore credit scores after debts have been erased. Unfortunately, at this time RIP’s relief is random and one cannot request financial help.

For more information visit https://ripmedicaldebt.org

School Response for Fall: Rules for campus

After much deliberation and observing the dynamics of changing public health guidelines, Cal Lutheran University has put in place guidelines for working on campus, including limited in-person teaching. You may access the entire information here. Given the dynamic nature of this information, the most updated information will be available on Cal Lutheran website. We encourage you to check guidelines and email the responsible people, if you plan to visit campus.

IOREM Launches

The International Organization for Remittances & Migration (IOREM), a global collaborative of scholars studying migration and remittances was launched in August in Florida. You can become a member, if you are student or scholar, with interest in these topics. Membership will give you access to free events, publications and opportunities to network. Email Jennifer Holguin at jennifer@theplatinum.net for more. For more information click here.

Book Corner

1. Precision Community Health: Four Innovations for Well-being – Bechara Choucair.

You can read a review at:

https://ssir.org/books/reviews/entry/equitable_public_health

2. Evicted – Poverty and Profit in the American City by Desmond – Matthew

For more information please visit the link below:

https://www.evictedbook.com/

3. Ethics for Social Impact – Femida Handy and Alison R. Russell. Palgave Macmillan.

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How to be an anti-racist: How to craft policies that promote equity

Can public policies be racist? Can they disadvantage certain racial and ethnic groups while advantaging others? Yes, that is certainly what has happened in our country, for a very long time, argues Ibram X Kendi, in his book How to be an anti-racist.

Given the moment of time we are in, with police violence on Blacks getting a lot of attention, public institutions are finally waking up to the reality of racism in our everyday lives.

Two examples are quite clear, to point out how policies that were meant to be emancipatory for all Americans have turned out to be racist. Kendi points to the war on drugs as a racist set of policies that incarcerated Blacks and Latinos in higher degrees than Whites, for nonviolent drug-related crimes, even though research points out that all races in the U.S. consume drugs in almost equal quantities. He points out “White people are more likely than Black and Latinx people to sell drugs, and the races consume drugs at similar rates. Yet African Americans are far more likely than Whites to be jailed for drug offenses. Nonviolent Black drug offenders remain in prisons for about the same length of time (58.7 months) as violent White criminals (61.7 months) (p.26).” This move towards creating a more ‘law and order’ based system coincided with a decrease in welfare spending. Reagan cut the safety net of welfare programs and Medicaid in the same month that he announced the war on drugs, sending more low-income Blacks into poverty, he reminds us.

As a public administration scholar recently pointed out, the ‘public’ in administration is rather hard to get right. The ‘administration’ part can be easy. It is technical and can be planned easily, but the part that is tricky and often runs into issues is the public engagement piece that needs not just participation from the public, engagement, and a genuine commitment to the common good. All of these are hard to come by, in a politically charged environment where the ‘public’ finds it hard to agree on the common good.

Whether it is access to housing, education, or other areas that determine the quality of life, policies have been in place that keeps people of color out. While affirmative action policies and anti-discrimination legislation have helped, their implementation has been slow or non-existent in many cases. This makes equity a far-flung dream that has not been achieved and one that keeps eluding us.

As a Pew study recently pointed out, blacks who have at least a college education are more likely to say they’ve experienced racism than their less-educated counterparts. Why is this? As the study points out “So why is this? Other researchers suggest that college-educated blacks are more likely to work in predominately white environments, which may lead to greater exposure to race-related prejudices or stresses.” This is quite likely the case as a greater number of blacks and people of color are entering the education sector and places of work.

Immigration laws are another category of laws that have had a racist past, in the U.S. As Kendi points out “The loosening immigration laws of the 1960s through 1990s
were designed to undo a previous generation of immigration laws
that limited non-White immigration to the United States.” He further adds that this was after the 1882 Chinese Restriction Act, which included a larger “Asiatic Barred Zone,” in 1917. Kendi points to the “1921 Emergency Quota Act and the Immigration Act of 1924 severely restricted the immigration of people from Africa and Eastern and Southern Europe and practically banned the immigration of Asians until 1965. (p.61)”. While the consecutive decades have made things better for immigrants, the current administration under Trump has tried to roll back much of the progress, especially when it comes to addressing the issue of refugees or asylum seekers.

So, how does one become an anti-racist? Kendi offers an answer that begins to address this complex issue. He offers: “To be antiracist is to view national and transnational ethnic groups as equal in all their differences. To be antiracist is to challenge the racist policies that plague racialized ethnic groups across the world. To be antiracist is to view the inequities between all racialized ethnic groups as a problem of policy.” Perhaps this is advice valid for everyone, all of us, who are engaged in public deliberation of good and bad.

Is virtual international education worth it?

By Roman Yavich, MPA

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a massive disruption to the entire education system. As with any crisis, this difficult and tragic situation has also brought an opportunity for change. In international education this change is the acceleration of the trend toward virtual programs.

source: unomaha.edu

Is Virtual Study Abroad an Oxymoron?

Virtual study abroad sounds like an oxymoron. Most students and faculty scuff at the idea. After all, the whole point of study abroad is to get out of the country to experience another culture and see the world! But is it? It’s true that most students sign up to study abroad to go to an exotic foreign destination. It’s an Instagram-able, credit-barring adventure of a lifetime. But most students come back from a study abroad program, especially a structured, faculty-led program, having gained something more profound and impactful than what they could capture with their phones. A new perspective, even epiphany, about their privilege, consumption patterns, social, economic, and environmental impact, prior naivete about foreign policy, along with enlightened views about cultural relativism and a myriad of additional insight, is what makes study abroad truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And if this is the point of study abroad, then good news, it can be achieved through virtual programming.

Epiphanies during faculty-led study abroad most often occur as a result of interaction with locals who share their perspective and culture. These conversations can have almost the same impact over a zoom call. While a screen will never compare to travel, a virtual reality viewer at least starts to bridge the gap. A virtual internship can be just as valuable as an in-person internship abroad, and, in fact, might better prepare a student for their future career, which will likely involve remote work. No, I don’t think virtual study abroad will or should replace in-person travel programs, but I do believe that if the objective is to internationalize the curriculum and students’ views, virtual programs can be effective.

Advantages of Virtual Study Abroad

Virtual international education also has unique advantages to travel-based faculty-led programs that should not be overlooked. First and foremost, it is more affordable, meaning it is more accessible to a broader segment of the student population. Only a small fraction of students currently study abroad, and this group is far from representative of the diversity of the student population. Without the cost of travel, accommodation, restaurants, and adventure activities, virtual study abroad costs a fraction of the cost of a travel program. Increasing access, participation, and diversity in study abroad has been repeatedly cited by research as a top concern for colleges and universities. The international education community should promote these programs not only as an alternative when travel is not possible, as is the case now, but as an alternative when travel is possible.

Virtual programs are also environmentally friendly compared to the carbon intensive travel programs. A single long-haul flight is as harmful to our climate as a year’s worth of driving. This is why Learn from Travel offsets its entire carbon footprint. Virtual programs also eliminate the carbon of hotel accommodation, eating in restaurants, and other activities. They also prevent the possibility of littering, which is a particularly big concern for programs that involve ecotourism activities.

Virtual programs are much easier logistically, without the need for planning travel, complicated activity scheduling, and limiting the program to an intensive week-long or two-week-long itinerary, in the case of a faculty-led study abroad. The activities can be spread out over the course of the semester and students can engage with people and places geographically far apart, something that is not possible when traveling.

Virtual Faculty Led Study Abroad Example

After conducting some market research on the topic of virtual study abroad over the last several months, my team came to realize that many faculty simply can’t imagine what a virtual faculty-led program could look like. At best they think of international zoom calls, and, yes, that is a part of it, but it’s just the beginning. Take for example a faculty-led program in Oaxaca on the topic of migration and remittances:

Students can join a local guide using her cell phone to walk through an Oaxacan market, meet different merchants, learn about the produce, and buy groceries for making mole. Later in the day the students can make the mole sauce together with a chef in Oaxaca to enjoy with their families at home that night.

Using Zoom they can meet the director of a local migration support nonprofit to hear about the complexity of the issue for Mexican authorities and the efforts to help the desperate families, from all over the world, seeking safety and security. As a class, the students can participate in a service learning project to support the migration center with data entry and analysis, database updates, and social media posts. Going further, students can intern with a variety of nonprofit, public and private organizations that make up the ecosystem of migrant support services. They can engage in a multi-week virtual internship, coming together weekly to share insights.

Students can also work with their Oaxacan peers to conduct research on migration on both sides of the border, receiving lectures from faculty in the US and in Oaxaca. Using a $15 VR viewer, they can even experience Monte Alban, one of the most important archeological sites in the Valley of Oaxaca, in an immersive 3D virtual space composed of 360° photos and videos layered with additional text and links to online content. Beyond being a fun and engaging experience, the virtual reality visit can help students place the topic of migration and settlement in the historical context.

Conclusion

So is virtual international education worth it? I’m biased, but yes. It is absolutely worth it if the alternative is a lack of international content in a course curriculum. Despite a recent rise in nationalism, the world is becoming more interdependent and interconnected by the day. The pandemic will not change that. Preparing students for work and life in this world is vitally important for higher Ed institutions and the opportunity for integrating virtual international education should not be missed.

To learn more about virtual study abroad modules and programs, please visit Learn from Travel.

Roman Yavich is the founder of Learn from Travel, a social enterprise international educational provider specializing in custom faculty-led and virtual study abroad programs for higher ed.

How to do deep work and be more productive

One of the hallmarks of our age is that we are in an age of attention. Our global economy is based on attention and there are billions of dollars at stake at grabbing your attention. Yes, yours! Whether you use it, to make your life holistic, meaningful or you fritter it away on responding to emails and checking out those cute cat videos is up to you. That is the message from the book Deep Work, by Cal Newport – which I accidentally came upon while browsing the internet.

Newport does a good job of explaining why we need to prioritize if we want to be productive. And there is enough logic there to convince many people, including me. I found the book very helpful and insightful. For instance, the fact that it takes me a while to get into ‘flow,’ a state where you are losing track of time and are actually learning or doing work of high quality. This is hard to achieve if one is constantly distracted, checking emails, or responding to people. It is critical to be singularly focused on the tasks at hand unless one’s work involves interacting with people. Sales, marketing, PR, and related jobs are perhaps exempt from this idea of deep work, but I would argue that most other jobs need this sort of focus.

All high-quality work does need deep focus and deep work, there is no doubt about that. You can’t be distracted and produce high-quality writing, or editing, or even software code. Forget about software code, you can’t even produce a high-quality breakfast if you are distracted in the kitchen.

As an academic, I appreciate this advice and despite my own bad habits of being on the phone more than I need to be – and responding to emails all day long, I am trying to be more mindful. Perhaps cutting down emails to two blocks of time during the day is a good idea? We’ll see if that works.

This book reminds me of another book by Mihalyi Csizkentmihalyi. He is one of the most well know psychologists who has carried out pioneering work on productivity and work. His argument is similar – that one needs to enter the state of ‘flow,’ a state of focus so intense that everything else fades out of your mind and you are focused on just that task. This is the path to salvation, he seems to be suggesting. Or at least, the path to great quality work. Check out his TED talk here.

Is democratic choice impossible?

How to pick a solution that satisfies everyone? This problem has faced (and continues to face) all of us.

Should we all wear a mask or not? Should this be enforced? Go on vacation during a pandemic – or not? There seems to be a struggle among Americans to answer such basic questions. While a section of us is ok with many of the restrictions in public life, many others are aghast and invoke such ideals as ‘freedom,’ ‘liberty’ etc. to be able to do what they want. Is this irresponsible? Perhaps so. But the question still remains: How does one find a solution that helps aggregate all the preferences of a group of people.

The answer, I am afraid, seems to be that it is impossible.

At least, that is what the Arrow theorem suggests.

As Plato Stanford University points out “Arrow’s theorem says there are no such procedures whatsoever—none, anyway, that satisfy certain apparently quite reasonable assumptions concerning the autonomy of the people and the rationality of their preferences. The technical framework in which Arrow gave the question of social orderings a precise sense and its rigorous answer is now widely used for studying problems in welfare economics.”

By this logic, is democracy impossible? It seems so if one is to follow this logic.

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Amartya Sen has written a book on this topic and he writes in a short paper that these ideas of individual choice informing public decisions have been with us since the Enlightenment era.

Should you let your cat wander, if it bullies other cats?

Kwame Appaiah, Professor of Philosophy poses a question that should be relevant to all of us, cat owners or not: Should you let your (bullying) cat wander? Is his freedom more important than the rights of other cats, to live in peace? This is a question that seems to have become relevant as we discuss a host of issues, including the one about wearing masks.

There are two broad ways of thinking about this issue: the rights-based approach and the utilitarian approach. Speaking of the first one, Appaiah points out “One approach is a rights-based line of reasoning; it would urge you to ensure that you’re not denying the cats of the neighborhood the basic conditions of a good life to which they’re entitled.” This assumes that animals have rights, like humans.

On the other hand, if we take the position that animals have no rights and hence this argument above does not hold, we can take a ‘utilitarian’ approach, whereby “if animals don’t have rights, you might adopt another approach, in which you simply weigh the pleasure that Jasper takes and gives in his outings against the suffering of the cats he bullies,” as Appaiah reminds us.

But cats are not humans and how we decide on whether we let the cat to go out or not depends on how we think of our neighbors. And our obligations as neighbors to them (and their cats). No simple answer there.

However, on the issue of masks, the argument is rather simple. If one to take either of the approaches, whether rights-based or utilitarian, the answer seems to be one of wearing one. One can argue all one wants about one’s freedom to NOT wear a mask – as a lot of people (ill-informed, selfish) are doing, however this impedes with the rights of others to go about their daily business free of fear (of contracting covid-19). Even from a utilitarian perspective, our societies benefit when everyone masks up and is careful in their outings.

The state of CA and others have mandated masks, in public, yet again. Health experts have continued to remind us of the value of wearing masks. So, in any case, please mask up and stop being selfish!

COVID-19 in Asia – Lessons learned

On Monday, June 22, the Cal Lutheran School of Management hosted Dr. Rafiq Dossani from the RAND Corporation , Santa Monica on challenges and impacts on healthcare and economy, and lessons learned from COVID-19 in Asia.

Some key highlights from Dr. Dossani’s talk :

Regime type doesn’t matter, as much as the level of trust. The legitimacy lies in their ability to control COVID-19. In countries such as India, Pakistan, etc the level of trust in govt is low and the government reciprocates. The crisis with internal migration and lockdowns shows how this lack of trust has caused massive chaos
In Korea, national elections were held in the middle of a pandemic and people showed up; this was possible due to the trust
The government did a wise thing in the U.S by opening the taps on liquidity and there was sustainability to the economy. That has continued as payments through the PPE program are ongoing. It would be succeeded in preventing a big crash. If the US government can bring down the virus, then we have a game-changer. If the breakouts continue, then the economy may be in for a tumble
Sri Lanka, a small country in South Asia has managed to effectively manage the crisis. They haven’t made public their work, the public healthcare worker system is in place. The contact tracing mechanism is in place in that country, which seems to have worked well. In India, there is a similar system.

If you wish to read a few essays from the Center for Public Policy and Research based in Cochin, India, click here

Should we take down Christopher Columbus’s statues?

With the ongoing protests surrounding equality for Black and colored people, around the world; the question of monuments (including statutes) has come up, rather forcefully. Should we continue celebrating Christopher Columbus, who treated the Native Americans cruelly? Should we celebrate his ‘discovery’ of the Americas as a great event or something that took away much more than freedoms from the Natives? These questions and related ones have become relevant. Whether it is King Leopold II of Belgium, Cecil Rhodes, or Christopher Columbus, several historical figures have come under the scanner for their role in perpetuating racism, genocide, and other crimes against humanity. It is time for the memory of the dead to be reimagined, for our present to be altered, to prevent a whitewashing of their sins.

How should contemporary policymakers deal with this question? I will try to deal with this tricky question, in this short post.

As a Newsweek article pointed out “Cities in the U.S. and elsewhere started celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead of Columbus Day during the late 1980s. Many have, and continue to, denounce Columbus as a colonizer who enslaved, killed and forced assimilation of indigenous populations.” The gap between how the state sees such historical figures and how civil society views them can create profound tensions. Alternate conceptions of the role of such historical figures and a reading of their actions in the context of current debates can throw up some uncomfortable truths that are hard to deal with, unless policy makers and those in power take a hard, critical look at the needs of the current generation.

The same Newsweek article pointed out that in the U.K., protestors “tore down a statue of slave trader Edward Colston, while others in Belgium vandalized statues of 19th century colonizer King Leopold II, responsible for the deaths of millions in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.” Such events of taking down statues are not only cathartic for people who are at the receiving end of the rhetoric of racism and discrimination, but also reflect a change in societal norms around what is celebrated and what is accepted.

Exploring the policy angle of memorializing: Philadelphia as an example

As Elizabeth J Burling writes in her Master’s thesis, several cities do not have a policy in place for which monuments were to be erected and on what basis.

This problem has persisted in the U.S. for a long time now. She adds “Indeed, Philadelphia’s relationship with memory has often been contentious – according to Gary Nash, author of First City: Philadelphia and the Forging of Historical Memory, no comprehensive history of the city was written prior to the 150th anniversary of the city’s founding,” (p.2). Her reminder that there is no distinction between works of historical significance and those used as an aesthetic expression is quite. This seems to be the case in Richmond, VA as well. Burling points out that this lack of a coordinated policy creates problems when new memorials are placed in traditional locations. She points to the distinction between a memorial and monument as one where “monuments are built to help us remember, memorials are about helping us never to forget.” Few cities such as Washington D.C. have a “24 step guide to memorialization in the Nation’s Capital,” an elaborate step by step process that helps the National Park Service decide how to go about the process of memorialization.

The history of Philadelphia’s regulations on public art is interesting. In 1959, the Aesthetic Ornamentation ordinance was initiated which set the level of public art for every construction project at one percent. Burling points to the work of De Monchaux and Schuster to articulate the five elements that should be included in any policy strategy for preserving heritage: a.Ownership and operation b.regulation c. incentives d. establishments, allocation, and enforcement of property rights and e. Information. Their argument is for governments to intervene to preserve the heritage and this task cannot be left to the private sector. Despite these five elements each city faces the question of what to memorialize. And this is precisely the question that comes to the fore when one considers history.

Whose history are we memorializing? The winners of the Civil War or that of the losers (Confederates). Given that there is still a sense of injustice and victimhood among Southerners, when it comes to the Civil War, these are raw wounds. Some groups/ nations are open to reevaluating the role of monuments and memorials in contemporary society. Others are not.

France for example, has decided that it will keep all statutes, even those that commemorate controversial figures in history. As Emmanuel Macron, the French President pointed out, this was his interpretation of acknowledging all of history. This is, at the end of the day, a policy choice, shaped by his political situation and what may be acceptable with the French people, at this point in time.

Aspects of the past have intruded our consciousness today and will continue to haunt us into the future. There is no way of getting around it, but rather only through it. How we answer the question of who we celebrate and why determines what kind of a nation we become. For nations are nothing but ‘imagined communities,’ as Benedict Anderson has quite elegantly shown. How each nation decides to remember its history is crucial to what sort of a nation it becomes.

How can public servants help promote equity and justice?

With the recent protests against the killing of George Floyd, the focus is back on a segment of the population that is at the heart of this issue: the public servant. The police force is part of the machinery that has been, is, and will be a part of our daily lives, whether we like it or not. How they behave and treat the public will determine the future we will for ourselves. So, can we ensure that they are better ‘servants,’ to the public? If so, how?

My own training in public administration was at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious school of public affairs. The school has shaped the study of public administration and one of the founding credos of the school is that administration is not value-neutral. Dwight Waldo, one of the most influential PA scholars to have lived in this century taught at the Maxwell School and pushed forth the idea that bureaucrats come to work with a value framework and they are not ‘neutral’ executors of policy. Using this insight, we may well face the world as it is, rather than how we want it to be. How these bureaucrats manage these values in their public dealings may well determine what kind of society we live in.

If we look at many of the problems that we face: environmental issues, housing, employment; there is usually an issue involving power & the use of discretion in how one uses it. The notion of how ‘street-level bureaucrats’ exercise this power has been studied quite a bit in PA. The concept of administrative discretion originated with Michael Lipsky and has remained a robust one. As many scholars have argued, offering bureaucrats some discretion allows them to make better decisions, based on client needs.

If one looks around, there are instances when abuse of power is often a result of this discretion. Whether a cop pulls a gun on someone or restrains himself/herself, whether an arrest is made or a warning issued, these are instances when the bureaucrat at the street level is making conscious choices – either to escalate a situation or to de-escalate. This is also the case when the work-load on pubic employees is quite high. As Lipsky points out “Employees must use their personal discretion to become ‘inventive strategists’ by developing ways of working to resolve excessive workload, complex cases, and ambiguous performance targets.” One can suggest that this exercise of administrative discretion can also help address issues of discrimination and in equal treatment that many minorities receive when it comes to public health or other related issues. There are definite health disparities between African Americans and other minorities. As the Center for Diseases Control points out “African Americans aged 18-49 are two times as likely to die from heart disease than whites,” and also “African Americans aged 35-64 are 50% more likely to have a high blood pressure than whites.” This is due to a combination of factors, including lack of access to insurance, policies that do not let African Americans access health services, and sometimes, outright discrimination in the system, that keeps them out of reach of healthcare providers.

Some of the recommendations of the CDC are to: encourage healthcare providers to eliminate cultural barriers to care, to connect patients to community resources to help them take medications on time, and to do follow-up visits. With COVID-19 exposing the cracks in healthcare delivery in the U.S., there is an urgent need to address access to healthcare, access to insurance, and also empowering states to offer services to those who are marginalized. One of the steps could be to empower the street-level bureaucrats to do more, to address the inequities that exist. This may mean offering more resources to teachers, doctors, and other frontline workers, who are often in the best position to address inequities. It also means educating and enlightening them to do what is right.