Microfinance organization formed by UA students makes first loan to tornado victim
Al.com – March 28
In the fall of 2009, a group of University of Alabama Honors College students began an initiative to grant small loans to low-income borrowers in rural Alabama. This week, Forza Financial granted its first loan to Katrina Rollins, an Alberta business owner who lost her Curl Shoppe salon in the April 27 tornado. Rollins, who left her shop just before the tornado struck, is now closer to re-establishing her business thanks to a $3,500 loan from the nonprofit organization. “After last April, I was too discouraged to find help,” Rollins said. “Now I’m better, and this loan will help me get back on my feet.” Forza CEO David Bailey, a junior at UA…Bailey and two other students founded the organization after finding a lack of financing options for low-income people in the U.S. and especially the Black Belt. The only preconception they had, Bailey said, is that activities would center around writing loans to borrowers. Two and a half years later, they’re now able to grant loans as the funding becomes available. “Basically, we’ve developed this program totally independently, totally student-led, and every single component of it from our mission statement to our logo to our lending application to our legal documents to our contracts to our PR, our fund-raising — everything has been done by students.” Bailey said. “It has taken a long time, but that’s been kind of the process — slow and winding.” Twenty-six students from every school at UA are now a part of Forza, Bailey said.
Student SPJ chapter takes away free speech at Nerf-gun point
Tuscaloosa News – March 28
In an invasion unanticipated by most at the University of Alabama, insurgents from the small nation of Roll Tidelberg established borders on the southwest corner of the campus Quad on Wednesday afternoon. With no opposition, the camp’s numbers began to swell as Roll Tidelberg officials enticed passersby into citizenship with a free barbecue sandwich. But with citizenship and a delicious lunch came a heavy burden: Those who signed up to become citizens of the little-known country signed away the First Amendment rights they enjoy on American soil… Of course, there was no real invasion Wednesday. But the First Amendment Free Food Festival, hosted by UA’s student chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, did help many students understand what it feels like to lose these very basic freedoms. Kristen Mather, president of the SPJ chapter, said the group got the idea for the event from similar events that SPJ student chapters have held on other campuses. “We want students to not only be aware of their First Amendment rights, but to exercise them in an ethical way while realizing that not everyone has the freedom of speech that we do here,” Mather said.
Al.com – March 28
Crimson White – March 29
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – March 28
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – March 28
Professor called to D.C. for community college expertise
Crimson White – March 29
Stephen Katsinas, director of the Education Policy Center and professor of higher education administration, visited Washington, D.C. in early March to discuss the importance of rural community colleges and Pell Grant funding’s crucial role in the 3.3 million students’ enrollment in these institutions. The White House domestic policy issues staff invited the Rural Community College Alliance to present information on community colleges’ significance, and the agency in turn asked Katsinas to speak on studies the Education Policy Center recently conducted in conjunction with researchers from Iowa State and Mississippi State Universities, among others.
New auto-supply jobs coming to Oxford
Individual.com – March 28
…James Cover, economist at the University of Alabama, agreed that improvement in a variety of industries would be needed to get the state’s economy healthy again. “Primarily we need growth a little bit everywhere,” Cover said. However, he disagreed that the service industry would do the trick, arguing that manufacturing overall would jumpstart the economy. He said manufacturing jobs tend to pay better than service jobs. “When people have low incomes, they are limited to the services they purchase,” Cover said. “But when these manufacturing jobs grow and their income is higher, they will purchase more durable goods, which will be more profitable for everyone.”
Students go without a roof for a night
Crimson White – March 29
From 8 p.m. last night to 6 a.m. this morning, students took part in Sleep Out on the Quad, an event that was intended to promote awareness of homelessness in both Alabama and across the nation. Hosted by the UA Community Service Center, the event took place on the Quad in front of Lloyd Hall. Robert Scholl, a sophomore math major, said he came to the event because he felt students needed to experience something like this to get a taste of what homelessness is like. “I think campus is isolated from the rest of the world, and I think this helped make people realize that there are people right outside campus that don’t have it nearly as well as we do,” Scholl said. “You aren’t going to be able to live under your parent’s money forever. Homelessness and poverty are big issues.”
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – March 28
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – March 28
Panel examines immigration’s roots in Alabama
Tuscaloosa News – March 29
Alabama’s HB 56 immigration law was the main topic at Wednesday night’s “Southern Hospitality?” forum on the University of Alabama campus, where forum presenters delved into the historical precedent of the bill. The roundtable forum painted a picture of a country that once courted Mexicans here to work and is now trying to send them home. Sarah Cornell, assistant professor of history at the University of New Mexico, gave a brief history of how Mexican laborers first made their way into the Deep South. Still facing the problem of a free black labor force in the early 20th century, planters in the South saw Mexican laborers as a desirable alternative and began to court them across the border, Cornell said.
Easter egg hunt encourages positive greek image in community
Crimson White – March 29
Children of all ages are invited to the annual Panhellenic Easter Egg Hunt this Sunday at 2 p.m. on the lawn of the President’s Mansion. The University of Alabama and the Alabama Panhellenic Association collaborated on the event as a way for greeks to give back to the Tuscaloosa community. Each Panhellenic sorority is asked to bring in candy-filled eggs, and Panhellenic delegates and junior delegates, as well as Panhellenic Executive Council members, hide eggs and run the event. This year, the Inter-Fraternity Council will also be in attendance and is helping to host the event.
WVUA chief meteorologist recalls working on April 27
Crimson White – March 29
The smells and sounds of April 27 still resonate with Richard Scott. As if the tornadoes ravaged the Southeast only yesterday, he can smell the stench of mud leftover from the passing rains, the sweet sap dripping from the mangled trees and the fusion of natural gas into the hazy air. He can still hear the jarring blend of sirens from police cars, ambulances, fire trucks and the emergency warning system that seemed to encircle him. Scott, the 25-year-old chief meteorologist at WVUA in Tuscaloosa, still has nightmares about the power of the atmosphere after the severe weather that swept across Alabama in late April. Only three months before, Scott had been promoted at WVUA to fill the esteemed position as chief meteorologist.“ After three months as chief meteorologist, I saw April 15, 2011 break the record for the most tornadoes ever in the state of Alabama in a 24-hour period,” Scott said. “Then, April 27 came along and broke that record.” Although a natural disaster jolted the beginning of his career, Scott knew the experience was what he had been preparing for his whole life.
UA alumni affairs director flies with the Blue Angels
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – March 28
You might ask, who in their right mind, would fly in one of these aircrafts? And the answer for you is from the University of Alabama alumni affairs office, where Calvin Brown is a director. He was selected to take flight along this amazing ride this afternoon….
Affording food a problem for state
The Crimson White – March 29
The Black Warrior River may flow right between Tuscaloosa and Northport and the Quad may flood regularly when it rains, but as far as the USDA is concerned, the UA campus is in the middle of a desert. According to the USDA, the University of Alabama, along with several other regions in Tuscaloosa, is located in a food desert, or a low-income area that provides little access to healthy food options, such as grocery stores and supermarkets…The Food Research and Action Center recently released a report that found 23.4 percent of Alabamians were unable to afford enough food for their families in 2011…In Tuscaloosa, Homegrown Alabama, a UA student-led initiative, provides education of and access to healthy food options for the region. Beginning on April 12, the group will host its annual farmer’s market at Canterbury Episcopal Church, which is held every Thursday to foster a connection between local farmers and the community…The Homegrown Alabama farmer’s market has established several action-based programs to help solve food security and access issues. The market accepts SNAP/EBT cards that have previously brought an additional $5000 in profit, redeems vouchers from the Canterbury food pantry and donates the vendors’ excess produce to the food pantry…
Alabama IJM hosts Justice Week
Crimson White – March 28
The Alabama International Justice Mission is hosting a series of week-long events aimed at raising awareness on modern-day slavery and its 27 million victims, a number that is higher than ever. “These people are trapped in forced labor, police brutality and sex trafficking,” said Victoria Luna, Alabama IJM vice president. Alabama IJM works alongside the non-profit IJM organization…this human rights agency was created in response to the abuse of power by police and authorities discovered in the communities of humanitarians and mission organizations across the globe…Alabama IJM is one of 200 campus chapters for International Justice Mission. Last month, Auburn University’s chapter hosted a Week of Justice. In April, UAB will be promoting a Freedom Week. With this increase of student involvement in Alabama, Hess said the organization’s executive team decided The University of Alabama should join the fight by establishing Justice Week 2012.
Fifth-grader bests college students in competition
Oshkosh Northwestern – March 28
Davis Fortenberry, 10, rolled out his robot in a college-level competition in Orlando in March and mopped up, save for the jaws on the floor. With bangs, barely a care about girls and two feet shorter than the competition, this one-kid team outmaneuvered most college teams at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Southeastern competition. “Actually it was kind of exciting; I wasn’t nervous at all,” said Davis, a fifth-grader from Piperton. “When I explained to them how old I was, what grade I was in and that I did have a robot, I think they were afraid of me,” he said. Out of 54 teams, only Florida A&M-Florida State University College of Engineering, University of Alabama and Mississippi State scored higher.
Trek sets up Bo Jackson for charity ride
Bicycleretailer.com – March 28
Trek Bicycle is building five bikes for 1985 Heisman Trophy winner Bo Jackson, who is leading a ride across Alabama to raise money for victims of last year’s tornados. The Bo Bikes Bama ride will be April 24-28, from Henagar to Tuscaloosa, ending at the University of Alabama exactly a year after the area was hit by the tornados.
Retired nurse educator named
Tuscaloosa News – March 29
Retired nurse educator Linda Olivet has been named to the board of directors of the DCH Health System. Olivet has served in numerous capacities at the University of Alabama, including director of graduate studies and assistant dean at the Capstone College of Nursing. Now professor emeritus, she was named to the UA Nursing Hall of Fame in 2003.