The Technology Issue
There’s An App for That
Natural Remedies for the Flu
High-Tech Jobs for ExOffenders
Oregon State Resources
In This Issue Technology Issue October 2019 Letter from the Executive Director
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Word of the month
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Oregon State Resources
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There’s An App for That
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High-Tech Jobs for Ex-Offenders
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Natural Remedies for the Flu
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Letter from the Executive Director Although some could argue about the negative aspects of technology, you can’t argue that in some ways it has improved the way we live – from getting directions, to checking the hours of establishments, to sending emails to people all over the world – technology has made it easier. In fact, the team members that write this magazine live all over the country, but we connect over the common bond to contribute to this magazine. We wanted to create this issue address some of the ways that technology can make life easier through our article, “There’s an App for That.” In addition, the pace at which technology changes creates a demand for workers to constantly keep up with the ever-changing trends. In our other article, “High-Tech Jobs for Ex-Offenders”, we discuss some of the programs and job opportunities for ex-offenders. This article comes from our newest writer, Amanda Knight. Welcome Amanda! Also, be sure to check out natural remedies for the flu from our resident nutritional expert, as well as our new doula program. Sincerely, Porche Proffit
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Masthead and Contributors Editor-in-Chief, Porche Proffit Editor, Ericka Foster
Contributors Writer, Maggie Allen Writer, Amanda Knight Nutrition and dietician Isabella Dos Santos
Check out the Positive Transitioning App on the Google Play Store! https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.app.positivetransitioning Check out our Radio Show! https://www.radionomy.com/en/radio/omertaradio
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Word of the Month u·biq·ui·tous present, appearing, or found everywhere. You look at marketing: everything that's happening in marketing is digitized. Everything that's happening in finance is digitized. So pretty much every industry, every function in every industry, has a huge element that's driven by information technology. It's no longer discrete. Satya Nadella
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Oregon State Services Helping Hands helpinghandsreentry.org/ Helping Hands' case managers and crisis managers meet one-on-one with program participants to identify key barriers. Thy work with participants to create customized reentry plans that meet the participant's unique needs, with measurable goals and clear timelines. Mercy Corps Northwest www.mercycorpsnw.org Mercy Corps Northwest works to build just, productive and resilient communities across the Pacific Northwest. The organization has several programs for individuals that are reentering society, including an entrepreneurship program. The Pathfinder Network www.thepathfindernetwork.org/ The Pathfinder Network provides justice system-impacted individuals and families the tools and support they need to be safe and thrive in their communities. The organization provides programs and services for incarcerated individuals through the Oregon Department of Corrections and for parents, children, and families in the community. Sponsors sponsorsinc.org/about/history/ Sponsors transforms provides life-opportunities for people with criminal histories. The organization offers a broad range of services — housing, employment, counseling, and mentoring — that people need to be successful.
Next month’s issue Next month is our final issue of 2019, and we’ll be reflecting on the year.
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Working Together to Build a Positive Transition Thank you for taking the time to read Positive Transitioning magazine. This organization assists individuals coming out of jail or prison. I know you are asking yourself why should you assist someone that has committed a crime. • 94% of individuals in jail will one day come back to their community. • 67.8% of them will be re-arrested within 3 years. • 76.6% will be re-arrested within 5 years. These reoccurring crimes are committed within our communities. Most individuals upon release are unable to find employment due to harsh employment requirements, cannot find housing due to unfair housing rules, may not have family that can support, have mental or health issues and were getting assistance in jail/prison but upon release have no assistance.
Please take the time to watch the video and make a donation to our organization.
With these hurdles for them to face we understand why they may commit another crime. Our organization assist individuals with finding employment through workforce development programs, entrepreneurship programs, and developing businesses that we can hire them if other employers will not. We also assist with housing, family integration, education, health and wellness and a host of other programs by providing them a life coach to assist and encourage them to return to their communities and be an asset and not a liability to their families, friends, and neighbors. We have started a campaign called We are the Spark. This campaign asks for a $6.16 donation to our organization. We have to help each other to overcome the crime and violence that is plaguing our communities. Please take the time to watch the video and make a donation. We are the Spark
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There’s an App for That By Maggie Allen We live in a marvelous age of technological innovation. Powerful, extensive search engines are right there at our fingertips, and it’s no real hyperbole to say that just about anything you want out of a product or service can be made reality using the internet. “There’s an app for that,” is a common joke at my house, only second to, “Why don’t you Google it?” But if you’ve used a smartphone or computer lately, you may have noticed that there are a ton of solutions out there. Apple and Samsung have app stores full to bursting with tools that claim they can make your life easier. How do you pick the best one for you? My personal approach is to do research and check the reviews, keeping in mind that people generally tend to fixate on the negative. Be skeptical and consider the number of reviews (good and bad), but if you see a worrying pattern, don’t ignore it. But to get you started, here are some recommendations: Budgeting Apps Whether you are with a bank or a credit union, your banking establishment probably has an app. With that app, you can pay bills, transfer money, and check your balances. Mint I have personally been using Mint for the last 3 years. It’s a free app powered by Intuit, that tracks any various budgets you may have (general, vacation, emergency fund, etc.), as well as bank account balances. You just give Mint your username and password for the mobile sites of any bank you use, and it will securely monitor and inform you of irregular or bad spending habits. It also allows you to see your credit score without having to make an inquiry somewhere, which is a good gauge to help anyone get back on track. The settings are straightforward and easy to tweak, so if your fortunes change, you can adjust your budgets accordingly. PocketGuard Here’s another good, free app for saving your hard-earned money. Very much like Mint, PocketGuard keeps track of money coming in and out of
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your accounts, and helps you budget it all accordingly. It also analyzes your bills and looks for ways you could potentially save and find better deals on things you pay for monthly, such as your cable bill and Internet service. The interface is very user friendly; it’s simple to use and offers helpful charts and graphs to give you a good picture of where you stand financially. Health and Wellness Apps MyFitnessPal If you don’t have the budget for wearable technology like Jawbone or Fitbit, MyFitnessPal is free and keeps track of your fitness, general health, and nutritional input. You can set the app to maintain your current weight or change it. Based on that goal, it will determine how many calories you need to eat and burn daily. Once you start tracking your meals and counting calories, the app will help you stay informed of ways you can meet your nutritional goals For example, I tend to go hard on carbohydrates (both good and bad) when I could really stand to be consuming more proteins and healthy fats. This app is a great educational tool, and it includes a forum for the MyFitnessPal community to talk and exchange tips and encouragement. It’s a great place to start, but no matter where you are in your body’s journey, it’s very useful. Calm Calm is a meditation app that is particular helpful for getting to sleep. For someone like me, who can often have trouble “turning off” at night, I find it a great way to relax your mind and body. There are more features available if you pay, of course, but the app has some sessions, music, and ambient noise settings that you can access for free. In this hectic, modern life, it might be just the thing you need. Our editor, Ericka, uses Calm to meditate. Meditation has been shown to reduce stress, control anxiety, and enhance self-awareness. You can set the app to remind you to meditate at the same time each day.
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Social Services Apps VictimsVoice This fairly-new app requires purchasing a license, but for those who can’t afford it, one can still be acquired through the app’s partner program. And it might be absolutely crucial to someone who finds him or herself in an unsafe situation. Vetted by attorneys and non-profit professionals, VictimsVoice provides a legally admissible way for victims to document abuse incidents in a safe, secure, consistent, complete, and private manner. It’s much like a tracking app, where you can make detailed reports of incidents to strengthen a future case, but you can also upload pictures. And your account is yours alone; no one else can tamper with your information, and you can access it from any computer, even public ones. Positive Transitioning Developed by us, we can’t write an article about apps and leave out our own! The Positive Transitioning app provides resources to individuals who have been incarcerated. Resources provided include employment, housing and reentry services.
Transportation Apps Waze For folks with their own vehicles, Waze makes use of Google Maps to give you up-to-the-minute traffic options. Like any GPS, you type in your destination, but if a faster route becomes available at any point, your app will ask you if you’d like to go that way instead or continue the current path. Also handy, it offers a way to warn other drivers about traffic impediments (police speed traps, traffic standstills, potholes and other road hazards, etc.) in real time. Uber/Lyft Need to get somewhere, but don’t have a car or a reliable transportation in your area? You could always try a ride sharing app like Uber or Lyft. You put out a request to go somewhere, and then, depending on the type of vehicle you select, someone in your vicinity can accept the offer, pick you up, and take you there.
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It can be very convenient for both parties, the drivers and the passengers, but it’s a growing industry, and as you might imagine, there are still many kinks that need to be worked out. If you decide to use the services just be smart and vigilant when you do. Planner/Efficiency Apps Google Keep I’m the kind of person who, whether I’m at work or at home, keeps several planning tools on hand to remember things. I have apps on my phone, a physical calendar, a notebook, and so much more. All in the hopes that when I inevitably do forget something, it won’t be one of the “life or death” things. You know, like bill due dates or appointments that I’ll get charged for missing. Most phones nowadays come with some sort of reminder and notification app that allows you to keep track of everything going on in your life, but Google Keep is free, quick to download, and I just find it so helpful. You can make checklists or just regular notes and set them to appear on your phone screen multiple times and dates if they are recurring. It’s also collaborative; if you need someone else to be able to see your items, you can share them using your Gmail accounts. In my case, my husband and I share bills and grocery checklists, and then, no matter where we are, we know what is needed and what isn’t. Any.do The design and interface alone will make you want to spend a lot more time on your to-do lists. Fortunately, if you don’t want to, you won’t have to. The flowing design of the app keeps things moving, as you set up your events and reminders. You can say tasks via your phone microphone and Any.do will input them for you. You can also use the auto-suggest function, which will learn the more you use the app. Hooray for less time typing on tiny keyboards! The app keeps track of everything you could want and more, and it shares it seamlessly across your other devices. It works on IOS and Android, and can be utilized with Siri and Alexa.
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High-Tech Jobs for Ex-Offenders: Training and Employment to Decrease Recidivism By Amanda Knight Technological Training in Prisons The United States, with over 2 million prisons (1), has more people incarcerated in its jails and prisons than any other country in the world. Many of those are repeat offenders, highlighting the high rate of recidivism in the country. A Bureau of Justice report found that 83 percent of state prisoners were rearrested within the first nine years of their release. When an inmate is thrust back out into society after years behind bars, they are not equipped to deal with world, as it is not what it was when they were locked up. In a fast-paced technological world, ex-offenders without technological training may end up without options for employment and return to a life of crime. Fortunately, there are programs in more and more prisons that are attempting to change this pattern. A 2015 Portland State University study showed that a one-week digital literacy program helped inmates learn how to use technology to do things like submit a job application on the Internet, but it also gave them confidence that they could be independent. While there have been concerns about the use of technology behind bars, centered mostly on security, prisons are working to ensure there are no security compromises. Inmates are only allowed access to local servers that offer archived educational materials. There is no “free reign� access to the open Internet. Inmates at San Quentin in California developed their own search engine. They named it JOLT and it allows them to browse educational tools such as uploaded textbooks or offline Wikipedia entries. The inmates who developed
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JOLT were part of a program called Code.7370 operated by the Last Mile. The Last Mile is a nonprofit that teaches inmates to code and you can learn more about their mission at https://thelastmile.org/about/.Code.7370 was the first computer coding curriculum in US prisons, and participants in this program proudly have a zero percent recidivism rate. With technological training like this, inmates have a better chance of landing a good job and staying out of jail after their release. High-Tech Jobs for Ex-Offenders Landing a job upon release can be challenging, but there are companies in the technological sector that hire ex-offenders. Some of the largest are Apple, Google, AT&T, Sony, IBM, Boeing, Kohl’s and United Airlines. This is not an all-inclusive list. There are many smaller companies, even those not in the tech sector, that hire felons. These non-tech companies will still have an IT department or a need for tech-savvy employees (3). Starting your own technological business is an option as well, once you have the training under your belt. There are many job possibilities in the tech sector. These include network support administrator, database administrator, computer programmer, app developer and web developer. These jobs all pay in the range of $25 to $60 per hour (3). An inmate who can obtain training or a degree in one of these areas while incarcerated has a good chance at obtaining a high-paying job and leading a successful life. While it is no secret that it will be an uphill battle for newly released felons, it is important to see that you have a future. You can work hard and live a fulfilled life and take care of your family. You matter, and these companies in the field of technology want to take a chance on you.
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Positive Transitioning Inc. Goes to GIVEBACKHACK!
On September 20th, Positive Transitioning Inc. went to a pitch competition in Cleveland called GIVEBACKHACK to pitch the Positive Transitioning App. It was AMAZING to say the least. We developed a new program to be a part of the workforce development track. It is called Transitioning to Doula. We will train and hire women coming out of prison to be Doulas for pregnant women. A doula helps a woman give birth, often in a non-traditional setting. Positive Transitioning won $2,700 dollars to implement the program in Cleveland, Ohio. We have 2 months to train 3 people to be doulas. We also won $2500 and $252 for crowd favorite, and worked on a project called Vol & Tell, which is a social media site for volunteers, nonprofits, foundations, and corporations that allows for volunteers and businesses to see the impact that they are making!! We were able to get a GREAT TEAM of 8 and had 7 Developers create a prototype. What’s more, WE WON FREE OFFICE SPACE FOR 6 MONTHS!! More importantly, the team we got was so great we are planning to continue developing to make this platform a reality!
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Some natural home-remedies to fight the flu in the cold season By Isabella Dos Santos October is here and it means one thing: temperatures will begin to decrease and it is time to get the coats out! Though there are no miraculous foods that could ensure we will not get sick, there are surely some ingredients we can blend in order to fight the common sore throats and flu-like symptoms that come along with the change of season. Here I leave you some recipes you could easily make at home to warm-up a bit and embrace the cold season.
Golden Milk: it boomed some months ago, and wanted to bring it back because of its delicate flavors and nice mix of spices. This drink reunites the anti-inflammatory, pain-reducing and antioxidant compounds of some spices, such as turmeric, cinnamon, ginger, cayenne and black pepper. In one cup of water or your milk of choice, add 1 tsp of turmeric, 1 cinnamon stick, ½ tsp of black pepper, ½ tsp of ginger and a pinch of cayenne. Top it with a bit of honey or maple syrup. Seat comfortably, pick a book and enjoy… Ginger and Honey tea: Probably one of the most famous drinks to combat the flu. This is due do the anti-inflammatory components of ginger, which help to relieve the symptoms, and the soothing benefits of honey. Mix a cup of hot water (not boiling) with 5 small pieces of fresh ginger. Let it set for 3 minutes. Add a pinch of lemon and 1 tsp of honey.
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Echinacea tea: Some studies have suggested that echinacea tea can help in the treatment of upper respiratory tract infections. It is sold as a regular bag tea. Drink one or two cups every day during the flu season to stay away of the symptoms. Healing Pumpkin Soup: How was I not going to include a pumpkin recipe in the October´s issue? We all know this nice squash is a staple of the season. For those cold evenings, nothing better than a nice vitamin/mineral packed soup to heal any broken heart or sore throat.
Put 2 pounds of diced pumpkin with 1 tbsp of turmeric, 4 cloves of garlic and 1 cup of chopped onion in a pan with water (enough to cover). Let it boil over high heat and then reduce the heat to medlow. Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Transfer to a blender and add basil leaves. Puree until smooth. Top it with some sunflower seeds or nuts. VoilĂ ! Above all these recipes, remember some simple tips: always keep your hands clean, sleep well (do your best!), get some exercise, eat as many colorful fresh foods you can, and be happy! Wishing you all a nice October!
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