#nonprofit trends 2023 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mariacallous · 4 months

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If anyone can rally up a base, it’s Taylor Swift.

When sexually explicit, likely AI-generated, fake images of Swift circulated on social media this week, it galvanized her fans. Swifties found phrases and hashtags related to the images and flooded them with videos and photos of Swift performing. “Protect Taylor Swift” went viral, trending as Swifties spoke out against not just the Swift deepfakes, but all nonconsensual, explicit images made of women.

Swift, arguably the most famous woman in the world right now, has become the high-profile victim of an all-too-frequent form of harassment. She has yet to comment on the photos publicly, but her status gives her power to wield in a situation where so many women have been left with little recourse. Deepfake porn is becoming more common as generative artificial intelligence gets better: 113,000 deepfake videos were uploaded to the most popular porn websites in the first nine months of 2023, a significant increase to the 73,000 videos uploaded throughout 2022. In 2019, research from a startup found that 96 percent of deepfakes on the internet were pornographic.

The content is easy to find on search engines and social media, and has affected other female celebrities and teenagers. Yet, many people don’t understand the full extent of the problem or its impact. Swift, and the media mania around her, has the potential to change that.

“It does feel like this could be one of those trigger events” that could lead to legal and societal changes around nonconsensual deepfakes, says Sam Gregory, executive director of Witness, a nonprofit organization focused on using images and videos for protecting human rights. But Gregory says people still don’t understand how common deepfake porn is, and how harmful and violating it can be to victims.

If anything, this deepfake disaster is reminiscent of the 2014 iCloud leak that led to nude photos of celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton spreading online, prompting calls for greater protections on people's digital identities. Apple ultimately ramped up security features.

A handful of states have laws around nonconsensual deepfakes, and there are moves to ban it on the federal level, too. Rep. Joseph Morelle (D-New York) has introduced a bill in Congress that would make it illegal to create and share deepfake porn without a person’s consent. Another House bill from Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-New York) seeks to give legal recourse to victims of deepfake porn. Rep. Tom Kean, Jr. (R-New Jersey), who in November introduced a bill that would require the labeling of AI content, used the viral Swift moment to draw attention to his efforts: “Whether the victim is Taylor Swift or any young person across our country—we need to establish safeguards to combat this alarming trend,” Kean said in a statement.

This isn’t the first time that Swift or Swifties have tried to hold platforms and people accountable. In 2017, Swift won a lawsuit she brought against a radio DJ who she claimed groped her during a meet-and-greet. She was awarded $1—the amount she sued for, and what her attorney Douglas Baldridge called a symbolic sum “the value of which is immeasurable to all women in this situation.”

Last fall, tens of thousands of people registered to vote after the superstar posted a link to Vote.org on Instagram. And in 2022, her fan base, so enraged after waiting hours to buy tickets to the Eras Tour only to be beaten out by bots, reignited conversation around antitrust issues with Ticketmaster and Live Nation’s mega-merger. A cringy Senate hearing followed, and an investigation into Live Nation’s agreements with venues and artists is ongoing.

Swift and her fans could advocate for legal changes at the federal level to pass. But their outrage could do something else: lead platforms to take notice. “When you have a really massive group of users saying this content is unacceptable in this very high-profile way, the power there is about what it says to the platform about what users will and won’t tolerate,” says Cailin O’Connor, a professor of philosophy at University of California, Irvine and coauthor of The Misinformation Age: How False Beliefs Spread. X did not respond to a request for comment on the images and its moderation efforts regarding deepfake porn. Elon Musk bought the site in 2022 and quickly gutted its moderation teams. Advertisers have also dropped off recently after Musk’s apparent endorsement of an antisemitic conspiracy theory.

It’s not clear whether Swift will take on this issue. A representative for Swift did not respond to a request for comment for this story. Harassment of female celebrities is frequent and often brushed aside, but deepfakes are harming them and others without the same power. This could be a moment for Swift to use her powerful platform—or at least for her fans to push the issue before the public.

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fatehbaz · 8 months

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In May 2023, the city of Phoenix began its project to clear and eliminate its largest homeless camp, known as The Zone, a refuge for hundreds of people. During the record-breaking heat of the summer of 2023, Phoenix cleared the camp, block by block. By the beginning of September 2023, just as the city was experiencing over 50 consecutive days of temperatures of 110 degrees Fahrenheit, the city cleared the block of the camp where most seniors and the elderly lived.

The trend of unhoused people moving from [the neighboring city of] Tempe into Phoenix has implications for Phoenix, which is under intense scrutiny for how it has handled its own growing homelessness crisis. Phoenix has been battling [...] lawsuits since 2022. [...] [One] was brought be the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, which alleges the city unlawfully cited people and threw away their belongings during encampment sweeps. The U.S. Department of Justice has also been investigating the Phoenix Police Department since 2021 over several issues, including its treatment of people experiencing homelessness. [...] “They say it’s not illegal to be homeless. But it totally is. There’s nowhere you can be homeless,” said [AD], a community organizer who hosts weekly picnics in Tempe for unhoused people. Others agreed. “It’s become kind of a police state for the homeless within the city,” said [KE], founder [...] of [a] homelessness nonprofit [...]. Both the River Bottom in Tempe and The Zone in Phoenix, two of the largest encampments in the region, have been or are currently being cleared out. Smaller encampments are also frequently broken up by police or private security [...].

Text excerpt from: Juliette Rihl. "Tempe's clearing of homeless camps has ripple effects for Phoenix, aid workers". The Arizona Republic. 11 July 2023.

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The city continued clearing Phoenix's largest homeless encampment known as "The Zone" on Friday morning [1 September 2023], in the aftermath of a severe storm that raged the night before. [...] This was the eighth block cleared [since May 2023] [...]. The block cleared was [...] where many elderly people lived. [...] [A] nonprofit organization providing supportive resources for seniors experiencing homelessness, is located along the same street. 'The Zone' was hit hard by Thursday night's monsoon storm. [...] [H]igh winds scattered some people's possessions. [...] At the start of August, around 700 people lived in and around The Zone [...].

Text excerpt from: Helen Rummel. "Eighth block of 'The Zone' homeless encampment in Phoenix cleared out after storm". The Arizona Republic. 1 September 2023. [Bold emphasis added by me.]

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As the city cleared another block late last week [September 2023], local activists gathered outside the barriers set up around it. [...] A man who goes by [Q] has been unhoused for roughly four years. [...] “It is kind of heartbreaking to see,” he said, watching city staffers pick through piles of belongings left behind. [...] Neighbors from different mutual aid groups set up folding tables just outside barriers on either side of the block. [NA] was among them. [...] He said they form relationships with the people living here. Most are elders, many people with disabilities that prevent them from working. “They’re dejected, they’re demoralized, they’re upset,” [NA] said. “These are homes that they’ve built for themselves that have taken some time, and resources that they’ve just had to come by because nobody’s providing them.” [...] [JS] said when people are moved, they often don’t stay sheltered. [...] “But a lot of people go into these [shelters] and then they’re hit with restrictions when they get there. They’re told one thing, and then they arrive, there’s a curfew, [...] they can’t have whatever. And then it’s: You either follow our rules right now, or you’re going out into the heat.” [...] [AM] watched the street sweep from behind the yellow tape. “Well, I think that this is a human rights violation,” [AM] said. “What I’m seeing is just a bunch of people being paid to dislocate people.” [AM] is a legal observer, volunteering with the National Lawyers Guild. [...] “They're being moved out of one street,” said [AM]. “But the reality is, they have nowhere to go."

Text by: Kirsten Dorman and Tori Gantz. "Another block in 'The Zone' is cleared, but the path forward for those living there is unclear'. Fronteras Desk. 7 September 2023. [Bold emphasis added by me.]

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earhartsease · 1 year

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depressing news for US people with mental health issues (depressingly unsurprising) - first part pasted below:

The rapid growth of the new 988 mental health hotline has been greeted with positive media coverage. As many people expected, calls, texts, and chats to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, now renamed “988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline,” started climbing immediately with the launch of the 988 number in July of 2022. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the nonprofit that was given centralized control over the 988 system, Vibrant Emotional Health (VEH), have been releasing monthly updates on key metrics.

In April 2023, compared to April 2022, calls answered increased by 52%, chats by 90%, and texts by 1022%. The trend was heralded by federal Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to CNN: “Our nation’s transition to 988 moves us closer to better serving the crisis care needs of people across America. 988 is more than a number, it’s a message: we’re there for you.”

However, as previously reported by Mad in America, a percentage of people who contacted the former National Suicide Prevention Lifeline were subjected to geolocation tracing of their phone, computer, or mobile device. The Lifeline advertised itself as a place for confidential discussions about suicidal feelings but, according to its own policy, if a call-attendant believed a person might be at “imminent risk” of taking their own life in the next few hours, days, or week, the call-attendant was required to contact 911 or a Public Safety Answering Point to send out police and/or an ambulance to forcibly take the person to a psychiatric hospital.

Many Lifeline users described the experiences of betrayal, public exposure, police interactions, loss of freedoms, and forced psychiatric treatment as dangerous, harmful and traumatizing.

So, since the transition to 988, has anything changed? As contacts to 988 rise, how many people are getting forcibly subjected to these types of unexpected, unwanted interventions?

It appears detention numbers are climbing dramatically, too—even as VEH, SAMHSA, and many news outlets continue to obfuscate the facts publicly.

#ableism #pathologising #psychiatric detentions

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rjzimmerman · 13 days

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Here’s why so many Republicans won’t buy EVs. (Washington Post)

Electric cars have taken off across the United States. Even amid news of slowing sales, the country sold almost 1.2 million fully electric vehicles in 2023, more than quadruple the number in 2019. Grocery stores and rest stops are installing charging stations across the country; electric cars have moved beyond niche status and are being produced by Ford, GM, Hyundai and many others.

But there is one thing holding the nation back from the dream of an all-electric future: politicalpolarization. Sales data have consistentlyshown that while Democrats have been buying the new cars in droves,Republicans haven’t jumped onto the EV-buying train.

“The Republican is like, ‘They’re trying to ban gas cars — I’m not going to buy a Biden-mobile,’” said Mike Murphy, a former Republican strategist who runs the nonprofit EV Politics Project, which attempts to counter misinformation on electric cars and encourage conservatives to adopt the vehicles.

Personal cars account for 20 percent of U.S. planet-warming emissions, and more Americans still prefer gas-powered ones. A Washington Post-University of Maryland poll last year found that 46 percent of respondents favored a gas car, compared to 19 percent who wanted a fully electric vehicle. If that doesn’t change, it will be almost impossible for the United States to meet its climate goals.

According to a Gallup poll conducted in March of this year, 61 percent of Democrats reported that they were “seriously considering” or “might consider” buying an EV in the future — compared to only 24 percent of Republicans. At the same time, 69 percent of Republicans said that they “would not buy” an EV in future, compared to 27 percent of Democrats. The difference in Democratic and Republican respondents who owned an EV was within the margin of error.

Actual sales show a partisan trend. According to an analysis from researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, MIT and HEC Montréal, between 2012 and 2022 about half of all EVs sold went to the top 10 percent most Democratic counties in the United States. Around a third of all EVs sold went to the top 5 percent most Democratic counties. That pattern persisted when researchers analyzed the most Democratic states, according to the working paper, which has not yet been peer-reviewed.

The finding held when researchers accounted for income, gas prices and population density. That means that even when looking at dense, urban areas — which are more likely to have more public EV charging — Democratic counties outweighed Republican ones in EV adoption.

#electric vehicles #politics

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beardedmrbean · 2 months

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A majority of Asian Americans living in New York City have altered aspects of their lives to prevent being the target of an anti-Asian incident, according to a new study released Thursday.

Three-quarters of Asian Americans in the city have adopted at least one “avoidance behavior,” which includes not taking public transit or speaking in their native tongue, the survey, conducted by nonprofit The Asian American Foundation, found. Younger Asian Americans tended to be more likely to say they adapted their behavior.

“Younger Asian Americans — many have grown up here in the U.S. — have the language and the cultural skills to adapt and become ‘more mainstream.’ It’s what they feel like they need to do to avoid bullying in schools and other attacks,” said Norman Chen, the organization’s CEO. “In the short term, maybe that’s saving them from potential violence and attacks, but in the long run, reducing who they are. We need to find better solutions.”

For the study, TAAF researchers surveyed 1,000 NYC-based Asian Americans, ages 16 and up, on the subject of public safety between Nov. 30 and Dec. 19, 2023. The surveys were conducted over the phone and online in English, Chinese, Korean and Bangla.

Researchers found that during the time period, 36% of respondents feared being verbally or physically attacked due to their race, and 48% avoided going out late at night, with an even higher percentage of women reporting they do so. Forty-one percent of Asian American New Yorkers also refrained from taking public transit.

“That has a huge effect on people’s mental health, on their livelihood and on their work,” Chen said. “It’s something very concerning.”

The report also found that 17% of Asian Americans in New York City said they refrained from speaking their native tongue in public.

“The fact we have to … be on guard all the time when we’re outside and hide our culture, hide our identity, and not speak the language that we perhaps want to speak — that’s a real step backwards for us in our community,” Chen said.

According to the survey, public safety is the top issue for Asian American New Yorkers, with 78% of respondents saying it was either a “major problem” or “somewhat of a problem.” When asked about their experiences with anti-Asian hate incidents — defined as insults, harassments, threats or a physical attack — about half of survey respondents said they were targeted in 2023 due to their race or ethnicity. And 1 in 5 reported experiencing physical attacks or assaults in that year. However, this includes attacks that were not necessarily reported crimes.

“The fact that people may perceive that this crisis has diminished really minimizes the truth that there’s just still rampant levels of anti-Asian hatred and violence still going on in the city,” Chen said.

The TAAF report shows a departure from the dramatic downward trend seen in crime data against Asian Americans collected by the New York Police Department. In 2022, according to NYPD data, there were 82 hate crimes targeting Asian Americans, and the next year, the number decreased by almost half, at 45.

Sruthi Chandrasekaran, director of data & research at TAAF, said the disparities are likely due, in part, to the way in which the NYPD records crimes — which unlike incidents, require a high threshold to meet. The study may also have featured higher numbers because it was conducted in several languages, accessing more harder-to-reach populations like older New Yorkers, immigrants and first generation Asian Americans, she said.

Additionally, many Asian Americans feel uncomfortable with reporting their experiences, Chandrasekaran said, noting that 54% of respondents did not report to “anyone at all.”

“Asian Americans may also feel that what is happening to them is an isolated incident — they may have felt more of an impetus to report during COVID because they were seeing and hearing and experiencing anti-Asian hate directed at them and others in their community,” Chandrasekaran said in an email. “With time, this issue has gotten less attention, which may lead people, including Asian Americans themselves, to think it is an isolated incident and may not warrant reporting.”

#nunyas news

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niiikkii · 3 months

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Adapting to Changing Travel Trends: Maximizing Travel Experience

In recent years, there have been significant shifts in the travel trends. The once exclusive practice of tourism has evolved into a popular entertainment and tourism trend with affordable travel and a rich cultural heritage. The travel business has seen a significant transformation because to new technologies like digital platforms, which give visitors access to advice and recommendations from other travelers as well as locals.

For the past 5 years, here are some of the biggest travel trends in 2019 including the Regenerative Travel which are the challenges of sustainable tourism have drawn attention, which focuses on striking a balance between financial advantages and environmental and societal benefits. Secondly, the B-Leisure Trips which means leisure and business blends together became increasingly popular. While business travelers saw the in-flight experience as a means of leisure and time off, they also often viewed the airport as a nice place to work.

Micro-vacations, sometimes referred to as mini-vacations, have grown in popularity since 2019. These quick getaways provide travelers with instant happiness and relaxation, enabling them to make wonderful memories and depart with favorable impressions. The next one is the Insta-Holidays, travel planning in 2019 was greatly helped by Instagram, particularly for Gen Z travelers. Last but not the least travel trend for the past 5 years is the Wellness Travel, which describes travel experiences that seek to enhance and maintain health in a range of areas of human being, such as the physical, mental, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual.

For the next and possible travel trends that we expected, the first one is the Home Swapping, is a more cost-effective option to booking expensive hotels or Airbnbs when travel expenses keep rising. The second one is the Eco Diving, the Reef-World Foundation, a UK marine ecology nonprofit, discovered in 2022 that 95% of divers desired to make reservations with sustainable operators but found it difficult to do so.

Sports Tourism, the Olympic and Paralympic Games serve as the main event of the 2024 sporting calendar. The fourth is the Coolcationing that the year 2023 is declared the hottest on record. Family vacations are especially well-suited to cooler weather. The last possible travel trend for the next 5 years is the Gig-Tripping that for many years, the main attractions at retreats were athletes and wellness experts. Taylor Swift is the main reason for the more than 50% increase in destination concert business, according to Janel Carnero, travel advisor at Embark Beyond.

As a tourist in tourism industry, we should expect that we can have more technological and advanced travel trends that a tourist can surely enjoy now and in the future.

#travelwriting&photography #traveltrends

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xtruss · 1 year

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A shrouded mannequin demonstrates the "laying in" ceremony at Recompose, a human composting facility in Seattle. Human composting, water cremation, and green burials are gaining traction as people seek to minimize their environmental impact in death. Photograph By Mat Hayward, Getty Images For Recompose

Rest In … Compost? These ‘Green Funerals’ Offer An Eco-Friendly Afterlife.

Traditional burial and cremation pollute the ground and emit carbon dioxide. People are looking for new options.

— By Allie Yang | February 24, 2023

You may have seen the headlines: Earlier this year, New York State became the sixth in the nation to legalize something called human composting. In 2022, Archbishop Desmond Tutu chose to be cremated not by flame, but by water, in a process called alkaline hydrolysis. In 2019, actor Luke Perry was buried in a “mushroom suit” made of cotton and seeded with mushroom spores. All were part of a push to make the afterlife more eco-friendly.

Death care has remained largely unchanged in the United States ever since embalming and burial became the de facto method as far back as the Civil War, says Caitlin Doughty, mortician and founder of death care advocacy nonprofit Order of the Good Death. Most people don’t even have access to other options: burials and cremation are the only methods that are legal in all 50 states.

Traditional burial methods harm the planet in various ways. Embalming slows the decay of a person’s body so that it’s presentable at a funeral—but after burial, the chemicals used for embalming leach into the ground. Caskets require enormous amounts of wood and metal, and cemeteries often build concrete vaults in the ground to protect them. Even cremation requires a lot of fuel, and generates millions of tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year.

Now, however, a variety of theoretically more sustainable death care alternatives are increasingly being offered around the country. Here’s what you need to know.

Green or Natural Burial

Green burials have been used as long as humans have been burying bodies. Both Native American and Jewish communities traditionally use green burials. But in recent generations, they have fallen out of fashion as people opted for more elaborate burials. Green or “simple” burials became more commonly used for the poor and wards of the state.

These are generally defined as burials using materials that are both nontoxic and biodegradable. In a typical green burial, the deceased is dressed in a 100 percent cotton shroud and buried in a plain pine box.

In some cases people choose to “become” a tree in death by having a tree planted over their plot. (However, the tree burial pods that kicked off this trend—in which bodies are wrapped in an egg-shaped pod that supposedly feeds the roots of a young tree—are not available for commercial use and it’s unclear if they are even viable.)

Almost every cemetery in the U.S. has an area reserved for green, or “simple” burials, according to Ed Bixby, president of the Green Burial Council (GBC), which helps educate and certify burial grounds meeting sustainability standards. On some burial properties, plots are marked via GPS and a natural stone marker—otherwise, the area is left to grow wild, becoming less like a cemetery and more like a nature preserve full of life.

Most families who choose natural burial also forgo embalming, often seeing the process as overly invasive, when refrigeration alone adequately preserves the body. Others opt for gentler embalming fluids made without formaldehyde, which are becoming increasingly available.

Adeline O'Keefe from The Natural Death Centre poses for photographs with a bamboo coffin in Clissold Park, London. The organization is one of many around the world working to help bring death care closer to families and arrange for environmentally-friendly funerals. Photograph By Abbie Trayler-Smith, The Guardian/Eyevine/Redux

But could these simple burials contribute to the spread of disease or pollution of the land? The data from existing research on traditional cemeteries “doesn't indicate that bodies are dangerous in and of themselves,” says Lee Webster, director of New Hampshire Funeral Resources and Education and former director of GBC, adding that vaults, chemicals, and non-organic containers used in traditional burial do contribute to pollution.

Further, the WHO has found “no evidence that corpses pose a risk of epidemic disease—most agents do not survive long in the human body after death.”

Still, it’s unclear if some of the newer variations of green burials are effective. For example, the brand responsible for Luke Perry’s mushroom suit claimed it would neutralize toxins and give nutrients back to the earth. Years earlier, however, the suit’s maker had hired mortician Melissa Unfred to study the suit—Unfred found there was no evidence the suit had any real effect.

Water Cremation

One cremation creates an average of 534 pounds of carbon dioxide, one scientist told Nat Geo in 2016. Toxins from embalming fluid and nonorganic implants like pacemakers or tooth fillings also go up in smoke. Water cremation—also known as aquamation or alkaline hydrolysis—produces the same result with significantly less environmental impact and for some, a spiritual benefit.

Native Hawaiians practiced a form of water cremation for thousands of years. They would use heated volcanic water to break down the bodies of their loved ones, says Dean Fisher, water cremation consultant and former director of Mayo Clinic’s donated body program. Then they would bury the remaining bones, where they believed the soul’s spiritual essence was stored.

The tradition has fallen out of practice in recent years—but in July 2022 Hawaii legalized water cremation, putting the tradition back within reach.

Water cremation machines work by pumping a heated alkaline fluid around a body for four to six hours, exponentially accelerating the natural decomposition process. Bodies can be embalmed or unembalmed and dressed in any material that is 100 percent natural. After the body breaks down, only bones and non-organic implants remain. The bones are dried, crushed, and returned to the family.

The only byproduct of water cremation is nontoxic, sterile water that can be recycled into the local water supply—270 gallons of it, or slightly less than what the average American household uses in a day. There are no emissions into the ground or air.

But water cremation does have its drawbacks. For one, traditional cremations are more readily available, faster, and usually less expensive. Water cremation also requires energy to heat the water and run the pump, although a Dutch study from 2011 showed that’s only 10 percent of the energy used in flame cremation.

Further, some critics of water cremation argue it is immoral or disrespectful to the deceased, akin to flushing your loved one down the drain. However, advocates counter that water cremation simply accelerates the natural decomposition process and is no different from the blood from routine embalming that also goes through water treatment to be neutralized.

Either way, water cremation appears to be gaining steam in the U.S. It is currently legal in 28 states—and 15 of them approved it within the last decade.

Human Composting

Human composting turns bodily remains to soil through a highly controlled process—very different from food composting that can be done in your backyard. In a sealed container, a body is cocooned in a mix of natural materials like wood chips and straw. Over a month or more, the vessel heats up from active microbes that start to break the body down. Fans blow oxygen into the container, which is regularly rotated to reactivate the microbes.

After 30 to 50 days, bone and any non-organic matter are taken out. The bones are then ground down and returned to the material. It takes another few weeks to “cure,” as microbes finish their work and the soil dries out. The end result is a cubic yard of compost that families can use or donate to environmental causes.

There are environmental costs to human composting, also called natural organic reduction (NOR). Fuel is needed to transport elements like wood chips, and electricity is used to power air pumps, fans, and the vessel rotation.

“We’re just getting started as a company tightening [those elements] up,” says Katrina Spade, founder of Recompose, the first NOR facility in the country located in Seattle, Washington. Still, she says the company’s own assessment of the process showed just over a metric ton of carbon savings per person over traditional cremation or burial.

Human composting is rare. It’s only legal in six states—most recently in New York in January. But a Massachusetts lawmaker has also proposed a bill to allow human composting, and advocates like Spade believe that a number of states will legalize it in 2023.

But even if you’re not interested in an eco-friendly afterlife, advocates say that these burial alternatives come with another advantage: Families can be more involved in the death care of their loved ones, from bathing and dressing them at home to lowering their body into the grave if they choose a green burial.

“It's not required. But it's always encouraged to do what you can, if you wish,” Bixby says, adding that most families embrace being part of the process. “You'll watch them go through the gamut of emotions… then when they're done, they'll have this genuinely serene smile on their face. They found a greater sense of acceptance of that passing through the process.”

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cashdeals023 · 1 month

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How Many Homes Are Foreclosed in Chicago in 2023? Foreclosure rates serve as a barometer for the health of a city's housing market, reflecting economic stability, homeowner distress, and broader trends in real estate. In Chicago, a city known for its diverse neighborhoods and rich architectural heritage, understanding the prevalence of foreclosures is crucial for homeowners, investors, and policymakers alike. In this comprehensive exploration, we delve into the statistical data behind foreclosure rates in Chicago, shedding light on the magnitude of this phenomenon and its implications. Understanding Foreclosure: Foreclosure occurs when a homeowner fails to make mortgage payments, leading to the lender seizing the property and selling it to recoup losses. This process can have profound consequences for individuals and communities, impacting property values, neighborhood stability, and financial well-being. Foreclosure Trends in Chicago 2023: To comprehend the scope of foreclosure in Chicago, we turn to statistical data compiled by reputable sources: According to RealtyTrac, a leading provider of real estate data, Chicago experienced a total of 8,832 foreclosure filings in 2023. This includes default notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions. While this figure represents a decline from previous years, it underscores the persistent challenges facing homeowners in the city. Factors Driving Foreclosure: Several factors contribute to foreclosure rates in Chicago, including: - Economic Conditions: Economic downturns, job losses, and stagnant wages can increase financial strain on homeowners, making it difficult to keep up with mortgage payments. - Property Values: Fluctuations in property values can impact homeowners' equity and ability to refinance, leaving them vulnerable to foreclosure, particularly in neighborhoods with declining values. - Mortgage Practices: Predatory lending practices, subprime mortgages, and adjustable-rate loans can expose borrowers to higher risks of default and foreclosure. Impact on Communities: The ramifications of foreclosure extend beyond individual homeowners, affecting entire communities in Chicago: - Property Devaluation: Foreclosures can lead to depressed property values in surrounding areas, impacting homeowners' equity and local tax revenues. - Neighborhood Decline: Vacant or abandoned properties resulting from foreclosures can attract crime, vandalism, and blight, eroding neighborhood vitality and cohesion. - Social Displacement: Foreclosure can uproot families, disrupt social networks, and contribute to residential instability, particularly in low-income communities. Initiatives and Resources: In response to the foreclosure crisis, various initiatives and resources have been deployed to assist homeowners in Chicago: - Housing Counseling: Nonprofit organizations and government agencies offer housing counseling services to help homeowners navigate financial challenges, explore foreclosure alternatives, and access resources. - Legal Aid: Legal aid organizations provide free or low-cost legal assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure, offering advocacy and representation in court proceedings. - Foreclosure Prevention Programs: Local governments and community organizations administer foreclosure prevention programs, offering loan modifications, payment assistance, and foreclosure mediation services. - Sell your house for Cash: There's many companies that are dedicated to buying cash homes like: Cash Deals Today We buy houses in Chicago Conclusion: Foreclosure remains a significant issue in Chicago, with thousands of homes affected each year by the complex interplay of economic, housing, and financial factors. By understanding the statistical data behind foreclosure rates and their broader implications, stakeholders can work towards solutions that promote housing stability, equity, and resilience in the city. As Chicago continues to evolve and confront new challenges, addressing foreclosure will require concerted efforts from policymakers, lenders, community organizations, and residents alike. By fostering collaboration, innovation, and compassion, we can strive towards a future where every homeowner has the opportunity to thrive and prosper in the Windy City. Sources: - RealtyTrac - realtytrac.com - Chicago Tribune - chicagotribune.com - Woodstock Institute - woodstockinst.org - City of Chicago - chicago.gov - Illinois Legal Aid Online - illinoislegalaid.org Read the full article

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erpadvisorsgroup · 3 months

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ERP Trends for Nonprofit Organizations

Nonprofits require specialized capabilities to run their business, like financial planning, project management, donor management, and more. Vendors expanded their offerings to nonprofits in 2023 by developing even greater, industry-specific solutions. 2024 is gearing up to be another great year of innovation for nonprofit tools to help these organizations deliver on their missions, minimizing the headache of complicated technology requirements. Learn more about #ERP trends for Nonprofits in 2023 and the new year by following the link below:

#erptrends#erpsoftware#erpconsultant#nonprofit

#erp consulting services #erp software #erp solutions

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bitcoincables · 3 months

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Coinbase Donates $3.6M to Support Bitcoin Developers via Brink Nonprofit

Bitcoin exchange Coinbase has donated $3.6 million to Brink, a nonprofit organization that supports developers working on the Bitcoin blockchain. The donation, facilitated by Coinbase's GiveCrypto initiative, is aimed at providing funding for engineers engaged in open-source development for Bitcoin. Brink expressed gratitude to Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and his team for their contribution, emphasizing that the funds have "no strings attached" and will directly aid Bitcoin developers. Brink, founded last year, offers fellowship and grant programs to support Bitcoin developers and engineers. It has received notable backing from individuals like Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Block. In 2023, Dorsey himself pledged $5 million to Brink. This recent donation from Coinbase follows a growing trend of financial support for developers who contribute to the Bitcoin ecosystem. Coinbase's donation to Brink comes on the heels of VanEck, an asset manager, pledging to donate 5% of profits from their spot BTC exchange-traded product to Bitcoin core developers. VanEck had also made a similar commitment to Ethereum core developers in September 2023. These efforts reflect a broader recognition within the cryptocurrency industry of the importance of supporting the developers who bring innovations and improvements to blockchain networks. Coinbase's financials have been strong, with the company reporting $905 million in net revenue for Q4 2023, a 45% increase over the previous quarter. This robust performance prompted JPMorgan analysts to change their rating of Coinbase's stock from "underweight" to "neutral." Despite the challenges posed by regulatory issues and evolving market dynamics, Coinbase remains a key player in the cryptocurrency exchange space and has demonstrated its commitment to fostering the growth and development of the Bitcoin ecosystem. Read the full article on CoinTelegraph. #Coinbase #Bitcoin #Brink #Blockchain

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mobiloittet · 3 months

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Beyond Code: Exploring Generative AI's Pivotal Role in Banking and Technology

Generative AI has found its way into the banking and finance sector and has proven to be an extremely powerful tool. Generative AI has the ability to creatively acknowledge complex issues that revolve around the financial sector since it can produce new data samples that match present datasets. Many Fintech firms, banks, and financial-related organizations can increase fraud detection, produce useful insights and optimize portfolios in order to improve financial predictions by just utilizing Generative AI solutions.

Market Statistics

According to a recent report, The global Generative AI in banking and finance market size surpassed USD 712.4 million in 2022, and it is projected to hit about USD 12,337.87 million by 2032, substantial at a CAGR of 33% during the projection period from 2023 to 2032.

Steve Lohr, a New York Times reporter, says Generative AI is on the run to upgrade the banking sector.

Many individuals employed in multiple sectors fear losing their jobs, but according to the latest research, Generative AI is similar to the ones used in OpenAI's ChatGPT pose to have a great influence on White- collar workers with high salaried jobs in the banking and financial sector.

A recent report by Burning Glass Institute, a nonprofit research centre, and SHRM, formerly the Society for Human Resource Management, mentioned that technology will play a big role in increasing the number of jobs, not decreasing them. But with that being said, the workforce also needs to digitally educate themselves in order to prepare for a future that includes working with AI.

Generative AI Use Cases in Banking

Risk Assessment & Fraud Detection

Generative AI use cases include many essential domains, such as risk assessment. This will help enhance artificial data that stimulates prospective hazards. As mentioned in our previous blogs, think of AI as a brain; you need to teach it to do things. In the same way, by utilizing huge amounts of information on what fraudulent and non-fraudulent transactions look like, it's possible to train models and help fraud detection systems perform better.

These algorithms will be able to deliver synthetic data that looks similar to fraudulent activities via learning patterns, thus making decisions more accurate.

Optimization of Investment Portfolio

A recent report's data stated that millennial consumers feel more secure using Financial AI services to connect with banks or credit unions. In addition, one out of twelve millennials would prefer to utilize a cell phone, while the remaining would prefer texting, social media networks, etc.

Around 2.5 million individuals are employed in the Financial Services industry. These individuals predict that in the next two years, AI is going to work side by side with them to collaborate and become trusted advisers. Let's also consider the number given by McKinsey's report stating that AI in the banking sector has the potential to go up to $1 Trillion every year.

Growth Factor of Generative AI in Finance

Synthetic Market Situations, along with Modelling various investment strategies for multiple Financial Institutions, can examine the potential outcomes of risk factors.

By analyzing and investigating past information and by generating hypothetical future financial predictions, Generative AI may also be able to help financial projections. The birth of new possibilities for businesses to predict stock prices, consumer behaviour analysis and market trends would help decision-making

To understand the market a little better, take note of these key factors:

Growing investment in AI

Increasing collaboration among the market players

Growing product launches

Technological advancements

The advantages offered by these techniques

Market

Potentials of Generative AI in Banking to Excel

AI Chatbots

Virtual Assistants and Chatbots are becoming famous in the Banking and Financial services sector and are being used as tools to enhance client interactions and personal assistance. These conversational AI bots communicate with consumers by using a Natural language Interface, which also offers automatic help in answering queries.

Chatbots and Virtual Assistance work around the clock to provide clients with personalized help. This has turned out to be a priceless resource for Financial Institutions, thus allowing them to provide personal attention and individualized experiences, which has resulted in an increase in operational effectiveness and accomplished customer satisfaction.

Thus, the growing adoption of Chatbots in Banking is predicted and expected to offer lucrative potential for market expansion in the coming years.

Other Use Cases of Generative AI in Banking

1) Credit Approval

Loan Applications

Generative AI-based chatbots can navigate customers through the loan application process.

Verify customer information by conducting a natural language conversation.

Credit Analysis

Assess creditworthiness by analyzing customer credit scores and financial history

Measure the danger level of a loan application

2) Loan Underwriting

Speed up the underwriting process

3) Pitchbook Creation

Generative AI can be utilized to collect, process, and summarize information to create draft reports for the final product.

4) Marketing and Lead Generation

Collect details about their needs and preferences and make personalized product suggestions.

5) Customer Service

Personalize recommendations for loan compensation based on a borrower's financial history

Assist with payment reminders, billing inquiries, and account management.

6) Debt Collection

Interact with borrowers to provide repayment options, identify patterns of delinquency

Thinking of integrating Generative AI-based chatbots into your Banking/ Finance System?

Mobiloitte is here to help you.

Boost Your Customer Engagement by partnering with the best Generative AI and Chatbot Development Company.

We excel in developing Generative AI-based chatbots to boost your customer services and derive client satisfaction.

Our chatbot development solutions provide 24/7 support, personalized interactions, and enhanced user experience.

Some of our key Chatbot development services with Generative AI integration are as follows: Rule-Based Chatbots, AI-powered chatbots, FAQ Chatbots, Voice-Enabled Chatbots, Scripted Chatbots, Context-Aware Chatbots, Commerce Chatbots, Customer Support Chatbots, Virtual Assistant Chatbots, Lead Generation Chatbots, Customized Industry-Specific Chatbots and many more.

So what are you waiting for!! Contact us today and get your own chatbot!!

Keywords used

Financial AI

Generative AI in Finance

Financial predictions

Market Trends

decision making

Market Statistics

Market Drivers

Market

Generative AI in Banking

Virtual Assistants

Chatbots

Banking and Financial services sector

conversational AI bots

Chatbots in Banking

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krispybluebirdstarlight · 4 months

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Diversifying Nonprofit Revenue Streams: How to Raise More

As a nonprofit professional, acquiring funds to power your mission is one of your biggest responsibilities. With over $300 billion in fundraising revenue donated in 2023 alone, finding reliable revenue sources might seem simple. However, individual fundraising can be a very volatile source of revenue, fluctuating due to economic trends, your donors’ financial statuses, and more. That’s why your…

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newstfionline · 5 months

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Saturday, January 6, 2024

A Nor’easter Will Bring Significant Snow (NYT) A strong winter storm will drop the first significant snow of the season across parts of the Northeast this weekend, bringing up to a foot of snow in some places—though which places, exactly, remained uncertain on Friday morning. Forecasters said the final details of where the division of rain and snow will exactly line up may not be known until the storm is underway on Saturday. There is at least a slight chance that cities including New York—where the emergency management department on Friday warned residents to prepare for “snow, rain, breezy winds, and minor coastal flooding”—may still squeak out an inch of accumulating snow or more through Sunday.

As Literacy Lags, Governor Proposes Changing How Schools Teach Reading (NYT) Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed on Wednesday a major shift in education policy that could transform the way many schools teach reading across New York, following the lead of other states that have jettisoned methods experts say have left millions of children behind. The proposal comes as education experts point to increasing evidence that the state’s approach to literacy is failing. Last year, fewer than half of New York’s third graders were proficient on state reading tests. Ms. Hochul called for the state Education Department to require school districts to certify that their curriculums have embraced “scientifically proven” approaches to literacy by September 2025. The governor proposed spending $10 million to retrain teachers in what is known as the “science of reading,” which involves teaching children to sound out words, decode them and understand their meaning, as well as helping them expand their vocabulary.

African Migration to the U.S. Soars as Europe Cracks Down (NYT) The young men from Guinea had decided it was time to leave their impoverished homeland in West Africa. But instead of seeking a new life in Europe, where so many African migrants have settled, they set out for what has become a far safer bet of late: the United States. “Getting into the United States is certain compared to European countries, and so I came,” said Sekuba Keita, 30, who was at a migrant center in San Diego on a recent afternoon after an odyssey that took him by plane to Turkey, Colombia, El Salvador and Nicaragua, then by land to the Mexico-U.S. border. Mr. Keita, who spoke in French, was at a cellphone charging station at the center among dozens more Africans, from Angola, Mauritania, Senegal and elsewhere, who had made the same calculus. While migrants from African nations still represent a small share of the people crossing the southern border, their numbers have been surging, as smuggling networks in the Americas open new markets and capitalize on intensifying anti-immigrant sentiment in some corners of Europe. According to government data obtained by The Times, the number of Africans apprehended at the southern border jumped to 58,462 in the fiscal year 2023 from 13,406 in 2022. Nonprofits that work on the border said that the trend has continued, with the absolute number and share of migrants from Africa climbing in recent months as potential destinations in Europe narrow.

Argentina debt bailout (Foreign Policy) A delegation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) arrived in Argentina on Thursday to finalize a deal to restart a suspended $44 billion bailout program. If confirmed, the IMF will unlock more than $3 billion in new funding at a time when Buenos Aires is due to pay more than $2 billion by the end of the month. This will be the first time IMF officials meet with newly elected President Javier Milei, who campaigned on finance reform and kicked off his tenure with extensive economic shock measures. But the start of the new year has been far from smooth sailing for Milei. On Wednesday, an Argentine court suspended the president’s labor reforms, arguing that they violated worker protections.

Britain hit by flooding after heavy rain swells major rivers (Reuters) Major rivers across Britain were flooded on Friday after heavy rain, with the government issuing more than 300 flood warnings, travel operators announcing serious disruption and around 1,000 homes suffering damage so far. A succession of storms in recent weeks meant prolonged rainfall that started on Thursday fell on saturated ground and quickly caused already-swollen rivers and waterways to burst their banks across England and Wales. The storms have also caused flooding in other parts of Europe in recent days.

Russians find no shelter in border city (BBC) Twenty-five people were killed and more than 100 hurt in the Russian city of Belgorod this week, as Ukraine responded to the biggest aerial bombardment of the war. The city is 30 minutes from the border and some among its 340,000 people accuse authorities of failing to keep them safe: Air raid alerts were only audible half an hour into Saturday’s attack, local people told independent Russian media. They were told to take cover, only for some to find that basement shelters in their apartment blocks were locked. “Some basements have a piece of paper on the door with a mobile number for the person with the key,” one resident told the BBC. “The worst-case scenario is when the key is with the management company, and because it’s the winter holidays no-one is at work.” There have been issues with Belgorod’s shelters almost since the start of the war, according to another local woman. “A year-and-a-half ago, when a multi-storey housing block was hit, everyone was looking for basements to hide in, but everything was closed,” she told the BBC. “We don’t have bomb shelters—well, they exist but nobody knows the addresses and they are not made public.”

A Trophy in Ruins: Evidence Grows That Russia Controls Marinka (NYT) The Ukrainian military said on Thursday that its troops were fighting “in the vicinities” of a village behind the eastern frontline town of Marinka, a strong indication that Kyiv’s forces have lost control of the town, more than a week after Moscow claimed to have seized it. Open-source maps of the battlefield also show that Russian troops have a foothold throughout Marinka. Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s top commander, acknowledged last week that Ukrainian troops had all but retreated to the outskirts, saying that Marinka “no longer exists” because Russian forces had reduced it to rubble with relentless shelling. Although Marinka is in ruins, it stands as Russia’s most significant territorial advance since the fall of Bakhmut in May. While its control is unlikely to turn the tide of the war, the loss of the town would be further evidence that Moscow has firmly seized the initiative on the battlefield after Ukraine’s summer counteroffensive fell short of most of its goals.

Experts See a Message in Chinese Balloons Flying Over Taiwan (NYT) A surge in sightings of balloons from China flying over Taiwan has drawn the attention of the island’s military and struck some experts as a calculatedly ambiguous warning to voters weeks before its presidential election. The balloons do not appear to pose an immediate military menace to Taiwan, a self-governed democracy of 23 million people that Beijing says is its territory. The balloon flights may, nonetheless, be part of the “gray zone” tactics that China uses to warn Taiwan of its military strength and options, without tipping into baldfaced confrontation. The timing of the balloon flights, close to Taiwan’s election, was telling, said Ko Yong-Sen, a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research. “It’s more an intimidating effect in what happens to be a quite sensitive time, with we in Taiwan holding our election on Jan. 13,” Mr. Ko said in an interview.

North Korea fires 200 rounds at sea border; South islanders take shelter (Reuters) North Korea fired more than 200 artillery rounds on Friday near a disputed maritime border with South Korea in another escalation of tension between the rivals and prompting the South to take “corresponding” action with live fire drills. The exchange led residents of two remote South Korean islands on the western maritime frontier to evacuate to bomb shelters at the instruction of the South’s military, before it fired live rounds towards the disputed Northern Limit Line (NLL) border. The North Korean artillery shells all landed on the northern side of the sea border, a South Korean military spokesman Lee Sung-joon said in a news briefing, adding that the South Korean military has been monitoring the North’s moves along its shores with the cooperation of the U.S. military.

US airstrike in Baghdad (Washington Post) A U.S. airstrike in Baghdad Thursday killed an Iran-linked militia commander and risked accelerating the regional fallout from Washington’s support for Israel’s military operation in Gaza. Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, a militia that has claimed several attacks on U.S. forces, said its deputy commander of operations in the Baghdad region, Mushtaq Talib al-Saidi, also known as Abu Taqwa, was killed at a logistical support headquarters on Palestine Street.

Towns Empty and Farms Languish as War Stalks Israeli-Lebanese Border (NYT) The border between Israel and Lebanon has become a landscape of abandoned towns and neglected farms as escalating tensions and tit-for-tat strikes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants have displaced more than 150,000 people in both countries. Prospects for an end to the cross-border hostilities have grown only dimmer since the assassination on Tuesday of a senior Hamas leader in a suburb of Beirut, the Lebanese capital, fed growing fears of a wider war. The strike has been widely ascribed to Israel. In northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon, military orders to evacuate have kept people from their homes for nearly three months amid daily missile and rocket attacks by Hezbollah and other armed factions in Lebanon. The prolonged dislocation and economic fallout have increased pressure on the Israeli government to put an end to the attacks. Many residents near the border work in agriculture and have been all but cut off from the farms, hothouses and chicken coops that are their livelihood. Day trips to tend to their farms are fraught with risk.

Families in Gaza search desperately for food and water (AP) Stranded in a corner of southern Gaza, members of the Abu Jarad family are clinging to a strict survival routine. They fled their comfortable three-bedroom home in northern Gaza after the Israel-Hamas war broke out nearly three months ago. The 10-person family now squeezes into a 16-square meter (172-square foot) tent on a garbage-strewn sandy plot, part of a sprawling encampment of displaced Palestinians. Every family member is assigned daily tasks, from collecting twigs to build a fire for cooking, to scouring the city’s markets for vegetables. But their best efforts can’t mask their desperation. Palestinians seeking refuge in southern Gaza say every day has become a struggle to find food, water, medicine and working bathrooms. All the while, they live in fear of Israeli airstrikes and the growing threat of illnesses.

#headlines #news

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dbunicorn · 5 months

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Try doing basic math. You know because it's a fucking conspiracy theory you fucking entitled millennial twat.

Don't bitch about housing costs you millennial cunt. I can't imagine getting a degree from Simon Fraser living in Honduras and still being a fucking imbecile.

A minimum level of fucking competence is all that is fucking required. IN ANY SYSTEM.

Perhaps your team of idiots can discuss government debt, NGOs a declining healthcare system, incompetence, shitty foreign policy objectives and censorship.

A basic level of competence. That's it.

#british columbia #conspiracy theories #indian feminism #justin trudeau #millennials #shiny #healthcare #fucking morons

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bllsbailey · 5 months

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A Bunch of Pro-Terrorist Doctors Were Planning to Storm the Holocaust Museum in DC

Is it appropriate to say these medical professionals were Dr. Mengele School of Medicine graduates because I don’t know what sick bast*rd would think this would be a good idea? The woke Left is infesting the professional world and forcing the older generations in these fields to run for cover. Case in point: this pro-terrorist rally that was supposed to be held in the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC this week.

Yes, the calls for ceasefire were set to be chanted in a museum dedicated to remembering the infamous crimes committed by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust, an event that Hamas used to influence their campaign of rape, torture, and murder in Southern Israel on October 7 (via Jerusalem Post):

— Doctors Against Genocide (@docstopgenocide) December 26, 2023

— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) December 26, 2023

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On Thursday, December 28, the newly formed organization Doctors Against Genocide (DAG) had plans to demonstrate at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, to protest Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, calling it a “genocide.” The event has since been canceled. The group called on anti-Israel activists to obtain free entry tickets to the museum so they could protest inside and disrupt the museum’s activity. At 3 p.m., the protesters are scheduled to move the protest to the White House. […] According to its website, DAG is a program of “Jetpac,” a 501(c)(3) nonprofit seeking “to build a strong American Muslim political infrastructure and increase [its] community’s influence and engagement.” According to the Washington DC-based newspaper Roll Call, one of the founding members of DAG is Nidal Jboor, a physician from Michigan.

These doctors should be stripped of their medical licenses immediately. They’re terrorists. And do we trust that they won’t storm the Holocaust Museum this week? I wouldn’t. These people hate Jews. It wouldn’t shock me if they added this to their trip. Also, genocide is not happening in Gaza. What’s happening is something that Israel should’ve done almost ten years ago: the eradication of Hamas. No matter how many times you shout ‘genocide,’ it doesn’t make it so. Stop being annoying, get back to work, or self-deport back to those terrorist hellholes from whence you came.

Doctors Against Genocide Official Statement Regarding the Visit to the Holocaust Memorial Museum pic.twitter.com/HXq7uFrqSs— Doctors Against Genocide (@docstopgenocide) December 26, 2023

— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) December 26, 2023

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