A grants submission deadline has been announced by the Moline Community
Foundation. Non-profit organizations are encouraged to apply if they serve the citizens of
Moline and the surrounding region, including the Quad Cities.
All materials necessary to receive funds are due in The Moline Foundation offices
by 4:00 p.m. on Friday, April 13, 2012 or must be postmarked by or on Friday, April 13,
2012.
Any non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization, including those who have never received
Moline Foundation funding in the past, is welcome to apply.

An application should consist of eleven copies of a written request stating the
name and address of the organization, its mission, names and addresses of Board
members, income and expense statement, balance sheet, and the specific purpose for
which any money received would be used including a project budget. The name,
telephone number, and email of a contact person must also be included. The requested
materials should be mailed according to the above deadline. Other important information
about grant submission is available on The Moline Foundation's web site at
www.molinefoundation.org.
The Moline Foundation offices are located at the Deere-Wiman House, 817 11th
Avenue, Moline.
The Moline Foundation, founded in 1953, is a community foundation which
provides grants to health, human services, education, workforce development, the arts
and other charitable organizations which benefit the citizens of Moline and the
surrounding area, including the Quad Cities region in both Iowa and Illinois. The Moline
Foundation receives and administers charitable gifts and works with citizens to achieve
their dreams to improve the community.
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In case you missed it...

 

This refers to Rep. Braley's bipartisan Holley Lynn James Act, which he introduced last year, named for a Dubuque woman who was killed by her husband while both were in the military:

 

A bill from Representative Bruce Braley, Democrat of Iowa, would strengthen military penalties for rape, sexual assault, harassment and domestic violence and end the practice of giving convicted attackers nonjudicial or administrative punishment. It would ensure that allegations of rape and assault are referred to higher-ranking officers to address concerns that lower-level ones are too close to the accused and the victims. It would also allow service members to seek redress in federal court for the military's failure to investigate or prosecute a sexual crime.

 

 

Editorial: Sexual Violence and the Military

The New York Times

March 8, 2012

The rate of sexual assaults on American women serving in the military remains intolerably high. While an estimated 17 percent of women in the general population become victims at some point in their lives, a 2006 study of female veterans financed by the Department of Veterans Affairs estimated that between 23 percent and 33 percent of uniformed women had been assaulted. Those estimates are borne out in other surveys, and a recent Pentagon report on sexual assaults at the service academies found that in the 2010-11 academic year, cadets and midshipmen were involved in 65 reported assaults.

Too often victims are afraid to come forward. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta estimated that the number of attacks in 2011 by service members on other service members ? both women and men ? was close to 19,000, more than six times the number of reported attacks.

The problem has outlasted decades of Pentagon studies and task forces and repeated vows of "zero tolerance." Mr. Panetta has promised that this time will be different. In February, he told Congress, "We have got to get our command structure to be a lot more sensitive about these issues, to recognize sexual assault when it takes place and to act on it, not to simply ignore it."

Mr. Panetta has announced welcome reforms, including more money for training military investigators and judge advocates to prosecute sexual assault cases, more opportunity for victims to report crimes and request transfers and a system to collect and monitor assault cases. The director of the Pentagon's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, or Sapro, Maj. Gen. Mary Kay Hertog of the Air Force, has pledged to enact the reforms and provide more outreach and support for victims.

There is a lot of tough work ahead. A continuing poster campaign by Sapro, which had started before General Hertog took over, is disturbingly clueless. It carries the tag line, "Ask Her When She's Sober," as if predation could be combated through a grotesque parody of an etiquette poster.

The Defense Department's record of prosecuting assault cases is dismal. In 2010, fewer than 21 percent of cases went to trial, for a number of reasons, including decisions by commanding officers not to prosecute or to impose nonjudicial or administrative punishments. About 6 percent of the accused were discharged or allowed to "resign in lieu of court-martial" ? quit their jobs. Only about half the cases prosecuted resulted in convictions.

There are also serious problems in the civilian world. It is even harder for military women to get away from abusers they work with or for; they can't just quit their jobs or leave a combat zone. They must rely on commanding officers who act as investigators, judges and juries, in an extremely tight-knit workplace.

Members of Congress of both parties are trying to address these problems.

A bill from Representative Bruce Braley, Democrat of Iowa, would strengthen military penalties for rape, sexual assault, harassment and domestic violence and end the practice of giving convicted attackers nonjudicial or administrative punishment. It would ensure that allegations of rape and assault are referred to higher-ranking officers to address concerns that lower-level ones are too close to the accused and the victims. It would also allow service members to seek redress in federal court for the military's failure to investigate or prosecute a sexual crime.

The Pentagon insists that it can reform itself, and we are aware of the perils of civilian intrusion into the military justice system. But for "zero tolerance" to become a reality, Congress may have to push reform forward.

Author and teaching major Courtney Jefferson pens new book on popular and important  issue in today's school systems

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - According to the National Education Association, it is estimated that 160,000 children miss school every day due to fear of attack or intimidation by other students. With staggering statistics such as these, it isn't hard to see a growing problem for today's youth. To help those being bullied, or even those who are bullies themselves, Courtney Jefferson has penned her new book Shoo, Bobby Don't Bother Me! (published by AuthorHouse).

 

Shoo, Bobby Don't Bother Me! tells the story of Billy Bubbles, a youngster who is being bullied at school by Bobby Mitchell, the biggest boy in class. Through his trials and tribulations, readers will learn important tactics on the proper way to deal with a bully and that it is okay to speak up for themselves.

 

Jefferson was inspired to write her book when she met a little girl who was being bullied her first year in school. "She was in kindergarten and was already having problems with a bully," she explains. "I then began to think about all the other children out there who are being bullied, have been bullied, or are bullies themselves. I wanted to address this issue head on."

 

"Bullying is starting younger and younger and my book addresses it on an elementary level."

 

About the Author

Courtney Jefferson was born October 18, 1988 in Kansas City, Missouri. Jefferson recently attended Northwest Missouri State University, majoring in elementary education with a minor in early childhood education. Teaching has been one of her lifelong goals, though, ultimately, she would like to open her own preschool.

 

. For the latest, follow @authorhouse on Twitter.

Corn Quality Report Explores 2011 U.S. Crop
The 2011 U.S. corn crop entered the global market with a good test weight, low stress cracks and good moisture readings, according to the 2011 U.S. Corn Quality Harvest Report, the first national corn quality report of its kind commissioned by the U.S. Grains Council.

Results in the study were drawn from 474 yellow commodity corn samples taken across 12 top corn producing U.S. states representing 98 percent of 2010 U.S. corn exports.

"Many key questions we are asked every year surround the quality of the U.S. corn crop," said the Council's Erick Erickson, director of programs and planning. "With this initial report, we aim to objectively provide that information. As reports are completed in future years, we'll have an excellent history of the quality of U.S. corn as it enters the merchandising channel."

Samples for the study were collected by country elevators in each participating state. Samples were sent directly to the Illinois Crop Improvement Association Identity Preserved Grain Laboratory in Champaign, Ill., for analysis following U.S. Department of Agriculture standards.

The study compiled the results on an aggregate basis, covering all 12 states, but also broke them out into three composite export catchment areas, the Gulf (Mississippi Gulf shipments), Pacific Northwest and Southern Rail (rail shipments to Mexico).

"The catchment areas can help buyers who ship out of certain points to better understand the quality of the corn entering merchandising channels that generally ship to those areas," Erickson said. 

On an aggregate basis, the report shows a good test weight crop in 2011 - 58.1 pounds per bushel (74.8 kg/hl). 

Moisture samples taken at grain elevators averaged 15.6 percent and had low variability, which implies that the corn dried down mostly in the field , helping improve storeability and creating fewer stressed kernels due to less equipment-based drying.

The crop also showed low stress cracks and low levels of broken corn and foreign matter (BCFM). Low figures in both of these areas indicate the possibility of reduced rates of breakage as corn is handled.

"Study results show that despite challenging growing conditions experienced in several corn growing regions, farmers in the United States produced a high-quality crop overall," Erickson said.

Other characteristics were also examined, including protein, starch and oil content, and are shown in the second chart.

USGC President and CEO Thomas C. Dorr discusses the Corn Quality Harvest Report on Council Cast. Click here to listen.
Find the report on the Council's website by clicking here.

Competing for Algeria's Feed Grain Market
Algeria imported 3.5 million metric tons of feed grains last year, with corn reaching 126 million bushels and barley topping 17.7 million bushels. Algeria's corn sales were dominated by Argentina, Brazil, Ukraine, France and Romania, and barley sales by France, Finland, the U.K. and Bulgaria. According to Cary Sifferath, U.S. Grains Council regional director, the U.S. market share is estimated at 2 percent overall.

"Much of the growth in Algeria's market is the result of the Arab Spring, which allowed Algerian importers to take advantage of some shipments originally destined for Libya. That gave Algeria's poultry producers access to lower-cost corn and soybean meal, which led to better producer profits and expanded poultry production," he said.

"The market is growing, but we need to work much harder to increase the U.S. market share in 2012," Sifferath added.

"There's a growing preference for Argentine "red" corn, and Black Sea corn often provides a cost advantage to its suppliers. This year, we want to focus on removing Algeria's high import duty and Value-added tax on distiller's grains in order to promote combination shipments of U.S. corn and co-products."

Word from the Ground:

Building an Industry with New Standards
By Clover Chang, USGC Director in Taiwan

Taiwan's Council of Agriculture is under pressure from feed millers and poultry producers to establish national mycotoxin standards for grains and feedstuffs. At the U.S. Grains Council Taiwan office, we are working to promote U.S. standards as a benchmark in setting national quality control systems in Taiwan. We recognize that these new standards have to be adaptable to encourage producers, even at the most local level, to embrace new industry guidelines.

This month the Council's Taiwan office worked with Taiwan's COA and feed sector representatives to hold a mycotoxin standard policy meeting. The Council of Agriculture plans to publish a technical bulletin on mycotoxins by July, conduct seminars about the standard for feed millers and livestock producers and invite a U.S. or Japanese consultant to share his or her expertise on mycotoxin prevention and control at these seminars. 

This meeting succeeded in involving a round-table of key industry leaders from the academic community and government agencies.

COUNCIL ACTIVITY CALENDAR

March 20 - 30: The Council will host a number of buyer seminars and training workshops at the Shanghai JCI's Raw Feed Materials Market conference in China. Council consultants will be on-hand to address buyer needs and share their expertise in risk management and freight solutions. Buyers of U.S. corn and co-products, representatives from major feed companies and regional grain traders will have the opportunity to learn about the quality and supply of U.S. grain products. For more information, contact Kyle Cromer, USGC international operations coordinator for Asia, at kcromer@grains.org.

Do you find the information in Global Update useful? If so, be sure to pass it on to your friends and colleagues who might benefit from learning more about the U.S. Grains Council's programs to build demand for U.S. grains and increase market access around the world. If they would like to receive Global Update directly, encourage them to contact Marri Carrow at mcarrow@grains.org with their name, company and e-mail to subscribe.

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