Suze Orman

As a recent graduate looking at a new year ahead of me, I have been trying to put together the pieces that will build a healthy financial future. Trying to figure out all the pension, deferred compensation, loan repayment options, savings, and a regular budget has been a tad overwhelming thus far.

I was really excited to get notice from a friend that Suze Orman's latest book is available for FREE in a pdf file. I think it is only for a limited time, so save a copy for later if you can't get to it now.
I am hoping reading it and taking the actions she outlines will bring me some clarity and confidence!

Here is the link:
http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20081119_tows_bookdownload

Moira

Nonprofit finance workshop

Non-profit professionals often find themselves at the precarious juncture of following their passion and being financially stable. It is especially important in these economic times when the financial markets are uncertain. Please, join YNPN-NYC for a panel discussion entitled:

How to live on a non-profit salary: The In's and Out's of Personal Finance for the Non-Profit Professional

This panel will cover personal finance issues such as:
Investing/Retirement
Credit
Taxes
Dealing with Debt
Student Loan
Consolidation & Management
Personal Budgeting
Federal Legislation on Non-profit Loan Forgiveness
Tips for managing a non-profit professional budget in NYC: From rent to non-profit professional deals

This event details are as follows:
Date: January 22nd
Time: 6 - 8 PM
Location: The Support Center for Nonprofit Management (305 Seventh Avenue, 11th Floor (@ 27th Street))
RSVP: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/250167257

We look forward to seeing you on the 22nd!

The YNPN-NYC Professional Development Committee

Job posting

Hi everyone!

I have just received a job postings for the SUNY-Research Foundation. Here are some details and if you want more just email me:

TITLE: ATTAIN Instructional Technology Coordinator

OFFICE: Farragut Community Center ATTAIN Lab

LOCATION: Brooklyn, New York

SALARY: $40,000 - $42,000

FUNCTION & SCOPE: ATTAIN (Advanced Technology Training and Information Networking) is a Statewide technology initiative funded by New York State. ATTAIN’s goal is to provide urban and rural communities access to state-of-the-art technology. Through innovative technologies ATTAIN provides under-served and under-educated community residents academic, vocational, life skills and workplace readiness training.

Skills

Hi Everyone,

I was thinking that it has been six months since I started my job and a little more since we've graduated (yikes!) and was trying to recall all the projects I've worked on and skills I've gained at work so far. I really couldn't remember much off the top of my head, which scared me;);) But when I started to think, a few things came to mind. So, I decided to create an ongoing doc where I could record all the things I've worked on/skills I've learned so far. I figure it will be good to refer back to if I ever want to look for a new job or need to describe what I do for professional purposes ('analyst' isn't the clearest job title). Also, it was kind-of a nice new years self-esteem boost because its easy to forget day to day that I've learned a ton since starting work.

Hope this is a helpful idea:)

Article: Enlisting the Aid of Hairstylists as Sentinels for Domestic Abuse

I thought this was a great article. Stylists are being taught how to recognize the signs of domestic abuse and how to refer their clients for help. This seems like such a smart and effective way of reaching women who really need help!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/nyregion/20salons.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=domestic%20violence%20and%20hair&st=cse

Article: Suing to Raise a Payment of Last Resort

Interesting article from nytimes.com regarding NYS welfare.

Here's a blurb:

New York State has not raised its basic payment for people on welfare since 1989, forcing many recipients to skip meals, wear hand-me-downs and spend many days confined to their homes because they lack the $4 needed for a subway trip, according to a lawsuit filed on Monday.

For the entire article, go to:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/nyregion/09welfare.html?pagewanted=1&ref=nyregion

LMSW Prep Class

So, a few of us went to the lmsw prep class yesterday at Hunter College. I think I can speak for all of us and say that the class is well worth the money. The instructor was fantastic and alleviated some of my fears over the test.

If you were thinking about taking the class I would say go for it.

Now I just have to sign up for the test!!!!

Eloisa Cartonera y Radio La Colifata

hey everyone,

i'm in buenos aires and just wanted to share two awesome projects that i read about in the BsAs TimeOut for Visitors. it's always exciting and inspiring to hear about all the creative projects that people are using to bring positive change around the world!


the first is Eloisa Cartonera, an innovative publishing company uniting cartoneros, who sift through garbage for recyclables, with well respected South American authors.
i couldn't find a link to the TimeOut article, but here are two that explain it better than i could. check it out:
http://www.socialdesignsite.com/content/view/245/72/
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/10/eloisa_cartoner.php


the second is Radio La Colifata (Crazy Radio in BsAs slang), the first radio show to broadcast live from a psychiatric hospital, started by Alfredo Olivera in 1990. the article was about how manu chao loves and supports the project, and collaborated with them on a cd, and apparantly there's a documentary in the works. here's a bbc article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4120397.stm
and their website:
http://lacolifata.openware.biz/index.cgi

suerte!

LMSW Test Prep

Hey Everyone,

Moira sent us information about signing up for the LMSW test prep class on Dec. 6. I decided to enroll for it as well; I just want to get this thing over with.

http://www.naswnyc.org/ContinuingEducationProgram.htm

"To Register Click Here"

I had my NASW ID number (which I found on the back of my membership card). I'm not 100% positive that you need to have your ID number, but I would imagine you would to get the $85 rate. You can call the NASW-NYC office (212) 668-0050 to find out your ID number.



DATE: Saturday, December 6, 2008

SESSION HOURS: 6 hours (10:00AM-5:00PM)

LOCATION: Hunter College School of Social Work 129 E. 79th St. 1st Floor Auditorium

PRESENTER: Dawn Hall Apgar, PhD, LSW, ACSW

LMSW Test Preparation
This workshop will provide attendees with test-taking strategies for correctly answering examination questions. A framework for critical analysis of examination questions will be presented, and the instructor will use sample questions to illustrate important concepts. ractice questions will be used to familiarize attendees with items in each content area. Attendees should bring highlighters with them to this workshop. A 257 page manual (only available to attendees and included in the fee) will be distributed at the workshop.

VOTE!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope everyone got their vote on today!!!!

Mint personal finance

Hey everyone,

I commented below, but I just tried out www.mint.com (thanks to Katie's suggestion) and so far it looks really helpful. I was a little afraid, because you have to put in all of your banking info (username, password, etc.), but it really gives me a clear picture of how I'm using my money and how my reality is that I simply don't make enough :)

Get your vote on!!!!!

If you don't know the location of your polling site, you can do one of the following:

• Search with the http://gis.nyc.gov/vote/ps/index.htm
  
• Call the Voter Phone Bank at 1.866.VOTE.NYC
• E-mail your complete home address to vote@boe.nyc.ny.us and you'll be e-mailed your polling location. (Please put in the subject line the borough in which you reside.)

Polling sites are open 6:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M.
--EXPECT LONG LINES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Polling places are located throughout the city. You can vote ONLY at your designated polling place. Make sure you are at the correct polling site and Election District/Assembly District (ED/AD) for your address.

Article: Mental Health in Iraq

This is an interesting story on the state of mental health services in Iraq:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/10/28/iraq.mental.health/index.html#cnnSTCText

Doctors work to rescue patients in Iraq's mental health system

• Patients crowd filthy rooms at Iraq's sole facility for treating severe mental disorders
  
• Doctor says the mentally ill men and women have nowhere else to go
  
• But health workers hope change for the better will come

By Phil Black
CNN

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The man sits gently rocking on the bed, one hand clutching a cloth, the other hiding his face from view.

Few patients ever leave Al Rashad hospital, doctors say.

He doesn't look up and he doesn't want to talk. His body language screams despair.

Across the tiled room, other men are sitting on thin, filthy mattresses atop metal bed frames.

"Our life is miserable. It is dirty. The food is bad. Life is very bad here," says one of them, Abu Ismaeil. "I'm always hungry. I do not want to lie. Shame on me if I lie."

Yet, in Iraq, these are some of the luckier ones, and even Abu Ismaeil agrees. Without the hospital. "I would commit suicide," he said.

Their clothes and surroundings may be drab, but these mentally ill people are fortunate to be in Al Rashad Hospital, Iraq's only treatment facility for severe psychiatric disorders.

More than 1,000 patients, most of them suffering chronic schizophrenia, call the bleak buildings home.

Through their individual stories, there is one overwhelmingly common theme -- abandonment. In a country where life is difficult for the healthy, the mentally ill are seen to bring shame and greater hardship to families.

Dr. Raghad Issa Sarsam, a psychiatrist, says most of his patients have been rejected by their loved ones. Without the hospital, they would be wandering outside, begging, he said.

"They have no place else to stay but here," he said. "Otherwise, they would be on the streets, and I think that would be inhuman."

But once in the hospital, few ever go home again.

Former English teacher Um Ibrahim has not seen her husband and children in three years, since being admitted.

"I want to go to my family," she said in the women's ward.

But they don't want her, and that is common among the patients, Sarsam said.

"They are already rejected by their families because of their chronic illness. They don't want them anymore, even if they become a bit better."

Doctors at Al Rashad Hospital say the numbers of people needing help will continue to grow because of the nationwide trauma suffered during and since the overthrow of President Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Some hope that Iraq's health minister, Salih al-Hasnawi, himself a psychiatrist, might begin to effect change.

The doctors are right to have some cause for optimism, according to Dr. Mohammed Al-Uzri, an Iraqi-born psychiatrist now based in Leicester, England, who was recently with al-Hasnawi in Baghdad for Iraq's third National Conference on Mental Health that agreed on five themes to make improvements.

"There is so much need, you can make a huge difference without much of a budget. We have huge human resources [in Iraq] and a huge amount of resilience," said Al-Uzri, who chairs a subcommittee on Iraq for Britain's Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Al-Uzri acknowledged the huge challenges that lie ahead for the mental health service and broader health system, which suffered through decades of neglect in the Hussein era and continues to do so amid the war. While he said Iraq did not have to start from scratch, as it had a history of good health care, he agreed that organizing care for the mentally ill remains rare right now.

"Mental health services are providing for a small part of the population. [Most needs] are being met -- or unmet -- by whatever else is available. Families are taking the burden of that."

But there is the will to change things, said Al-Uzri, who was able to meet health workers at this month's conference, which was held for the first time inside Iraq -- itself a visible sign of progress.

And the need for mental health care is likely just to grow and grow, even as Iraq becomes more peaceful, Al-Uzri said.

"We are beginning to see, with the security improving, all kinds of services are needed, " he said.

"A year ago, all people worried about was staying alive and having something to eat. Now, it's becoming more and more involved."

Loan Consolidation

Hey everyone,

Not sure if anyone still needs this kind of information, but in case you are interested in consolidating your student loans you can go to this website: http://loanconsolidation.ed.gov/. You can fill out an application online or you can call (800) 557-7392 to have an application mailed to you (I also called and asked some questions).

I hadn't realized it, but apparently no other lenders are consolidating loans due to some legislation that went into place last October I believe.

Style tips from Seniors

One of the things I most loved about working with seniors was their style! They have seen numerous fashion trends come and go, they are not afraid to take fashion risks, they dress in what pleases them, and they love to accessorize.

If your having a hard-time coming up with new and fantastic outfits to wear, take a tip or two from some of the seniors featured in Advanced Style. From dapper three-piece suit, gobs of funky jewelery, vividly colored and patterned fabrics to monochromatic dressing, these seniors will become your fashion muses.