星期五, 7月 31, 2020
星期四, 7月 30, 2020
$50 Million will go to Schools and Colleges Across the Commonwealth
Baker-Polito Administration Allocates $50 Million from the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) Fund to Schools and Colleges Across the Commonwealth
As part of the federal CARES Act, governors in each state
were granted a share of discretionary dollars to ensure continuity of
educational services during the COVID-19 crisis. The Baker-Polito
Administration previously allocated nearly $1 billion in federal funds to help municipalities,
school districts, and colleges and universities in the Commonwealth address
COVID-related expenses.
The funding announced today will support the following
initiatives:
· Up to $10
million for early literacy programs that provide extra help to students through
Grade 3, aimed at remediating learning loss children may have experienced since
schools closed in March, as well as accelerate reading skills of children in
high-need communities;
· Up to $7.5
million to expand access to online courses, including advanced placement, early
college or dual enrollment courses;
· Up to $25
million to cover COVID-related expenses associated with reopening colleges and
universities, as well as certain non-public elementary and secondary schools.
Funds will be allocated based on the number and percentage of low-income
students these schools enroll;
· Up to
$2.5 million in financial aid for low-income college students attending public
colleges to ensure they can cover emergency expenses to continue their
education;
· And up
to $5 million set aside in an emergency reserve fund.
“Our administration is committed to supporting every
student in our schools as districts and universities prepare for the start of
the school year,” said Governor Charlie Baker. “This $50 million
investment represents flexible funding that can be used for a variety
of critical resources for schools and colleges as they begin to reopen and
bring kids back into the classroom, especially in our most vulnerable
communities.”
“These additional resources will help us target funding
to support schools and colleges recover from effects of the pandemic,” said
Lt. Governor Karyn Polito. “Our administration looks forward to our
continued collaboration with school officials statewide on how to best support
the safe return to classrooms this fall.”
“Besides supporting financial stability and continuity of
service in both K-12 and higher education, this plan will give more students
access to high-quality online learning opportunities,” said Education
Secretary James Peyser.
“We know districts will need more funding this year than
in a typical school year, and I am pleased to see this money added to the
financial support that is already on its way to districts,” said
Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Jeffrey C. Riley.
“At a time of great uncertainty for those of us in higher
education, this investment in our public colleges and universities and most
especially, in our underserved students, will help ease the financial burdens
associated with COVID-19 and lay the groundwork for a productive fall
semester,” said Carlos E. Santiago, Massachusetts Commissioner of Higher
Education.
Funding announced today builds on the nearly $1 billion
previously allocated to schools, childcare programs, colleges, and
universities.
· In June, the
Baker-Polito Administration announced the allocation of approximately $200
million from the Commonwealth’s federal Coronavirus Relief Fund for costs
related to reopening public schools.
· Other funding
sources to support school reopening include:
$500 million from the Coronavirus Relief Fund previously
allocated to cities and towns.
$194 million in federal Elementary and Secondary School
Emergency Relief Fund grants.
$45 million to support the reopening of childcare
programs serving low-income children.
$19 million for special education residential schools.
A NEW STUDY OF BOSTON ARTS AUDIENCES LAYS OUT CHALLENGES ARTS GROUPS WILL FACE IN REOPENING
Conducted in June 2020, the Audience Outlook
Monitor’s first phase finds respondents eager
to return to performances, but not until public
health conditions improve.
Majority of arts goers surveyed won’t be ready
to return until at least January 2021.
BOSTON – July 30, 2020 – A brand new survey chronicling how local arts audiences feel
about getting back to
cultural activities in Boston shows an intense desire to return to
theater, dance and music performances, as well as
museums, but also a significant hesitancy to do so until public
health conditions improve.
Conducted by the international arts consulting firm WolfBrown, and
sponsored locally by the non-profit arts
marketing and advocacy group ArtsBoston and the City of Boston
Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture, the Audience
Outlook Monitor (AOM) surveyed more than 3,000 Boston-area arts
goers from 16 Boston cultural organizations
in June 2020. The Audience Outlook Monitor (AOM) is a longitudinal
survey to keep tabs on arts attendees’
thoughts, concerns and intentions as the pandemic—and the state’s
reopening guidelines—evolve. The survey is
helping arts organizations prioritize decision-making and resource
investment as they plan for future programming,
fundraising, and audience engagement.
KEY FINDINGS
Overall, 91% of respondents said they were “very” or “somewhat
eager” to return to local performances and events.
Despite that enthusiasm though, 89% indicated they would pursue
cultural events again only when epidemiological
conditions improved, including availability of vaccinations, broad
testing and treatments, and a reduction to near
zero in new infection rates. A majority (55%) didn’t expect to
return to cultural events until at least January 2021.
Eighty-eight percent (88%) of respondents said the pandemic would
have no substantial impact on their long-term
future attendance: three-quarters expect to attend the same number
of events; 13% plan to attend more. But they
expressed caution about the types of activities they would do; in
June, they identified museums, outdoor events and
community art spaces/studios as the activities they would be “somewhat
comfortable” visiting. Respondents who
made firm future plans to resume cultural activities expressed
confidence that conditions would improve in three
(28%) to seven months (65%).
FUTURE SPENDING & SUPPORT
There was other positive news for arts organizations. Eighty-nine
percent (89%) of respondents indicated they
planned to spend as much money or more on subscriptions, tickets,
memberships, and admissions, with the average
respondent saying their spending would remain at 99% of previous
levels. Similarly, future philanthropic giving
appears bright: 96% of patrons indicated they will maintain
similar or larger donations to organizations they
previously supported.
“We have a long way to go before Boston arts enthusiasts are ready
to return to theaters and indoor performances,”
says ArtsBoston Executive
Director Catherine Peterson. “But as this survey tells
us, when they are ready, they’ll
come back with gusto, enthusiasm, and at levels of engagement and
support at least as good—or better—than before
the pandemic.”
Peterson says audiences’ itch to see live music, theater, dance
and opera again bodes well for cultural groups and
the related industries that benefit from arts goers’ spending. “Pre-COVID,
the arts in Greater Boston made a $2
billion impact on the region, employed as many people as the
pre-pandemic retail industry, and kept the city a
vibrant place to live, work and visit. In the past, arts goers
outnumbered sports fans four times over. And arts visitors
spent more money in restaurants, retail stores and other places
than any category of tourist. It’s in everyone’s
interest to protect Boston’s cultural assets until they can
welcome audiences again.”
MAKING AUDIENCES FEEL SAFE
In order to return to cultural facilities and events, respondents
want arts groups to employ best public health
practices. Among the measures deemed most important to their
feeling safe: daily public space disinfection;
availability of hand sanitizer; socially distanced seating; and
enforcement of physical distancing guidelines. A large
majority of respondents say they will wear masks and adhere to
distancing guidelines in order to attend events.
WolfBrown principal Alan Brown said Audience Outlook Monitor respondents across the country,
especially in
Boston, were knowledgeable about public health conditions and
appropriate safety precautions. “We were
impressed how the open-ended questions posed as part of this
survey revealed that respondents understand the
science and acknowledge the risks of returning too soon. They are
clear that their own personal confidence about
the risk being minimal will be what persuades them to return,” he
said.
Peterson and Brown said the survey would not have been possible
without the support of participating organizations,
the thousands of local arts goers who participated in the first
round, and future respondents who will make ongoing
survey deployments as robust as the first.
ORGANIZATIONAL PARTICIPANTS
The regional arts organizations participating in this survey
include: Actors’ Shakespeare
Project; American
Repertory Theater; ArtsBoston; ArtsEmerson; Boston Symphony Orchestra; Celebrity Series of
Boston;
Central Square Theater; Company One; The Dance Complex; Emerson Colonial
Theater; Global Arts Live;
Handel & Haydn Society; Huntington Theatre
Company; Lyric Stage Company of Boston; the Museum of
Fine Arts, Boston; and the Museum of Science. Each organization receives its own audience’s responses, as well
as the ability to compare their results to other organizations and
the group as a whole. ArtsBoston will make the
aggregate data available to its full membership of arts groups, to
benefit the region’s cultural sector.
The Audience Outlook Monitor is a project of WolfBrown in
partnership with ArtsBoston and in collaboration with
the City of Boston Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture. Additional
information about the project is available here.
BOSTON EMPLOYER FORUM SERIES TO EXPLORE EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR RESIDENTS
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星期三, 7月 29, 2020
PPP還有1000多億元 8月8日截止申請
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| 林志棪。(檔案照片，周菊子攝) |
林志棪指出，”麻州平等獲取薪資保護計畫”是個聯盟機構，成立主旨為幫助人在聯邦小企業行政局(SBA)所提供的”薪資保護計畫”中，及時、平等的取得可不必償還的聯邦貸款。迄今他們已協助780個小企業，申辦了總值近400萬元的280筆貸款。Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu to Introduce Hearing Order at Council Meeting Today to Discuss Emergency Food Procurement and Distribution Efforts at BPS and Other Community Organizations
FDA approves Roche’s new VENTANA HER2 Dual ISH test as companion diagnostic to identify breast cancer patients eligible for targeted therapy
- Nearly
2.1 million new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed worldwide each year,
and more than 620,000 people will die from the disease.1 About
15 to 20 percent of women diagnosed with breast cancer are HER2 positive.2
- VENTANA
HER2 Dual ISH DNA Probe Cocktail assay3 aids in identifying
HER2-positive breast cancer patients eligible for the targeted Roche drug
Herceptin (trastuzumab)
- Developed
with enhanced technology, this new assay provides high-quality staining
with improved turnaround time
The VENTANA HER2 Dual ISH DNA Probe Cocktail assay is designed to be completed within the same day, enabling clinicians to get results back faster than with other common methods of confirmatory testing for HER2. Results can be read using light microscopy, eliminating the need for a specialised fluorescence microscope.
“With this new VENTANA HER2 Dual ISH assay, Roche continues to deliver on its commitment to advance personalised healthcare,” said Thomas Schinecker, CEO Roche Diagnostics. “Quick test results are crucial in the fight against cancer and by delivering critical information on treatment options for breast cancer patients faster, this assay will aid clinicians in their therapeutic decisions.”
This assay was launched as a CE IVD in April 2019.
The new VENTANA HER2 Dual ISH DNA Probe Cocktail assay is one component of Roche’s comprehensive breast cancer solutions portfolio designed to help inform decision making in cancer care and contribute to improved patient outcomes. For more information about the assay and the portfolio, please visit the Roche Tissue Diagnostics breast cancer IHC/ISH portfolio page or the Anatomic Pathology site.