- Created on 07 March 2013
City of Atlanta is a Finalist for Green City Award
The City of Atlanta has been selected as a Green City Award finalist by Waste & Recycling News for outstanding leadership and commitment to the introduction, education and implementation of a successful residential recycling program.
The Green City Awards recognize cities that are setting an example in reducing waste and boosting recycling efforts. As a finalist, the City of Atlanta will be honored at the Green City Awards ceremony on Thursday, March 21 at the Residential Recycling Conference (RRC) to be held March 19-21 at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare in Chicago.
One winner will be named from the three finalists in each category of small, mid, and large sized cities. Winners are decided by popular vote of the RRC attendees. If selected, the city will also be featured as a finalist in the March 18 issue of Waste & Recycling News.
"Atlanta is on its way to becoming a top-tier city for sustainability," said Mayor Kasim Reed. "We have made incredible strides in our recycling efforts, and this recognition further demonstrates our commitment to making our city a better place to live, work and play."
"The Department of Public Works is proud to represent the City of Atlanta at the Green City Awards," said Deputy Public Works Commissioner Dexter C. White.
"As the department responsible for overseeing residential recycling, we could not have been happier when our City was selected as a finalist for innovation in expanding recycling education and outreach. The success of the Cartlanta initiative reflects the support of our customers citywide who are getting into recycling and furthering the city's goals towards sustainability."
Commissioner White will appear as a guest speaker at the conference to share information about the City of Atlanta's commitment and dedication to recycling.
In October 2012, the city launched Cartlanta, an expanded residential recycling program with the intent to educate and improve recycling rates citywide. New 96-gallon recycling carts were delivered to 65,000 households at the rate of one thousand per day.
City of Atlanta residents generate about 96,000 tons of trash annually, which costs the city $7 million a year to dispose of in landfills. Currently, residents only recycle 12,000 tons annually, which leaves much room for improvement. Since the launch of Cartlanta, recycling rates have improved significantly.
- Created on 06 March 2013
Fado Considering Westside Atlanta for Second Location
Fado Pubs, Inc. are considering taking their chain of Irish pubs to the west side of Atlanta.
The Atlanta-based chain has taken an interest in the new development called Elan Westside that is currently being built across from the White Provision building.
Located at Howell Mill Rd. and 14th St., the White Provision building was once the south's first modern meat packing production plant in 1910. Now, the historic building and nearby construction is marketed as Atlanta's gateway to the Westside as it is currently a mix-use neighborhood complete with retail stores, restaurants and condos.
"There is nothing finalized," Chris Faussemagne, a principal of Westbridge Partners, the developer who will become the owner and operator of the retail side of Elan Westside told The Atlanta Business Chronicle.
"One of the folks we are talking to," added Faussemagne, who said the deal with Fado is not done yet.
Elan Westside is said to include 197 luxury apartments and 11,000 square feet of retail space upon its completion in summer or fall of 2013.
Fado's only current location is in the Buckhead area.
- Created on 02 March 2013
Michelle Obama Leads the Way to Healthier Recipes
The Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) Honorary Chair First Lady Michelle Obama and her "Let's Move!" program has announced that five of the nation's largest media companies have joined an effort to make it easier for millions of people to put healthier meals on the table every day.
Epicurious, Food Network, Hearst Magazines, Meredith and Time Inc., through an agreement with PHA, are making available thousands of nutritious recipes that align with guidance that support USDA's MyPlate, and are labeling, compiling and promoting these recipes on their most popular cooking websites.
Pinterest, an online tool millions use to find the inspiration for their lives has also joined PHA to enhance the initiative.
More than 3,000 recipes have been identified across 18 websites, and today nearly 1,000 of these recipes have been collected on a new Pinterest page associated with the effort, providing a one-stop-shop where parents, beginner home cooks and even the most experienced chefs can find and share healthier recipes.
"As a mom, I know how challenging it can be to think of new meal ideas that your kids will like and that will be good for them," said First Lady Michelle Obama. "This partnership takes the guess work out of finding healthy recipes and gives parents the information and the tools they need to make healthy choices for their families every day."
First Lady Michelle Obama launched Let's Move! on February 9, 2010 to unite the country around our kids' health and create real support for families to live healthier lives. Since then parents, business leaders, educators, elected officials, military leaders, chefs, physicians, athletes, childcare providers, community and faith leaders, and kids themselves have stepped up to improve the health of our nation's children.
Over the next two years, PHA partners will roll out 250 MyPlate-inspired recipes each month on individual brand websites as well as on the PHA MyPlate Pinterest page.
"PHA's goal is always to make the healthy choice the easy choice for busy parents and families," said PHA CEO Larry Soler. "To do that, we have to meet home cooks where they are—and millions of them visit our partner sites as well as Pinterest every month to find tasty recipes. Compiling healthier recipes, making them easy to find and educating people about how they fit into a healthy, balanced meal is a great way to give parents and families the tools to help reverse this epidemic."
For more information about PHA, please visit www.aHealthierAmerica.org and follow PHA on Twitter @PHAnews.
For information about MyPlate and the USDA Dietary Guidelines, visit www.choosemyplate.gov.
For healthy recipes, visit www.pinterest.com/MyPlateRecipes.
- Created on 06 March 2013
SCLC to Host Roundtable on Sex Trafficking
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference will host a roundtable discussion on Saturday, March 9, from 3:00 to 5:00pm in Room 252 at Emory University's Candler School of Theology on the topic "How do we talk about justice for our girls in the context of preventing sex trafficking?"
The roundtable is designed for input and data collection from stakeholders of SCLC's "Stop the Violence Initiative" and its "Justice for Girls" strategy, in the area of child sex trafficking prevention.
"There are little to no prevention efforts in existence at this time," explains Director Cathelean Steele, "and there are no substantive evidence-based, educational prevention programs and curriculum. That's why we are committed to collecting data from our community stakeholders, sex trafficking prevention stakeholders, and experts."
The roundtable will be moderated by Dr. Valerie Bridgeman, Ph.D., with a panel consisting of Dr. Stephanie Crumpton, Pastor Darryl Winston, Mrs. Ember Lumpkin, LMSW, Mr. Al Bartell, Mrs. Cathelean Steele and Mr. Warren Mitchell LCSW.
The focus of this first roundtable is the "language" used in the area of sex trafficking. Survey questionnaires, the discussion in the roundtable, and pre- and post-discussion interviews will provide raw data for the "attitudes" section of the needs assessment study that SCLC's "Justice for Girls" strategy working group will be putting together over the next 4-5 months. The series of "Justice for Girls" roundtable discussions that follow will address the connection between sex trafficking and public health, crime and punishment, morality/ethics, and public policy.
A "Justice for Girls" workshop, based upon the data collected from the roundtable discussions, is scheduled to be held on Aug. 26, 2013 in Washington, D.C., as part of SCLC's 50th Anniversary on the March to Washington, D.C. events.
For more roundtable details, contact: Ms. Pamela Bridgeman, SCLC "Justice for Girls" Strategy Leader, (770) 983-4444, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
For more information about "Justice for Girls", contact: Mrs. Cathelean Steele, Director, "Stop the Violence Initiative", (404) 522-1420, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
- Created on 02 March 2013
Marriage Can Help Increase Your Income Says Expert
According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau report, married men between the ages 18-64 are higher paid in salary ($55,958 median income) than single men ($34,634). This report also showed married women earning more wages than single women.
As the famous Beatles songs goes, "Money can't buy me love," however, it seems love can be a factor to increase one's income.
"There is this misconception that one needs to have money before getting married. But the truth is, getting married will help a couple to be more focused in their goals and careers and thus it will increase their ability to earn better wages," said marital expert and bestselling author Hellen Chen.
In a recent interview on ABC news radio in Dallas Texas, Chen mentioned, "Contrary to belief, marriage gives a person freedom and stability. Marriage moves you onto a higher level of productivity in life."
Chen wrote about the real-life stories of the couples she match-made in her book, "The Matchmaker of the Century."
This book was launched at Barnes and Noble recently and while debunking many marriage myths such as "romance ends where marriage begins," it struck a chord with readers and subsequently achieved #1 bestselling status in six categories: marriage, self-help, relationships, love and romance, self-improvement and parenting and family.
"There is this saying 'many hands make light work.' The sum of one plus one in a marriage is not two but infinity!" the ardent matchmaker asserted.
