Unity Group Opposes Achievement School District 2.0 Wednesday, April 7, 2021
A new proposal being pushed through the Tennessee House Education Committee is the latest saga in the long effort to takeover schools through privatization. In order to accomplish this, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the state would create the Achievement School District 2.0. The ASD has been the embattled mostly charter run district, which operates a majority of its schools in Memphis and Nashville; has been plagued by multiple executive directors; constant teacher turnover; funding irregularities; school closures; dwindling student enrollment numbers; and has failed to demonstrate substantial student academic progress as compared to their traditional counterparts. Despite a 2020 announcement that ASD schools could potentially return to their local districts, what has since developed is a replication of prior practices which are aimed at the ultimate takeover of public schools by the st
Resolution On The Cessation Of Food Insecurity, Apartheid And Supermarket Redlining Sunday, March 14, 2021
Whereas, the 2008 Farm Bill defined a food desert as an “area in the United States with limited access to affordable and nutritious food, particularly areas composed of predominantly lower income neighborhoods and communities; and
Whereas, the USDA list some of the defining characteristics for many of these areas as a high proportion of households that live below the poverty threshold, transportation hurdles, and an inadequate or nonexistent number of food service retailers that provide healthy and affordable food options; and
Whereas, more than 23 million people, both urban and rural, live in low-income areas that are a distance of more than one mile from a full service grocery store or supermarket, which provides 90 percent of healthy and affordable food options nationwide; and
Shallowford Road Walmart Closing Is Representative Of Food Apartheid - And Response (2) Sunday, February 28, 2021
The Unity Group is saddened and dismayed to hear of the closing of the Walmart Grocery store on Shallowford Road. While we recognize that the overall goal is for businesses to reach a level that obtains profit maximization, in our estimation, this recent closure is indicative of a problem that has continued to be persistent in marginalized and disadvantaged communities for more than a decade. Throughout that duration, Food Lions have closed in multiple locations while Food City, Buehler’s and other neighborhood markets have been shuttered. These closures have only been exacerbated due to the COVID-19 pandemic.