Child sexual abuse victims in Sumner County get new resource
'When you look at the number of severe abuse cases that we see for a county, we average about 550-600 cases of severe,' Amy Burke-Salyers, executive director of Ashley's Place, said
Ashley's Place provides counseling and advocacy. Perhaps most importantly, the organization works to help get justice for victims in court. Recently, the center got a new resource to help child victims as well — he has four paws, a tail and goes by Grady.
Gallatin museum honors Sumner County's only Black high school
'We just got back with him [in] the first part of February, so he's fully trained,' Burke-Salyers said. 'His role is to go into the forensic interviews with children. He has a spot on the couch. They can pet him [and] interact with him while they're doing that interview process. Then, he also goes on the witness stand with kids when they have to testify in court.'
It can make all the difference as children are asked to recall some of the hardest details.
'Even though we're providing a child-friendly environment and we're sensitive to the needs of children and families, they're nervous,' Burke-Salyers said. 'We've seen kids come in and the idea of getting to meet Grady or know that there's a dog can just take … their mind off what they're here for initially and get a sense of comfort.'
Grady comes from 'Canine Companions for Independence' in Orlando and is two years old. While he's been trained to work with children, he's been a hit with others, too.
'He's been a great addition for our kiddos, but I think he's also been a great addition for the team members that work tirelessly on these investigations — being our law enforcement, our DCS, our court staff — he provides a great source of comfort for them as well,' Burke-Salyers said.
News 2 On Tour | Explore the communties that shape Middle Tennessee
Although Grady just joined Ashley's Place, he's preceded by Ohpira, who helped start their canine program roughly eight years ago.
'He's very smart,' Burke-Salyers said. 'I think he understands and definitely kind of knows the impact that he makes.'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Chicago Tribune
an hour ago
- Chicago Tribune
IREAD scores improve to record level statewide
State education leaders are celebrating the biggest increase in third grade IREAD literacy scores in the exam's history, which dates back to 2013. During Wednesday's State Board of Education meeting, officials attributed the success, in part, to funding from the Lilly Endowment and the General Assembly to improve literacy, which has lagged behind in recent years. Based on spring and summer retests, results showed 87.3% of the state's 73,500 third graders demonstrated proficient reading skills. The DOE didn't release data on the number of third graders being held back. They represent the first group who could be impacted by a 2024 state law calling for them to be retained if they don't pass the IREAD. It could be significant in some of Lake County's urban schools, especially in the Gary Community School Corp. where all the elementary schools fell below the state proficiency pass rate and two schools — Beveridge and Williams — each posted pass rates of 48.6%. Officials said the retention data would be released in October. All of Gary's charter schools fell below the state pass rate, too, but performed above the traditional district's scores. Among charter schools, just Discovery Charter School in Porter beat the state pass rate. Exemptions were carved out for a student who's already been retained in third grade; a student with an intellectual disability; a student who passed the math portion of the ILEARN; and a student who received intensive reading help for two or more school years and already retained in second grade. Third graders in all seven of Porter County's traditional school districts eclipsed the state pass rate and in Lake County, 10 of 16 districts surpassed the state pass rate. In Porter County, four schools scored 100% pass rates — Jackson in the Duneland School Corp. and Jefferson, Central and Cooks Corner in the Valparaiso Community Schools. In the private Diocese of Gary, 11 of 17 schools in Lake and Porter counties posted 100% pass rates. They include Aquinas, St. John the Evangelist, St. Mary Catholic Community, St. Stanislaus, St. Mary, St. John the Baptist, Our Lady of Grace, St. Thomas More. St. Patrick, Nativity of Our Savior, and St. Paul. 'Indiana has made extraordinary progress from where we began just a few years ago, when nearly one in five Indiana third graders could not read, to today when literacy rates have increased by nearly five percentage points in just one year,' said Katie Jenner, Indiana secretary of education in a press release. State board member Patrick Mapes, the Hamilton Southeastern superintendent, hailed the progress. 'This is monumental as far as the state is concerned,' he said. 'The next thing is harder; how do we gain again in the next school year? It doesn't end; students can't take a break.' The state's goal is 95% proficiency on the IREAD. This year's results marked the first time literacy rates increased for all student populations, including 7.5% for Black, Hispanic and special education students. Officials credited requiring IREAD testing at the second grade level to help teachers identify if students are on track to read by the end of third grade. They also praised the Indiana Literacy Cadre, a partnership between the state, the University of Indianapolis's Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning and Marian University's Center for Vibrant Schools. The cadre provides early elementary teachers with instructional coaching and support in alignment with the science of reading, an evidence-based curriculum. The Lilly Endowment provided about $170 million for the cadre in 2022. To learn more, visit IREAD Assessment Results at: 2024 2025 State average 82.5% 87.3% Lake County Hanover Central 90.5% 93.4% River Forest 79.7% 86.2% Merrillville 79.5% 80.3% Lake Central 91.8% 93.1% Tri-Creek 92.2% 94.8% Lake Ridge 62.7% 65.5% Crown Point 92.4% 94.6% East Chicago 56.2% 62.6% Lake Station 80.3% 79% Gary 49.2% 55.3% Griffith 88.6% 91% Hammond 63.1% 69.6% Highland 85.2% 88% Hobart 82% 88.7% Munster 93.8% 97.6% Whiting 86.4% 96.6 Boone Township 89.9% 98.7% Duneland 93.1% 95.2% East Porter 87.8% 97.6% Porter Twp. 94.6% 94.4% Union Twp. 94.3% 96.5% Portage Twp. 78.1% 89.3% Valparaíso 94.4% 97.5% Charter School of Dunes 48.6% 71.3% Thea Bowman 89.1% 75% Gary Lighthouse 47.1% 77.9% 21st Century 60.8% 75.9% East Chicago Urban Ent. 79.1% 75.6% East Chicago Lighthouse 43.4% 69.2% Aspire 76.7% 72.9% Discovery Charter 86.3% 91.9%
Buzz Feed
5 hours ago
- Buzz Feed
What It Means To Protect Black Communities At Work
With great power — in any workplace, institution, or community — comes great responsibility. Many of us think of our professional responsibility in concrete and easy-to-track terms, such as goals or outcomes. But just as important, and frequently overlooked, is the responsibility to protect and defend people, especially those who have been historically marginalized and are still fighting against existential discrimination, when our institutions cause harm. Being a minority in a large company sometimes feels like being on an island. No matter the workplace, you'll find that challenges are often similar: navigating predominantly white or privileged surroundings, seeing your own identity misrepresented or neglected, and being expected to be well-versed in white culture while others aren't always expected to know anything about your culture. Media and tech companies, like BuzzFeed, carry an especially hefty burden. They influence culture, amplify voices, and help shape trends. When that influence is misused, the harm can reverberate loudly. This mistake deeply hurt members of the Black community, both internally and in our audience. But instead of ignoring the issue or sweeping it under the rug, we want to use it as a case study of what any workplace or community must face when it falls short and show what it looks like to try, sincerely, to do better. When something like this happens, take time to listen to your audience and employees about how it impacted them. At BuzzFeed, we have employee resource groups, or ERGs for short. They're groups made as a safe space anyone can join, and the main purpose is to uplift and create community within the workplace for different underrepresented groups. We (the authors of this article, Karlton and Myke) are the leads for BIO: Black Identities and Opportunities. As leads, we have several different responsibilities, such as putting together events, fostering community, and addressing the small and large issues we feel impact our community. In this leadership role, we spoke privately, publicly, and candidly with the Black employees at BuzzFeed after the Love Island post went viral. Here are some of their words: Take responsibility and make genuine apologies. It's hard to get a corporate apology right —apologies are best when they come from a human person who can show empathy. But when a mistake happens at a structural or group level, it's impossible to put a single face to that sentiment. BuzzFeed hasn't always gotten it right, especially when we leaned too heavily on corporate speak that didn't align with the voice of our brands. The key is to know that the audience and employees can feel the hollowness of a corporate apology when it's not done well. On the flip side, we must also learn to accept genuine apologies. It's okay if you're not in a place to hear the apology at the moment, nobody is telling you to shut off your emotions like a robot. Feel your anger. Embrace your disappointment or disgust. But when you're ready, be willing to accept a honest apology and step into the healing process with the energy of forgiveness. However, this is completely dependent on whether or not the apology was in fact genuine. Double down on internal checks and balances. At BuzzFeed, we already have several checks and balances in place. For example, we have Culture Lead Editors, who work as a guiding light for the communities they represent. They encourage, write, and edit a wide range of culturally diverse posts. We have customized tools built into our content management system, or CMS, that flag questionable, insensitive, or confusing language. We have both copy and package editors: teams who work to make sure the titles, pictures, and text within posts fit our standards and values. These are teams that would be helpful (and in our opinion, necessary) at all mass media companies. It is important for us to double down on these checks and balances throughout our entire corporation. For those who work outside of the media, it's important to strengthen or create checks and balances that work to protect historically marginalized communities. Call out microaggressions and racism as they happen. This is a hard one. When you feel like your job may be on the line, or you may face some type of repercussion for speaking up, the stakes are infinitely higher. So proceed with caution, but do your best to call out microaggressions and racism in real time. Oftentimes, we may wait to address an issue, but by then, it's already hindsight, and you may feel pressured to stay silent because your concern no longer feels relevant to those in power. When you see something, say something (if you can. your own safety always comes first). In many cases, the person who committed the act may not even know what they did. Which is why staying silent is even scarier, because it creates an environment for the mistake to happen again and again. Never back down. Malcolm X said it best: "We want freedom by any means necessary. We want justice by any means necessary. We want equality by any means necessary," and if they don't exist yet, I say, create it is easier to get the ball rolling than to maintain the momentum. Many outside factors can serve as roadblocks, challenges, and discouragement when trying to hold yourself and others accountable, especially when dealing with injustices, inequality, or lack of equity. You might feel compelled to throw in the towel, whether it's government policies, company culture, fear of retaliation, or lack of resources. Don't. Keep it moving. As isolating as it might feel at times, you don't have to go at it alone. Our persistence when it came to the Love Island post led to conversations with more Black employees, eventually the company at large, and ultimately our top execs, which led toward seeking solutions. Work on covering Black people in a positive light. It's not solely the job of the Black employees to be the voice of all Black people. We're not monolithic. No identity is truly monolithic. In our situation, it could be possible that a lack of representation and education led to this mistake and the missteps that followed. This is why it's crucial to ensure you're mindful of the attention you give to that underrepresented group. If your Black employees are the only ones writing stories and creating videos centered around Black interests, entertainment, and culture, you have a problem. If the only content you're producing that includes Black people is centered around violence, criminality, and negativity, you have a problem. It's no secret that the media has struggled with the portrayal of Black people in a positive light, intentional or not, and there's no reason you should be part of the it's a poor excuse to blame it on your audience's interests and pop culture trends. If you're a media company, you lead the conversation in most instances, so take the reins and set the tone. If I can learn all the Taylor Swift lore in one day, you can take a few minutes to know the difference between Laurence Fishburne and Samuel L. Jackson. Each one, teach one. Pointing fingers solves little to nothing. We've all made mistakes. I think sometimes we're more willing to jump down each other's throats than to actually speak with one another. Instead speak with those responsible for the mistake. Listen to their reasoning (even if you don't agree with the reasoning at all). Gauge their level of sincerity. Educate them on how to do better. Or, if you're in a position where you feel like you're tired of educating, point them in the right direction. It can be exhausting being the person who always needs to educate others. However, I'm sure there is someone in your community who has accepted the role of educator. Simply point the offender in the right direction. What resources can they use? Who can they talk to? What books should they read? Which podcasts should they listen to? It's just too easy to tear each other down these days. Never think you can do no wrong. You know how the Hannah Montana song starts. "Everybody makes mistakes / Everybody has those days." It's true. Nobody's perfect, and that's not something to be seen as a curse. Oftentimes, it's individuals who believe they're not capable of being anti-Black, sexist, anti-LBGTQ+, etc., who have a harder time pinpointing when and where they screwed up. Today there's so much fear of being labeled a (insert word +ist) that we find ourselves making the situation worse with denial, gaslighting, or projecting our shame onto firmly believe everyone can learn from their mistakes; you just have to be willing to take accountability. The world's not over if you make a mistake, so own up to your crap and be okay sitting in it for a minute until you can work toward a can look like more than just a boilerplate apology or mandatory sensitivity training. Acknowledging wrongdoing and knowing there's an opportunity for improvement is where it's at. Create inclusive and safe spaces. What are you doing to create inclusive and safe spaces? What do they look like, and are they easily accessible to everyone? It shouldn't take a deep investigation to find someone working toward being inclusive to you as an employee. Dare I say the entire company should be working toward making the whole space inclusive — bigoted government policies and threats be have the ERGs at BuzzFeed, which cover groups like women, LGBTQ+, Latine, Parents, Black, AAPI, and more. It's encouraged that everyone participate in the activities and offerings that the ERGs produce because they allow you to either collaborate and bond with people who look like you, or get a chance to connect with people with entirely different experiences than your own. However, inclusive and safe spaces aren't always a diversity initiative. I found safe spaces by connecting with people who might've had a similar work trajectory or lived in a similar area. DMs and email threads are your friends when connecting with the right people to help foster communities. Most companies have remained remote or hybrid since 2020, and I think it's more important than ever to double down on creating spaces to ensure underrepresented groups feel heard and valued, especially in a world that's getting more creative at working to silence them. Work with your allies regularly. Look around you, you are not alone. There are allies willing to speak up. BuzzFeed held a company-wide meeting after our Love Island post went viral for all the wrong reasons, and some of the loudest and most potent voices in the room were people who were not Black. People who were very aware of the plight, and stuck their necks out to protect and defend another community. Work with these allies as much as possible. You may be in an environment at your company where someone else's voice may be the final key to unlock the solution. Seek out these allies. Meet up with or communicate with them outside of work. Build a multicultural coalition that cannot be denied. And last but not least, protect women. I don't think this needs any explanation. Protect women. Period. Our responsibility is to protect people, especially those who have been historically marginalized. The fight against existential discrimination is going to take more than 11 points on a BuzzFeed listicle. Calling out the issue and taking accountability is a move in the right direction and hopefully, this can be something we can call back to when we need to correct the next mistake, address new employee concerns, and ultimately stay true to our values in the workplace. Through these steps and our work we are aiming every day to promote Black joy, to protect Black women, and to help steer a much larger and whiter organization in a direction that's inclusive for us and all others.
Chicago Tribune
2 days ago
- Chicago Tribune
From gray to green: Across Chicago, dozens of concrete schoolyards transformed into community hubs and flooding solutions
Scissors in hand, Hispanic moms in the Hegewisch neighborhood sneak into their children's schoolyard and snip herbs from the garden to season food and put a twist in their mole. The , or purslane, is part of a variety of vegetables and plants entrusted to the care of students and teachers at Grissom Elementary School. 'The neighbors are like, 'Oh my God, do you mind?'' said Esperanza Baeza, a bilingual teacher assistant at the school. She tells the parents, 'This is garden. You take whatever you want.' A decade ago, Grissom's schoolyard at 12810 S. Escanaba Ave. was not the vibrant space it now is. The tree-lined streets flanking the property stood in stark contrast to 2 acres of dull concrete where the children would play during recess. Now, the school has a native plant garden brimming with tall grass, flowers and butterflies, a new swing set and additional playground equipment, a basketball court, a running track circling a soccer field and an outdoor class area. 'This was just asphalt. There was nothing,' Baeza said. 'It was a really old little piece of swing. Not even a swing, like a slide. That was it.' The new spaces are also redesigned to address heavy rains in neighborhoods historically vulnerable to serious flooding, particularly on the South and West sides of the city. In 2014, Chicago-based Healthy Schools Campaign, a national nonprofit that works to ensure schools can provide students with healthy environments, nutritious food, health services and opportunities for physical activity — transformed playgrounds at Grissom and three other schools. Since then, the Space to Grow program has turned 36 barren yards at public schools across Chicago into green community hubs; five more redesign projects are breaking ground this summer. Claire Marcy, senior vice president of Healthy Schools Campaign, recalls principals from different schools echoing the same concerns: 'Look at my outdoor space,' they'd say. 'It's concrete, it's broken equipment. When it rains, it's just giant puddles.' Human-made climate change is only intensifying heavy storms in the Midwest that more easily overwhelm Chicago's outdated sewer system. At Grissom, permeable surfaces and the water retention system can hold nearly 254,000 gallons at once, and drain quickly between storms. One of the most recently redesigned schoolyards, which opened at Spencer Technology Academy in Austin this May, can capture more than 625,000 gallons of water each year. Experts hope the redesign will help mitigate heavy rains like those that occurred in July 2023, when most 311 calls for basement flooding came from the West Side neighborhood, a predominantly Black community in an area with high flood risk. Many of the schoolyards have permeable play surfaces that absorb water into the ground. Some also have underground storage systems — large chambers that slow the release of water into the local sewer system. When the pipes, which carry both stormwater runoff and sewage, are quickly overwhelmed, they can overflow and cause localized flooding issues across the city. Pavers coil into a spiral design at Grissom's outdoor classroom stage area, also part of the redesign. But the bricks are not held together by any kind of concrete or plastic edging, which would leave rainwater with nowhere to go. 'If you look at the little stones in between the cracks, that's what allows the water to seep through,' said Emily Zhang, project manager at Space to Grow. So far, the program has added over 650,000 square feet — the equivalent of 11 football fields — of permeable surfaces to Chicago's land area, according to its staff. The actual total might be even higher, however, if grass and other green elements that can also capture rainfall are considered. It all acts like a sponge, Zhang said. For instance, natural landscaping and design strategies in the redesigns that soak up precipitation include rain and native pollinator gardens or bioswales, which are shallow landscape depressions that hold water, allowing it to seep into the ground. 'No schoolyard looks the same,' Zhang said. 'People define green stormwater infrastructure differently, but for us, (they) look like green spaces, or spaces that mimic natural processes of handling water in the water cycle.' Plants of all kinds grow in the garden, edible and otherwise: onions, radishes, carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, snap peas, milkweed and sunflowers. 'There's, of course, all the native plants that have deep roots,' Zhang said. 'If it were (just a) lawn, then we would see continued flooding issues.' Scattered along the western edge of the schoolyard are patches of ornamental and native plants and grasses, including purple cornflowers. The first five years, Baeza said, entailed a lot of watering and removing weeds. Every other year, she takes cuttings from some of the herbal plants to create new patches of vegetation. While Chicago Public Schools has contracts for schoolyard maintenance, students and teachers at the redesigned spaces often participate in daily and regular tasks to care for them, especially the gardens. 'There's a lot of conversation with the students and the school teams about this: How do we make this your schoolyard that you want to help maintain?' Marcy said. 'There's that everyday stuff about sort of loving and owning the schoolyard … students have really taken ownership over that.' Inspiring that ownership starts from the beginning of the design process, which involves all students, teachers, administrators and also the broader community. Since the yards remain open after school and on the weekends, they serve as a public park. 'It's really the only community space on this side of Hegewisch that's accessible,' said Christine Hurley, Grissom's principal Through the collaborative design process, the final elements in each schoolyard respond to needs that might vary across institutions and neighborhoods. Students take surveys, do mapping activities and even create 3D dioramas to bring their visions to life. 'We really value the power of student voices,' Zhang said, 'because students and children and young people, in general, are an overlooked population and demographic when it comes to development and making decisions about what happens in their neighborhood. And they're our future leaders.' On a recent weekday morning, some students were watering the community garden beds as part of summer school programming. They had just wrapped up a yoga and meditation session. Once transformed, these play and learning spaces also provide the school and community with a place of relaxation and well-being. Four years after Grissom opened its new schoolyard, researchers from Loyola University and the University of California at Berkeley found the redesigns there and at two of the other schools had increased the use of outdoor space, positive student interactions, greater physical activity, higher teacher satisfaction, and strengthened the relationships between the schools and their communities. Baeza's phone rang. It was a student's mother. 'She's the one (who) helps me with the garden,' the teacher said. 'We have parents that are very dedicated.' In 2022, the school received an Excellence in Gardening Award from a committee including the University of Illinois Extension, the Shedd Aquarium, Forest Preserves of Cook County and the Chicago Community Gardeners Association. Baeza had named it or Garden of Harmony. 'Because this is what I want, this is what I envision: Building community, being in a place, a harmonious place — we're here to be like a family, let the children learn,' she said.
