Immigration Impacts Local Communities Washington Post articles on October 21, 2013 highlight the impact of increased number of students in Fairfax County, Virginia which is causing a $140 million deficit in the school system's $2.5 billion budget. The fact that many of those students are children of immigrants is briefly mentioned in the articles. When you start looking at demographic issues locally, you see some real impacts on our school system and social services. The graphic below based on Fairfax County Public School System illustrates the significant increase of Hispanic origin students; up more than 46% increase over a five year period (2006 - 2011). If you do the math, you come up with an extra cost of approximately $165 million due to Hispanic student increase from 2006 to 2011 (increase of Hispanic students from 26,761 to 39,263 at a 2011 per student cost of $12,597). The current shortfall is $140 million which is close to the extra cost that could be expected from the increase in the student population of Fairfax County. You can read the Washington Post articles at Fairfax County Faces Tough Challenges and We Won't Be Fairfax County Anymore published on October 21, 2013. Shared Value Immigration Reform

Transportation Office

Work in Progress

Preliminary Meeting of Iglesia Biblica de La Molina April 2000 in a Private Residence 450 Los Vinedos, Camacho Lima, Peru

Smyrna, Georgia Smyrna, Georgia's demographic profile is a microcosm of the future United States becoming a white anglo minority with black, Hispanic and Asia populations increasing. The illustrations below point out the demographic makeup of Smyrna and specifically focus on the city's Ward Three. For Ward Three, there are maps and breakdown by Census Tract for population, ethnic make up, income and housing costs. More detail can be provided -- down to the Census Block level. Also, there is a wealth of information on ethnic origin, income, education, etc. that can be obtained from Census data. Ward Three Smyrna, Georgia Smyrna, Georgia Smyrna Georgia - suburb of Atlanta. Population - 51,271 (2010). Population Growth - 25.05% since 2000. Median Household Income: $56,886 at 2008-2012—19.58% increase since 2000. Median House Price: $211,200 at 2008-2012—62.84% increase since 2000. Ward 3 - Smyrna Georgia City Govt. Census Tract 031108 Census Tract 031114 Census Tract 031101 Census Tract 031111

Return to Jamaica Youth Page Jamaican Diaspora The World Bank estimates the population of Jamaica to be 2,973,462 in 2021. A census was conducted in 2022 and will provide valuable information regarding youth demographics. The Planning Institute of Jamaica drafted a migration profile in 2017 that provided estimated the diaspora to be between 1.7 million and 3 million. The American Community Survey from the U.S. Census for 2020 estimates Jamaican origin population in the United States at 756,273 with five states having 70 percent of these residents: New York - 227,063; Florida - 223,550; New Jersey - 45,572; Georgia - 44,682; and Connecticutt - 38,520. Other states with significant numbers of Jamaican origin residents include Maryland, Pennslyvania, Massachusetts, Texas and California. The Jamaican Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted a diaspora conference during June 14 - 16, 2022. This three day event highlighted Jamaica's engagement with the more than two million citizens that live in the United States, Great Britian and other countries. See the links below to some of the videos of the conference. A complete list of these videos can be found at YouTube (search for "Jamaica 60 Diaspora Conference").

Central America Immigration Issues The primary issue facing the US in terms of Hispanic issues is the need for comprehensive immigration reform. In analyzing immigration trends, Central American origin residents increased at rate 14 times higher than Mexican origin residents in the US. See immigration trends based on analysis by the Pew Hispanic Center. With almost 53 million Hispanic residents in the US, the "chain effect" of immigration is strongest in the communities of the most recent immigrants. Central America's are making up a larger share of Hispanic residents and they have emigrated to the US more recently than Hispanics of other countries in the hemisphere. See US Hispanic population . As Hispanic populations increase there can be potentially negative effects on US communities. There is the potential for a "tragedy of the commons" effect in public education. See a narrative that presents the case for this type of situation in a Washington DC suburb -- Fairfax County. Also see languages spoken at home for Fairfax County for an idea of the Hispanic immigrant community Continuing economic hardship in Central America could result in an even greater out migration. A fungus that attacks the leaves of the coffee tree present a problem that could have serious economic impacts in Central America. See information on the coffee rust issue in Central America. As we move forward, there needs to be a concerted effort to engage local community leaders in the US so that they understand and join a constituency promoting greater public and private investment in Central America. See my proposa l for increasing investment in Central America. The map below shows the states with the highest populations of Central American origin residents. Detailed maps can be prepaed down to the census tract level to help target an outreach to local leaders and to their representatives in Washington DC. See my proposal for moving forward on this issue.

Mi Querido Pais Mi Querido Pais.pdf I wrote this paper in 2002, it proposes a “locally owned” development program to link North/South communities, leverage more resources for social and economic development, and assist U.S. Hispanics to assimilate more quickly into U.S. society. The primary goal of the program is to promote community development in Latin America and prevent social and economic conditions that may cause increased illegal immigration to the United States. The Program will enlist the support of the people of the Americas (their communities, non-profit groups and faith-based organizations) to lead development processes, promote equitable economic growth fueled by local initiative and ownership, and build community to community links to sustain these efforts over time. This paper does not propose specific funding levels for the Mi Querido Pais Program (except under a proposed pilot activity for Peru in Attachment One). However, an earlier version of this proposal was briefed with the Peace Corps and called for a $50 million investment in order to leverage $200 million in additional financial resources for Latin America over ten years. Mi Querido Pais Peace Corps.pptx

USAID (US Agency for International Development) USAID was involved in Vietnam supporting stabilization efforts. A history of that work is summarized in a 1971 USAID Frontlines edition. My first job with USAID was seven years later in 1978 as a Personal Services Contractor at USAID Guinea-Bissau. I became a Direct Hire in 1983. I retired from USAID in 2007 and was re-appointed as a Foreign Service Officer to serve as the USAID Representative on an Embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team in North Babil Province south of Baghdad with the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, "The Rock of the Marne." The April/May 2011 edition of FrontLines focused on Iraq and asked me eight questions about my time there. For a copy of the 1971 Front Lines newsletter see the pdf file link below or download it from here . For a copy of the 2011 Front Lines newsletter see the pdf file link below or download it from here. Front Lines - 1971 USAID Vietnam Frontlines 1971.pdf Front Lines 2011 8 Questions with Michael Maxey _ Archive

Amazon Investment Landscape Amazon Bioeconomy Investment Landscape 00:00 / 14:43 Listen to this podcast about a new report on the Amazon investment landscape commissioned by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The report assesses the investment landscape for nature-based solutions and the bioeconomy in the Brazilian Amazon. This analysis identifies significant funding gaps, particularly for smaller-scale projects, and highlights challenges like land ownership complexities and infrastructure deficiencies. The report analyzes various bioresource business models—ecosystem restoration, sustainable primary bioproducts, and secondary bioproducts—evaluating their potential impacts on GHG emissions, biodiversity, and economic growth. Finally, it proposes opportunities for donor engagement to catalyze investment and foster a sustainable, standing-forest economy in the region. Amazon Private Sector Investment Landscape - Unlocking capital for a standing forest econo

Rainwater Harvesting in Yemen Small Heading

Bayesian Probability Lots of thoughts going through my mind regarding Bayesian Probability. It started with an article I read in the Washington Post a few years ago about Frank Ramsey, an English mathematician, who wrote a paper in 1926 entitled "Truth and Probability." In May 2020, I read a review in the New Yorker of a Ramsey biography, "A Sheer Excess of Power" by Cheryl Misak. Ramsey was “... the first to define probability in terms of subjective degrees of belief. Belief was analogous to an individual’s memories or perception.” It goes back to what we were taught, experienced, or perceived as central to our beliefs. Our beliefs and previous experience create what Robert Pirsig, in "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance," called "a prior" knowledge, which filters how people perceive the world and defines reality as a synthesis of elements from a fixed hierarchy of a priori concepts. Bayes' Theorem provides a method for improving our belief system by the incremental addition of objective information. In "The Theory That Would Not Die" by Sharon Bertsch Mcgrayne regarding Bayes Theorem, the author writes: "By updating our initial belief about something with objective new information, we get a new and improved belief." So, somewhere in this line of thought, I came up with the idea that I could improve my decisions by improving my beliefs and hierarchy of prior concepts through Bayesian Probability. Now, the issue is to find out how to make improved beliefs operational by identifying my beliefs and challenging them with any new information I can find. The more systematic the approach, the better, but I wanted to start by examining outcomes to understand the basic methodology of Bayesian Probability. This led me to look at National Basketball Association (NBA) statistics for successful challenges by NBA coaches to defensive foul calls. You can find the outcome of every challenge for the NBA 2023 - 2024 season here . NBA Coach's Challenges 2023 - 2024 Coaches-Challenges-Report-04292024.xlsx Using Bayes' Probability to Determine the Probability of a Successful Challenge of a Defensive Foul Using Bayes' Theorem in the NBA.pdf