I was recently told by one of my Pastors that San Francisco has become a hub for human trafficking, especially of children into illegal sex trades.

The following was posted by Amit Mahajan of the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime on a xing.com group blog:

[I have been trying to promote the cause of fighting human trafficking for companies to get involved in. I find that I am battling like crazy.

So I have changed the approach all together to try to understand this question for which I sincerely seek your answer . The answers will be presented collectively in the Vienna Forum www.ungift.org.

Why do businesses not want to engage in the fight against human trafficking?

Please do answer if you are a business owner or have knowledge or insight.

Many thanks,

Amit]

One of the Answers to Amit’s survey in particular gave me hope and offered a clear answer and clear direction:

This came from Nicholas MacGowan von Holstein please read it: 

[As a company that is getting involved in the fight against human trafficking, (http://www.ungift.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=676&Itemid=949) I would also like to contribute to this article.

To say that it is too difficult as a small business to do something against human trafficking is utterly wrong.

We are a relatively small company (around 30 people) and we have decided to support UN.GIFT. It starts by telling people about UN.GIFT to participating in the Vienna Forum. Obviously, our efforts, compared to other partners such as Microsoft or Maire Claire are relative, we have decided to support in any way we can

Also, human trafficking does affect almost everyone, somewhere in the supply chain. For example, I know that PUMA do a lot of work in this field, so I tend to only by articles from PUMA. Also, ensure that your cleaning company, your suppliers in Asia or anyone else does not support, or is likely to support, human trafficking. If nothing else, donate to UN.GIFT.

We also have to make a difference (and educate others) between human trafficking and smuggling. Human smuggling refers to services provided to migrants in order for them to cross the borders illegally. While, smuggling is primarily understood as a crime against the state, and trafficking refers to the commitment of a crime against a person.

So, if you have a blog or a website, show your support for UN.GIFT by embedding their logo or writing about it. If you just safe one person from human trafficking that way, you have already made a difference.

Regards,

Nicholas

Nicholas MacGowan von Holstein
Fever Group]

Thank you for checking this out further and doing what you can do, whatever that may be big or small, to put an end to the modern slave trade.  Some other efforts, websites and blogs addressing this issue:

http://notforsalecampaign.org/

http://www.oasisusa.org/

http://www.stopthetraffik.org/

Robb Borghese

This is definately a 3.5 star deli and I’d make it 4 based on the food alone, but they are still working on the ambiance. Once the terrace/patio is completed it will add much and also make it easier to find. The food is delicious AND healthy. The avocado in the Turkey, avocado and swiss is at perfect ripeness and Vince has a trick to achieve that, which he did share with me, but I’ll let him tell you. Me and Mai also ads much to the community, not only thru their great service and business practices, but in giving to non-profit groups as well. Their artwork from local artists ads wonderful decoration and part of the proceeds go to supporting charity. Please visit them at 4713 First Street #150 in Pleasanton, CA 94566. See my Restaurantica review.

One of the organizations that I have most gladly and proudly given to is the Durham Rescue Mission in Durham, North Carolina.

The Durham Rescue Mission is a faith-based organization which exists to give aid to the needy and homeless in Central North Carolina. This non-profit ministry gains support solely by tax-deductible donations and receives no government aid, subsidies or grants.

I find them to act and communicate very efficiently in regards to raising funds and giving aid to the needy people who come to them. They provide clothing, limited housing, food and much needed conselling to men at the men’s mission and more recently purchased and refurbished a motel as a shelter for women and children. One of their biggest events of the year is a Thanksgiving Feast where they feed approximately 1,000 needy citizens.

Their newsletter and website feature 1st person testimonials from people who have found themselves without hope and saved by the mercy of Christ intervening through the Rescue Mission.

If you’ve ever thought of starting a non-profit organization or supporting or volunteering for one, please visit the Durham Rescue Mission.

 I’d love to hear about any similar organizations in your community. Please leave your comments

Activity in a community serves many purposes and one of them is to… that’s correct - increase our equity.

Why is that? Well, as I’ve mentioned before, just getting out and communicating with our neighbors adds value, because we get to know each other, care about each other and set a higher standard for belonging and recognizing WHAT belongs in our neighborhood, which is the first step to identifying anything or anyone who doesn’t belong in then neighborhood.

Being active will also make us healthier, giving us more energy creating an environment where a greater mix of ideas and energetic personalities will lead to more community projects and programs and an overall healthier and more vibrant neighborhood.

A group involved on the ground floor of creating such communities is Active Living by Design. Active Living by Design is a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and is a part of the UNC School of Public Health in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. This program establishes innovative approaches to increase physical activity through community design, public policies and communications strategies.

Active Living by Design is funding 25 community partnerships across the country to demonstrate how changing community design will impact physical activity.

I’d like to point out that 3 of the Metros where Active Living by Design has community partnerships are also investment markets that I am pointing my investor clients too; Raleigh/RTP, NC, Portland, OR and Albuquerque, NM. Albuquerque was listed as fittest city in the United States by Men’s Fitness magazine in the March issue.  Portland made #9.

Here’s a couple of other neat stories, people doing something to make the community at large a better place for us all. Jason Langheier has an impressive resume, you can read about his background at his website. He is founder of Fitness Forward which promotes 5 pillars or “wellness targets” to help families live healthier for a lifetime. In my own community here in Pleasanton a teacher and a mom started a Wellness Committee in the elementary school to help kids adopt habits for a healthier lifestyle and raise awareness in general of health, nutrition and fitness.

 What’s happening in your neighborhood? Any ideas to make it a healthier place to live and raise your kids. Have you heard about any programs or activities going on that you could write us about?

Let me explain why.

You’ve been hearing all along from the national media about a real estate bubble and more recently of course about the liquidity crisis in the lending industry. Whenever you hear or read this kind of “sky is falling news” from the media start looking for opportunities. As the Baron de Rothschild told us “when there is blood in the streets, buy property.” I understand that to mean that when there is a crisis there is also opportunity. It is times like these that the saavy investors are making their deals.

 A closer look at information available to us, though not screamed through the headlines each day, but hiding in places like the US Census Bureau data, shows us that since 2005 a decrease in building permit applications means builders and developers are constructing fewer “new homes.”

Also looking at Census Bureau data we see that the population of the USA continues to climb and may be reaching a tipping point. Since the Census taken in 2000 our population has gone from 280,000,000 to approximately 303,000,000 today.

Take into account the increases in jobs/record low joblessness, the booming economies of India and China increasing demand for building products as well as other economic events and we’re looking at indicators of a build up that we’ve seen before.

For my own RE investments I am planning based on an appreciation bump coming as early as Spring 2008.

A report from the National Association of Realtors published October 10, 2007, Improvement in Mortgage Market Bodes Well for Housing in 2008, nicely summerizes some these events and data.

 Send me a comment or call me at (925)738-0287 to learn more about the markets we have researched and recommend at NorthPoint. These include Raleigh, Atlanta, Austin, Albuquerque and Portland.

My thanks to Pamela Ellis who wrote in a comment on my first posting. Please check it out and also visit the Staying Alive Defense link in the blogroll.

 Pamela cares for her “neighbor” and adds to society by teaching a self defense course designed to teach women effective techniques and change their way of thinking to equip them relatively quickly to deal with situations which unfortunately occur more and more often. WISE has recorded successes of participants defending themselves and surviving attacks. You can read more at their site. Techniques are taught, as Pamela notes, over a 6-week long program culminating in a “graduation” during which participants must successfully fight off an attacker. The use of a trained and well padded assistant acting as the attacker makes the training realistic and effective.

Another interesting twist on Pamela’s story is the “community” which she serves and improves through her efforts. We’ve been talking about community in a geographic context, as a neighborhood. Pamela’s community is also one of association or relationship. Though she makes the course available to anyone interested she specifically markets to real estate and loan agents, who because of their work, meeting clients on-sight in homes, are particularly at risk for attack.

 My thanks to her and all the other instructors at WISE and Staying Alive Defense.

The following was sent to me from one of our fellow Equity Bloggers:

“I believe that being active in the community in which you live gives you a higher sense of belonging, feeling like your community is truly yours.  This idea transfers into wanting to do more.

I headed up the Block Parent Program in the city of Geneva for 10 years and worked with the local police department putting placard’s in safe homes and then accompanying the local law enforcement to the schools and other school parent groups educating the public about what that sign meant to them.
When I left Geneva two years ago we had placed over 100 Block Parent signs in homes.  Every one that completed the sign application was considered a volunteer.  We had no occurrences that would have been considered news worthy.  THANK GOD!  We had  some bandages and water that were handed out over the ten years I was involved.  The main thing is the children seeking those kinds of things went to the homes because they had been taught they were safe homes to go to for help.  I got involved because when I was a child living in Mentor, Ohio my parents were “helping hands”.  The Block Parent was a spin off of that program.  The Helping Hands program was community based and every city had their own sign.  The Block Parent program was an Ohio based program so if you lived in Geneva and visited Cincinnati the sign was the same.  I was very passionate about that experience because I am a mother.  When I got involved I called Mentor, Ohio police department and they told me it was run by the state now.  I then called the State of Ohio and they sent me all the information.  I then scheduled a meeting with the Geneva Police Chief and he told me I needed to go to a city meeting and speak to the council so they could delegate a patrolman to work with me and it took from there.” 

This experience engendered relationships in the community, made the kids safer and feel safer and was enabling for the people volunteering as it gave them a greater degree of control over their environment.

The local police department is always a good place to start when developing any kind of neighborhood watch. Ask to speak with the crime prevention officer. If you have kids you may want to speak to the sergeant in charge of the School Resource Officers as well. If your community is smaller and doesn’t currently have such resources available the County Sheriff will be able to help you. Check out the National Sherif’fs’ Association  and USAonWatch for more information about starting a watch program or other crime prevention programs and of course Safety Kids, Inc for information about personal safety education for kids age K - 5th grade.

What do investors value when looking at a market for long term investment?

Now you may ask why do I care what investors value and why would I want them in my community. Well, if you have anything to sell you want it to have the highest value and that is set by demand. Investors understand value. They know how to find it.

In my work as a Real Estate Investment Advisor with NorthPoint we look for 3 basic economic fundamentals when seeking intelligent investment markets: Population Growth, Job Growth (with adequate diversity of industries and major employers) and INTANGIBLES. It is these intangibles or quality of life factors that we want to understand and effect to increase the equity of our neighborhoods. So what are they and which ones can we affect?

Intangibles include and good schools, pro-growth government, infrastructure investment, culture, entertainment, sports, green spaces and high quality of living and many other features.

Which of these can we, as property owners, affect for positive results?

What are positive results? Basically positive results means your property value is going up and increasing above the average rate for your area, State and the Nation.

The National average for appreciation over the past several decades is about 6%. How about your neighborhood?

Now what can YOU and your neighbors do to increase that number?

Maybe you already have done something? I’d love to hear about it and post it for others to read about. If you’re a volunteer or have initiated a community program or serve your community on a school board, city council or in an other capacity I’d love to hear about it.

Please post your comment here.

In my first posting I talked about being a good citizen and undertaking projects like volunteering for or even initiating community programs. Perhaps the first step to take involves informing ourselves about our communities and the various organizations, agencies and government departments which can affect our neighborhoods.

For example how are we governed? Who are the HOA representatives and president, town/city offers, state assemblymen or representatives, congressmen and senators? What party do they belong to and what programs do they support? How is the city manager selected and how long does he serve? Who hires the police and fire chiefs? How is the school board selected and who are the representatives? What is the town/city budget and how are funds allocated for infrastructure maintenance and improvement, parks and recreation facilities? What are the needs of our community and where do we go, to which person or department to get those needs addressed? Are we waiting for someone else to answer these questions and to do something?

The more people in our neighborhood who are aware and active in the community the better the chance that we will have a growing vibrant and appreciating home market. But we need to make it fun too. So what are YOU passionate about? Welcoming new people to the neighborhood? Volunteering for fire protection? Building a new park? Coaching or organizing youth activities?

What is the need of the community? Do you have vacant homes and lots that look neglected? Do you have roads that need repaving? Does your hometown need wireless Internet installed? Do you need a town library? Are your schools overcrowded?

Find the answers to these questions, talk to your neighbors and see if they agree with your suggestions to improve the community or if they have other ideas. So much can be done just by sharing ideas.

 Here is an example of someone in the community rising up to fulfil a need:

Diane L. Brown, founder and director of Safety Kids, Inc. had worked on the issue of personal safety for children since 1982. She was an elementary school educator. After teaching elementary education for seven years, she created Friends of Child Find, Inc. in Pennsylvania to address the issue of missing children. She saw a need for her community and the greater community of children in our nations.

She is a Certified International Crime Prevention Specialist through the International Society of Crime Prevention Practioners and has worked with the FBI including serving on the Advisory Board for the FBI Adopt-a-School Initiative.

In 1998 Diane founded Safety Kids, Inc. (S.K.I.) to work hand-in-hand with children, parents, law enforcement personnel, and teachers to protect children from abuse, abduction, exploitation, violence and injury through victimization.

S.K.I. developed a creative, new approach to the issue of personal safety in response to a need for more effective education on prevention. Over 85% of the children who are victimized know the perpetrator, therefore, the concept of stranger danger is ineffective! It puts a child in a position of feeling secure just because he knows the person, when in fact, this may actually lead to victimization. Charlie Check-First (the S.K.I. trademarked mascot) replaces that concept and has been readily endorsed by educators and law enforcement personnel.

Diane’s work has been recognized by her local community as well as nationally with such awards as: The FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award, The Pennsylvania Governor’s Award for Citizen Crime Prevention, Crime Prevention Member of the Year Award from the Crime Prevention Association of Pennsylvania, JC Penney Golden Rule Award, Eckerd Drug Award for Outstanding Women, Girl Scouts Distinguished Women Honorable Mention, Jefferson Award Nominee, and Citizen of the Year Award several times over. Diane has also appeared as a speaker on the local, state and international levels and has trained hundreds of crime prevention practitioners and educators in the use of this personal safety curriculum.

It’s better for your equity than being bitter.

Originally I had written another piece for today but then I heard about this new website on the morning news called Rotten Neighbor where you can go and air your complaints about your annoying neighbor. I think most of the time we have about two choices. Maybe before we drag THAT neighbor through the mud we should think about the nice neighbor on the other side of the street, because when we start slinging mud everyone gets dirty.

Say nice things about your home and make it so. Confess good things about your neighbors and say a prayer.

What is your neighborhood like? What good things can you say about it?

I found it a great exercise in faith in my community to go and check out Rotten Neighbor and think how fortunate we are in our community and report those blessings… for all to read.

Neighbors in the Pleasanton Hights area care about one another, watch out for one another and respect the community and one another. It is a vibrant community where people love to walk, the kids ride bikes and scooters to parks, greenways, to school and downtown where there a variety of restaurants serve every taste and antique shops and boutiques abound. Our neighbors on every side are respectful and friendly. The kids all walk to school together with at least one or two of us parents accompanying them. Pleasanton with its historic downtown, great schools, youth programs and wise government maintains its value better than nearly any other city on the East Bay.