Citing taxpayer savings and assuring quality work, Illinois AFL – CIO President Michael T. Carrigan applauded Gov. Pat Quinn for signing into law the use of Project Labor Agreements on public works projects in Illinois .

“PLAs have worked in Illinois and across this country for decades,” Carrigan said. “We have a legacy in Illinois of tending to our infrastructure needs and we’ve used PLAs to get them done under budget, on time and with quality workmanship. This law is the continuation of good public policy.”

Project Labor Agreements are pre-hire, pre-bid contracts used to provide a mechanism for quickly staffing the job with the most highly-trained employees from all of the trades ensuring on-time and on-budget construction.

Illinois has used PLAs under Executive Orders issued by Gov. Rod Blagojevich and, most recently, Quinn. With this new law passed by the General Assembly, Project Labor Agreements may be used by state agencies now and into the future.

Carrigan applauded the General Assembly for passing the bill, especially bill sponsors Rep. Pat Verschoore and Sen. Toi Hutchinson.

“This is a prime example of government doing what it should to rid projects of waste and inefficiency,” Carrigan said. “Public works projects will use taxpayer money wisely and each dollar will go to making Illinois a better state.”

According to the 2011 Identity Fraud Survey Report released by Javelin Strategy and Research, more than 8.1 million people became victims of identity theft in 2010. For young adults, “friendly fraud” is on the rise. This is fraud perpetrated by people known to the victim, such as a relative or roommate. “Friendly Fraud” grew seven percent last year.

“Identity thieves don’t care if you’re a struggling student and don’t have a penny to your name. Sometimes all they want is to exploit your clean credit record,” said Steve J. Bernas, president & CEO of the Better Business Bureau serving Chicago and northern Illinois. “Young adults who establish good habits for protecting their identities, as well as monitoring for fraud, are laying a foundation for a healthy financial road during the rest of their lives.”

The BBB recommends the following tips for students take to help fight identity theft on campus:

• Never loan your credit or debit card to anyone, even if they are a friend. Also, just say no if a friend wants you to co-sign a loan or finance agreement for items like TVs or computers.
• Don’t share too much on social networks. People using social networking for five or more years are twice as likely to suffer identity fraud as those newer to these sites. Javelin research found that 36 percent of people aged 65+ do not use the privacy settings on their network, potentially exposing crucial information to fraudsters. The good news is 89 percent of 25-34 year olds were actively using the privacy settings on social network sites.
• Make sure your computer has up-to-date antivirus and spyware software. Be diligent with installing updates and patches to your computer’s operating system or browser software, which help keep your computer safe from hacking attempts by online identity thieves.
• Important documents should be stored under lock and key. These include social security card, passport, and bank and credit card statements. Shred any paper documents that have sensitive financial information rather than simply tossing them out. Also shred any credit card offers that come in the mail.
• Always check your credit or debit card statements closely for any suspicious activity. The sooner you identify any potential fraud, the less you’ll suffer in the long run.
• School mailboxes are not always secure, and mailboxes in a dorm or apartment can often be easily accessed. To combat sticky fingers in the mailroom, have sensitive mail sent to a permanent address, such as the parents’ home or a PO Box.
• When shopping on unfamiliar web sites, always check the company out first with BBB at www.bbb.org Also look for the BBB Accredited Business seal along with other trust seals and click on the seals to confirm that they are legitimate.
• Check your credit report at least once a year with all three reporting bureaus for any suspicious activity or inaccuracies. You can do this for free by visiting www.annualcreditreport.com

For more advice on fighting fraud and managing personal finances visit www.bbb.org

CopyLinemagazine.com is global! Through our calculation, visitors to CopyLine’s website reside in the U.S.A. and 78 other countries. They have posted about 450,000 queries and comments since CopyLine’s online inception more than two years ago.

“The World Wide Web has taken us to new heights around the globe,” said Juanita Bratcher, Journalist, Author, Poet, Songwriter, and Publisher of www.copylinemagazine.com and several books. “People are reading and commenting on hundreds of articles posted on our site. We’re proud to be global, and we are encouraged by the strides we’ve made in such a short period of time.

“We’re also pleased and excited with the results, and we look forward to adding more articles and expanding our site. Our foremost effort is to make sure that news, commentary and entertainment articles are informative and reader friendly to all our visitors,” Bratcher added. “They come, they read, they leave for the day, and they come back again another day. Many say they visit the site on a daily basis looking for new articles.

“CopyLine’s articles are posted across the web – links to CopyLine website are posted on other websites and many have requested to reprint our articles on their websites. We also receive many press releases that find their way onto our site if we believe that in some way the subject matter will shed light or understanding of issues to our readership.”

Bratcher said she is delighted to get feedback from thousands of visitors to her website through comments left on a wide-range of issues. “And we are certain, after being told over and over again by many of our website visitors that they would inform others about the site, we are aware that they played a role in our success. Many have told us that they posted our site on their social network pages. And frankly speaking, not once has CopyLine advertised the site; it has all come through word of mouth – visitors to the site informing friends, families and their various social networks.

“Most of the time you can bet on getting the truth from visitors who visit our website, but there’s always that few that will try to get under your skin, which bounces off like water on repellant to me,” said Bratcher, noting that after being a Reporter/Journalist/Publisher for more than 35 years, “hardly anything surprises anymore.

Bratcher added: “But more than anything else, we are looking forward to expanding an already large content site for our visitors and will continue in our efforts to make it more reader friendly and informative.”

CopyLine made its debut almost 21 years ago (Print copy, November 1990) and started online more than two years ago.

Bratcher is the author of six books and more than 600 poems. While www.copylinemagazine.com has hundreds of articles posted, Bratcher’s Blog, www.copylinemagazine.com/blog also has many articles posted.

Comments polled from countries/and or other languages to www.copylinemagazine.com are as follows: 

1. 1.      Algeria
2. 2.      Australia
3. 3.      Arabic
4. 4.      Alaska
5. 5.      Argentine
6. 6.      Athens
7. 7.      Asia
8. 8.      Bavaria
9. 9.      Belgium

10.  Budapest

11.  Bulgarian

12.  Brazilian

13.  Berlin

14.  Bahamas

15.  Canada

16.  Costa Rica

17.  Czech

18.  Chinese

19.  Croatian

20.  Cuba

21.  Cambodia

22.  Dutch

23.  Danish

24.  Denmark

25.  Egypt

26.  Estonian

27.  England

28.  Finland

29.  France

30.  Finnish

31.  Germany

32.  Hebrew

33.  Hungarian

34.  Italy

35.  Ireland

36.  Iran

37.  India

38.  Israel

39.  Indonesia

40.  Jamaica

41.  Japan

42.  Korea

43.  Lithuanian

44.  London France

45.  Lebanon

46.  Malay

47.  Mexico

48.  Malaysia

49.  Nigeria

50.  Netherlands

51.  Norwegian

52.  New England

53.  New Zealand

54.  Portuguese

55.  Poland

56.  Panama

57.  Puerto Viejo

58.  Philippines

59.  Puerto Rico

60.  Pakistan

61.  Persian

62.  Romania

63.  Russian

64.  Spain

65.  Swedish

66.  Santa Pola

67.  Switzerland

68.  San Jose

69.  Slovak

70.  Stockholm

71.  Serbia

72.  Taiwan

73.  Turkish

74.  Thai

75.  Thailand

76.  United Kingdom

77.  Ukraine

78.  Vietnamese

  (Brady responds to GDP)                                                                                                                                                    

Chicago, IL - The U.S. Commerce Department reported Friday that the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose by just 1.3%, below even what many economists predicted. One of the largest factors for the stagnant growth was the lack of consumer spending.

“The bottom line is that there is no recovery until we create jobs, and increased taxation kills job creation,” said Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady. “As long as this administration refuses to face that reality, we will continue to have high unemployment, a major consumer confidence problem, and no economic recovery.”

By Marc H. Morial, President and CEO
National Urban League

To Be Equal #30

“It is clear that the unemployment numbers throughout the country require effective legislation and tangible action to address the crisis. To address the unemployment crisis and the need for job creation solutions in underserved communities, the CBC has called upon the private and public sectors to immediately remedy the crisis by going into communities with legitimate, immediate employment opportunities for the underserved.”  U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II

This past week, NAACP President Ben Jealous and I forcefully entered the debt ceiling debate during a meeting with President Obama in the Oval Office.  During our meeting, we made it clear that as a final deal is hammered out to raise the debt ceiling and prevent the nation from defaulting on August 2nd, no steps should be taken that will shred the social safety net — the last line of economic defense for millions of working class and middle class  Americans.  With African American unemployment at 16.2 percent and the jobless rate for Hispanics also in double digits at 11.6 percent, it would be unconscionable to cut Social Security, Medicaid or Medicare benefits, education, job training or housing services now, especially while businesses and wealthy Americans are protected from any tax increase.
 
The President has insisted from day one that a final agreement must involve shared sacrifice.  After our meeting he issued a statement which read in part: “We cannot afford to balance the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable Americans, including the middle class, low-income families, seniors and students.”  Ben Jealous and I wholeheartedly agree with the President, and we intend to stand with him as he steadfastly defends that position.  

The President also agreed with us that we need to complete a debt ceiling deal quickly so we can turn our full attention to the most pressing issue facing the nation – high unemployment and the lack of jobs.  I urged the President to act on the job creating solutions contained in the National Urban League’s 12-point Jobs Rebuild America plan.  We also urged support for New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s Urban Jobs Bill which would make critically needed investments in education and training to prepare young people most in need for jobs.

One day after our meeting, the debt ceiling talks broke down over the refusal by those on the other side of the negotiating table to pursue a balanced approach.  They continue to insist on a one-sided plan of spending cuts, including cuttingbenefits for the most vulnerable Americans, and no tax increases for the wealthy.  It should be noted that this is the first time in almost 100 years that a raise in the nation’s debt ceiling has been linked to deficit reduction.  

Ben and I agree: America must get its fiscal house in order so we can invest in job creation and maintain the benefits that protect our must vulnerable citizens.  And we adamantly disagree with those who would jeopardize the nation’s credit worthiness and risk a financial meltdown much worse than the recent greatrecession – all because they refuse to compromise.

The NAACP President and I came away from our Oval Office meeting convinced that President Obama understands fundamentally that deep budget cuts to safety net programs and programs that affect urban communities would be harmful, not just to our constituents, but for the nation at large.  

We will continue to insist that the concerns of Black and urban America have a voice in this debate.

120 Wall Street ▪ New York, NY 10005 ▪ (212) 558-5300 ▪ WWW.NUL.ORG

New America Media

By Kat Aaron and Mary Kane

Investigative Reporting Workshop

Synopsis: Is Maryland’s foreclosure mediation program failing the country’s wealthiest majority-black county?

PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY, Md. — A widely touted strategy aimed at keeping Maryland residents from losing their homes by bringing banks and homeowners to the bargaining table has met with little success as the nation braces for another wave of foreclosures.

Maryland passed a law a year ago that gave homeowners in foreclosure the right to mediation, if they ask for it. The Justice Department reported in a November study that there were 25 mediation programs in 14 states.

As of May 31, just 56 homeowners in the state have gotten a modification of their loan through the mediation program. Borrowers complain that lenders are more interested in foreclosing than negotiating. One borrower was horrified to discover that the bank had sold her home during the mediation process.

Foreclosures slowed in the early part of 2011, as lenders dealt with accusations of “robo-signing” ‚Äî approving foreclosure documents without looking at them. But now, they’re coming back with a vengeance: In March, almost 30,000 notices of intent to foreclose were filed, more than twice as many than in any month since the state began keeping records in 2008, according to an analysis of state records by the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University.

For communities of color around the country, a “lagging collapse” may be ahead, said Alan Mallach, a nationally known housing expert who has done extensive on-the-ground research into the foreclosure crisis. Prince George’s county is a case in point. The nation’s wealthiest majority-black county, it has been devastated by the foreclosure crisis. Heavily targeted by subprime lenders in the boom years, the county is now staggering under the weight of abandoned homes and plummeting prices. The county received more than 7,100 notices of intent to foreclose in March.

“I think it’s grim. And it’s going to be grim for a while. I’m not sure we’re anywhere near the aftermath yet. We’re still in the middle of the storm,” said Mallach.

A year after the Maryland law was passed, fewer than 1,000 borrowers had applied for mediation, and just 56 borrowers had received a loan modification as of the end of May, according to the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.

Another 159 cases ended with a so-called contingent resolution, meaning that the borrowers were promised a modification pending additional paperwork. In total, 829 mediation cases have been closed since the law took effect.

Despite the low participation rates, mediation sessions have been good for borrowers, said Carol Gilbert, assistant secretary for neighborhood stabilization at the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development.

“Whether or not they prevent foreclosure, they do get to closure, by understanding what their lender’s position is and understanding what their options are, or are not,” she said.

What the mediation program has accomplished is “getting both sides of the (lending) shop to communicate,” Gilbert said. “The foreclosure side of the shop that’s working in turbo drive is very effective, and the modification side is not.”

“We were seeing so many consumers fall through the cracks who were midstream in their modification process and next week they were getting foreclosed upon,” she said.

Except that’s still happening.

Antoinette Barber, a homeowner in Baltimore, requested a mediation session, using the information provided by her lender, HSBC Bank. But paperwork problems plagued her case from the start, including that HSBC listed her home as abandoned, said her attorney, Legal Aid lawyer Gretchen Reimert.

Trouble started when the envelope that foreclosure attorneys representing HSBC gave to Barber to send in her mediation request was labeled with an incomplete address. The paperwork never arrived at its destination, so no mediation session was scheduled. Barber received a second notification of her mediation rights and submitted a second request on March 9.

But HSBC’s attorneys had already scheduled a foreclosure sale for March 11. And although the court scheduled a mediation session for April 13, and notified the foreclosure attorneys about it, the foreclosure firm didn’t cancel the sale. Barber’s house was sold two weeks later. Barber, a single mom with two children, arrived at the April mediation session in tears.

HSBC’s servicer said that Barber’s file had been transferred to another department and couldn’t be found. HSBC’s foreclosure attorney said she wouldn’t agree to anything that day, unless Barber would allow the foreclosure sale to go through. Barber refused, and Reimert has filed a motion to rescind the sale and stop the foreclosure.

“Mediation is a joke,” Barber said. “I was really counting on it helping me. But they did nothing for me. It was a waste of time.”

‘HSBC has a strong commitment to home preservation and regards foreclosure as a last resort. We are looking into the matter,” said Neil Brazil, vice president for public affairs at HSBC. He said the company had no further comment, citing pending litigation.

Borrowers and counselors around the country have complained that the modification process breaks down because the people at the servicer call centers don’t have the power to change the terms or balance on a loan.

The mediation problems in Maryland are yet another indication that so far, government efforts aren’t putting a dent in the foreclosure problem. Mallach isn’t optimistic they will any time soon.

“This is the disgrace of the whole thing,” Mallach said. “Basically, the lenders who made these loans are paying huge amounts of money to the investors that they defrauded. But the problem for these communities is that basically the lenders got away with murder, and they are continuing to get away with murder.”

Investigative Reporting Workshop data editor Jacob Fenton contributed to this report.

 Equal Voice Newspaper

They are lost in limbo, their lives on hold, and their contributions sidelined while politicians debate their value to society even as they excel at school, volunteer in their communities, and serve in the U.S. military.

Their crime is having been born on different soil – Mexico, the Philippines, Honduras, Cuba, Colombia – then brought to the United States by families who wanted only to give them a better life.

They are the DREAMers – an acronym for the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors. For more than a decade, Dreamers and their allies have been pushing for a national Dream Act – a pathway to legal residency for children brought to the U.S. by undocumented parents.

While Democrats and Republicans debate social security and Medicare and cut or cap other vital programs to ease the $1.4 trillion federal deficit, Congress has overlooked a ready and willing source of revenue – the thousands of children of undocumented immigrants who, if allowed to follow their dreams, would help rebuild the economy by paying income tax and purchasing homes and cars.

About 65,000 undocumented students graduate from U.S. high schools each year, according to a study by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that passage of the Dream Act would reduce the deficit by $1.4 billion over the next decade.

In a report last year, Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda, a professor at UCLA, wrote that the higher earning power of newly legalized workers, including the Dreamers, would translate to a tax revenue increase of $4.5 billion to $5.4 billion in the first three years.
Supporters call the national Dream Act “an investment, not an expense.”

In the decade since the Dream Act was first introduced in Congress, a patchwork of state laws has emerged. Some states allow undocumented college students to pay in-state tuition rates. On the other end of the spectrum, Alabama recently passed an immigration law that bans undocumented students from attending any state college.

California Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation Monday that provides undocumented college students with access to private college funds. But it can’t complete the dream by offering a chance for citizenship.

“If they don’t have a future, why would they even finish high school? We want to let them know there is a way to pursue their dream,” said Joshua Hoyt, executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), which pushed for passage of the state’s Dream Act.

When Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signs his state’s version of the Dream Act on August 1, it will be a major step forward in helping low-income, immigrant students realize their goal of going to college.
Until Congress passes a national dream act, many Dreamers like 22-year-old Cindy, whose parents brought her to the United States when she was 3, face an uncertain future.

Cindy didn’t know she was undocumented until she was in sixth grade. She wanted to attend a summer school computer class, but without a social security number, she couldn’t apply. At that time, she didn’t fully understand the implications, but by high school, her situation became clearer.

“I was thinking I was just like everyone else,” said Cindy, who doesn’t want her last name used because of her family’s resident status and so she can speak more freely.

Cindy’s father works in the fast-food industry; her mother is a hotel housekeeper. They labor long hours but have never doubted they made the right decision by emigrating from Mexico to the U.S. They provided their family with a better life – and gave Cindy her passion to succeed.

Despite her worries that she wouldn’t be able to attend college, Cindy studied hard, took honors courses, and graduated at the top of her high school class in Illinois, earning a full-ride scholarship to the University of Chicago. Dreaming of becoming a public school teacher, she majored in comparative human development. In June, she graduated from college – the first in her family to do so.

But with college graduation, Cindy realized the full irony of her situation.

As an undocumented immigrant, she is unable to work legally in the United States or even get a driver’s license. She wants a career, to buy a car and someday a house, and to contribute to the country she considers her own – a country that refuses to recognize her.

“Psychologically, it is difficult. You want to better yourself, but there is not really much you can do,” she said.

“I can’t work, unless I get paid under the table. The only jobs available like that are in the food industry. It’s not really what I want to do after graduating from college,” she said.

“I think a lot about how life would be different if I could just work and have the proper documentation and not be in this limbo.”

Cindy had reason to hope when national Dream Act legislation passed in the U.S. House of Representatives last year, but the bill died in the Senate.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D–IL) re-introduced the legislation this year.

“When I look around this room, I see the future doctors, nurses, scientists and soldiers who will make this country stronger,” he said, nodding to the undocumented students who joined him for his opening remarks in Washington, D.C.

Durbin has asked religious leaders nationwide to hold a Dream Act Sabbath Sept. 23–25 to spread the word to their congregations and rally support for passing the law.

“It is wrong to punish children for the actions of their parents,” Durbin said.

While religious leaders call passage of the Dream Act a moral responsibility, opponents argue that the legislation will only attract more undocumented immigrants.

Even the most hopeful concede that it will take a miracle for the legislation to pass this year.

“Realistically, as long as we have the current leadership in the other chamber, it’s unlikely this legislation is going to pass out of Congress and reach the president’s desk,” said Fred Tsao, policy director for ICIRR. “What we can do is continue to work to raise the profile of the legislation.

“The need is still there. The students are still there with their hopes and ambitions. They still want to contribute to this country that they call home. They are committed, and we are committed,” said Tsao.

No matter where people stand on the Dream Act, most agree that national immigration reform is needed, although what that reform would look like differs widely.
Illinois, one of a dozen states that allow undocumented students who graduate from local high schools to pay in-state tuition rates at public colleges and universities, is leading the way for more rights for students who were brought into the country as children.

The new legislation brings the dream a few steps closer by setting up a Dream Fund supported by private donations, to create scholarships to help undocumented students pay for college. The law will also provide additional education for high school counselors so that they can better advise undocumented students about their college options.
The Illinois Dream Fund is necessary because undocumented students can’t apply for federal Pell Grants or state financial aid. For low-income students who are U.S. citizens, federal Pell Grants provide up to $5,550 a year in college financing. State grants can provide an additional $4,500.

“They have gone through the Illinois public schools, but they don’t have the financial means to attend college,” said Paul Frank, vice president for government relations for the Federation of Independent Illinois Colleges and Universities.

“It is a big hurdle when you compare them to other students with need. They are missing out on $10,000 a year,” said Frank.

Now, many are waiting and watching to see if private donors will, indeed, step up and contribute the money needed to make the Illinois Dream Fund a reality.

If it works, Illinois Dreamers like Carla Navoa would have a better chance of attending college.

Navoa was 5 years old when her family came to the United States on a tourist visa from the Philippines to visit relatives. They never went back.

“I really focused on school a lot because of my parents,” said Navoa. “My parents told us that we would be able to pursue good jobs, have more opportunities and have a better life. That’s why we stayed here, for a better life.”

When it was time to apply for college grants and scholarships that would help pay for college, Navoa was faced with the harsh reality that, as an undocumented immigrant, she was not eligible for government financial aid.

Navoa, now 22, won private scholarships and scraped together money from her parents and odd jobs to pay the $6,000 per semester tuition at the University of Illinois in Chicago.

Now, although Navoa is just a couple of semesters short of graduating, her money has run out and her dreams are on hold. She hopes the new private funding will be available eventually so that she can finish her education. Like Cindy, Navoa would love to become a teacher.

However, without passage of a national Dream Act, both Navoa and Cindy face uncertainty, unable to work legally and contribute to the national economy, even with a diploma in hand.

Unable to follow her dream to be a teacher, Cindy volunteers in her community, working for changes in immigration laws and rights.

“It is frustrating for my parents. They didn’t think this is what would be waiting for us at the end,” she said. “I still thank them for the opportunity they gave me by bringing me here.”

(http://www.equalvoiceforfamilies.org/pages/grantee_in_the_news/illinois_a_sign_of_hope.html)

Why Are So Many Suffering in Silence? It’s Time for Survivors and Supporters to Talk About Grief

Denise Hall Brown, author of 2Grieve 2Gether

Frederick, MD (BlackNews.com) — People often grieve in silence. It is common for people to feel isolated and alone when they mourn. But there is healing in support. Denise Hall Brown saw a need to promote the power of relationships and resources to aid in the healing process, starting with the publication of her first book, 2Grieve 2Gether: A Journal from the Heart Helping Survivors and Supporters Navigate the Healing Process (ISBN 9780983317005).

When Brown was 29, her mother was killed by a drunk driver. She lost her 5-month-old son tragically 10 years later. Since then, she’s buried her husband and an aunt who was like a mother-figure to her. From each hardship, Brown learned that grief is not something you ever get over, rather you get through. She experienced firsthand the wide range of emotions brought on by the rawness of grief. She has learned to be gentle with herself through each ordeal.

The premise behind 2Grieve 2Gether is that grief is a process that should not be handled alone. The book is unique in addressing both Survivors (those who are dealing with the death of a loved one) and Supporters (those who are trying to help them). The book is a compilation of journals that Brown kept following the deaths of her loved ones. The engrossing entries, followed by insightful reflections and tips on dealing with grief, show the highs and lows of her emotions in the days and months and years after the deaths. The book also includes helpful resources to assist the bereaved and their supporters.

According to Brown, anyone who has dealt with the death of someone close to them, or knows someone who has, can benefit from this book. “I wrote 2Grieve 2Gether because I’ve met so many people who are hurting and even more who want to help someone who’s grieving but are unsure about what to do. In this book, readers get a very real glimpse of what I experienced following the deaths of my loved ones and what both survivors and supporters can learn and apply as a result.”

Brown will discuss and sign copies of her book on Wednesday, August 3, 2011, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Delaplaine Center, 40 South Carroll Street, Frederick, MD. There will also be a memorial balloon release.

For more information, contact the author at denise@2Grieve2Gether.org or 888-378-0202.

About Denise Hall Brown

Denise Hall Brown spent 20 years working in the insurance industry. Five years of that time was spent directly helping clients with their life insurance needs and the recovery that happens after someone dies. During that time, she experienced the deaths of four family members and committed to learning as much as possible about grief. Denise currently attends Hood College in Frederick, MD, where she earned a Certificate in Thanatology, the study of death and bereavement, and is currently working toward her Master’s Degree in that field. 2Grieve 2Gether is her first book. To learn more about the book, visit www.2Grieve2Gether.org.