Posted: 24 Apr 2010 11:57 AM PDT

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - April 24, 2010) - The Honourable Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, and Norbu Tsering, President of the Tibetan Canadian Cultural Centre, today announced Government of Canada support for renovations and retrofits at the Tibetan Canadian Cultural Centre's main facility in South Etobicoke, Ontario.

"I am proud to announce that the Government of Canada is providing an investment to renovate and renew the Tibetan Canadian Cultural Centre," said Minister Kenney. "As part of Canada's Economic Action Plan, our Government is helping to boost the local economy, create jobs and enhance infrastructure that will benefit the community for years to come."

"On behalf of the Tibetan-Canadian community and the many Canadians who support and partake in the work of the TCCC, we sincerely thank the Government of Canada for this investment in directly enriching the lives of our Canadian children, youth, adults and seniors of diverse backgrounds. The impact of this funding will provide much needed renovations to transform the facility into useable and accessible community space" said Mr. Tsering. "This funding will help us meet a core goal of the TCCC which is to foster cross-cultural understanding through the practice of the Tibetan values of altruism, compassion and harmony in Canada's diverse society."

This project involves various renovations to convert existing warehouse space into a fully accessible facility that will increase the centre's functionality and add new depth to its programming and services. Renovations will include a full-sized gymnasium, a multi-purpose hall, classrooms, and a Tibetan-Canadian museum. Traditional designs and details will be incorporated throughout, including a traditional Tibetan ceiling in the multi-purpose hall and Tibetan pillars in the museum. Once complete, the renovations will enable the centre to create new jobs, and continue to deliver programs and services to more than 15,500 users.

Federal funding of just over $3.3 million will come from the Government of Canada's Infrastructure Stimulus Fund. The Tibetan Canadian Cultural Centre will match the amount to cover the total eligible project cost of over $6.6 million.

Through Canada's Economic Action Plan, the Government of Canada has committed over $9.5 billion toward over 6,000 projects under a number of funds through Infrastructure Canada. When combined with contributions from the provinces, territories, municipalities and other funding partners, over $27 billion has been committed for infrastructure projects in communities across the country.

To learn more about how the Government of Canada is investing in Ontario infrastructure, visit www.actionplan.gc.ca.

IF THERE IS A DISCREPANCY BETWEEN ANY PRINTED VERSION AND THE ELECTRONIC VERSION OF THIS NEWS RELEASE, THE ELECTRONIC VERSION WILL PREVAIL.

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This news release is available online at: www.actionplan.gc.ca.

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Presenter tackles racial and cultural roots of nation ... - Columbia Missourian

Posted: 24 Apr 2010 02:35 PM PDT

COLUMBIA — Raymond Terrell wants teachers to talk about race.

In his presentation at Saturday's national Parents for Public Schools conference, entitled "Culturally Proficient Leadership," the published author said the root issue in the nation's current academic achievement gap among students in public schools is race. He explained his ideas for correcting this problem through "cultural proficiency."

"It's not a socioeconomic gap we have, it's a racial gap," he said, pointing to a bar graph to illustrate his point. According to his graph, white students coming from households with $24,000 of income per year still outperformed black students coming from households with $60,000 of yearly income.

The achievement gap commanded local attention as a key issue for candidates in the recent Columbia School Board election, as well as national notice with the proposed revisions of the No Child Left Behind Act. In forums leading up to the April 6 election, all candidates agreed the gap was a serious issue, but none articulated a specific plan to deal with the problem.

Parents for Public Schools, an organization that works with parents of public school students to better the education system through local chapters, held the conference at MU from Friday to Sunday. Terrell, the assistant dean of research and diversity at Miami University in Ohio, has more than 40 years of professional educational experience. He spent 90 minutes detailing the underlying cultural causes of the achievement gap to three conference participants.

"If the gaps are to be closed, we must step forward as leaders to examine our values and behaviors and the policies and practices of our schools," Terrell said.

He explained that research shows students in the racial minority and low-income households learn best from a hands-on, inquiry-based, small group approach, but often these students are placed in large classes and told to sit down and be quiet.

"I do worry about the pedagogical approaches because I maintain that they are the major cause of the achievement gap," he said.

According to Terrell, the technical methods used to address the gap, such as tutors and test score requirements, will not help because the achievement gap is an adaptive problem based on relationships. Student need to care about those teaching and feel accepted by them before they care about what they're learning.

He said a major roadblock to student achievement is students feeling culturally alienated in their learning environments. He described a time a student had been sent to his office for disrespecting a teacher and the student claimed that the teacher had disrespected him. Terrell said he found both were true because the teacher didn't know she had insulted the student's culture.

"We have to create an awareness of the need to change," he said.

Sally Gray, a parent educator for the organization from Tupelo, Miss., expressed her frustration about the challenges of the Spanish-speaking community in her district. She said she knows of schools of 250 students, some of whom speak no English, where not one educator in the building speaks Spanish.

"I know that's going on in other places," Gray said. "How do you expect to connect with the families when you can't communicate?

Terrell advises educators to examine their own cultural heritages and prejudices in order to achieve "cultural proficiency." It's not enough, he said, to celebrate Black History Month and Cinco de Mayo. Educators must be able to change attitudes and behavior to relate to their students.

"When we look at things folks simply don't know they don't know, that's where they get themselves in trouble," he said.

Terrell said educators must realize that it is largely a community of "nice" people perpetuating the racial inequalities that lead to the achievement gap and look at themselves to begin changing the system.

"(Cultural proficiency) is about being aware of how we respond to those who are different from us," he said.

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Charlotte's cultural building boom reaching its climax - CharlotteObserver.com

Posted: 24 Apr 2010 10:38 AM PDT

It's nearly time for art to start going into the Mint Museum Uptown on South Tryon Street, the final piece of the arts complex that's energizing the area. A mile up Tryon, finishing touches are being applied to N.C. Dance Theatre's home: the Patricia McBride and Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux Center for Dance, named for the company's husband-and-wife artistic leaders.

The Mint's uptown home will give it a visibility it has never had on Randolph Road. With 145,000 square feet of gallery, office and event space, the new location offers new possibilities, such as bigger touring shows. The public opening is Oct. 1.

NCDT's building at Tryon and 10th streets will include six dance studios - twice the number the company has now. That will make it easier for NCDT's professional dancers and legions of students to find places to work. The company will inaugurate it with an open house June 12.

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