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By Bill Wiist In 2009, there were 2,733 corporate foundations with assets of more than $10 billion and an annual donation of $2.5 billion. In that year foundations made grants of more than $38 billion of which $15.41 billion was from family foundations. In 2009, the 50 largest contributors to health donated more than $3 billion through almost 5,000 grants. The extent of corporate-based foundation funding in public health raises two critical questions for public health policy, research, and programming. First, should corporate-based foundations be setting the public health research and program agenda?

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By Mark R. Warren

We seem to be facing a new wave of racial animosity in our country right now, from the Florida preacher who threatened to burn a Koran unless the Manhattan Islamic center was moved, to Arizona’s new immigration law legalizing racial profiling; from Glenn Beck high-jacking Dr. King’s march anniversary on the Mall in DC with an overwhelmingly white Tea Party crowd, to the New York gubernatorial candidate who won the Republican nomination after sending monkey pictures and tribal dance emails mocking President Obama.

In the face of this divisiveness, we have an urgent need to better understand how to bring Americans together across racial and religious lines.

In times of economic insecurity, white Americans have often turned towards blaming racial and ethnic “others” for the cause of their problems. One important reason this happens is the segregation that still runs deep in American society. Indeed, white Americans are the most segregated racial group in the U.S., living, worshiping and going to school in predominantly white communities. Only 15 percent of whites report having even one close friend of color. If white people and their closest white family members and friends do not directly experience racism, how can they develop a deep appreciation of the experience of racism and come to care about it – rather than blame other races and ethnicities for America’s troubles?

I have been interviewing white Americans about how they became aware of racism and came to care enough about the issue to development a commitment to become activists for racial justice. They reported to me the profound impact that building relationships with people of color had on them. For example, juvenile justice advocate Mark Soler knew the statistics on the growing criminalization of black men. Indeed, in places like Baltimore, nearly half of all black men are in the custody of the criminal justice system in one way or another. However, it was when his African American colleagues told him their personal stories of harassment at the hands of the police that Soler began to grasp the reality of that experience in what he calls a more visceral way.

Relationships do more, however, than deepen understanding of racial experience. Through relationships white people can come to care about racism because it affects people they know personally and care about. Soler spent many hours driving to juvenile facilities with one African American colleague. His colleague shared stories not just about his own treatment at the hands of the police but also his personal anguish about how he should counsel his son about the police. The colleague’s fear for what could happen to his teenage son became palpable to Soler in a deeply personal way. Soler’s thirty year commitment comes from both his intellectual understanding of racism but also his visceral awareness and personal connection.

Clearly it’s not enough to just place people together. Indeed, Robert Putnam’s research on diversity and social capital shows that, absent meaningful relationships, racially and ethnically diverse communities are lower in social trust, for example. The activists I interviewed highlighted the importance of their experiences in multiracial organizations like schools and community organizing groups where they built meaningful and reciprocal relationships with people of color, where differences were openly and honestly discussed, and where people had a chance to find their commonalities in shared values for a more just and equitable society.

Perhaps the Tea Party demonstrators will not enthusiastically embrace these kinds of opportunities to work across racial lines. But the activists I interviewed, and many others, are building the local foundations for the emergence of a new racial justice movement. When people have a chance to work together, share stories and bu

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I've always been a big fan of National Geographic they are one of (if not) the best at environmental and world focus magazines and books.

Recently I had the pleasure of reviewing "Soul of a Lion" by Barbara Bennett.  If you love animals and/or Africa and feel strongly about the plight of both, this is the book for you.

A dream of mine has always been to snuggle with the large jungle cats of Africa - not normally possible unless you want to become lunch.  However, Harnas Wildlife Foundation in Africa allows this experience.  And it's totally safe!

Can you imagine feeding baby baboons, sleeping with a cheetah, bottle-feeding a young giraffe or just experiencing wildlife at its fullest?  Author Barbara Bennett did this and more at Harnas in Nambia where nearly 400 orphaned, injured and abandoned wild animals are cared for by a team of volunteers, family and one dedicated, loving women - the owner of Harnas - Marieta van der Merwe. 

Soul of a Lion: One Women's Quest to Rescue Africa's Wildlife takes the reader on an incredible journey of one women's quest to make a difference in the lives of so many hurting animals and the lost and needy children and bushmen of Nambia Africa.

Marieta never thought this would be the road her life would take.  Being the only child of a cattle farmer she assumed this would be her calling in life, but after she rescued her first animal in 1978 word soon spread that she would take in needy animals.  With the help of her animal-loving husband, Nick, Harnas was on it's way.

Come take the journey with Bennett as she personally experiences the hard work, hardships and pure joy of spending time with a menagerie of animals, including Boertji, the baboon with epilepsy and Down syndrome; Savanna, the one-eyed lioness; Gumbi the brown hyena and many many more.  No animal is too "wild" or too "far-gone" for the caring hands of Harnas Wildlife Foundation. 

"I live my dream every day.  Taking care of animals was an easy choice for me.  I am the happiest woman on Earth, not only because I can do what I've always dreamed about, but because I have the opportunity to share my dream with thousands of people in Nambia and around the globe..." [excerpt from foreword by Marieta van der Merwe]

Bennett's own personal, hands-on experience at Harnas makes this book a heart-warming and a must read tale of survival and dedication.  Bennett writes, "saving animals because each deserve to live is a guiding force at Harnas.  Virtually every animal at Harnas is being given a second chance and would most likely be dead if not for Marieta vander Merwe..."



To order a copy of Soul of a Lion by Barbara Bennett click here.  Also available in book stores.

About the Author

Barbara Bennett is a professor of English at North Carolina State University and a frequent volunteer at Harnas Wildlife Foundation.  She has written numerous articles for local magazines and scholarly publications.  This is her first book.