Saturday, March 17, 2007 

Cincinnati Change Addresses Foreclosure

Cincinnati and Cleveland will be the lead of a 50 city Alliance for Global Change, created by Cincinnati Change as a committee, that will use business process under license from companies from riverfront and lake front locations in the state of Ohio with a focus on a million households Foreclosed On.

The demonstration project will be 20,000 households.

They will be from a pool of a million households called Real Estate Owned (REO). REO is a term frequently used by lending institutions as applied to ownership of real property acquired for investment or as a result of foreclosure. These institutions will be asked for a pool of new funding that will provide -
  1. Support for a Financial & Homeownership Literacy Program to a million households as part of American Education program A-76 contract with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), a division of the US Federal Government. We will have a 1,000 non governmental organization (NGO) partners like the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC). The National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) is the nation’s foremost trade association for economic justice. We will have special demonstration programs in 50 cities that support 100,000 Veterans, 100,000 Small office Home office small businesses owners, 100,000 female head of households with children, 100,000 508/ADA clients , and 100,000 senior citizen lead households.
  2. Setup under United States Department of the Treasury through a A-76 contract that will address saving the sub-prime market. This will be demonstrated through a business process that is created that includes a pool of 20,000 foreclosed households in Ohio. Users of this pool would use a business process called American Justice in Homeownership created by Hershel Daniels, Junior and directed by Fred Hargrove, Sr. PE MBA. American Justice sets up negotiations that include lifestyle and career support in saving the homes of a million people in 100 cities on the average 12,000 per city with a failure rate of 25% out of a pool of 100% real estate owned by the banks. We will bring together over 1,000 partners to a American Justice in Homeownership Alliance run by Cincinnati Change and the American Alliance of Distance Learning and Training.
  3. American Action for Global Renewal in America to rebuild 50 cities through an alliance of Empowerment Zones based on a plan submitted by Lloyd Daniels Development Group (LDG) to the Cincinnati Empowerment Zone. This happened in 2002 when Hershel and Wanda Daniels owned LDG. Before it stopped operations it has seeded its rights for an investment of $40M in rights to purchase a patent granted to Hershel Daniels, Junior to a new enterprise to be called Cincinnati Change Company for Change, LLC. which will be 80% owned by Hershel and Wanda Daniels along with 20% by investors.
  4. Cincinnati Change through a Committee called Churches Can Change Cincinnati NOW and Cleveland Churches Can Change NOW will create a American International Faith based Alliance which will support these million households in their walk out of foreclosure through the creation of low moderate income money funds that will invest up to 60% of its funds in foreclosed debt owned by members of its syndicate.
For more action goto http://natiglobalchange.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, March 14, 2007 

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland State of the State Address

State of the State Address

Columbus, Ohio, March 14, 2007

Text of Governor Strickland’s State of the State Address

Living within our means. Investing in what matters.

Speaker Husted, President Harris, Leader Beatty and Leader Fedor, Lt. Governor Fisher and statewide elected officials, members of the General Assembly and the Supreme Court, distinguished guests, First Lady Frances Strickland, and my fellow Ohioans...


Let us begin these proceedings with a moment of silent reflection to honor the thousands of brave Ohioans who have served and are serving in the military, especially those who are in Afghanistan and Iraq, and those who have suffered injuries in these conflicts.

Thank you.

I am pleased to stand before you as the governor of the great state of Ohio.

We may have come here today from flatlands or foothills, from the banks of great rivers or the shore of a Great Lake, from a quiet village or a bustling city. But even in its glorious differences, Ohio is one state, and we are one people.

We love Ohio for all that it’s been. For all that it is. And for all that it can be if we work together for the common good.

So I ask you to join me in embracing the challenges before us.

Join me in declaring an ambitious vision for our state.

Join me in staking a claim on Ohio’s future.

Let me tell you that the state of our state is resilient. The state of our state is full of promise. And, my friends, the people of our state are ready to reject the status quo. They are ready to embrace transformational changes that will bring even better days ahead.

Ohio is the heart of our nation – with unique strengths in distribution and logistics and agriculture. Ohio is the heart of innovation – with world class universities, research hospitals, and a revolutionary commitment to new technology.

There should be no doubt. Ohio can thrive and Ohioans can thrive. Our people and our companies made the products of yesterday, and are making the products and providing the services of tomorrow.

But we must be open to new ways of doing things and new ways of thinking. The strategies and ideologies of the 20th Century will not make us strong in the 21st Century. As a writer

once observed, “The things that got us here will not get us there.”

The priority of my administration is to keep and create jobs that grow from Ohio’s strengths and that are worthy of Ohio’s workers.

Ohio can take the lead in the national and international economies.

And here’s just one example. Ohio has everything it takes to become a center of advanced energy technology. We have energy resources, technical know-how, manufacturing experience, and logistical advantages.

Next-generation energies – biofuels, fuel cells, clean coal, and renewable sources such as wind – offer us the opportunity to create jobs, support our farmers, reduce our dependence on foreign oil producers, and be responsible stewards of our environment.

That's why my administration will coordinate an almost 1 billion dollar investment in energy programs, to ensure energy will be an economic development leader in Ohio.

Over the next four years we will target 250 million dollars per year in tax exempt bond cap allocation to leverage billions of additional investment dollars in energy projects. We will broaden our Third Frontier investment. We will develop energy projects across technologies and across the state, and in doing so attract new investments and new jobs for Ohio.

Ohio will embrace new industries, new technologies, and a new economy. But our greatest strength will always be our people.

That’s why I am seeking to expand and improve our job training programs. This can be done without any new dollars from our budget – by simply using funds available from the federal government that have gone ignored.

The Federal Government’s Workforce Investment Act helps states provide job training. We’re 51st in making use of those funds.

Those resources can be put to use to provide demand-driven job training. Training targeted toward the jobs of the future, and available to meet the needs and fit the schedules of busy Ohioans.

Now we all believe in the importance of a good work ethic. It’s a crucial quality our young people need to succeed in life. But, let’s be candid, it’s difficult to develop a good work ethic without work.

Consequently, I’m proposing that the Department of Job and Family Services develop a grant program to encourage job training and job creation for young people in low income communities.

Participating employers will receive funds to support the training and wages of a young employee.

In the process, we can reach thousands of young men and women. Helping them get their foot in the door today and opening new doors for them in the future.

Transforming Ohio’s economy will require a partnership.

That’s why I have launched a new initiative called Advantage Ohio, a top to bottom review of state regulations to eliminate contradictory and obsolete rules. In the process, we will make it easier for companies to do business in Ohio while protecting the health and safety of our people.

As we embrace new ideas, we must acknowledge that our budget situation makes the challenges we face all the more daunting.

There is belt tightening ahead and it’s not a pleasant thing to do…Especially when we’re already dealing with shortfalls.

And so we face a choice.

We can take the easy route. We can continue divvying up our shrinking resources and spreading them around so that everybody is mildly satisfied while nothing is actually accomplished.

Or, we can make very tough choices. We can seek cuts, and savings where possible, enabling us to make meaningful investments which will lead to a transformed Ohio.

My budget reflects tough choices.

It’s a budget that does two things above all else. We live within our means. And we invest in what matters.

For the biennium, under my budget, of the 18 cabinet departments that rely on general revenue funds:

2 departments will absorb a cut.

9 departments will make do with funding that does not keep up with inflation.

While the remaining 7 departments will receive reasonable budget increases.

In the first year of my budget, general revenue spending will actually shrink, and over the two year span of the budget total spending will increase a modest 2.2 percent annually.

That’s lower than the growth rate in House Bill 66. In fact, it’s lower than any budget in the last 42 years.

So as we ask for sacrifice, we must demonstrate responsibility. Wastefulness and giveaways

can no longer be tolerated.

That’s why my budget eliminates the Ed Choice voucher program.

It limits the Student Choice Grant for students attending private colleges to those with a financial need.

It eliminates financial aid for students in proprietary for-profit schools not in the Board of Regents system.

It limits the discount on the state sales tax provided to large retailers.

It ensures that the Commercial Activity Tax applies broadly and equally across all sectors of the economy including the petroleum industry.

It captures for Ohio the full sales tax revenue generated from residents of other states who come here to buy motor vehicles.

It prevents shipments of untaxed cigarettes into our state – a dubious practice that hurts small business people, especially in border communities.

And there are many more examples in this budget where we will make cuts and find savings. Collectively, these decisions allow us to invest in what matters.

Now, for those tempted to cave in to the special interests, who will come asking you to restore this item and that loophole, my message to you is this: It’s time for shared sacrifice.

It’s time to come together in common purpose, and work for the common good.

And state government should set an example. To make the best use of the funds available, my administration is initiating the Ohio Government Accountability Plan.

The essence of the plan is to clearly state priorities, establish performance agreements with agency directors showing how they will pursue those priorities, and, then, measure the outcome to find out what worked and what didn’t.

We will create a vision for economic competitiveness and apply it across all state programs. Every department, not just the Department of Development, will be evaluated in part by its ability to keep, attract, and create jobs worthy of Ohio’s workers.

Let there be no confusion, even in the face of budget cuts, we in Ohio are not sounding the retreat. Far from it. What we do now will strengthen our state and strengthen our future.

But, it will not be easy.

Opportunity,” as Thomas Edison once said, “is missed by most people because it is dressed

in overalls and looks like work.”

And that’s exactly what’s ahead of us. Work.

Work to improve our schools.

Work to increase access to health care.

Work to prepare Ohioans for the jobs of the future.

And the opportunity to make Ohio stronger and healthier, now and for generations to come.

We were sent here to listen to the people and to each other. We were sent here to work together. We were sent here to leave this state in better shape than we found it.

That is our responsibility. That is our opportunity. That is our work.

Because the problems of the uninsured are our problems.

The struggles of a laid off worker are our struggles.

The future of a school child is our future.

And, let me add, the failure to fix what is broken, the failure to strengthen what is working, the failure to imagine what is possible, that, would be our failure.

I think, for the most part, we agree on the destination. We may differ about which route to take, but we must move forward. We can no longer sit stalled by the side of the road.

We must squarely face the most pressing problems in our state.

There are 156,000 children in Ohio without health insurance. And that’s 156,000 too many.

Many of the parents of those children live with fear each day. Fear of a broken bone or a bout with bronchitis that will not only bring pain to their child, but will bring bills that destroy their family’s budget.

Let me be plain: this is wrong. And we can make it right.

My budget will make access to affordable health coverage available for every single child in Ohio, and every young person up to the age of 21.

Under my proposed budget, we will offer State Children’s Health Insurance Program coverage to Ohio children whose parents make up to 300 percent of the federal poverty line. In a family of four, for example, that’s coverage for every child in every household whose family makes less than $62,000.

And for those who exceed that income limit but still lack insurance, we will provide those families an opportunity to buy into Medicaid coverage for their children.

We will also expand Medicaid eligibility for low income working parents up to 100 percent

of poverty and coverage of pregnant women up to 200 percent of poverty.

And for Ohioans with severe disabilities who want to work but who are afraid of losing their Medicaid coverage if they become employed, we will allow those individuals to work and to maintain coverage by buying into Medicaid.

And we are working with the insurance industry to expand available options for individuals who can’t afford coverage. I am seeking permission from the federal government to use Medicaid funds for private health insurance premium assistance. This would help as many as 300,000 Ohioans – those earning up to 150 percent of the poverty level – pay for coverage that is otherwise beyond their means.

And here’s a common sense investment we’re going to make.

We will expand the PASSPORT program to provide essential in-home services to more vulnerable older Ohioans who need a little help with their medical needs or daily needs, but who do not require the constant care of a nursing home.

It’s a popular program with seniors because it offers them dignity and choices. And because it works.

I inherited a waiting list for PASSPORT services when I took office. In response I issued a directive last week to open the PASSPORT program to everyone on that waiting list. And in my budget, I propose welcoming 5,600 additional participants to the program.

This is simply good policy – it meets a vital need for our seniors and for their families. And it saves taxpayers in the long run, because PASSPORT clients spend more time in their own homes and less time in nursing homes.

We must be committed to operating this program efficiently. I am troubled that Ohio has lost federal reimbursement dollars for PASSPORT by sitting on paperwork. That practice is over. Instead of months to file the paperwork, we’ll have it out in weeks, and we’ll receive more federal support in the process.

Let’s talk about one of the best investments we can make – early childhood education.

If your interest is the economy, if your interest is our social health, if your interest is our physical health, if your interest is education – at any level, for any age – then you must care about early childhood education.

Those early years affect everything. Research shows a better start for our children ultimately means that there will be less crime and more college, less teen pregnancy and more home ownership, less welfare and more health.

A modest investment during a brief period of childhood leads to a lifetime of positive outcomes.

But while every child deserves a fair start on their way to school, too many of our children begin the race not only well behind the starting line, but facing in the wrong direction. We cannot afford to abandon those children who face a poverty of resources and a poverty of experiences. We must recognize the facts: we have a readiness gap that leads to an achievement gap that results in an outcome gap.

So let’s fix it by increasing access to early childhood education.

Today we have a hodgepodge of confusing rules which makes it difficult for parents to take advantage of existing programs. For example, a child may be eligible for our Early Learning Initiative, but ineligible for subsidized child care.

We need one easily understood standard. In my budget, if a child’s family is under 200 percent of the poverty level, that child will be eligible for any early care and learning program we have.

We also need to expand our public pre-school offerings. My budget provides a $10 million expansion of public pre-school, expanding the number of 3 and 4 year olds taught by 66 percent.

This is the first expansion of the program since 1989.

As we expand access, we must increase the quality of a child’s educational experience as well.

My budget increases child care provider rates which will help attract and retain experienced and well-trained staff. And we will make funds available for professional development and training, the hiring of specialists in early childhood development, and interventions to promote school readiness.

And we will expand efforts to provide information and support to Moms and Dads.

Our Help Me Grow program serves families with children from newborn to 3 years old. As early as just a few weeks into their lives we offer an in-home visit from a nurse to help new parents in the crucial first days of a newborn’s life. The program provides vital information and resources on health, safety, and development. In my budget, we will expand the program to reach thousands of additional children.

Even as we include our youngest children in our early childhood education system, we must work harder to see that our young adults don’t find the door to higher education slammed in their faces by out of control tuition costs.

Today, the state spends less on instructional support for our universities than it did in 2000.

This defies common sense.

We know an educated workforce attracts jobs – economic forecasts show that more than 60 percent of new jobs will require a college degree. And yet, Ohio is 47 percent above the national average in public university tuition costs and 37th in producing college graduates.

My goal is clear and my budget sets the stage. In 10 years, we will increase the number of Ohioans with a college degree by 230 thousand, and we will increase the graduation rate among those who start college by 20 percent.

My budget sets two major initiatives to help make college affordable for every Ohioan.

First, I will establish a higher education compact between the state and our public colleges and universities which will result in lower tuition costs for our students. This compact will increase funding for the basic instructional subsidy by 5 percent next year. And by 2 percent more the following year.

To get their share of this historic funding increase, each public college and university must find ways to operate more efficiently.

And they must announce that there will be no tuition increase next year, and that tuition will increase no more than 3 percent the following year.

Think about that.

Instead of a tuition increase of 9 percent – and that’s what we’ve averaged in Ohio since 1996 – there would be absolutely no tuition increase next year.

This plan will benefit over 400 thousand students currently enrolled in our public colleges and universities, and will send a strong message to those planning for college.

Even with the compact in place, there will still be a gap between the cost of a college education and what many Ohio students and families can afford.

My second major initiative aims to fill that gap.

To do this, we will continue the full implementation of the Ohio College Opportunity Grant for all the public and private colleges in the Board of Regents system. This will provide assistance to families with incomes up to 75 thousand dollars per year – helping more than 100 thousand students pay for their education.

Next, we will partner with the business community and the Ohio College Access Network to attack the remaining gap between a student’s resources and the cost of college through private fundraising.

Our higher education system will be stronger – indeed it will actually become a system, unified in purpose – with the creation of a cabinet level Chancellor of Higher Education.

I appreciate the efforts of legislators to help redefine this position. And I appreciate the

decision of the Board of Regents to appoint Eric Fingerhut – who I think will be an outstanding Chancellor today and will only become more effective in the future.

If we do this right, education will feed the economy. Success will bring more success. And the beneficiaries of our efforts will not only be students in the classroom, but all Ohioans.

And as we seek improvements in higher education, and early childhood education, we will not abandon our constitutional responsibility for primary and secondary education.

To be sure, the legislature, previous administrations, local school boards, educators and our students have achieved significant progress in our schools.

SAT scores and ACT scores top the national averages. Proficiency tests reveal that our students exceed the national average in reading, in math, and in science. Our high school graduation rate is up 8 percent over the last 8 years.

President Harris, Speaker Husted, Leader Fedor, and Leader Beatty, you and your colleagues are to be thanked for the role you’ve played in improving Ohio’s schools. But there’s much work left to be done.

Too many Moms and Dads, and too many of our teachers can still say, without fear of contradiction, that their districts lack the resources necessary to provide their students with the quality education they deserve as citizens of Ohio.

We can do better.

And under my budget plan we will.

My proposals do not solve all the problems of our schools, but they represent a major advance toward providing adequate and equitable funding for our primary and secondary schools.

To begin, we must create a better system for knowing what we’re getting for our money. My budget addresses that need with a pilot project in which participating school districts will adopt a standard fiscal reporting system. In the second year, the Board of Education will be required to implement this transparent accounting system in every district in the state. This will finally let us see exactly where our money goes and what it accomplishes.

And just as we must closely and realistically track local spending, we must accurately acknowledge the full contribution the state makes to local schools. Currently we don’t include the full range of tax relief – which is real cash for local schools – when we calculate the state’s share of education spending. My budget will change that as well.

A true accounting of education spending reveals that less than half of local school funding currently comes from state resources.

Under my plan, our investment in schools will bring the state’s support for local school districts to nearly 54 percent in 2009. This likely reflects the largest percentage contribution of state resources to local school districts in the modern history of Ohio.

How do we do this?

First, we increase the amount of foundation funding per student by 3 percent in each of the next two years.

Second, we focus our aid formulas to put the emphasis on meeting students’ needs. In the process, many districts will receive additional funds, and no school district, not one, loses any state funding from what they have today.

Third, over two years, we will increase parity aid by more than 7 percent. And to ensure that that aid has the greatest effect, we will target the money to the 60 percent of districts most in need rather than spread it out among the 80 percent of districts as is now the practice.

Fourth, we will increase poverty based assistance by 22 percent over the biennium – adding both flexibility for schools in how they use the funds and the expectation that they demonstrate results.

And, finally, my budget will authorize securitizing Ohio’s tobacco settlement funds for approximately 5 billion dollars.

Armed with those resources, we will help firm the financial foundation of our school systems for at least a generation.

With 2.2 billion of that money, we will meet all current commitments of the school facilities commission. Within five years, every dollar will be in the hands of local school districts as they create facilities of the future.

The remaining resources – just over 2.8 billion dollars – will allow us to forego issuing bonds that are currently scheduled for the next three years.

As a result of not incurring this debt, avoiding principal and interest payments, 250 million dollars in general revenue funds will be made available each year for the next 20 years.

We will dedicate that yearly savings to the largest targeted property tax cut in the history of Ohio by expanding the Homestead Property Tax Exemption.

For those over 65, and the disabled, regardless of income, this will mean no property tax, not one penny, on the first $25,000 of value in their homes.

That’s a tax cut, a property tax cut for one in every four Ohio homeowners.

How does this help our schools?

Well, the state will replace the tax revenues lost due to the expansion of the Homestead tax cut. In other words, schools will have local property tax dollars replaced with state dollars.

Paying for our local schools is a responsibility that has been largely borne by local property tax payers. Many have argued, and the DeRolph decision agreed, an education system primarily dependent on the wealth of the local community is inherently unfair. Because where you grow up in Ohio should not determine where you end up in life.

With this plan we ease the burden on some of our most vulnerable property taxpayers and we strengthen the financial base of our schools.

Let me underscore, by 2009 the state will provide almost 54 percent of the funding for our local schools. That would be the highest level of state funding for local schools in the post-DeRolph era.

With additional funding, with additional parity aid and poverty based assistance, and with the Homestead property tax cut, we are making the biggest single advance toward an equitable education system in our state’s history.

A generation of Ohio students will benefit. And so too will parents. And taxpayers.

But this is possible only by making the tough decisions I spoke of earlier.

Even as we stabilize the funding foundation of our schools, we must reinvent the mission and performance of our education system.

Today, the goal is not to outshine Pennsylvania, or Indiana, or Kentucky. We must set high standards to prepare our young people to compete with the world, to win in the Global economy.

We must build educational systems that are fluid enough for creativity and innovations, and agile enough to adapt to the demands of our changing state and world.

We will weigh seriously the recommendations of experts – including a recent report from Achieve that was commissioned by the state Board of Education and financed by the Gates Foundation.

Their recommendations include:

Placing more responsibility with, and expectations on, our school principals in their role as instructional leaders.

Giving teachers more opportunity to learn and collaborate with their colleagues on effective teaching methods.

Using achievement and proficiency tests as a means of helping students move to higher levels of learning, and not just as a means of sorting and labeling students and school districts.

And they pointed out the unfairness of demanding more and more of our public schools while demanding less of charter schools supported with public tax dollars.

I believe the standards gap between our traditional public schools and other schools receiving public money is so glaring that we must act immediately. My budget imposes a moratorium on new charter schools and prohibits for-profit management companies from running charter schools. My budget eliminates the voucher program except for the means-tested voucher initiative in Cleveland.

I am also requiring that we closely monitor all charter schools to determine if they meet educational and fiscal standards of accountability.

As we take on questions of reform, as we take on questions of funding, the goal must be absolutely clear. We will have public schools that serve our children’s needs. All of our children.

I ask you to work with me today, tomorrow, and every day. So that together we can build an education system that every Ohioan is proud of.

As my Lt. Governor, and my great economic development director, Lee Fisher often says, “our success will depend on our willingness to make strategic investments in the unbreakable link between educational achievement and economic prosperity.”

I am well aware, the process does not end with these proposals, it begins.

President Kennedy often told of the general who asked a gardener to plant a sapling for him. The gardener objected that the kind of tree the general chose would grow slowly, and would not reach maturity for 100 years.

So the general replied, “Well, in that case, there is no time to lose; plant it this afternoon.”

Let me close today by speaking directly to the mother who knows her child will get sick, as all children do, and asks if she will be able to afford treatment.

And to a worker who sweats through a shift all day, then sits through a class at night, and asks if a better job awaits his efforts.

And to a grandparent who treasures his home, but worries that his health or his property taxes could push him out the door, and asks only for a chance to stay put.

And to all who listen to our challenges and ask if we can meet them.

We can.

With wisdom and the determination to make tough choices and invest our resources wisely:

We can improve access to health care, offer affordable coverage to every child in Ohio, and in-home assistance to seniors who need it.

We can bolster Ohio’s economy by building a more skilled and more educated workforce and capitalizing on our strengths.

We can reduce the burden on taxpayers while making our school funding more equitable. In other words, we can make Ohio schools constitutional, functional, and exceptional.

Because with the dawn of each day, there is hope of a new Ohio. Shaped by our people, forged by our ideas, and fueled by our ambitions.

Join me in a shared commitment to this standard: that with the dawn of each day, there comes a better Ohio, a stronger Ohio.

Proverbs tells us: “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick.” But, my friends, now is the time for hope. A new day is coming. A new Ohio awaits us.

Thank you and God Bless you.

Wednesday, February 28, 2007 

Fred Hargrove Senior PE MBA Chairman of Cincinnati Change

My name is Frederick Hargrove Sr. PE, MBA and I am a native Cincinnatian, born, raised and educated here. I grew up in many of the neighborhoods which have now been designated as empowerment zones.

I am the Chairman of Board of Cincinnati Change and a Professional Engineer.

Some Background: I came about Cincinnati Change to bridge the understanding that the Tri-state is politically fragmented and segregated by race and class. Through this organization and a faith based partner many poor Cincinnati residents will overcome their high degree of desperation and hopelessness. we will work with 50,000 Cincinnati Change Agents to overcome the belief that things cannot change. Cincinnati Change was created to “change this perception” by taking action to change Cincinnati NOW on June 19th, 2000 and took its first action at the 2000 Black Family Reunion.

In 2001, the founders of Cincinnati Change submitted a request to the Cincinnati Empowerment Corporation (CEC) that they set out procedures to issue $100M (now $130M)of revenue bonds to buy a patent and develop businesses that would have employed over 8,000 people. The request was updated in 2002 and again in 2003 at meetings that were held with the Cincinnati Empowerment Zone.

In 2004, the CEC set the procedures to issue the bonds through the Cincinnati Hamilton County Port Authority. In 2005, Cincinnati Change assembled a team to meet its organizational objectives through creation of a mutual fund to fund its mission in order to Change Cincinnati NOW. On June 19th, 2005 Cincinnati Change received its charter from the State of Ohio and stands ready to change Cincinnati NOW.

Cincinnati Change is creating a limited liability company called Queen City Development Group who will become operational 1 March 2007 through buying 40$ equity in a proposed LLC named MDDG. On Feb. 25th 2006 Cincinnati Change started to organize the community to develop approximately 15 acres " eight city blocks " of prominent waterfront property that has been pre-assembled, at one time, with the opportunity to tap into surrounding anchors that will, by 2009, generate approximately a 100,000 visitors annually to the area. Over 500,000 visits will happen from kids in the region and foreign exchange student visits. they will be housed in developments with 60% low incomes that are financed through established NYSE listed money funds.

Under the Cincinnati Change plan of action in action is the creation of the Cincinnati Change Change Agent 300 LLC. It will be headed by a executive board made up of the Cincinnati Change Treasurer Irvin Henderson, Rev. Charles Britton (ONG-Ret.), Dr. John Hurlimann, Pastor Wanda J Lloyd-Daniels of Churches Can Change Cincinnati NOW, Ammons United Methodist Men of Ammons United Methodist Church, Mens Conference of Cincinnati District, the 100 male march ministries, and a representative from ELMC LLC who will handle technology along with 8 other appointees.

Cincinnati Change has hired three companies I have equity in McGarw Daniels Development Group, Hargrove Engineering, LLC (which I own), and Education Learning Management Company LLC.(I am a managing director), along with Wilson Military Academy and other partners (including a 501(c)3) to be part of the team that proposes that we create a local master developer for the riverfront who will team with global development partnership.

Under my leadership I see Cincinnati Change as forging alliances with the faith based community and others to encourage increased economic stability in Hamilton County. We will do that by helping to rebuild the south with the development of a third frontier creative class information highway infrastructure for real estate development with partners like Accorn.

I have worked with other founders to create a joint venture company which will provide jobs through the acquisition and development of businesses, intellectual property and real estate properties through this lead developer which is to be called Queen City Development Group.

I went to school in Walnut Hills and graduated from Walnut Hills High School. I am a experienced 30 year Professional Engineer and have a Masters in Business Administration. I have lived in Japan and been around the world in my role as a consulting engineer.

I was born in the West End of Cincinnati, Ohio, shopped in Over the Rhine, and, when in college, I lived in Mt. Auburn and Clifton Heights. Most of my relatives were lived in Avondale and most of my school friends lived in Evanston.

Cincinnati has been my home and the home of my parents since the early 1950’s when they were forced to leave the south to avoid racial prejudice. As was consistent with the times, my parents came to Cincinnati to live with their relative and start a new life.

On September 25, 1954, I was born. I have lived in many different neighborhoods in Cincinnati and have spent most of my 48 years here. I have raised my family here and am proud of my heritage here.My education here started at Millvale Elementary, I was Valedictorian of my junior high school and graduated in the top 25% of my class at Walnut Hills High School. I was a National Merit Scholarship Finalist.

I went to the University of Cincinnati on full scholarship from General Electric for Metallurgical Engineering and a full scholarship from Proctor and Gamble for Mechanical Engineering. After graduation I went to work for Proctor and Gamble in their Engineering Division and was placed in their “fast track program for management candidates”.

During my tenure at Proctor and Gamble I designed many patentable devices,( not the least of which was the device which produced the “Folger’s Coffee Crystal”) but because I was an employee all such creations were the property of Procter and Gamble and I was proud to simply be doing my part.

After five years of proven service I was sent to school to get my MBA to continue my rise in the organization. I graduated from Hood College with an MBA in operations. At the time, Hood College, in Frederick Maryland, was rated as the best small college in the United States.In 1980 Procter and Gamble, went thru reorganization and my mentors, as were many other people, were displaced. The company downsized and since I was in school, I was part of that down sizing.

However fortune smiled on me and I was able to gain employment with NCI, the National Cancer Institute, at Fort Detrick in Frederick Maryland, as an engineer in charge of the design, construction and maintenance of research facilities. My experience at Procter and Gamble allowed me out shine all of my competition and promotions and recognition quickly followed.

During my stay there I was invited to join the Board of Directors at NIH, the National Health Institute in Bethesda Maryland.I was a technical advisor, offering advice on the feasible and safety of allowing certain contagious research to be done in the research facilities controlled by NIH. This experience brought me face to face with the latest technology for the control and containment of infectious disease and biological agents such as AIDS, all types of Cancers, Anthrax and other contaminants still listed as classified.

During my stay at Fort Detrick, I was co-opted by the United State Army to provide engineering support for their “experiments” at Fort Detrick. (As a point of information, Fort Detrick was the old biological warfare facilities for the United States Military). Fort Detrick is about 45 miles from Washington D.C. It was also the home of Air Force One and the East Coast Relay Station which was responsible for the defense of the entire eastern seaboard.) During my stay on the east coast I worked for NCI, NIH, and the Department of the Army and as a security contractor the Department of Defense.

Based on my experience I am qualified to design a secure level facility anywhere in the world and currently design hospitals. I am currently on assignment with one of the worlds biggest design/builders of hospitals. I am now designing the hospital of the future with partners that can be built today. I also worked for a firm responsible for design clean rooms and chip manufacturing rooms and designed one of the first class 1 clean room facilities.

In 1986 I received a call from Proctor and Gamble. It appeared they had a project which required certain expertise which was possessed by only a handful of people. I was one of them. It involved a cost saving project which resulted in a savings of approximately $200,000,000.00 per installation. Until this point they were unable to prove this technology.

My assignment was to prove this technology, install it, and perform a successful test. Six months later we had our first successful run of a technology which had the potential of saving billions of dollars in capital equipment requirements. Riding on this success, I decided it was time to venture out on my own.

I started what is now Hargrove Engineering L.L.C. in 1988. (It’s precursor, Hargrove Design and Drafting Services had started two years earlier, in 1986.) In the last eighteen years, I have personally led hundreds of design projects. I have actively participated in every design which has come into our office, whether it was a single family dwelling or a collaborative effort with NASA and Martin-Marietta to place a man on Mars. Our last two major government assignments was the management of the replacement of the roof at the US Army Tank Plant and a 2002 Homeland Security Contract for the city of Cincinnati Water Works.

Cincinnati has the opportunity to become the crown jewel of the Midwest once more. Acting in conjunction with a whole host of entities who believe there is still some majesty left in Cincinnati, we are attempting to be the catalyst for this revitalization. We profess a plan of overall inclusion with shared opportunities for everyone up and down the economic scale.

Our plan is to develop partnerships with experienced builders who can work with us to create a million smart homes by 2015. They will be for first responders, educators, public service employees, the military, fire fighters, police, health care workers and the students in creative class or third frontier organizations that bridge the gap to those who have not. We will use a already established mutual fund with over $600M in current investments.

No one can do this alone and we propose to do this because we are not alone. As long as there is good will among like-minded people dedicated to the improvement of life among the masses, we will never be alone.

I consider myself a product of the empowerment zones and along with partners like Hershel Daniels, Junior stand ready to develop housing under the authority of the President of the United States. I helped form on June 19th 2005 Cincinnati Change as my agent to do this.

_____________________________________________

In the Nati Cincinnati Change and partners will build the Global Total Distance Learning Management System headquarters. It will be used by clients as a tool that uses the MDDGjCOMM™ business model (MDDG) to develop a web mobile based product that empowers the student, teacher and guardian with the tools, instruction appropriate for their needs and operations most relevant to the business of education. Educators will use this our advanced 4th generation online standards repository to access state standards and carefully selected instructional resources to ensure curriculum alignment and identify standards that are most likely to appear on state exams.

It is goal of this interactive tool to give local teachers and schools the power to add local learning objectives and teacher-created resources establishing meaningful connections to mandated state standards. The product will deliver the highest quality correlation under constant review and analysis by a team dispersed around the globe through a call center that supports subject area experts from round the world using the latest technology from over 1,000 partners. Our users will be able to get content everywhere with our technology.

MDDG would issue $130M in Empowerment Zone Bonds to be used to create the physical infrastructure to support the creation of multimedia content production infrastructure, network operations center, research center and corporate headquarters and MDDG would invest $40M in patented (1996) switching methodology being used by Cisco Microsoft, Honeywell, Siemens, and others without permission. This patent would, MDDG believes, change the way existing communications network architectures operate and be only available to AT& T and or Sprint and other chosen partners, who will be approved by us and our strategic wireless partner (each of which operates a Tier 1 Internet backbone). This technology will be added to the MDDG business model to create a to be patented method which has been dubbed MDDGjCOMM™. In 2007 we will start to build on this platform as part of a 10 billion dollar investment in Cincinnati.

Thursday, February 08, 2007 

Lets Give Peace A Chance


We, Cincinnati Change, support the proposals made over at the Cincinnati Beacon for community councils. As a matter of fact will host them at our headquarters at 2439 Auburn Avenue whenever you want to start. Email us at fred@cincinnatichange.com and we will get right back to you.

Did the President lie to the American public ? Maybe, but before we get there we would need to have a special investigation (beyond Congress finally starting to do its job) in the middle of a WAR for Survival. Is it an impeachable offense - we obviously know it if we look at what Clinton was impeached for.

We still have to govern our way out of losing a battle in Iraq and avoiding a war with IRAN. Yes I said a battle. We are in a WAR. If you don't think so then none of this makes any sense to you. We will be at WAR for a decade of more even if we are wining the peoples hearts and minds through positive and concrete actions like we have done in the past.

As a prelude to action this May we propose a second war on domestic poverty. We would look this November 28th 2007 to declare a Global War on Living Standards that is based on the Revised UN The Millennium Development Goals as adopted in Cincinnati by 1 March 2007.

As part of these gaols we propose a program that will create 1,000 businesses including a program for 300 youth based businesses for people age 17 to 22. We would support 300 established Cincinnati businesses that support the arts, computer services, communications service providers and those businesses dealing with the Creative Class and or Third Frontier.

We would propose creating a global multimedia content production infrastructure tied to set locations around the world and creating 9,000 jobs by providing a seven way play to 500 million people based on the development in Cincinnati and Cleveland.

Sixty per cent of these jobs will come from residents of the low income Empowerment Zone of Cincinnati. Each household would receive a cafeteria of human, financial, entertainment, professional, legal, social and health services based on our development of a patent application through The United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO or USPTO) based on a Business Method Patent that supports the principles behind The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) guideline 26000 by June 19th 2007.

The ISO Working Group on Social Responsibility (WG SR) laid the foundations of ISO 26000 at its second meeting, 26-30 September 2005, in Bangkok, Thailand. ISO 26000 will give organizations harmonized, internationally agreed guidance for social responsibility, drawing on best practice and consistent with relevant declarations and conventions by the United Nations and its constituents, notably the International Labour Office (ILO). The standard will not contain requirements allowing ISO 26000 to be used for certification.

By August 1 2007 we would be set to bridge the digital divide in Cincinnati whereas 10,000 clients (HH in Hamilton County) would represent the marketplace and buy new homes in the Empowerment Zone over the next three years and an additional 2,000 in southwestern Ohio.

Cincinnati Change as agent for the patent holders (established and future) would provide services in a public private partnership based on already established city operations and the Municipal Code to create a competitive electronic connectivity network with a fiber star tied to regional loops.

This includes the creation of a private police force to bring peace to community councils who request such a force that will operate under the Municipal Code, laws of the state of Ohio and under federal law in obedience to the UN Human Rights Charter. These members will volunteer to support foreign peace operations in Africa.

Through Cincinnati Change and partners we would provide the aforementioned set of services to the 50,000 residents of the Cincinnati Empowerment Zone on a means tested basis through Community Councils that we would propose to be first established in Mt Auburn. From here we then can go wherever those who want to participate in discussion of how do we want our government ran.

We look forward to working with a global network of people who want to beat swords into the modern equivalent of plow shares. I just want to do it under our constitution with an active citizenry who will take care of their brothers and sisters, and do unto others as they would have others do to them and follow International human rights instruments .

Cincinnati Change believes that no matter how we got here we have been in a WAR since the early eighties. The so called War on Terrorism is now real and coming to a neighborhood near you unless we get this right. So we support community councils who are modeled on the Deacons for Defense, who after all just wanted peace.

Having lived in north Africa and many people who I know say we have made it more dangerous. Now is not the time to quit the fight because our foes wont recognize that we have quit the field of battle and bring more of the WAR here.

We want an energized peace movement that talking about how we create a world in which the target is not my country (the United States of America) and everybody works to those goals common to all men and women including earth warming (as part of Global Trade). Yes we have squandered good will like we had a barrel full since 9/11, yet we have to be prepared to defend the country from the Wars we are in - Global Trade and Terror.

In War on Terror we fight an enemy whose operational motto can be summed up as "God is our objective, the Quran is our Constitution, the Prophet is our leader, struggle is our way, and death for the sake of God is the highest of our aspirations."

In general this enemy advocates the creation of Islamic government, believing that God has set out a perfect way of life and social organization in the Quran. It expresses its interpretation of Islam through a strict religious approach to social issues such as the role of women, but also believes that Islam enjoins man to strive for social justice, the eradication of poverty and corruption, and political freedoms as defined by the Islamic state.

It strongly opposes westernization and supported Hitler during WWII. Among its founders goals as stated by the founder of the modern Muslim Brotherhood Hassan al-Banna was the doctrine of reclaiming Islams manifest destiny; an empire, founded in the seventh century, that stretched from Spain to Indonesia.

Only now they want the United States of American,.......they can wait.

Saturday, December 30, 2006 

The Start of the Legacy for a Marine

A man who saved my life is dead and the city has lost another leader. His life was lost, I know not why? When I knew him we had 1,000 kids enjoy a week long hip hop jam with no problems. That was 2005, its 2007.




RIP Richard


Hershel Daniels, Junior
Commander
Cincinnati Change, Inc.




Richard D. Muhammad, a Marine, was found dead at the Sycamore Hotel, 7759 Reading Road at about 11:30 p.m.

Monday, December 11, 2006 

Capital for a Billion Dollar Fund via Referendum

Cincinnati Change believes that if its our water works then we should sell the Cincinnati Water Works and the city railroad The Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific that we lease out and is operated by Norfolk Southern as part of their Central Division.

Then we will have real money to decide how to invest in a better Cincinnati. Cincinnati Change has hired a economist and engineer who estimated we could get over a 900 million dollars - the city not the region. Under this proposal we could could earn an extra 30 million a year, after equaling what these city owned assets earn the general fund.

Cincinnati Change believes that we should then invest that into people and the infrastructure to change Cincinnati over the next 30 years. To do that we look to bring together 300 social services and related agencies together who we look to create a unified solution to problems in the Nati with the following top ten areas of spending:
  1. Small Business Development Fund
  2. Creative Class Program with a focus on OTR & Uptown
  3. Third Frontier with a focus on Universal health Care for residents of the city
  4. Comprehensive All Sector Job Creation and Support
  5. World Class First Responder Human Services Infrastructure
  6. Neighborhood Development with a focus on Senior Citizen Housing Transition
  7. 30 years Lead Free Household program including 20,000 Homes
  8. Quality Low & Moderate Income Homes
  9. New Public Safety Program with built in Comprehensive Reentry Programing
  10. Young Peoples Support Network including the Recreation and Park System
Cincinnati Change is looking into using the Cincinnati Municipal Code Chapter 103 REFERENDUM MEASURES to sell the above assets and use the money to buy Cincinnati real estate (unlike the stock which is the current favorite of the pension funds). This would include key neighborhoods like OTR and like Mt. Auburn which would cost $350 million dollars to buy and or debt from institutions that want to stay in our neighborhoods like Christ Hospital which needs to build new facilities and buy new equipment to reduce the age of their infrastructure - we guess over $700M over the next ten years. All this would earn us at least 7% annually.

And our water quality would stay the same or go up through an agreement with the new owners. We would establish as part of this plan an independent office of environmental quality who would test the water and make their reports public. Under this plan this office would also monitor lead and other deadly substances in the city along with air quality through the 20,000 meteorological stations that would be built in the city.

These monies would even cover the city general fund as our current money fund managers of the 2 billion dollar city pension fund can not earn enough money to cover expenses. So far to the tune of 16 million dollars a year or more. This money then has to come out of the general fund.

If the question of private ownership bothers you then have the 2 billion dollar pension fund buy them.

Monday, September 18, 2006 

Freed Citizen

Posted by Picasa
a newspaper established June 19th 2006
________________________________________________________

Martin Luther King invoked the American Dream in what is perhaps his most famous speech: "Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends. And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American Dream."

The American Dream is the belief that in the United States of America, hard work and determination can lead to a better life, usually through the earning of money. These were values held by many early European settlers, and have been passed on to the newer generations - including African Americans in the state of Ohio.

Freed Citizen Media will tell record their history and the actions that affect their and surrounding communities through the monthly Freed Citizen Newspaper.

publisher : Hershel Daniels, Junior
e-mail : fcpub@cincinnatichange.com

2439 Auburn Avenue
Cincinnati, Ohio 45219
Phone: 513.257.2552
letters to paper : freedcitizen@cincinnatichange.com
editorial : fceditor@cincinnatichange.com
ads : mam@cincinnatichange.com

Wednesday, September 13, 2006 

The American Dream


Martin Luther King invoked the American Dream in what is perhaps his most famous speech: "Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends. And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American Dream."

The American Dream is the belief that in the United States of America, hard work and determination can lead to a better life, usually through the earning of money. These were values held by many early European settlers, and have been passed on to the newer generations - including African Americans. The United States remains a magnet for immigrants today, receiving 1 million legal entrants annually — the largest influx in the world.

We ask this question, "If the U.S. becomes something along the lines of Mexico, do we all stand to lose something?"

As the Anglo-Euro population diminishes, why would people, who would under some peoples plans become voting American citisens, from alien cultures subscribe to the prescriptions of a Thomas Jefferson, or care about the legacy of Magna Carta? The Magna Carta is often a symbol for the first time the citizens of England were granted rights against an absolute king.

We will speak over the coming days of all those jobs that "Americans won't do". We take the position that these jobs were being done as recently as 15 years prior by Americans who worked as roofers, framers, drywallers, body, fender repairmen, truck drivers and janitors. Prior to the mass deluge, native-born minority citizens dominated these occupations and were able to sustain their families on their salaries.

Monday, September 11, 2006 

9/11

This WAR is for REAL !

Who we at War with in totality is not yet clear, but to get out of a difficulty, one usually must go through it. The war in Iraq is a very large battle front. Even the War on Terror now is just a battlefront.

Cincinnati Change believes that the United States of America, our country, is now facing the most serious threat to its existence, as we know it.

This War will be as bloody as the Civil War and as great a challenge as the Second World War.

We are in World War IV whether we like it or not, or whether we know it or like it. We cannot appease our out of this, the other side wants to win.

The deadly seriousness is greatly compounded by the fact that there are very few of us who think we can possibly lose this war and even fewer who realize what losing really means.

First, let’s examine a few basics:

1. When did the threat to us start?

Many will say September 11, 2001. The answer as far as the United States is concerned is 1979, 22 years prior to September 2001, with the following attacks on us:

* Iran Embassy Hostages, 1979;
* Beirut, Lebanon Embassy 1983;
* Beirut, Lebanon Marine Barracks 1983;
* Leon Klinghoffer October , 1985
* Lockerbie, Scotland Pan-Am flight to New York 1988;
* First New York World Trade Center attack 1993;
* Dhahran, Saudi Arabia Khobar Towers Military complex 1996;
* Nairobi, Kenya US Embassy 1998;
* Dares Salaam, Tanzania US Embassy 1998;
* Aden, Yemen USS Cole 2000;
* New York World Trade Center 2001;
* Pentagon 2001.

WE WILL NEVER FORGET
(Note that during the period from 1981 to 2001 there were 7,581 terrorist attacks worldwide).

Thursday, September 07, 2006 

Hows this for a practical approach to the illegal invader problem

CINCINNATI CHANGE believes that one of crucial root causes of crime is poverty and that we can change the conditions from which crime takes root. It is a mission of Cincinnati Change to change the conditions in which children live so that they can grow up and become adults in a nurturing and supportive community environment.

The War on Terrorism and the hope for Democracy has a problem illegal invaders in the country.

Cincinnati Change has what it believes is an example of a practical approach to the illegal invader problem.

We use the term illegal invader because that is who this solution is aimed at. If you have not broken the laws of the United States of America then the term does not apply to you. If it does we hope to create an example in Cincinnati that can provide for more secure borders within 150 days from a administrative and training headquarters located in Cleveland, Ohio.

Cincinnati Change will propose a A-76 Contract to provide totally secure borders within three years using the full resources of the federal government combined with state and local governments in cooperation to this vital national goal with a coalition of 300 corporate partners, 1,000 small business enterprises and 10,000 non governmental and faith based change agent partners.

We support a 20 year sunset law granting 50 million visas allowing foreigners legal immigrants status. This would allow them to work for 20 years in the United States at a cost of $50,000. This would include support of family unification by not subtracting the visas given to immediate relatives of U.S. citizens from visas available to all family immigrants. thereby the Illegal Invaders in this country could apply for up to 20 to 30 million visas over the next three years - they would have to sign and or their country a $50,000 Individual American Citizenship performance Bond;

Cincinnati Change will build in support for agricultural workers that builds on current law and regulation as an example while working to provide a path to legal, permanent residency and citizenship for college age students and or those in service to the federal government;

Cincinnati Change supports the application of due process rights for the illegal invaders who are facing deportation, including access to fair, humane and follow established legal procedures such as a speedy trials through remote court operations, and the creation of a pool of adequate counsel and will work in greater Cincinnati to create such an infrastructure using our patent license;

Cincinnati Change is a non governmental organization who is not a 501 C 3 organization who supports efforts to penalize anyone for providing humanitarian assistance to illegal invaders by providing American citizens in need with assistance determined by a local faith based lead coalition of community service providers at the local level such as what we will look to assemble in Cincinnati. In addition, we support our fellow human beings in their native countries in need of help. To that end we will team up with Ammons United Methodist Church and their operations to create economic and community development infrastructure through the co development of infrastructure for the 20 to 30 million illegal invaders in the United States of America, that in turns finances development in their home country and works to stop their migration;

We support efforts to require, encourage and/or deputize state and or local police to enforce federal immigration laws with oversight through the US State department;

We support the mandatory detention of undocumented invaders. Cincinnati Change will support the Department of Homeland Security by providing for the detention of up to 100,000 individuals indefinitely. This will happen within 150 days from acceptance of our A-76 proposal to DHS from an Network Operations Center located at 2439 Auburn and growing to include over 4 million sq. ft. of mixed use development in support of the network facilities that will house a million undocumented invaders. Most of these will be faith based run but overseen by the coalition created by Cincinnati Change in Cincinnati, Ohio and;

Cincinnati Change will create an A-76 Coalition to creates a contract with the US Government to create a low-level Citizenship and Immigration Digital Support Service that supports personnel exercising legal authority to judge the good moral character of an applicant for citizenship complete with thorough identity background checks and judge which type of facility that individual will go to.

We believe that the new phase the war is going in that it will have even a longer term affect on us as citizens of the United States of America. Our job is to make sure that the 8 trillion dollars spent since September 11th 2001 was spent as the 1st Phase as we rebuild America over the next five years.

Cincinnati Change will propose that we, Citizens of the United States and the 50 million people who want to become citizens spend $10 trillion dollars worldwide to bring about democracy, safe communities and peacefull coexistence with the coalition created by the United States of America and it's allies in the War.

Cincinnati Change will be one of the co-founders of a business that is majority African American owned and will be a Professional Military Corporation. One that serves clients from around the world but for Cincinnati Change will implement it's A-76 proposal through a stratagic partnership with 1,300 companies and 10,000 non governmental organizations and faith driven organizations.

At Cincinnati Change we believe that our nation can stand as a shining example to all the world of freedom and democracy, a unique honor that comes with a responsibility to lead. First we must make our streets safe and our communities secure. In Cincinnati we can create an example that can be used throughout the United States and the world.

We can and have to win the War on Terror in Cincinnati, first with Peace in the Hood with Jobs in the Hood.

We don't have all the answers but through the net we hope to bring about change in greater Cincinnati that is, in part, coordinated through a public private faith based partnership called Nati Action Agency. This organization will be formed on 17 September 2006 by Cincinnati Change and partners

Wednesday, September 06, 2006 

An Example of Leadership

At the close of the Revolutionary War in America, a perilous moment in the life of the fledgling American democracy occurred as officers of the Continental Army met in Newburgh, New York, (Newburgh was the headquarters of the Continental Army) to discuss grievances and consider a possible insurrection against the rule of Congress.

They were angry over the failure of Congress to honor its promises to the army regarding salary, bounties and life pensions. The officers had heard from Philadelphia that the American government was going broke and that they might not be compensated at all.

General Washington calls for a confidential meeting with Generals Henry Knox and Jedediah Huntington to formulate a response to the Newburgh conspiracy, a plot by a group of officers to force the army’s will upon Congress. The “General orders of yesterday” refers to Washington’s orders telling his officers not to attend and unauthorized meeting but to wait for another. An anonymous circular dated March 10, written by Colonel Walter Stuart, in which it was proposed that the officers refuse to disband when the war ended if the Congress did not meet their demands.

On March 10, 1783, an anonymous letter was circulated among the officers of General Washington's main camp at Newburgh. It addressed those complaints and called for an unauthorized meeting of officers to be held the next day to consider possible military solutions to the problems of the civilian government and its financial woes.

General Washington stopped that meeting from happening by forbidding the officers to meet at the unauthorized meeting. Instead, he suggested they meet a few days later, on March 15th, at the regular meeting of his officers.

Meanwhile, another anonymous letter was circulated, this time suggesting Washington himself was sympathetic to the claims of the malcontent officers.

And so on March 15, 1783, Washington's officers gathered in a church building in Newburgh, effectively holding the fate of democracy in America in their hands.

Unexpectedly, General Washington himself showed up. He was not entirely welcomed by his men, but nevertheless, personally addressed them...

Gentlemen:

By an anonymous summons, an attempt has been made to convene you together; how inconsistent with the rules of propriety, how unmilitary, and how subversive of all order and discipline, let the good sense of the army decide...

Thus much, gentlemen, I have thought it incumbent on me to observe to you, to show upon what principles I opposed the irregular and hasty meeting which was proposed to have been held on Tuesday last - and not because I wanted a disposition to give you every opportunity consistent with your own honor, and the dignity of the army, to make known your grievances. If my conduct heretofore has not evinced to you that I have been a faithful friend to the army, my declaration of it at this time would be equally unavailing and improper.

But as I was among the first who embarked in the cause of our common country. As I have never left your side one moment, but when called from you on public duty. As I have been the constant companion and witness of your distresses, and not among the last to feel and acknowledge your merits. As I have ever considered my own military reputation as inseparably connected with that of the army. As my heart has ever expanded with joy, when I have heard its praises, and my indignation has arisen, when the mouth of detraction has been opened against it, it can scarcely be supposed, at this late stage of the war, that I am indifferent to its interests.


But how are they to be promoted? The way is plain, says the anonymous addresser. If war continues, remove into the unsettled country, there establish yourselves, and leave an ungrateful country to defend itself. But who are they to defend? Our wives, our children, our farms, and other property which we leave behind us. Or, in this state of hostile separation, are we to take the two first (the latter cannot be removed) to perish in a wilderness, with hunger, cold, and nakedness?

If peace takes place, never sheathe your swords, says he, until you have obtained full and ample justice; this dreadful alternative, of either deserting our country in the extremest hour of her distress or turning our arms against it (which is the apparent object, unless Congress can be compelled into instant compliance), has something so shocking in it that humanity revolts at the idea.

My God! What can this writer have in view, by recommending such measures? Can he be a friend to the army? Can he be a friend to this country? Rather, is he not an insidious foe? Some emissary, perhaps, from New York, plotting the ruin of both, by sowing the seeds of discord and separation between the civil and military powers of the continent? And what a compliment does he pay to our understandings when he recommends measures in either alternative, impracticable in their nature?


I cannot, in justice to my own belief, and what I have great reason to conceive is the intention of Congress, conclude this address, without giving it as my decided opinion, that that honorable body entertain exalted sentiments of the services of the army; and, from a full conviction of its merits and sufferings, will do it complete justice. That their endeavors to discover and establish funds for this purpose have been unwearied, and will not cease till they have succeeded, I have not a doubt.

But, like all other large bodies, where there is a variety of different interests to reconcile, their deliberations are slow. Why, then, should we distrust them? And, in consequence of that distrust, adopt measures which may cast a shade over that glory which has been so justly acquired; and tarnish the reputation of an army which is celebrated through all Europe, for its fortitude and patriotism? And for what is this done? To bring the object we seek nearer? No! most certainly, in my opinion, it will cast it at a greater distance.

For myself (and I take no merit in giving the assurance, being induced to it from principles of gratitude, veracity, and justice), a grateful sense of the confidence you have ever placed in me, a recollection of the cheerful assistance and prompt obedience I have experienced from you, under every vicissitude of fortune, and the sincere affection I feel for an army I have so long had the honor to command will oblige me to declare, in this public and solemn manner, that, in the attainment of complete justice for all your toils and dangers, and in the gratification of every wish, so far as may be done consistently with the great duty I owe my country and those powers we are bound to respect, you may freely command my services to the utmost of my abilities.

While I give you these assurances, and pledge myself in the most unequivocal manner to exert whatever ability I am possessed of in your favor, let me entreat you, gentlemen, on your part, not to take any measures which, viewed in the calm light of reason, will lessen the dignity and sully the glory you have hitherto maintained; let me request you to rely on the plighted faith of your country, and place a full confidence in the purity of the intentions of Congress; that, previous to your dissolution as an army, they will cause all your accounts to be fairly liquidated, as directed in their resolutions, which were published to you two days ago, and that they will adopt the most effectual measures in their power to render ample justice to you, for your faithful and meritorious services.

And let me conjure you, in the name of our common country, as you value your own sacred honor, as you respect the rights of humanity, and as you regard the military and national character of America, to express your utmost horror and detestation of the man who wishes, under any specious pretenses, to overturn the liberties of our country, and who wickedly attempts to open the floodgates of civil discord and deluge our rising empire in blood.

By thus determining and thus acting, you will pursue the plain and direct road to the attainment of your wishes. You will defeat the insidious designs of our enemies, who are compelled to resort from open force to secret artifice. You will give one more distinguished proof of unexampled patriotism and patient virtue, rising superior to the pressure of the most complicated sufferings. And you will, by the dignity of your conduct, afford occasion for posterity to say, when speaking of the glorious example you have exhibited to mankind, "Had this day been wanting, the world had never seen the last stage of perfection to which human nature is capable of attaining."


George Washington - March 15, 1783


This speech was not very well received by his men. Washington then took out a letter from a member of Congress explaining the financial difficulties of the government.

After reading a portion of the letter with his eyes squinting at the small writing, Washington suddenly stopped. His officers stared at him, wondering. Washington then reached into his coat pocket and took out a pair of reading glasses. Few of them knew he wore glasses, and were surprised.

"Gentlemen," said Washington, "you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have not only grown gray but almost blind in the service of my country."

In that moment of utter vulnerability, Washington's men were deeply moved, even shamed, and many were quickly in tears, now looking with great affection at this aging man who had led them through so much. Washington read the remainder of the letter, then left without saying another word, realizing their sentiments.

His officers then cast a unanimous vote, essentially agreeing to the rule of Congress. Thus, the civilian government was preserved and the young experiment of democracy in America continued.

About me

  • I'm Cincinnati Change
  • From Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
  • CINCINNATI CHANGE believes in mixed-use development whereas the poor and moderate income people, in der Nati, will be able to use their assets so as to have a great quality of life for themselves, their family and their children and their children's children along with ours.
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