User:ElizabethOgunsuyi/sandbox

CHRISTINE QUINN WIKIPEDIA ARTICLE DRAFT:

Controversy Regarding Council Funds

Under New York City law, the City Council Speaker has authority over the yearly City Council funds, worth almost $400 million (in 2012), to distribute among 51 members. Since her 2005 re-election, Quinn has served the city of New York in this capacity weighed with much responsibility. The discretionary funding system sometimes referred to as the "slush fund" has been criticized in recent years, with some councilmembers alleging Quinn to have cut funding to their districts as a form of political retaliation. Quinn has repeatedly denied these allegations. A council member who brought such allegations against Quinn is Brooklyn City Council member, Charles Barron. Barron and the 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care organization demanded the immediate resignation of Quinn as New York City Council Speaker for her inappropriate dispersal of the "slush fund" to fake organizations. These two parties questioned the authenticity of Quinn's plea that she was completely unaware of the improper money handling occurring under her leadership and they viewed her even more suspiciously when she attempted to reform the city's budget to alleviate the damage caused by the "slush fund."

In April 2008, the New York Post revealed that Quinn's office had appropriated millions of dollars to organizations that do not exist, and that the money was then secretly routed to organizations favored by individual council members. In a news conference that followed Quinn said, "I had no knowledge of it; I did not know this was the practice". Quinn said that she found out about it only a few months earlier, alerted authorities, and ordered staffers to stop the practice, but they did not listen. Quinn hired a criminal defense lawyer to represent her in the federal and city investigations. Records showed that nearly 25 percent of those "secret slush" funds went to organizations in Quinn's district, and that two of the biggest recipients of the funds had contributed to Quinn's 2009 mayoral run. In September 2011, one of the city council's lawyers reported that the federal "investigation has been closed without taking up any action," but only after two councilmen were indicted at the cost of $100,000 to the City.

Despite this, however, strong demands for Quinn's resignation, money laundering investigations against her, and the overall political controversy surrounding Quinn did not help her 2013 bid for New York City mayor--a bid in which she hoped to change the world--despite receiving support in the Democratic primaries from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Rather, Bill de Blasio proved to be the stronger candidate than her to ultimately win the title of New York City mayor.

Following this controversy, Quinn had no other option but to seek other avenues to rectify the damage done to her career, image, and reputation. For instance, she increased her social activism with many gay and lesbian causes as well as homelessness advocacy.

Controversy Regarding Community Safety Act

In 2013, Council Speaker Quinn received much backlash and critique for her views concerning New York City's Community Safety Act. Quinn was wary that the Act would do more harm than good for the New York Police Department. Specifically, Quinn opposed measures to ban racial, religious, and identity profiling believing such would introduce an array of lawsuits against NYPD. On the contrary, Quinn supported the Act's measure to increase the number of police officers, expand usage of mobile cameras, and the creation of an app notifying police of local dangers.

Quinn's opposition to parts of the bill occurred shortly after the fatal Boston Marathon bombing in which ethnic tensions proved to be at an all time high in the U.S. President of the NAACP New York State Conference, Hazel Dukes, National Action Network President, Reverend Al Sharpton, and spokesperson for Communities United for Police Reform, Joo-Hyun Kang accused Quinn of failing justice and minority communities in New York at a time when most needed.

Primary Education Reform Efforts

Two years into her term reelection in 2012, Council Speaker Quinn proposed mandatory kindergarten. Quinn explained in her State of the City address that "every year, nearly 3,000 5-year olds in New York City don't enroll in kindergarten...That means thousands of kids enter first grade every year having never set foot in a classroom. Most of them are kids who need it most. Kids whose first language is not English or come from transitional homes for example. Legislation to implement the proposal was stalled for concerns regarding funding. Mayor Bloomberg noted that although educational reform is a worthy measure and priority to many, including him, mandatory kindergarten requires $30 million from the city of New York that is not yet feasible. Nevertheless, Quinn and other council members brainstormed ways to work around this hurdle.

Post-Council Activities

In 2013, Quinn's memoir, With Patience and Fortitude – A Memoir, was published by William Morrow. It sold poorly, with the New York Times reporting only 100 copies sold its first week.

In October 2014, Quinn stumped for New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's Women's Equality Party established by Cuomo in July 2014. When asked about the Working Families Party's criticism of the creation of a competing progressive party, she said, "Change is hard."

In January 2015, Gov. Cuomo hired Quinn as a special advisor.

In 2015, Quinn became President and CEO of Women in Need (WIN), a nonprofit organization that is one of New York City's largest providers of services to homeless women and children and a role she still currently occupies. WIN serves more than 11,600 people annually and has placed 750 families into permanent housing last year all while operating 11 homeless shelters in four different boroughs. Since Quinn's first job was as a housing organizer for poor and homeless people, Quinn noted that she had come full-circle with her new role as leader of WIN. Quinn said she was hoping to continue the good work of WIN's previous longtime leader, Bonnie Stone, and use a holistic approach to help women facing domestic violence, eviction, and other issues. Quinn was forthcoming in her approach having taken New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to court contesting his homelessness policy. Specifically, Quinn disliked the policy for not only was it created not in accordance with the rule making established under the Citywide Administrative Protection Act (CAPA) but, also, it made it increasingly harder for homeless adults to seek refuge in shelters. Quinn felt obligated to address a growing, local program in her community that she could no longer ignore given her leadership role on New York's City Council. Leading the Council as Speaker, Quinn successfully shut down the policy measure proposed by Mayor Bloomberg that would require homeless persons to prove that they lacked alternative housing or virtually could not live anywhere else before shelter provisions were made by the city.

WIKIPEDIA ARTICLE EVALUATION:

Contributions to the following article: "Running Start: Bringing Young Women to Politics"

My objective is to provide clarifications to the article from a first hand perspective having worked as a Running Start Intern in 2016.

-Before jumping into an "overview" section, a history section should be provided detailing the organization's founding by Susannah Wellford under the WUFPAC. -The terminology of "Campaign College" is outdated for it has since been changed to "Elect Her" which is the training program provided by Running Start to advise young women in their student government pursuits. -The Women to Watch Awards is actually the Young Women to Watch Awards and, in recent years, has been held at the National Museum of Women in the Arts rather than the National Press Club. -Can include a section of similar organizations that also collaborate with Running Start like She Should Run and American Association of University Women. -The article lacks a picture. I believe Running Start's logo would suffice. -At the end of the article, pictures of the organization's old office building and new one can be included. ] -Include personal backgrounds of the staff: Susannah Wellford (Founder), Melissa Richmond (Vice President), and Sara Blanco (Operations Manager). -Testimonials of participants of YWPL, for example, would be a great addition attesting to the organization's success and impact. -A few links do not work/are irrelevant.

1. Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you? The article's information is relevant to the topic and does not drift from informing the audience of the history, purpose, and initiatives of Running Start. 2. Is the article neutral? Are there any claims, or frames, that appear heavily biased toward a particular position? The article is neutral as it is mostly just informative. 3. Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented? None 4. Check a few citations. Do the links work? Does the source support the claims in the article? Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference? Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted? All but two of the links cited from a total six. Among these two links, they are a bit outdated which explains why the article's information is outdated too with old terms and sparsely detailed accounts of specific events and programs. Additional and yet better research of the organization is required. 5. Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added? A few information is out of date for the annual Young Women to Watch Awards is held in March not May. I would also mention Running Start's internship program that runs all year. Interns, along with Star Fellows, have weekly Friday seminars meeting a range of dignitaries like Jessica Grounds, Gail Wilson, and Nancy Bocskor. 6. Check out the Talk page of the article. What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic? There is a complaint that the article lacks mention of the factual history and representation of the non-profit and neither information regarding its mission statement, board of directors, etc. 7. How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects? None 8. How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class? The article is very impersonal compared to in class when we learned about the founding of Running Start from Jessica Grounds. It would be great to not just have a textbook description of Running Start but, also, to include testimonials from Running Start alumnae.

ElizabethOgunsuyi (talk) 02:25, 16 March 2018 (UTC)Elizabeth Ogunsuyi

ElizabethOgunsuyi (talk) 03:08, 30 January 2018 (UTC)Elizabeth

ElizabethOgunsuyi (talk) 03:09, 30 January 2018 (UTC)Elizabeth

ARTICLE EVALUATION (NANCY PELOSI):

-Citation needed after "Pelosi said that she had attended John F. Kennedy's inaugural address when he became President in January 1961." -More information concerning Pelosi's committee assignments could be included -Article repeats Pelosi's "first" wins often: "first woman, first Californian, etc..." -Good coverage of social issues -Financial Status not applicable to personal background -1st citation unrelated to Pelosi -Last citation does not function

ElizabethOgunsuyi (talk) 03:14, 29 January 2018 (UTC)Elizabeth