City residents take part in a pilot project to live longer, better lives
TwinCities.com – Could Albert Lea be a new Blue Zone? For the past 10 months, the southern Minnesota town has tried to adopt the lifestyle habits of such places as Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; and Icaria, Greece, dubbed ‘Blue Zones’ because residents live [...]

United We Serve Brings Catholics and Muslims Together
Serve.gov – This year during Ramadan, right before the start of the United We Serve Interfaith Week of Service, the Interfaith Committee at my church, St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Arlington, Virginia, organized an iftar (dinner to break the Ramadan fast) for members of local Muslim communities. [...]

Acclaimed conductor brings music education to neighborhood kids

Twin Cities Planet – Mckenzie Martin – In 2008, Alsop founded OrchKids, an after-school music education program in low-income neighborhoods throughout the city. Through the program, students learn musicianship with the goal of improving the students’ social, academic and behavioral skills. Last year, 30 students participated in OrchKids, [...]

The Neighborhood Community Center, expected to open in November, will give students a place to do their homework and have fun, according to Janice Mitchell, the center’s organizer.
“It gives the kids a positive place to go,” Monroe said. “In Urbana, in our neighborhood, we don’t have any place.”
Mitchell, the parent-community outreach coordinator for the Urbana [...]