Getting your software engineers as close to the client as possible is a fundamental tenant of agile software development. The more engineers get to know and understand customers, the more passionate they can become about their work. Like many software companies, we've tried a variety of techniques to achieve this level of understanding: visiting with clients, participating in sales demos, joining focus group conference calls, and more. But I've always thought an ideal way to establish and grow this connection would be to leverage Talent Symposium, our annual user conference. After all, what better place to interact with hundreds of clients from dozens of healthcare organizations over just a few days?
But how do we address the concern that taking engineers off their work routine would impact product development? What if we could get engineers to interact with clients and develop new features at the same time? As a product management leader, how can I encourage these sorts of important interactions?
I worked with my colleagues in marketing, sales, and engineering, and our brainstorming led us to try the hackathon concept, or rapid on-site feature development, at our Talent Symposium. The HeathcareSource Hackathon was born.
Engineering was excited by the challenge, and we in product management wanted to make sure our clients would get impactful features. We surveyed attendees for their wish list of enhancements and then reviewed the results against our backlog to choose three options for each product that would be achievable in two to three days while also appealing to as many clients as possible.
Now it was in the hands of our talented developers, who got to work in our product demonstration area. Clients could come in and see how the work was progressing and provide real-time feedback.
Client after client mentioned to me how much they enjoyed the voting and how nice it was to see a company so engaged with its users. "Who does this for their clients?" was my favorite quote from a partner who couldn't believe we were trying to build client-selected features right on site.
I watched as users engaged with developers, impressed as the seemingly endless lines of code turned into simple and efficient user experiences. And the engineers were in their element, talking with passion about what they do every day. They truly enjoyed the appreciation and understanding of how even small improvements could make a big difference in our clients' lives.
Did we deliver? It was down to the wire in the pre-dawn hours of the last day of Talent Symposium as we gathered the results of the Hackathon into slides to review at the closing remarks.
Attendees at that final session cheered and applauded louder and louder as each completed feature was reviewed (we'll be sharing the details in next week's product release notes). And when it was announced that the team had over-delivered and completed a fourth feature as well, the ovation was powerful. Unfortunately, most of our developers had to fly out early and missed this final moment, but the one who was able to stay was clearly touched.
In the end, we got four enhancements removed from the backlog in two days. And while that alone is exciting, had no features been completed, the hackathon still would have been a success. Clients engaged directly with the engineering team, which was a unique and valuable experience for all involved. They left the event with new insights through a better understanding of each others' passions and challenges. We couldn't have been more pleased with the results of our first Talent Symposium Hackathon, and we fully expect this to become a regular part of our annual event.
For other product management and development leaders who are trying to find ways to get their engineers closer to customers, I can say that it is an invaluable experience. Working with other departments and creating some controlled scenarios that work toward your goals can allow such endeavors to be a win on multiple fronts.
Russ Wakelin is the Vice President of Product Management for HealthcareSource. He leads the our product management group and is responsible for strategic vision, prioritization, and continuous feedback. He has led teams that design and deliver software solutions for over 25 years and has developed a passion for leveraging analytics to optimize workflows. Prior to HealthcareSource, Russ worked in a variety of highly regulated industries tackling complex problems such as utility usage and billing, vehicle registration for municipal and state governments, and submarine maintenance for IBM and the U.S. Navy.


The world of Music is a poorer place today following the sad news that pioneer of electronica and founder of Tangerine Dream, Edgar Froese died on Tuesday in Vienna.
Froese's son announced the news and reported that his father had suffered a sudden pulmonary embolism which proved fatal.
Originally linked in with the Krautrock movement during the late 60s and early 70s, Froese and Tangerine Dream ended up ploughing their own musical furrow, slightly different to that of their counterparts - bands such as Neu!, Kraftwerk, Faust, Can and Harmonia, who ran with motorik musical soundscapes and driving rhythms.
Tangerine Dream preferred to work with ambient sounds and spacey, trippy melodies - perhaps more in common with synth bands and electronic acts of the following decades than of its time.
Over their career they released more than 100 albums and in fact produced music for very well known films in the 80s, so even if you think you've never heard of them- chances are you've heard their music in film soundtracks without realising it.
During the 1970s, the band came to the attention of John Peel and were eventually signed to Virgin records at the labels inception in 1973.
In 1974, they produced their seminal album "Phaedra" which is, among, electronic music fans, on of the most important works ever created.
Whilst Froese was heavily involved in electronic music, he never aligned himself fully to it - stating that he was open to, and loved many other forms of music - especially guitar driven rock. However, he felt he could never match up to the talents of many English speaking rock artists, so moved in a different direction.
His "conversion" to playing and composing ambient music came in the late 60s when he was invited to perform at the the home of Salvador Dali - inspired by the artist's flight-of-fancy artwork, he decided to take his composing and performing in a similar direction.
Edgar was once quoted as saying "There is no death, there is just a changing of our cosmic address". Wherever he is now, lets hope he's continuing to create his beautiful aural soundscapes. Rest In Peace - your talent and your creativity will be sorely missed.


Joanna Suprock was expecting her third child in July, 2018; although she was active and in good health, this was considered to be a high risk pregnancy due to the loss of her infant daughter Mallory several years earlier. With that in mind, her doctor made the decision to induce labor on July 20, when the baby Joanna was carrying reached its 39th week of development and was considered to be full term.
On July 21, at 1:02 a.m., she gave birth to a robust and healthy son, Edgar. Joanna was able to hold him just long enough for her husband to take a picture of Mother and son before she began to hemorrhage heavily and the attending doctor gave instructions to take her immediately to the maternity operating room.
Normally the placenta is delivered naturally after a baby's birth but following her son's birth only part of the placenta was delivered. As her doctor searched for the cause of Joanna's bleeding she discovered that a portion of the placenta had become attached to Joanna's uterus causing her to hemorrhage.
Once in the operating room her doctor determined that the only way to stop Joanna's bleeding was to perform an emergency hysterectomy. Between her birth-related bleeding and this emergency surgery, she received 16 units of blood, 4 units of platelets and 10 units of plasma. A very simple explanation of these three components is that red blood cells carry oxygen throughout the body; plasma is the fluid that blood is transported in and platelets allow blood to clot. Fortunately for Joanna the hospital she was being treated at had these blood products on hand to help save her life.
Her baby son Edgar is now five-months-old and thriving along with his 5-year-old brother, Benjamin. Joanna was a long-time blood donor prior to this life-changing event but it has reinforced the importance of blood donation to her.


One of the things I like to make clear whenever I speak to a prospect or new partner is that Upmarketry is a startup marketing agency. It nearly always leads to the question "What's the difference between a startup marketing agency and a regular one?" But that might be why I say it in the first place.
With any business, to be successful, you need to ensure what you do and how you talk is appropriate for your target audience. I built my business to fit perfectly around the needs and wants of a startup founder. This means Upmarketry is not like other marketing agencies. I REALLY DON'T WANT TO BE CLASSED AS THAT.
Is there really a difference between a startup marketing agency and a regular marketing agency?
Yes. There is a huge difference but not a lot of businesses realise it. When looking for marketing support, they go on google or ask a peer to recommend an agency. Then, after a quick glance at the website, they call them up to see if the price is right.
The problem is that marketing is such a broad term. So most agencies tend to specialise in different things such as SEO, social, experiential and so on.
What's more, the agencies that most likely rank highly on google for "marketing agency UK" or are well known in the industry are the big hitters. These guys offer a premium service and charge a fee to match. If you're a startup, you won't be able to afford their expenses, let alone their retainer price.
Go on then. What makes a startup marketing agency different?
It makes sense to start with this one as I mentioned it above.
Startup marketing agencies, like Upmarketry, are priced with startups in mind. This means we operate as lean as possible, stripping out unnecessary activities and costs so you're only paying for what you need.
To compare, the market average daily rate is £800. Upmarketry's is £500.
To deliver a press office for a client, which means monitoring the news agenda, jumping on a story, and delivering two other PR activities per month such as a press release or viewpoint, a regular marketing or PR agency would charge upwards of £3,000. Upmarketry charges £1,500.
To build brand messaging for a business, I've seen first hand how some agencies will pull directors into a room, spend a day with them and deliver an elevator pitch, and no more, for £5,000. Upmarketry delivers a brand bible bursting with tone of voice, messaging, values and more for £1,700.
The next big difference between a startup marketing agency and a regular marketing agency is how it's structured.
Generally, a marketing agency will have at least 15 employees of different levels of seniority. They'll also have staff in HR, finance and administration. If a big project comes in, the existing team just has to swallow the additional workload by working faster or by pushing other tasks back. The client's fee doesnt just pay for the work carried out. It also to cover the large costs of running the business and premises.
A startup marketing agency is built like a startup – it doesn't recruit lots of support staff and instead works with external suppliers to act as an extension of the team. This means it can scale up or cut back depending on how the business is doing. And it never has to compromise on the expertise of the people it works with.
Upmarketry doesn't have any full time employees and has instead built a partner network of small agencies and freelancers who share our values and pricing structure.
This means we have some of the very best designers, developers, content writers, videographers and pitchers in the country at our disposal. And our clients don't pay for staffing costs and other expenses.
As mentioned in the structure point above, when a company hires staff, they're pretty much stuck with them regardless of how appropriate they are to the work coming in. This means, if the new work isn't quite suited to their level of expertise i.e. a PR agency asked to extend a campaign on social media, they just have to do the best they can and hope their gaps in knowledge and experience don't cause too much of a problem.
Startup agencies work with suppliers that they bring in as and when needed. This means they can supply the very best people in what ever service is required. There's pretty much nothing they cannot do.
This works brilliantly for startups which often need to explore the marketing road less travelled to make an impact. They don't have millions to spend on ads or celebrity endorsements so they try SEO tactics, viral video campaigns and other hacks instead.
Big agencies can provide their clients with a team of people – typically comprising an account exec, account manager, account director and Director. They all serve different roles with the account manager generally taking responsibility for client communication. This person has approximately 4 years of experience in marketing and has between 3 and 6 other clients to deal with.
Because startup marketing agencies are run by senior experts, you only deal with senior experts. So you don't get bad advice or that anxious feeling that you're money isn't being spent as it should.
For Upmarketry in particular, we work with clients like a partner, not a provider. In fact, we've made it our brand promise.
We may not have any equity in your business but we're invested in the success of it all the same and we'll do all we can to help you get there.
The final difference between a startup marketing agency and a regular one is the ability to change direction or approach.
Startups move very quickly, are highly analytical, and need to ensure every penny invested is put to good use. This means that they don't work on long term marketing campaigns or year long strategies. They need to see results quickly and if something isn't working, they need to be able to stop, move on and try something different.
Startup marketing agencies are built to facilitate this. Sure, the long term strategy – the reason behind the work – is there, but work is planned month by month so that quick changes can be made.
How do I find a good startup marketing agency?
Well there is always Upmarketry…..
..but as with most things, go with referrals and gut feel. Make sure you speak to the founder before you commit and if you like their approach and trust them, you can't go wrong.
And, if it doesnt work out, startup marketing agencies typically operate on one month's notice period so you won't be stuck with a bad one for very long!
This entry was posted on October 12th 2018 under Marketing.


It takes 10,000 reps to become a master at anything. Did you get your shots up today?
Our 10,000 Shot Club graphic is available in 5 colors of the buttery-soft T you know we run with, made with a 60/40 poly/cotton blend so you can rock this on and off the court.


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Home 100 reasons for tech talent to get excited
100 reasons for tech talent to get excited
Submitted by Charlotte Attwood on Thu, 07/01/2021 - 13:55
Meet the pioneering company that's big 'over there' and now looking to recruit digital talent 'over here'.
Ready to uncover Discover? While they're a big name across the pond, few on this side of the Atlantic are likely to be as familiar with a business that's one of the largest digital banking and payment services companies in the US.
An exciting future on the cards
Founded in 1986, the company has grown to become one of the largest card issuers in the USA, thanks to its flagship product: Discover card. Stateside, the business is also renowned for its student, personal and home loans as well as its savings accounts. That's not to say Discover is only known in the US. Discover payment cards are used all over the world, including in the UK, through the Discover Global Network.
A top 20 large firm to work for
The company, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, has a strong pedigree and is a recognised industry leader in developing fraud strategies designed to help businesses secure and sustain a competitive advantage. It was also rated one of the top 20 large firms to work for in the USA in 2020 by IDG's Insider Pro and ComputerWorld. Much of that is down to Discover's excellent employee retention rate, fuelled in no small measure by its commitment to providing its people with outstanding benefits, training and career development opportunities.
One hundred new opportunities
Discover is hitting the accelerator on its plans to expand its presence in the UK in 2021. With offices already open in Hammersmith and Farnborough, it's in the latter – Discover's UK Tech Hub – where 100 new technology roles are being created.
These high-profile roles will support exciting business initiatives by providing collaboration tools, cloud computing, end user experiences and server operations. All new recruits will initially work remotely – all Discover employees are working from home until June 2021.
COVID-permitting, new recruits will eventually join the rest of the Hampshire-based team in Discover's UK Tech Hub, based in the contemporary office community in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre.
Cloud and DevOps expertise in demand
With so many new roles being created, experienced tech professionals based in the UK can look forward to playing an integral role in delivering innovative cloud platforms and application solutions to support Discover. The company's recruitment drive is focusing on securing the services of Software Engineers, DevOps Engineers, and Quality and Test Engineers. The most in-demand skills in the business right now include Java, AWS, Cloud, Chef and Bitbucket.
Cutting-edge work in inspiring surroundings
Steve Croke, Discover's Chief Information Officer UK and Head of Technology, is understandably excited by the prospect of bringing so much new talent into the UK-based team: "Discover's global payments network is growing fast and we invite the cream of UK tech talent to look at the opportunities we can offer. We are carrying out cutting-edge work in the areas of cloud, DevOps, Agile and automation. We believe in empowering talented people and our digital-first mindset will give them a chance to shine bright."
To find out more about Discover's 100 new opportunities for talented tech experts visit: https://jobs.discover.com/
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Thanks to all those who volunteered at our Festival this year. It appears that we had an exceptional festival! We will tell you what profit we made when we have all the numbers in. Thank God for the glorious weather those three nights.
Thanks to all of our parishioners who have been so welcoming to our summer visitors. We get many visitors throughout the year and our hospitality is important.
A special thanks to a parishioner who left us a bequest of $114,000. Think about St. Joan of Arc when you are making our your will.
We are going to have another great year financially in the parish. Thanks for your great generosity. One of the things that I have been hearing is that our financial reporting in the bulletin is confusing to may people. (Some people read that and seem to think that we are not doing well financially! Nothing can be further from the truth!) We will be looking at a new way of reporting our finances each week in the bulletin.
Our Centennial Project is well underway. We will probably be starting a Capital Campaign in the Fall.
Finally, as you might have read or heard on the news, the Grand Jury Report on Clergy Sexual Abuse has been delayed in being opened to the public but we still expect it to be published. Let us continue to pray for the victims of all sexual abuse and continue to make strides in preventing it in the Church!


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McGill Medicine student honoured by Governor General
Her Excellency presented the Sovereign's Medal for Volunteers to Anne Xuan-Lan Nguyen.
Credit: Sgt Johanie Maheu, Rideau Hall, OSGG-BSGG
Anne Xuan-Lan Nguyen, a first-year medical student at McGill University's Faculty of Medicine, is a 2019 recipient of the Sovereign Medal's for volunteers. The medal was presented to Anne Xuan-Lan by Her Excellency the Right Honourable Julie Payette, Governor General of Canada, during a ceremony held in Ottawa on September 12, 2019. The medal is intended to recognize the exceptional volunteer achievements of Canadians from across the country in a wide range of fields and pays tribute to the dedication and commitment of volunteers.
"I am truly honoured to receive this award," says Anne Xuan-Lan, who has previously received the Lieutenant Governor's medal and the Governor General's Academic medal. "I would especially like to thank the Plein Air à Plein Coeur camp for awakening my social consciousness at the age of 14, and continuing to help thousands of children. This life-changing experience pushed me to become a social advocate. Finally, I am grateful to my family, mentors and dedicated colleagues for their support."
Anne Xuan-Lan has been actively involved in her community since high school, notably as an ambassador for #Youth375Mtl and as head of the Communic-Action Committee of the Conseil jeunesse de Montréal. Since 2014, she has been a volunteer camp instructor at Plein Air à Plein Cœur, where she helps make underprivileged children feel unique and appreciated. This experience led her to start a non-profit project in 2015, through which she still organizes cultural and athletic outings for these children thanks to a team of volunteers and previous awards she received.
She has lead various committees and sports teams, served as a flag football coach and has been an active member of student councils. She has experience in grassroots community service, social advocacy and policymaking. Anne Xuan-Lan also has a strong interest in gender equity, global health, research and health care innovation. Currently, she is a co-director for the Community Health and Social Medicine (CHASM) Incubator, as well as an administrator for the Carrefour jeunesse-emploi Montreal Centre-ville.
Anne Xuan-Lan was also previously recognized by the province of Quebec this past May, when she received a Prix Reconnaissance jeunesse in the entrepreunerial category in recognition of her involvement in the first mobile pediatric clinic project in Quebec, known as DocTocToc (and previously Ma MobiClinique), as well as in student initiatives related to fair trade and social entrepreneurship.
Congratulations Anne Xuan-Lan!


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Home > Offices >
Close extended breadcrumb linksStudent Financial Services > Financial Aid
Your FAFSA Report > The Verification Process
Your FAFSA and the Verification Process
Your Student Aid Report (SAR) will notify you if you have been selected by the U.S. Department of Education for the process known as verification. Hampshire College may also select you for the verification process. The U.S. Department of Education may select a student based on certain information provided on the FAFSA, or it could be a random selection. Hampshire College may select a student because of inconsistent or conflicting information.
View information sheet
We strongly encourage new students to complete verification well before they arrive on campus. Continuing students must complete verification before we determine their aid. We do not process one's federal aid (loans and grants) until verification is complete.
Required documentation: The verification process requires the student to complete and return a specific Verification Worksheet to the financial aid office. There are three different worksheets: Standard, Custom, and Aggregate. Students must be sure to complete their specific worksheet. You may view which of the three is required by clicking on the "My Financial Aid" link on TheHub. Once you have confirmed which worksheet is required, click here to print the appropriate worksheet.
NEW FOR 2019-20: To verify income and tax data reported on the 2019-20 FAFSA for the student and or parent we may use one of the following methods:
Data transferred from the IRS through the Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) on the FAFSA; this can be done at the time of the initial FAFSA application or as a FAFSA correction; or
A copy of the tax filer's 2017 IRS Tax Return Transcript; or
A SIGNED copy of the tax filer's actual 2017 IRS tax return; send us the first two pages.
NEW FOR 2018-19 and Beyond: If you are selected for the Verification process and if you are an independent student and you did not file an IRS income tax return OR if you are a dependent student and your parent(s) did not file an IRS income tax return, you must provide to the financial aid office verification from the IRS or other relevant tax authority that an income tax return was not submitted. A dependent student is one whose FAFSA requires data from a parent. Learn more about this requirement.
NEW FOR 2016-17 and Beyond: Beginning with the 2016-17 award year, a student's required Verification Worksheet may be changed from the Standard or Custom to the Aggregate Worksheet based on corrections made to the FAFSA or on other information available to the U.S. Department of Education. The student would only be required to complete the Aggregate Worksheet in this case. If the student had previously completed the original required Worksheet, the student will now need to complete the Aggregate Worksheet.
Some additional forms and data may be required for each of the three different worksheets. Carefully read the instructions on your specific worksheet to make sure you provide all of the requested information. Some of the additional information may include the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT), an IRS Tax Return Transcript, copies of W2 forms, or proof that an IRS income tax return was not filed. Depending on your individual situation, we may also request other additional information, such as a 1099-R or the 1040X form. These additional forms will appear on TheHub.
The Standard and Aggregate Worksheets require the financial aid office to verify the student's and the custodial parents' income.
The Custom and Aggregate Worksheets require proof of a high school diploma or an equivalent; the student must provide valid identification, and the student must sign the Statement of Educational Purpose.
The Standard Worksheet may be mailed or securely faxed to the financial aid office. The Custom and Aggregate Worksheets cannot be faxed; these must be either mailed to the office or the student may complete the Identity and Statement of Education Purpose section of the worksheet in person at the financial aid office.
Resolving conflicting information: If data on your FAFSA differs from the data reported on your Profile, we will need to resolve this conflicting information. Data that may be affected include, but is not limited to, child support received, tax deferred pension payments, and in the case of two parents listed on the FAFSA, the earnings from work of each parent. These amounts need to be the same on each form. You may be asked to provide documentation to the financial aid office to resolve these issues. Documentation may include copies of W-2 forms, or if self-employed, copies of Schedules C and F. The parent or student may be asked to correct the FAFSA with the accurate amount of child support received.
Correcting FAFSA data: Students may make a correction to their FAFSA reports to update the financial information by using the Data Retrieval Tool on the FAFSA. Hampshire College will also make corrections to the student's FAFSA based on information reported on the Verification Worksheet, IRS Tax Return Transcript, W-2 forms, 1099-R forms, and other sources.
Verification Deadlines: September 1 for fall term, and January 15 for those returning or entering for spring term. These are our institutional deadlines to submit the documentation to complete the verification process. These dates apply to campus-based aid programs including Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, Perkins Loans, and Direct Subsidized Loans.
A Pell Grant applicant selected for verification must complete the verification process by the deadline published in the Federal Register or no later than 120 days after the student's last day of attendance, whichever is earlier. For the 2019-20 year, this deadline is expected to be September 19, 2020, or 120 days after the last day of the student's enrollment, whichever is earlier. We strongly encourage Pell Grant eligible students to complete their verification by the institutional deadline dates listed above to avoid any problems with the college's check-in process as well as their college bill.
Tentative awards pending verification: New students who received a tentative award pending verification may have an adjustment to their aid as a result of the verification. For example, a student may no longer be eligible for a Pell Grant or may now be eligible for a subsidized federal loan. Any changes to one's aid awards as a result of the verification process will be communicated to the student via a revised award notice.
Changes to Federal Aid because of verification: If your Federal Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and your federal aid changes because of the verification process we will send you a revised award notice via email sent to your Hampshire email account.
Consequences of failing to complete the verification process: A student cannot avoid verification by accepting only non-subsidized (non-need-based) federal aid. A student will not be eligible for need-based federal aid (Pell, SEOG, Federal Work-Study, and Direct Subsidized Loans), need-based state aid (State Grant), and need-based institutional aid (all versions of the Hampshire Grant). Hampshire College Merit scholarships would not be affected.
Referral of Fraud Cases: If we suspect that a student, employee, or other individual has misreported information or altered documentation fraudulently to obtain federal funds, we report our suspicions and provide any evidence to the U.S. Office of Inspector General.
If you have questions about the verification process or about the verification worksheets, please call the financial aid office at 413.559.5484.
Special Verification Cases
There are several tax and financial situations that require additional forms to complete the verification process. Please review the cases listed below. Please contact the financial aid office if you have any questions about any of these cases. If you are sending any forms to the financial aid office, please be sure to write the student's name or College ID number on the document so we may match it to the appropriate file.
Filers of amended tax returns. Students or parents who file an amended tax return cannot use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT). In place of the DRT, please provide the following forms to the financial aid office to complete verification:
1. a signed copy of the IRS Form 1040X that was filed, all pages, and
2. an IRS Tax Return Transcript, and
3. a signed copy of the revised tax return that was completed as a worksheet for the figures needed for the 1040X form.
Victims of tax-related identify theft. These tax filers are not able to request an IRS Tax Return Transcript. Tax filers who are victims of tax-related identity theft must call the IRS' Identity Protection Specialized Unit (IPSU) toll-free at 800.908.4490. After the IPSU authenticates the tax filer's identity, the filer can ask the IRS to mail an alternate paper tax return transcript known as the Tax Return DataBase View (TRDBV) transcript that will look different than a tax return transcript, but it is official and can be used for verification. The tax filer will then send the TRDBV to the financial aid office. The tax filer will also need to provide to the financial aid office a statement signed and dated by the tax filer indicating that the filer was a victim of IRS tax-related identity theft and that the IRS is aware of the tax-related identity theft.
Filers of joint returns who are no longer married. When a dependent student's parents filed a joint return and have since separated, divorced, married someone else, or been widowed, the financial aid office needs a copy of each W-2 form for the parent whose tax information is on the FAFSA and a copy of their IRS Tax Return Transcript. Similarly, an independent student must submit a copy of each of his W-2 forms and a copy of the IRS Tax Return Transcript if he filed a joint return and is now separated, divorced, or a widow. We also require proof of separation when parents or students filed joint returns. Examples of proof include copies of recent utility bills for each person indicating their residences, or a copy of the separation or divorce agreement indicating where each will be living.
For filers of non-U.S. tax returns, obtaining an IRS tax return transcript is not possible. In these cases we may accept a copy of the tax return, which must be signed by the filer or one of the filers of a joint return. We will use the income and tax information that most closely corresponds to the information on the IRS tax return, and convert monetary amounts into U.S. dollars as appropriate.
For non-tax filers we must receive a W-2 from for each source of employment income. We need a signed statement giving the sources and amounts of the person's income earned from work not on W-2s and certifying that the person has not filed and is not required to file a tax return; this can be done on the verification worksheet. Persons from a foreign country who are not required to file a tax return can provide the signed statement certifying their income and taxes paid.
Rollovers of qualified IRA, pensions, and annuities. The IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) and the IRS Tax Return Transcript are not able to identify rollovers of IRA, pension, and annuity distributions. Generally, amounts of any distributions that were excluded from taxable income under the IRS rules--the difference between line 15a and line 15b or between 16a and 16b--are considered untaxed income for the purpose of calculating an applicant's expected family contribution (EFC). In the case of a rollover, the tax filer must provide the financial aid office with one of the following: a signed, written statement indicating the amount of the distribution; OR a notation by the filer on the tax transcript or signed tax return copy that includes the word "rollover" beside any applicable item, similar to the instruction the IRS gives for Forms 1040 and 1040A. The annotation must be signed and dated by the filer. For those who used the DRT, a signed confirmation that the IRA or pension distribution included a rollover (indicate the amount) would suffice. You may also include a copy of the 1099-R form, which identifies the amount of any rollover (box 7). The financial aid office will adjust the amount of untaxed IRA and pension distributions on the FAFSA using the document provided.
With Financial Aid
financialaid@hampshire.edu


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JK: 6 LeT militants killed in encounter
April 01, 2010 19:22 IST
Six Lashkar-e-Taiba militants of Pakistani origin, who escaped from Triyath forest after a brief encounter three days ago, were killed by security forces after they tracked them down in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday.
Police and security forces tracked down the group of militants in Talli Dharaman-Sarothi belt (Triyath) of Kalakote tehsil of Rajouri district and trapped them around 1430 hours.
Senior Superintendent of Police, Rajouri, Shafkat Watalie told PTI, giving details of anti-terrorist 'Operation Khoj'.
The joint operation party retaliated after militants fired on them, SSP said, adding that in the fierce gunbattle that ensued for three-and-a-half hours, six militants were killed.
A search team of Police led by Additional Superintendent of Police R K Bhat and assisted by Army, Special Operation Group (SoG) and CRPF tracked down the militants who had escaped from Triyath forest on March 30 following a brief encounter with the security personnel.
A jawan had been killed and Station House Officer (SHO) of Daramshal Police Station Inspector Showkat Ali was injured in that incident.
"For the past three days, police and security force team was searching for them in dense forest and deep valley in Dharamshal belt and finally tracked them," a senior police officer said.
"All the killed militants belong to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit," SSP Watalie said, adding that 12 LeT militants have been killed in past six days in three encounters in Rajouri district.


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Benedict Cumberbatch & Sophie Hunter Reportedly Welcome Baby #2
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images
By Mary Kate McGrath
It doesn't take any detective sleuthing to find out that Benedict Cumberbatch is once again a dad. According to People Magazine, Benedict Cumberbatch and Sophie Hunter welcomed their second son on March 3 in London. (Bustle has reached out to Cumberbatch's rep for comment, but has not yet received a response.) Hunter and Cumberbatch confirmed that Hunter was pregnant on the red carpet for the Doctor Strange premiere back in October. The baby is the couple's second child, as their first son, Christopher Carlton, was born in 2015. Honoring both the parents' theatrical history, Cumberbatch's second son is reportedly named Hal Auden Cumberbatch, after a notable Shakespeare character.
The Cumberbatch family's first son has a meaningful name, as well. People reported after he was born that "Carlton" was a family middle name passed down for many generations, and it is shared by both Cumberbatch and his father. It's not entirely surprising that the Cumberbatch line has an illustrious history when it comes to names, and that Hunter and Cumberbatch would choose an equally unique name for their second child. Hal is the nickname given to Henry V in William Shakespeare's historical play, and one can only assume the name is a reference to this famous work.
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images
As the Daily Mail points out, the name may also be in honor of Cumberbatch's longtime best friend, Tom Hiddleston. The two British actors have been longtime pals since appearing in 2012's War Horse, and have noted in recent interviews that their friendship is strong as ever. The two appeared side by side in The Hollow Crown, a TV series that combined all of Shakespeare's history plays. In the show, Cumberbatch stars as Richard III while Hiddleston was Henry V, or Hal.
Of course, the more likely case is that the name is a simple nod to both Hunter and Cumberbatch's love for the theater. Both parents have devoted their lives to the stage (and, in Cumberbatch's case, the screen), and would naturally have a special place in their hearts for Shakespeare. As for baby Hal Auden's reportedly middle name, that might be a mystery for another day. Although, something tells me British poet and dramatist W.H. Auden might have something to do with it.
Congratulations to both Hunter and Cumberbatch, may all their future babies be given meaningful, royal sounding names, as well!


Home > Legal Topic > Family Law > Spousal support > How much spousal support must be paid?
And, the law expects the partner receiving support to try to support themselves as soon as possible after separation. This is sometimes called the "duty to become self-sufficient".
The SSAGs use 2 different formulas. One is for partners who have no children together. The other is for partners who have children together.
You and your partner can try to reach an agreement about spousal support. If you can't agree, you can get help from a family law professional or go to court and ask a judge to decide.
You can talk to a lawyer who can help you understand what the law says about spousal support. If you can't afford to hire a lawyer for your whole case, some lawyers provide "unbundled services" or "limited scope retainer" services. This means you pay them to help you with part of your case.
Look at line 150 of the income tax return or notice of assessment from the Canada Revenue Agency.
Look at pay stubs for a full year and add up the earnings before deductions.
It's very important that you both share complete and honest information.
You can do this in many ways. For example, you could use a computer spreadsheet or a handwritten document that has all your financial information including property, assets, and debts.
Form 13: Financial Statement (Support Claims): Use this form if you or your partner are asking only for child support, spousal support, or both child support and spousal support. Don't use it if you need to divide property.
Form 13.1: Financial Statement (Property and Support Claims): Use this form if you or your partner have to divide property. You and your partner may also be asking for support.
Sometimes financial documents do not show the whole picture of what a partner makes or could be making. This can be because they are hiding income. In these situations, you can ask the judge to impute income. This means asking the judge to decide that your partner earns more than they say or can earn more.
The SSAG formulas calculate a range of low, middle, and high support amounts, as well as the length of time spousal support might be paid. This can help you or a judge decide what amount of spousal support is appropriate and for how long, depending on the facts of your case.
If there is an order for both child support and spousal support, child support gets paid first. So if the support payor does not earn enough to pay both child support and spousal support, they must pay the full amount of child support first. Whatever is left goes to spousal support.
The Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines (SSAGs) list some exceptions. These are situations where the guidelines may not apply or where the court may order a different amount of support than what the guidelines day.
The support payor makes less than $20,000 and paying spousal support would push them into poverty.
The support payor is responsible for other family debt. For example, they are paying the mortgage until the property can be divided.
The support payor is responsible for paying other large family debts until it can be divided.
The support payor is paying child support for children from another relationship. Or, they are paying spousal support to another former partner.
The support payor doesn't have custody of their young child and was in a short relationship, but plays a significant role in raising the child. The support payor would not be able to meet the demands of parenting if they also had to pay spousal support.
The support payor cannot deduct spousal support from their income for tax purposes because they receive disability payments, workers' compensation, or income from an overseas job.
The support recipient has an illness or disability.
The support recipient is caring for their child, who has special needs.
The marriage was short and there were no children, but the support recipient did not continue with their career to help the support payor build theirs.
Child support takes priority over spousal support. This means if the support payor doesn't make enough money to pay both, child support must be paid first. So, if the support payor is paying less spousal support than the guidelines call for, they may have to pay it for longer.
If you and your partner try to make a separation agreement without going to court but are not successful, the support recipient can ask for retroactive support. This means asking the court to decide on the amount of support and to order that it be back-dated.
Usually, a retroactive spousal support order can go back to the date that the support recipient gave the support payor effective notice.
Effective notice is the date the support recipient told the support payor they should pay spousal support. For example, you may have asked your partner for spousal support the day after you separated. It's a good idea to ask for support in writing so that you have proof that you asked for it.
The court generally limits retroactive support to the past 3 years. It can be longer if the support payor hid increases in income or ignored spousal support obligations.
Why was the application for support delayed?
How did the support recipient look after themself?
How has the support payor behaved during this time?
Will awarding retroactive support cause hardship to the support payor?


This release of Confluent Platform provides Confluent users with Apache Kafka 2.0.1, the latest stable version of Kafka, and additional bug fixes.
Users are encouraged to upgrade to Confluent Platform 5.0.1, as it includes important bug fixes. The technical details of this release are summarized below.
Warn when rack constraint relaxed.
CPKAFKA-1675: Relax rack constraint when already violated.
HUB-22: Bump up Jackson version.
CC-2540: Download archive using endpoint in manifest, which isn't always the same as Plugin Registry.
CC-2059: Make client to work on MacOS, installed via brew cask formula.
CC-2287: Detect all configs passed to Connect process.
CC-2844: Call configure on Converters.
CC-2469: Pass prefixed ssl.client.auth configuration property.
CC-2482: Validate user/password for listener's security protocol SASL_TLS.
PR-911 - CC-2769: Correct getBytes to not rely on default charset.
5.0.0 is a major release of the Confluent Platform that provides Confluent users with Apache Kafka 2.0.0, the latest stable version of Kafka.
Confluent Platform users are encouraged to upgrade to 5.0.0. The technical details of this release are summarized below.
A new UI for KSQL: Control Center now includes a brand new graphical UI for KSQL. With this new UI, you can create KSQL streams and tables in Control Center, as well as run, view, terminate, and explain queries and statements.
Broker configuration: Making sure your brokers are set up just the way you want is now easy with Control Center. You can now view broker configurations across multiple Kafka clusters, quickly check specific brokers, and easily spot differences in properties.
Topic inspection: Control Center now makes it easy to see the actual streaming messages coming out of Kafka topics using the new topic inspection feature.
Consumer lag: Wondering how your consumers are performing? You can now see if any consumers are lagging using the new consumer lag feature. You can also set alerts on consumer lag, so you can monitor performance and proactively address issues whenever you think best.
Schema Registry support: Control Center now supports viewing the schema associated with a topic, along with its version history, and allows comparing older versions with the current one.
The new LDAP authorizer plugin enables group-based access control for Kafka, allowing you to use the user-group mappings in your LDAP server. The plugin works with any security protocol by mapping an authenticated user principal to one or more groups and allowing user-principal-based ACLs as well as group-based ACLs. This simplifies access control management because a smaller number of rules can be used to manage access to groups or organizations.
Replicator already automates the replication of topic messages and related metadata across Kafka clusters. With Confluent Platform 5.0, Replicator and the new consumer timestamps interceptor also ensure that consumer offsets are available on the secondary cluster. When consumer client applications failover to the secondary cluster, Replicator handles consumer offset translation so that they can resume consuming near the last point they stopped consuming at in the original cluster. This minimizes the reprocessing that consumers needs to do in a disaster scenario without skipping messages. See the Replicator and Cross-Cluster Failover section for more detail.
To facilitate application failover and switch back in Confluent Platform 5.0, Replicator adds support for protection against circular replication. This guarantees that if two Replicator instances are configured to run, one replicating from DC1 to DC2 and the second instance configured to replicate from DC2 to DC1, Replicator will ensure that messages replicated to DC2 are not replicated back to DC1, and vice versa. As a result, Replicator safely runs in each direction.
This new component is an MQTT 3.1.1 broker to help streamline Internet of Things (IoT) architectures with a scalable proxy similar to Confluent REST Proxy for HTTP(S) communication with Kafka. MQTT Proxy enables the replacement of third party MQTT brokers with Kafka-native MQTT proxies while avoiding intermediate storage and lag. MQTT Proxy uses Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption and basic authentication. It also supports the widely used MQTT 3.1.1 protocol so MQTT client messages at all three MQTT quality of service levels are written directly into Kafka topics where KSQL and streaming applications can consume and process them. Future releases will add bidirectional communication and more security options.
Apache Kafka 2.0.0 adds support for prefixed ACLs, simplifying access control management in large, secure deployments. Prefixed ACLs enable bulk access to topics, consumer groups, or transactional ids with a prefix to be granted using a single rule. See KIP-290 for details.
Access control for topic creation has been improved to enable access to be granted to create specific topics or topics with a prefix.
KIP-255 adds a framework for authenticating to Kafka brokers using OAuth2 access tokens. Authentication is performed using SASL/OAUTHBEARER mechanism defined in RFC-7628, which enables authentication using OAuth2 bearer tokens in non-HTTP protocols. The implementation in Apache Kafka is customizable using callbacks for token retrieval and validation, providing the flexibility required for integration in different deployments.
You can now dynamically update SSL truststores without broker restart.
You can now configure security for listeners in ZooKeeper before starting brokers, including SSL keystore and truststore passwords, and JAAS configuration for SASL. With this new feature, you can store sensitive password configs in encrypted form in ZooKeeper rather than in cleartext in the broker properties file.
Host name verification is now enabled by default for SSL connections to ensure that the default SSL configuration is not susceptible to man-in-the-middle attacks. Set ssl.endpoint.identification.algorithm to an empty string to restore the previous behaviour.
The replication protocol has been improved to avoid log divergence between leader and follower during fast-leader failover.
To avoid OutOfMemory errors in brokers, the memory footprint of message down-conversions has been reduced. By using message chunking, both memory usage and memory reference time have been reduced to a minimum. Down-conversion is required to support consumers that only support an older message format.
Kafka clients are now notified of throttling before any throttling is applied when quotas are enabled. This enables clients to distinguish between network errors and large throttle times when quotas are exceeded. Quota implementations can also now be customized to work in different deployments.
KIP-266 removes indefinite blocking in the Java consumer, adding a new configuration option to control maximum wait time. Consumer group operations have also been added to the AdminClient. New metrics have also been added to monitor the lead between consumer offset and the start of the log to track slow consumers which may lose data when lead is close to zero.
Apache Kafka 2.0.0 drops support for Java 7 and removes the previously deprecated Scala producer and consumer.
Improved REST API : We have made several improvements to the KSQL REST API, including returning proper HTTP response status codes on error conditions, a cleaner hierarchy of response objects, and more details about queries in the query descriptions returned by EXPLAIN.
Aggregations on tables: KSQL now supports non-windowed usage of SUM and COUNT aggregation functions on tables. Previously, you could only perform such aggregations on streams.
Support for timestamps in more formats: Users can now specify a TIMESTAMP_FORMAT in addition to specifying the timestamp column when creating new streams and tables. This allows KSQL to use timestamp data in any format supproted by the Java DateTimeFormatter. See the KSQL Syntax Reference for details.
Added protection when dropping streams and tables: When you execute a DROP TABLE or DROP STREAM command, KSQL now checks whether there are any currently active queries using that stream or table. If there are, KSQL will prevent you from dropping the stream or table without first terminating the queries which depend on it. This prevents KSQL from getting into an inconsistent internal state and thus boosts stability.
INSERT INTO: KSQL now supports INSERT INTO, a new type of statement that lets you write the output of a query into an existing stream. See the KSQL Syntax Reference for details.
CP Docker Images for KSQL: Confluent Platform Docker images are now available on docker hub for the 5.0 preview version of both the KSQL server and KSQL CLI. You can use the confluentinc/cp-ksql-server image to deploy the server in interactive (default) or headless mode. You can use the confluentinc/cp-ksql-cli image to start a CLI session inside a Docker container.
Topic/Schema Cleanup on DELETE: Users can now optionally delete the backing topic and its registered schema (if any) when dropping a stream or table. See the KSQL Syntax Reference for details.
Support for STRUCT data type: Added support for nested data using STRUCT data type. You can now declare streams and tables with columns using a STRUCT data type in your CREATE STREAM and CREATE TABLE statements, and then access the internal fields of these columns in your SELECT queries as you do in any other expression. See the KSQL Syntax Reference for details.
UDF/UDAF: You can bring your own custom User Defined Functions (UDFs) and User Defined Aggregate Functions (UDAFs) to KSQL and use them in your queries. UDF/UDAF open the door for many novel use cases where you need to perform custom computations over your data.
Stream-Stream and Table-Table Joins: Added Stream-Stream and Table-Table joins in CP 5.0. For each of these joins, KSQL supports inner, full outer, and left join types. This means KSQL now covers all of the available join operations in Kafka Streams. See the KSQL Syntax Reference for details.
Kafka Streams now support message headers and dynamic routing. See the Kafka Streams Upgrade Guide for details.
Kafka Connect includes a number of improvements and features. You can now control how errors in connectors, transformations, and converters are handled by enabling automatic retries and controlling the number of errors that are tolerated before an exception is thrown and the connector is stopped. More contextual information can be included in the logs to help diagnose problems, and problematic messages consumed by sink connectors can be sent to a dead letter queue rather than forcing the connector to stop.
There's also a new extension point for moving secrets outside of connector configurations. You can integrate any external key management system and will allow you to store variables or placeholders in the connector configurations and resolve them in the external key management systems. The variables are only resolved before sending the configuration to the connector, making it possible to ensure that secrets are stored and managed securely in your preferred key management system and not exposed over the REST APIs or in log files.
Confluent provides high quality clients for the most popular non-Java languages, these clients are all based on the underlying librdkafka C/C++ implementation, which provides high performance and stability. The non-Java clients follow their own versioning scheme, slightly trailing the Apache Kafka releases. The current clients release is v0.11.5.
Schema Registry HTTPS support for the Python client.
Many enhancements and bug fixes.
The JDBC source and sink connectors were modified to move DBMS-specific logic into dialects, making it easier to add and support various flavors of JDBC-compliant databases. This should be transparent to users as the connector will automatically select and use the most appropriate dialect for the connection.
The Elasticsearch connector is now able to use basic authentication when connecting to Elasticsearch. It also better supports keyword fields for text types.
The S3 connector extends the existing SSE support to enable customer-provided server-side encryption (SSE-C) keys.
Camus was deprecated in CP 3.0.0 and has been removed in CP 5.0.0.
40 new features / config changes have been added with 246 resolved bug fixes and improvements. For a full list of changes in this release of Apache Kafka, see the 2.0.0 Release Notes.
Confluent Platform is available for download at https://www.confluent.io/download/. See the On-Premises Deployments section for detailed information.
For the supported versions and interoperability of Confluent Platform and its components, see Supported Versions and Interoperability.


"In soft ground these sets can be dug, bedded, and baited in under a minute."
"I will GUARANTEE you that you couldnt set a trap from start to finished set in under a minute even in soft ground!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"I'll smoke one in the ground in under a minute and have time to smile at the camera and give you the thumbs up at the end."
"like i said man...theres no way you can get your stuff out of the truck off the 4 wheeler or what ever walk over to the set dig your dirt hole,trap bed,drive your disposable bed your trap,pack it in,cover your trap,and lure/bait it in under a min...."
".... dig your dirt hole,trap bed,drive your disposable bed your trap,pack it in,cover your trap,and lure/bait it in under a min...."
I'll still try to do it under a minute, tailgate to tailgate like I'm at somekind of daggon rodeo, but you're not getting a smile at the end now.
That's a good trick to have in one's arsenal 17, thanks for the detailed post. I always worry when I have to mix onsite dirt with the peat to get it to stabilize even with salt.
Just a quick question. WHERE are the nails once you catch a critter and the trap site is all tore up? If a farmer runs one of those lost nails through a tractor tire he might just get agitated.
I've posted in many PMs about using caution with the nails in farm country. In two years I have not had a nail leave the trap bed. When the trap fires they stay right in place because they barely catch the frame or spring pin, and the sudden jump of the trap sheds the nails.
I carry a heavy magnet just in case I have to go looking for a stray.
I just tested this with an MB650 and it works like a dream. I have used 3 dowel rods outside the jaws before with mixed results but the two 40 penny nails works!
CLT, can I borrow the top line of your signature for a quick reply?
Aaron, I failed miserably. I only tried speed setting once and it took me 1 minute 39 seconds. I did video it, but I tried 3 times to upload to photobucket and it failed each time. Oh well, I loose.
Thanks for posting will try it with some peat moss .
Pete moss is the way to go for me as well good post instead of nails I have been using prey cut sticks, but I like the nail idea got a whole box of them that size this old dog learned a new trick thanks.
"I would rather be lost in the woods,.. then found at home"
Thanks for the tip, it's pretty slick. Reset a couple yesterday and had a catch this morning and the nails were just where I put them. The dirt raked into the hole seems to help protect the nails positioning. Keep up the good work and let the nay sayers say what they will.
why bother with this stuff.......you cant bed a trap in peat or hulls anyway.
I've had tons of PMs pouring in from guys having good results. Awesome, I'm glad it's working for you guys. It has to really, it's simple and fool proof.
Many have tried the wooden dowel method but like this much better because you can literally drive the trap to the ground.
Where's the coal shale commitee? Busy making waxed dirt?
Going to be pretty tough to bend down the spring pin on that trap pictured.
Mixing peat with soil defeats the purpose. It will draw moisture just like greenhouse soil mix.
AAron, you say you chop the bed tight. (me too) How do you deal with the remake when bed edges are blown out? Ever have that tight bed shrink from frost heave? I deal with the same crap.
In dry stay cold climate many things will work. In many of our Pa areas of freeze thaw frost daily, you have to improvise like 17 did to stay working.
Waxed dirt is expensive to make. Frozen traps are expensive to check.
Raining on frosted mud right now. We should all just take a bus South. Or, make hay sets lol.
Many have different conditions and techniques. Nice to "see outside your own lines".
You can get waxed dirt free from ant hills, they do a nice job of waxing every granule.
I used to have those ant hills all over the place around here and would borrow the dirt once in a while during the winter. I often thought that was part of their demise because the completely disappeared. It had to have been something on a Grander scale though because I know one stretch of Interstate that used to be just lined up with these ant towers, miles and miles of them, and they seemed to have disappeared as well. Mabey a fungus, virus, bacteria....who knows.
It was very nice pre-sifted dirt to work with though.
Cool looking idea if bedding in 100% peat. I trap in the south where I can normally throw a handfull of peat on top of the dug out hole and still bed solid before covering with peat. My question is when using all the salt how do you keep it from rusting your chain/trap after a couple of catches. Again, I'm from the south where we don't need anti freeze but just curious how it affects you. Thanks!
When it gets to where I have to go 100% peat I do exactly what #17 shows, and I agree with his statement that while there is the extra step of putting in the nails, I can still get the job done quicker AND better than trying to get the trap rock solid in staright peat. Right now it's been freezing at night but plenty warm during the day, so I'm using the local dirt to bed with a good dose of salt, cover with peat, top of with a THIN layer of local dirt with salt to keep the wind from blowing all the peat moss away....been wet and cold last two weeks - no misses, 33 catches........but at BEST, I'm at a set for 5 min on the initial set and maybe 3 minutes on the remake......#17 you are A LOT faster than I'll ever be....Salt and peat moss......cures alot of natures nastiest nights. I'm in the same type of conditions that Wright Brothers describes freeze thaw freeze thaw, rain freeze etc. Dublelung asks about rust....most of the ground I work is on two week rotations so a trap is in the ground dealing with the salt for two weeks.....while waxed real well, it does as you say get a pretty good cleaning each catch ...but in two weeks it's out, washed, cleaned and re-waxed. At the end of the year I clean all traps with a salt remover before I put them up.


text:
EUR-Lex - 52012AR1666 - EN
Document 52012AR1666
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Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on 'EU financial instruments in home affairs'
OJ C 277, 13.9.2012, p. 23–42 (BG, ES, CS, DA, DE, ET, EL, EN, FR, IT, LV, LT, HU, MT, NL, PL, PT, RO, SK, SL, FI, SV)
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Official Journal of the European Union
C 277/23
THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS
welcomes the step to achieve a genuine area of freedom, security and justice through budgetary proposals recognising the importance of providing the necessary resources for the immigration, asylum and security budget;
affirms the importance of the proposed changes for Local and Regional Authorities (LRA), having a direct impact on their duties and on the everyday life of people living in the European Union;
stresses the importance of responding to security concerns, arising from an increased global mobility, within the context of the universal protection of fundamental rights and freedoms;
welcomes the focus on flexibility and achieving results, highlighting that this requires good planning as well as participation and ownership and by all stakeholders. Therefore stresses the need to involve LRAs as well as other stakeholders such as specialised international organisations, civil society and the beneficiaries themselves from the planning stage, since they often implement the programmes and projects;
believes that access to funding is vastly improved through the proposed reforms. However, it encourages further development of mechanisms to distribute information on funding opportunities. In larger countries, LRAs could be used to organise regional and local consultations to allow participation of those organisations and stakeholders which operate further away from the main cities.
Samuel AZZOPARDI (MT/EPP) Mayor of Victoria, Gozo
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions – Building an open and secure Europe: the home affairs budget for 2014-2020
Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council – establishing, as part of the Internal Security Fund, the instrument for financial support for external borders and visa
Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council – establishing the Asylum and Migration Fund
Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council – laying down general provisions on the Asylum and Migration Fund and on the instrument for financial support for police cooperation, preventing and combating crime, and crisis management
Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council – establishing, as part of the Internal Security Fund, the instrument for financial support for police cooperation, preventing and combating crime, and crisis management
I. POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
General assessment
welcomes the step to achieve a genuine area of freedom, security and justice through budgetary proposals recognising the importance of providing the necessary resources for the immigration, asylum and security budget (1);
supports the simplification of the existing instruments, merging them into 2 funds;
underlines that this can be achieved through the implementation of coherent instruments in the field of freedom, security and justice based on respect for human rights, solidarity and responsibility with particular attention given to gender equality and non-discrimination (2);
believes that a balance is needed between the security and border related parts of the expenditure, and expenditure in areas such as integration of migrants and reception conditions for asylum seekers;
supports the creation of a needs-based budget that helps to develop synergies between EU financial instruments, notably between the structural funds and funds in the area of home affairs. The Union budget should attribute adequate resources to the area of home affairs, both through the structural funds and through specialised instruments within the area of freedom, security and justice;
points out that the repeal of Council Decision 2007/125/JHA, which takes away the possibility of making complementary use of other Union and Community instruments, significantly restricts the desired flexibility in the use of financial instruments and threatens the seamless continuation of cross-border regional projects in the field of internal security that have previously been funded via ERDF-based objective 3 support; therefore advocates retaining complementarity between Community instruments;
points out that a certain degree of flexibility is needed in the operation of the budget and financial instruments, making a genuine midterm revision possible in accordance with the political priorities identified, whilst stressing that such flexibility must be developed to co-exist with the fair allocation of resources;
welcomes an immigration policy starting in countries of origin and taking account of European labour market needs and demographic change, leading to a system which is beneficial to all parties, including countries of origin so often benefiting from remittances from the EU (3);
emphasises the necessity for strong cooperation at EU level to achieve better coordination between Members States on managing the Union's external borders, as well as moving towards a Common European Asylum System;
stresses the need for transparency in the use of the budget with proposals, projects and results achieved visible and easily accessible to and understandable for the ordinary citizen;
On the programming and managing of Funds
highlights the need for independent monitoring and evaluation to ensure efficient use of funds and strong management by implementing organisations. This may be an incentive for improving institutional performance. Qualitative as well as quantitative indicators must be selected in a participatory way by all stakeholders. The Committee points out that certain qualitative indicators can be efficient and cost effective. The Committee also calls for a strengthened European Commission and Parliament oversight of the Funds to help bring about the independent element of monitoring and evaluation;
believes that access to funding is vastly improved through the proposed reforms. However, it encourages further development of mechanisms to distribute information on funding opportunities. In larger countries, LRAs could be used to organise regional and local consultations to allow participation of those organisations and stakeholders which operate further away from the main cities;
points out that with the positive aspects of simplification and flexibility, the proposed reforms also bring uncertainty regarding allocation of resources between different sectors and thematic issues. It therefore stresses the importance for funds to be allocated on a needs-basis through a thorough needs-analysis with prioritisation following a rights-based approach. This can be achieved through mechanisms and safeguards put in place to ensure efficient prioritisation, including LRA and other stakeholders' participation when drawing up national strategies;
highlights the need to distribute funds evenly according to institutional capacity and project proposals and not to focus the funds on just a few recipients;
in case of insufficient funds, believes that funds aimed at protecting people's fundamental rights and freedoms, including those dealing with basic living standards, gender specific issues and the right to asylum, should be prioritised, together with resources for capacity building of LRAs to manage migration flows;
Obligation of stakeholder participation
stresses the importance of a participatory approach in achieving effective results, and supports proposals that oblige the Member States to organise partnerships with all public authorities concerned and with relevant stakeholders, including civil society and international organisations, for the development, implementation and monitoring of the national programmes;
therefore it urges that partnership of stakeholders is strengthened and made mandatory. It points out that currently, the principle in the Draft Regulation laying down the general provisions (4) might not bring about participation in a sufficiently binding manner. Whilst coordination mechanisms are bound, in other areas there is a lot of discretion as to whether a meaningful partnership will actually take place or not;
suggests that it may not be appropriate to nominate a single Responsible Authority for all actions supported by the funds, despite the simplification that this may bring with it. Transparency and the checks and balances must be in place to ensure fairness in decisions. It is concerned that there may be legal issues that do not allow a delegated authority to work under the supervision of the national Responsible Authority and therefore suggests that regulations should be flexible enough to cater for all national rules in place in the EU and must not force the Member States to change their constitutional structures if the objectives can just as well be achieved in a partnership approach;
Common European Asylum System
welcomes steps towards a 'Common European Asylum System' whilst stressing that it must aim to achieve the standards of those with better systems and structures and not lead to a general reduction in quality in line with those with less strong systems;
would like to see greater clarity as to whether EASO will only use the funds directly allocated to it or whether it will also be able to access the Home Affairs Funds;
Reception and integration of persons with international protection and third-country nationals
notes with approval the acknowledgment of the importance of LRAs in the reception and asylum systems as well as in the integration of third-country nationals and legal migrants;
praises the idea of focusing on the most vulnerable, including victims of trafficking;
highlights that integration must focus on long-term sustainable actions, keeping in mind that integration is a two-way process where actions can be targeted towards host and migrant communities;
suggests that the Home Affairs Funds should also support actions recommended by the European Commission, recognising the multilevel governance approach in the 2nd European Agenda for Integration (5);
points out that administrative detention practices around the EU have been under scrutiny by the ECHR and human rights authorities and stresses that funding of projects linked to detaining people must ensure that such detention is in line with EU law and ECHR decisions;
stresses that family members benefitting from international protection in different Member States should be allowed to live together and benefit from protection in the same Member State;
Responsibility sharing and intra-EU relocation
emphasises that Europe's border regions must receive more adequate support with regards to asylum and migration, especially in times of particular difficulty (6);
stresses that criteria and mechanisms for relocation must be of a non-discriminatory nature and focus on the most vulnerable, whilst also keeping in mind EU labour market considerations, particularly for persons currently stuck in areas where access to the labour market is limited. They should not focus on prioritising those highly skilled and already integrated into the host society;
points out that LRAs are in good position to participate in establishing such mechanisms (7);
is of the view that solidarity in supporting burdened countries should be conditional on human rights records and respect for EU reception standards, thus providing incentives for improvement;
EU resettlement programme
welcomes the establishing of an EU resettlement programme and encourages the creation of a clear framework to be developed by a partnership between EASO, UNHCR and NGOs, keeping in mind the best practices in other parts of the world. The EU should lead by example, seeking to identify and provide protection to those most forgotten by the international community;
highlights the need for incentives and information on benefits to increase the number of places pledged by Member States for resettlement;
stresses the need to maintain a clear distinction between resettlement from third countries and intra-EU relocation, as well as the number of persons allocated for these two programmes;
Assisted voluntary return
reaffirms that programmes should, as a matter of principle, be operated on a purely voluntary basis and in line with the goals of development cooperation, resulting in the long-term social integration of the people concerned (8). Return must be viable and ensure that no new migration project is initiated (9). This could be achieved through partnerships with a specialised international organisation such as IOM;
points out that successful return strategies cannot be sufficiently measured with the purely quantitative indicator of the number of returnees. The indicator could be chosen as the number of returnees in relation to the number of cases and taking into account long-term quality factors;
Internal security strategy
highlights its own indispensable involvement in the process of improving Europe's internal security together with the need for capacity building of LRAs;
stresses that ISF funding must keep in mind the necessity to invest in further research and to carry out innovations and sharing of expertise in fields such as cyber security, forensics, the protection of vital infrastructure and urban security and that the European Commission promotes this in line with the increased need to address ever more specific and complex problems;
reaffirms the importance of LRA involvement for police and security cooperation which can occur through training, sharing of best practices and prevention programmes as well as through the development of common tools and IT systems as well as better communication;
Fight against terrorism and organised crime
recommends that current local and regional authority networks are strengthened and used in each Member State, or if the need arises new ones are set up, to facilitate the exchange of good practice in relation to social integration, professional learning and understanding of violent extremism growing out of local districts and neighbourhoods. This could support the work undertaken through the recently created European anti-radicalisation network;
suggests that funding under the ISF includes public consultation at a local level in Member States and reaching out to those who feel disconnected from society. This can help to establish a multifaceted understanding of local experiences and concepts of terrorism and motivations towards extremism;
highlights the importance of increased scrutiny of bank and business practices to identify and target the finances of terrorism and organised crime through money laundering and coupling of criminal activities with businesses with a legitimate aim;
equally recalls the importance of the confiscation of criminal assets, which is indubitably an important avenue for combating any kind of crime right across the board, and therefore welcomes the fact that the European Commission has proposed legislation to strengthen the EU legal framework on confiscation (10);
points out that whilst public-private partnerships could have positive impacts, privatisation of security should be avoided;
Border Control and Rescue
emphasises the need to fund border control adequately (11). Simultaneously considers that, in view of tackling irregular migration, it is questionable whether investing heavily on border control is the most effective and efficient way to bring about long term and meaningful change;
highlights the need for independent monitoring of border actions by an organisation such as UNHCR to ensure that fundamental human rights, including gender sensitivity, are being respected;
stresses that consideration for human lives should take precedence over all other issues and calls for more collaboration and sharing of responsibilities amongst Member States of rescued people to provide incentives to rescue. It feels that automatic responsibility sharing could help save more lives at sea;
Responding to emergencies
welcomes changes aimed at increasing the speed of response to emergency situations;
urges the Commission to commit itself to the planning and development of cross-border operations that involve the active participation of border regions. This would enable regions to pool their experience in civil protection and provide a solid operational base on which to build a European emergency response force;
calls on the Commission to take on a role of increased direct management in emergency situations to maintain a level of over-sight and help with cross-border coordination;
encourages Member States to set up multi-disciplinary teams for rapid emergency response, especially when the emergency situation has elements such as mixed flows of migration where expertise in asylum law and human rights are essential;
points out that some emergencies may be longer term situations and that funds for emergencies must be available as long as the emergency lasts;
External aspects of migration management
welcomes a more coherent approach to the internal and external aspects of migration management and internal security, pointing out that cooperation and dialogue with third countries are necessary to both deal with irregular immigration and focus on legal migration;
points out that local and regional authorities that are closest to or have the strongest links with third countries can provide the vital links for EU cooperation with those countries, making a substantial contribution to improving relations and living conditions in cities and regions of origin and transit (12). Through its cooperation with local and regional authorities in enlargement and neighbourhood countries (e.g. Working Groups and Joint Consultative Committees, CORLEAP, ARLEM), the CoR is well placed to promote the objectives of the funds beyond the EU borders;
does not see a clear line between development and non-development activities with regards to third countries and calls for coherence and coordination between aid and development funded projects and home affairs projects, driven through a spirit of solidarity and responsibility sharing with third countries;
calls for safeguards to prevent Members States from pursuing their own national interests through the external aspect of the Home Affairs Funds as well as for mechanisms to ensure transparency in bilateral cooperation between Member States and third countries.
II. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR AMENDMENTS
Regulation on establishing, as part of the Internal Security Fund, the instrument for financial support for external borders and visa
Amend paragraph 2(b)
Text proposed by the Commission
CoR amendment
supporting borders management, to ensure, on one hand, a high level of protection of external borders and, on the other hand, the smooth crossing of the external borders in conformity with the Schengen acquis
The achievement of this objective shall be measured against indicators such as, inter alia, the development of equipment for border control and the apprehensions of irregular third-country nationals at the external border in correspondence with the risk of the relevant section of the external border.
The achievement of this objective shall be measured against indicators such as, inter alia, the development of equipment for border control the apprehensions of irregular third-country nationals at the external border in correspondence with the risk of the relevant section of the external border.
See point 5. Those dealing with mixed flows of migration need a level of knowledge of the right to asylum in order to fulfil this right.
Insert paragraph 2(c)
See point 48.
Amend paragraph 3(f)
reinforcing the co-operation between Member States operating in third countries as regards the flows of third-country nationals into the territory of Member States, as well as the co-operation with third countries in this regard.
Insert paragraph 3(g)
Insert paragraph 1(f)
See points 47 and 48.
Insert paragraph 1(h)
See point 5.
supporting and expanding the existing capacity at national level in the management of the external borders, bearing in mind inter alia new technology, developments and/or standards in relation to the management of migration flows;
supporting and expanding the existing capacity at national level in the management of the external borders, bearing in mind inter alia new technology, developments and/or standards in relation to the management of migration flows
Amend paragraph 2(g)
to boost the capacity of European networks to promote, support and further develop Union policies and objectives;
See Points 3 and 55.
Regulation on establishing the Asylum and Migration Fund
Amend paragraph 2(c)
to enhance fair and effective return strategies in the Member States with emphasis on sustainability of return and effective readmission in the countries of origin;
The achievement of this objective shall be measured by indicators, inter alia, the number of returnees.
The achievement of this objective shall be measured by indicators, inter alia, the number of returnees
Amend paragraph 1(e)
information for local communities as well as training for the staff of local authorities, who will be interacting with those being received;
Civil society actors often implement integration projects.
Insert paragraph 1 (g)
Amend paragraph (b)
actions directly contributing to the evaluation of asylum policies, such as national impact assessments, surveys amongst target groups, the development of indicators and benchmarking.
Insert paragraph (h)
Amend paragraph (a)
information packages and awareness-raising campaigns, including via user friendly communication and information technology and websites;
information packages awareness-raising campaigns, including via user friendly communication and information technology and websites;
Amend paragraph 1
1. Within the specific objective defined in point (b) of Article 3(2), eligible actions shall take place in the framework of consistent strategies, implemented by non-governmental organisations, local and/or regional authorities and specifically designed for the integration, at the local and/or regional level, as appropriate, of persons referred to in points (a) to (g) of Article 4(1). In this context, eligible actions shall in particular include the following:
Amend paragraph 1(a)
setting up and developing such integration strategies, including needs analysis, the improvement of indicators and evaluation;
Insert paragraph 1(i)
Insert paragraph 1(j)
Insert paragraph (f)
establishment and improvement of accommodation infrastructure or services and reception or detention conditions;
establishment and improvement of accommodation infrastructure or services and reception or detention conditions
assisted voluntary return measures, including medical examinations and assistance, travel arrangements, financial contributions, pre- and post-return counselling and assistance;
actions to promote and reinforce the operational cooperation between the return services of Member States, including as regards cooperation with consular authorities and immigration services of third countries;
4. The following vulnerable groups of refugees shall in any event be included in the common Union resettlement priorities and qualify for the lump sum provided for in paragraph 2:
women and children at risk,
unaccompanied minors,
persons having medical needs that can be addressed only through resettlement,
persons in need of emergency resettlement or urgent resettlement for legal or physical protection needs.
See point 33. Prioritising persons with psychological needs is a good practice used by UNHCR and others.
Insert paragraph 5
1. In order to allocate the amount indicated in point (c) of Article 15(1), by 31 May 2017 the Commission shall assess the needs of Member States as regards their asylum and reception systems, their situation concerning migration flows in the period 2014 to 2016 and the expected developments.
Situations in the migration field can change overnight and the system should be flexible enough to cope with these changes.
1. The Fund shall provide financial assistance to address urgent and specific needs in the event of an emergency situation.
to serve as an Union advisory council for migration and asylum through coordination and cooperation at both national and Union level with representatives of Member States, academia, civil society, think-tanks and other Union/international entities;
National Contact Points designated by the Member States, each one comprising of at least three experts who collectively have expertise in the area of asylum and migration, covering aspects of policymaking, law, research and statistics, and who shall co-ordinate and provide the national contributions to the activities referred to in Article 19(1) in order to have contributions from all relevant stakeholders;
See point 13. This would help increase transparency of the mechanisms.
Regulation on laying down general provisions on the Asylum and Migration Fund and on the instrument for financial support for police cooperation, preventing and combating crime, and crisis management
Actions financed by the Specific Regulations shall comply with applicable Union and national law.
ECHR case law is part of EU but at times, the outcomes of such decisions are not put into practice by Member States. It is helpful to highlight their importance.
1. Each Member State shall organise, in accordance with its national rules and practices, a partnership with the authorities and bodies concerned to develop and implement national programmes.
Such authorities and bodies shall include the competent regional, local, urban and other public authorities, and, where appropriate, international organisations and bodies representing civil society, such as non-governmental organisations or social partners.
Such authorities and bodies shall include the competent regional, local, urban and other public authorities, and, international organisations and bodies representing civil society, such as non-governmental organisations or social partners.
The word 'relevant' as opposed to 'where appropriate' removes an element of discretion which could lead to a lack of clarity. Target group contribution is a corner-stone in EU programming.
4. Each Member State shall set up a monitoring committee to support the implementation of national programmes.
See point 13. This would lead to increased transparency and avoid possible conflicts of interest.
5. The Commission may participate in the work of the monitoring committee in an advisory capacity.
5. The Commission participate in the work of the monitoring committee in an advisory capacity.
Commission participation is very important and should not be made discretionary.
expenditure relating to evaluations of actions or projects;
See points 18 and 19. Relevant stakeholders are in a good position to judge the performance of a project.
an accredited Responsible Authority: a public sector body of the Member State, which shall be solely responsible for the proper management and control of the national programme and shall handle all communication with the Commission;
Insert paragraph 5(d)
informing potential beneficiaries about funding opportunities under the national programmes;
2. Member States shall ensure that procedures are in place to produce and collect the data necessary for evaluations, including data related to common and programme specific indicators.
1. The Commission shall be assisted by the common Committee 'Asylum, Migration and Security' established by this Regulation. That Committee shall be a Committee within the meaning of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011.
1. The Commission shall be assisted by the common Committee 'Asylum, Migration and Security' established by this Regulation . That Committee shall be a Committee within the meaning of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011.
Regulation on establishing, as part of the Internal Security Fund, the instrument for financial support for police cooperation, preventing and combating crime, and crisis management
preventing and combating cross-border, serious and organised crime including terrorism, and reinforcing coordination and cooperation between law enforcement authorities of Member States and with relevant third-countries.
See point 41 and 55.
measures (methodologies, tools, structures) strengthening Member States' capability to prevent and combat cross-border, serious and organised crime including terrorism, in particular through public-private partnerships, the exchange of information and best practices, access to data, interoperable technologies, comparable statistics, applied criminology, public communication and awareness raising.
measures (methodologies, tools, structures) strengthening Member States' capability to prevent and combat cross-border, serious and organised crime including terrorism, in particular through public-private partnerships, the exchange of information and best practices, access to data interoperable technologies, comparable statistics, applied criminology, public communication and awareness raising.
See points 38, 39, 40, 41, 43 and 44.
actions improving police cooperation and coordination between law enforcement authorities, including joint investigation teams and any other form of cross-border joint operation, the access to and exchange of information and interoperable technologies;
1. The national programme to be prepared under the Instrument and the one to be prepared under Regulation (EU) No XXX/2012 establishing, as part of the Internal Security Fund, the instrument for financial support for external borders and visa shall be drawn up jointly by Member States and proposed to the Commission as one single national programme for the Fund, in accordance with Article 14 of Regulation (EU) No XXX/2012 [Horizontal Regulation].
Article 14a
Insert new point
Until now, support for cross-border policing measures could come either from the ISEC programme (Commission programme for the Prevention of and Fight against Crime) or from Objective 3 support (ERDF funded) (complementarity principle – Article 11 of Council Decision 2007/125/JHA). While action under ISEC was centrally funded by the EU, management of Objective 3 funding was decentralised. Under Article 14 of the draft ISF Regulation, the Council Decision from 2007 will be repealed in the forthcoming financial period, which means that the principle of complementarity between Community instruments will also be repealed and it will no longer be possible to choose between the ISF and Objective 3 support. However, the advantages of flexibility in using different support instruments ought not to be lost. Insofar as repealing complementarity is intended to avoid duplicating support, this can be dealt with quite adequately in the process of implementation. We therefore suggest that the complementarity principle and the safeguard clause in Article 11(3) ISEC should be set out in a new Article 14a of the ISF Regulation.
Brussels, 18 July 2012.
The President of the Committee of the Regions
Mercedes BRESSO
(1) CdR 201/2009, point 1.
(2) CdR 201/2009, points 8 and 9.
(3) CdR 170/2010, point 43.
(4) COM(2011) 752 final.
(5) Commission Communication: European Agenda for the integration of third-country nationals – COM(2011) 455 final.
(6) CdR 170/2010, point 41 and 42.
(10) COM(2012) 85 final.
(11) CdR 210/2008, point 30.
(12) CdR 201/2009, points 76 and 77.