NNPA Leadership Awards honor legendary poll worker, esteemed legislators

NNPA Leadership Awards honor legendary poll worker, esteemed legislators

Rep. Maxine Waters

Rep. Al Green

Jim Clyburn

Jahana Hayes

Norman Jenkins

Arsha Jones

Dr. Wally Smith

Kellee Edwards

Laura Wooten

Kevin Williams


The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) 2018 National Leadership Awards Reception provided what one might expect when California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters, Texas Democratic Rep. Al Green, and South Carolina’s Jim Clyburn make up one-third of the recipients.

“We are here to recognize our brothers and sisters who are truly national leaders and who stand for freedom, justice and equality not when its popular, but when it’s not so popular to be freedom fighters,” said NNPA President/CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr.

In her typical fiery but still eloquent way, Waters spoke passionately about she and other Democrats’ mission to impeach President Donald Trump—though, like all of the recipients, she never mentioned the president by name only referring to him as ‘Number 45.’

“My friend Jesse Jackson said if you fight, you can win. If you don’t fight, you will never know if you can win,” said Waters, who also took time to heap praise upon NNPA National Chairman Dorothy R. Leavell, the publisher of the Crusader newspapers in Gary, Indiana and Chicago.

For those who insist that Vice President Mike Pence might turn out as a worse Commander in Chief than Trump, Waters scoffed: “I say knock off the first, and go after the second,” she said, as the sold-out crowd inside the grand ballroom of the Marriott Marquis roared its approval of her fiery award acceptance speech.

Green, the veteran civil rights advocate who’s serving his seventh term in Congress, picked up where Waters left off. “I promise that I have not given up on impeachment,” Green said. “We have a president who is not only unfit for the presidency, but a man who is unfit for any office in the United States of America.”

Clyburn, who arrived in Congress in 1993 and is the third-ranking Democrat, followed his colleagues and helped to drive home their impeachment argument. “I learned early what it means to challenge the system. I learned from my dad what it means to have the power of the almighty vote,” Clyburn said. “If the [midterm] election goes the way it seems like it is, you will have the best years of your lives going forward.”

Waters, Green and Clyburn were among the nine national leaders and activists honored by the NNPA on Friday, Sept. 14. A trade organization representing America’s more than 220 African American-owned newspapers—with more than 22 million weekly subscribers, the NNPA began the Leadership Awards in 2014. The awards honor individuals who are national leaders in their specific fields and whose actions have helped to improve the quality of life for African Americans and others.

The producers of the NNPA Leadership Awards Reception decided that the best time to host such an awards reception would be during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Annual Legislative Conference, a weeklong event that’s held each September.

The CBC ALC week is the largest annual gathering of its kind in the United States, featuring 15,000 to 20,000 African American leaders and influencers.

The underlying combined objective of the CBC ALC and the NNPA National Leadership Awards Reception is to network, collaborate and strategize collectively for the advancement and empowerment of Black America.

Counted among the sponsors and supporters of the NNPA Leadership Awards Reception were General Motors, Ford Motor Company, Pfizer Rare Disease, RAI Reynolds, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, AT&T, Southwest Airlines, Northrop Grumman, Volkswagen, Wells Fargo, AARP, Aetna, Koch Industries, Comcast, Ascension Health, Comcast, and Compassion & Choices.

Awardees included National Teacher of the Year Jahana Hayes, Capstone Development Founder Norman K. Jenkins, E-Commerce Leader Arsha Jones, Dr. Wally Smith, Television Personality Kellee Edwards and legendary poll worker Laura Wooten.

At 97, Wooten is the longest continuously serving poll worker in America. Immediately upon graduating from Princeton High School in 1939, Wooten was recruited to work the polls by her great uncle, Anderson Mitnaul, who was running for Justice of the Peace. More than seven decades later, Wooten is still working the polls and her 79-year streak remains intact.

“Voting is important,” Wooten told the audience who saluted her with a prolonged standing ovation. “We need to engage young people to get out to vote. I hope we can do better this year. On November 6, get out and vote,” she said.

NNPA Torch Awards Honor Icons During Black Press Week 2018

NNPA Torch Awards Honor Icons During Black Press Week 2018

Three icons of their respective industries were honored at the National Newspaper Publishers Association’s annual Torch Awards dinner at The Dupont Circle Hotel in D.C.

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), James Farmer of General Motors, and Rev. Dr. Amos C. Brown, a student of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and pastor of the Third Baptist Church of San Francisco took home the coveted trophies which are bestowed upon those who demonstrate excellence in their chosen profession or endeavor.

This year’s honorees join a legacy of high-achieving, community-serving African Americans.

“The San Francisco Sun Reporter gave me a voice,” said Lee, as she accepted her award from NNPA National Chair Dorothy Leavell, NNPA President Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., and NNPA Foundation Chair Amelia Ashley-Ward, the publisher of the Sun Reporter.

Lee called Ashley-Ward, the publisher of the Sun Reporter, “truly a treasure,” before tearing into a recent secret FBI report that identified some activists in the Black community as “Black Identity Extremists.”

Farmer, whom Chavis praised as one of the most active advocates of the Black Press, completed more than 50 years of dedicated service to “not only his profession, but to the many organizations he served,” Chavis said.

A 1967 graduate of Central State University in Ohio, Farmer entered the automotive industry that year at Airtemp Division, Chrysler Corporation, as an advertising clerk, according to his biography.

There, he began a relationship with the only Black newspaper in Dayton, Ohio, the Dayton Black Express newspaper. After 10 years with Chrysler, Farmer took a position at General Motors where he continued to advocate and support the Black Press—a relationship that continues today.

Farmer said he appreciated the honor and will cherish it.

“This is a group that’s really in my heart,” he said of the Black Press. “If I gave up on the NNPA, I know corporate America could too.”

Brown, who also serves as president of the San Francisco branch of the NAACP and was only one of eight students who took the only college class ever taught by King, said the Black Press has and remains vital in America.

“Again, and again, you have heard from this ‘Dream Team’…this five-star [leadership team],” Brown said of Chavis, Leavell, Ashley-Ward and the leadership of the Black Press. “What African American leaders ought to be about in this nation. You have the chemistry to relate to all people around the word with compassion and courage and I hope you will keep this ‘Dream Team’ intact.”

The ceremony included remarks from Houston Forward Times Publisher and NNPA Vice Chair Karen Carter Richards, who said it was important that the Black Press honor its own.

“If we don’t honor our own, who will? Tonight, we are here to honor distinguished individuals in their fields,” Richards said.

Jackson Caesar, the nephew of gospel great Shirley Caesar, performed two solo songs during the awards ceremony while the group, One Vision Band, provided the entertainment.

Dr. Frederick D. Haynes, III, the senior pastor of the Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas, served as keynote speaker.

VIDEO: Black Press Honors Sen. Kamala Harris with Newsmaker of the Year Award

VIDEO: Black Press Honors Sen. Kamala Harris with Newsmaker of the Year Award

The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) honored Senator Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) with the 2018 Newsmaker of the Year Award during Black Press Week. The Newsmaker event took place at the Rayburn House Office Building on Wednesday, March 14.

“The Honorable Kamala Harris, the second African American woman and first South Asian American senator in U.S. history, is an outstanding choice for the NNPA’s 2018 Newsmaker of the Year Award,” said Dorothy Leavell, chairman of the NNPA and publisher of the Crusader Newspapers in Chicago and Gary, Ind.

The NNPA also celebrated the senator’s efforts to raise wages for working people, reform the criminal justice system, and expand healthcare access for all Americans.

“In all of my years of covering news in our community, Senator Harris has been one of the smartest, most fearless, steadfast and caring politicians that I have come to know,” said Amelia Ashley-Ward, NNPA Foundation chair and publisher of the San Francisco Sun-Reporter. “She has a lot to offer the world…we are so fortunate to have her advocating on our behalf.”

The theme of this year’s Black Press Week is “Celebrating 191 Years of the Black Press of America: Publishing Truth to Empower.” Black publishers, media professionals, civil rights leaders and lawmakers from across the country attend the annual event, taking place March 14-16. On Friday, March 16, Democratic strategist and author Donna Brazile will deliver a keynote address on the state of the Black Press in America.

“When John B. Russwurm and Samuel E. Cornish printed that first issue of Freedom’s Journal they sought to empower Black people to determine their own destiny and to define themselves,” said Leavell. “How iconic, that in 2018, our theme still rings true: ‘Publishing Truth to Empower.’”

Black Press Week will also feature sessions on business development, education reform, and sickle cell disease. Outstanding leaders in the Black community will be honored during the Torch Awards Dinner.

The Torch Award recipients are: Dr. Amos Brown, pastor of the San Francisco Third Baptist Church; Rep. Barbara Jean Lee (D-Calif.); and James Farmer, a senior consultant for General Motors.

Ken Barrett, the global chief diversity officer for General Motors, said that “Jim” Farmer dedicated his career to transforming the automotive industry through diversity and community service.

“I am proud of the invaluable support Jim continues to provide GM and he is truly most deserving of this prestigious honor,” said Barrett.

Chairman Leavell agreed.

“The NNPA Foundation has chosen some of the most outstanding leaders and trailblazers in the Black community to receive Torch Awards, this year,” said Leavell.

Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., the president and CEO of the NNPA, said that the NNPA and the NNPA Foundation have joined together to celebrate the 191-year anniversary of the Black Press in America.

“This year, Black Press Week convenes at a time of profound opportunity and responsibility to ensure a record turnout for Black American voters in the upcoming midterm elections across the nation,” said Chavis. “The new strategic alliance between the NNPA and the NAACP bodes well to advance civil rights and the economic, political, and cultural empowerment of Black America.”

The National Newspaper Publishers Association represents more than 200 Black-owned media companies in the United States. The NNPA promotes the profession of journalism and the business of publishing, while celebrating the evolution of the Black Press in America.

NNPA Publishers Address Equity in Education in their Newspapers

NNPA Publishers Address Equity in Education in their Newspapers

Today, more than ever before, parents, educators and stakeholders around the country are learning about the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and the opportunities it presents for school districts to innovate learning in their classrooms and to address academic achievement gaps—through the pages and websites of the Black Press.

“It’s critical for [Black] parents to be involved and the Black Press is strategically embedded in our communities, so that we have more opportunities to get the word out about ESSA,” said Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., the president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA). “The NNPA is pleased to partner with and applauds the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for working to raise public awareness throughout the United States about equity in education.”

Chavis continued: “Bridging the academic gap in education, in particular for African American students and others from disadvantaged communities, is of critical importance.”

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation partnered with the National Newspaper Publishers Association to create a three-year, multi-media public awareness campaign focusing on the unique opportunities and challenges of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

Dr. Elizabeth V. Primas, the project manager for the NNPA ESSA awareness campaign and a life-long educator, said that ESSA was established to help increase the effectiveness of public education in every state.

ESSA, which reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary School Act (ESEA) and replaces the No Child Left Behind Act, received bipartisan support and was signed into law by President Obama on December 10, 2015.

Under ESSA, states have more flexibility to craft elementary and secondary education programs designed to improve educational outcomes in the nation’s public schools. The law also ensures that every child, regardless of race, income, background, or where they live, has the opportunity to obtain a high-quality education.

“Education is the pathway out of poverty,” Primas said.

Since receiving the Gates Foundation grant, the NNPA has engaged its 211-member publications in more than 60 markets across the country in a campaign designed to heighten public awareness about ESSA, and to focus on efforts and policies aimed at closing the achievement gaps for students of color and low-income students.

Due to the importance of education in the Black community, NNPA members have paid particular attention on the NNPA ESSA awareness campaign; three NNPA members were rewarded for that engagement at the Mid-Winter Conference for their relentless reporting on ESSA.

“I do believe that the last chance anybody has to hold anybody down is education,” said Bobby Henry, the publisher of the Westside Gazette in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, who was one of those publishers that received an award for his engagement with the awareness campaign. “The state of Florida is not doing too well in educating our children, so I thought it was out of duty and respect that we do our due diligence to bring awareness to our readers.”

Henry added that the ESSA law and reporting on it helps to hold school districts accountable and he said that it’s also important that more teachers of color are recruited and hired.

Brandon Brooks, the managing editor of the Los Angeles Sentinel, said that education is the key to helping to end poverty in the Black community and all NNPA members are a testament to that.

Danny Bakewell, the publisher of the Los Angeles Sentinel was also rewarded for his newspaper’s engagement with the NNPA ESSA awareness campaign, and Brooks accepted the reward on behalf of the Sentinel.

For numerous reasons, Brooks said he didn’t hesitate to run articles about ESSA and educational equality in the Los Angeles Sentinel—in print and online.

“The content [produced by NNPA Newswire] was there and it was rich and educational and informative. Running the articles has never been too much of a directive, especially when I got the green light,” Brooks said.

Brooks continued: “The goal of the Black Press has always been to advocate for justice for Black people. ESSA is a campaign for social justice and equality in education. It’s our duty to reach out to our students, our kids and to make sure that they have the information to succeed. If I didn’t do that, I wouldn’t be doing my job.

Freddie Allen, the Editor-In-Chief of the NNPA Newswire, called NNPA publishers “MVPs” of the NNPA team for their work in publishing stories about ESSA.

“Education is a civil rights issue and we must be engaged,” said Allen. “Imagine the Civil Rights Movement without the Black Press. Where would we be today? So, imagine the future of education without the Black Press. That’s why we have to get involved and stay involved with this issue.”