When Oluwakanyinsola Adebola signed up to do community service as part of Howard University’s Alternative Spring Break, she knew she wouldn’t be joining her classmates and thousands of other college students who use their week off to party and play in the sun and surf of Jamaica or Aruba or any of a half dozen other Caribbean locations.
Instead, Adebola would be part of the hundreds of Howard students who, each year for more than 20 years, have given up their traditional spring breaks to serve in communities in need in places like Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore, Memphis and New Orleans.
Ironically, Adebola will travel to a Caribbean island after all. She will be in Puerto Rico aiding the millions of U.S. citizens still struggling to recover from Hurricane Maria, which hit the island on September 20.
The storm, which had 155 mph winds, caused at least $90 billion in damage, destroying thousands of homes, killing at least 60 people and decimating the island’s already deteriorating power grid. Currently, about 1,200 generators power some of the homes, hospitals and schools while seven larger, more powerful energy centers, called microgrids, provide energy to key areas near important buildings like hospitals and schools.
Electricity, however remains a challenge. Recurring blackouts plague the island, and about 340,000 people, are still without power. The blackouts have upset traffic and interrupted water service to dozens of neighborhoods, including the historic Old San Juan in the nation’s capital.
The Federal Emergency Management Administration has been providing relief and rescue efforts, providing meals and water to residents.
Adebola and 47 other students, accompanied by two faculty advisors, land in Puerto Rico Friday, March 9, and begin a week of work on Monday, March 12. The ASB participants will paint schools and fix homes and churches in and around San Juan, the island’s capital.
Howard students will also visit and assist in the daily activities at two Boys and Girls clubs in Las Margaritas and Bayamón about 20 minutes outside of San Juan. Students and faculty will be staying about an hour west of San Juan at a campsite in Arecibo, six people to a room.
This year, no students applying for ASB knew where they would be placed when they signed up for the annual service missions. Applicants selected a service preference ranging from “children/orphanages” to “prison rehabilitation.” The luck of the draw would determine at which of this year’s 15 service sites they would be placed.
Adebola, an ASB first-timer, said when she checked “recovery” on her application, she thought she would be going to Houston or Belle Glade, Fla., two U.S. cities that also were hit hard by hurricanes last fall. She said she never expected to be placed in Puerto Rico.
“I’m really excited,” she said.
A native of Nigeria, Adebola moved to the United States to learn mechanical engineering to further technological advancement in her country, which she said lacks proper waste disposal systems, consistent electricity and access to clean drinking water in many parts of the country.
She said old medical equipment failed to save her 13-year-old sister’s diminishing eyesight, leaving her completely blind.
Adebola, who created a nonprofit organization at 13 to help Nigerian children, said that the goals of ASB align perfectly with hers.
“The purpose of ASB is to help people, and it gives me something productive to do,” she said.
More than 700 students will participate in ASB service missions to 14 other underserved areas and regions devastated by natural disaster this year, including St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Martin, Anguilla, Haiti and Ghana. Groups will also go to Chicago, New Orleans, Port Arthur and Beaumont in Texas, the Florida Keys and Flint, Mich.
“We decided to go to places hit hardest by the hurricane,” said Puerto Rico site coordinator Kyliah Hughes, 20.
According to Hughes, ASB planners wanted to “make a statement” about their commitment to service by visiting places further than the usual domestic sites.
Dijon Stokes, 20, a team leader for Puerto Rico, agreed.
“We have to help beyond borders,” Stokes, said. “We go where we’re needed, and we will visit those places devastated by the hurricane until we see real recovery.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Wednesday, two students at Birmingham’s Huffman High School were victims of gun violence, one of whom was killed. Victims were male and female, both 17. Birmingham police are conducting an active investigation of the shooting.
Congresswoman Terri A. Sewell (D-AL) releases the following statement:
“My heart is breaking for those hurt and killed in the shooting at Huffman High School.” said Rep. Terri Sewell. “I cannot imagine the grief of the parents who lost their little girl today to gun violence. She was a part of our community’s future. Tonight, my prayers are with her, the other victim, and their families.”
“We have a responsibility to protect our schools from gun violence, accidental or otherwise. Every year more students and teachers, sons and daughters, and brothers and sisters are killed in school shootings – we need to do everything in our power to make this incident the last. We cannot settle for symbolic gestures in Congress when our children’s lives are at stake.”
C-SPAN announced Wednesday that Ashleigh Richardson and Ta’Kaiya Cooper, students at Ramsay High School in Birmingham are second-prize winners in C-SPAN’s national 2018 StudentCam competition. They will receive $1,500 for their documentary, “You Matter,” about the 15th Amendment. Their video will air on C-SPAN at 5:50 a.m. CST and throughout the day on April 11.
“Congratulations to Ashleigh and Ta’Kaiya as second-prize winners in C-SPAN’s national StudentCam documentary competition – it’s a terrific recognition,” said Adam Falk, Senior Vice President, State Government Affairs, Charter Communications. “This year, C-SPAN’s StudentCam contest gave students the opportunity to learn more about and deeply appreciate the U.S. Constitution and its impact on our local community. We are proud to partner with them on this important initiative.”
Each year since 2006, C-SPAN partners with its local cable television providers in communities nationwide to invite middle school students (grades 6-8) and high school students (grades 9-12) to produce short documentaries about a subject of national importance. This year students addressed the theme, “The Constitution & You: Choose a provision of the U.S. Constitution and create a video illustrating why it’s important to you.”
In response, C-SPAN received a record 2,985 video submissions from over 5,700 students in 46 states and Washington, D.C. Students worked in teams or as individuals to address a wide range of public policy issues, from the freedoms of the First Amendment and the right to bear arms, to equality and the powers of Congress.
“With so much national debate about government power and personal freedoms, we were eager to hear students’ perspectives on what the Constitution means to them,” said C-SPAN’s Manager of Education Relations Craig McAndrew. “Students across the country engaged in conversation on the local level with elected officials, experts, community leaders and educators to explore how national issues impact their daily lives.”
The most popular provisions of the Constitution explored by students were the First Amendment (26 percent), followed by the Second Amendment (16 percent) and the 14th Amendment (11 percent).
C-SPAN is funded by America’s cable television companies, which support StudentCam. In Birmingham, C-SPAN is available locally through Spectrum.
Ashleigh and Ta’Kaiya are among more than 300 students across the country winning a total of $100,000, including one grand-prize winner, four first-prize winners, 16 second-prize winners, 32 third-prize winners and 97 honorable mentions.
The 150 winning videos may be viewed at http://www.studentcam.org/and may be used in a broadcast with attribution to C-SPAN. To schedule an interview with one or more of the winning students, please contact Pam McGorry at pmcgorry@c-span.org.
The annual competition is sponsored by the C-SPAN Education Foundation. Videos were evaluated by a panel of educators and C-SPAN representatives based on the thoughtful examination of the competition’s theme, quality of expression, inclusion of varying sides of the documentary’s topic, and effective incorporation of C-SPAN programming.
by: Micha Green Washington, D.C. AFRO Editor, mgreen@afro.com
Antwan Wilson, former chancellor of District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS), said D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser knew about his daughter’s covert transfer to another high school, months before it became public knowledge and resulted in his forced February resignation.
Antwan Wilson, former chancellor of D.C.’s school system, is raising questions about who else knew about his actions. (Courtesy photo)
On Monday, March 5, Wilson, in his first interview since he was ousted on Feb. 20, told the Washington Post that he informed Bowser in late September that he was working with former Deputy Mayor, Jenifer Niles, who also resigned, to transfer his daughter out of Duke Ellington School of the Arts, after she experienced emotional health issues from being enrolled at the institution. He claimed he told the mayor in early October his daughter had successfully transferred to Woodrow Wilson High School.
Despite Wilson’s claims, the mayor said on Monday, she was clueless about the ex-chancellor’s and former deputy mayor’s plans to transfer his daughter avoiding protocol.
“I in no way approved of a transfer or knew about an illegal transfer,” Bowser said.
While Bowser’s Communication Director, Anu Rangappa, corroborated that the mayor met with Wilson on Sept. 20 and Oct. 11, he said there was nothing about Wilson’s daughter written on the agenda for either meeting.
After his public apology and unsuccessful plea campaign to keep his position, Wilson initially quietly resigned post the mayor’s orders, and pulled his daughter from Wilson High.
Yet, after the rhetoric used by the mayor, calling Wilson and Niles’ actions, “inexplicable” and “indefensible”, and her claim of ignorance in the transfer, the former chancellor said he was let down by Bowser’s false narrative.
“I’ve seen that narrative, and I’ve been disappointed in it… Because it’s not accurate,” Wilson told the {Washington Post}.
“I went to my bosses and had a conversation and made no demands,” Wilson said. The former chancellor even said they did not even request Wilson High School by name, but that his family “wanted options in DCPS and that was important to us.”
At-large Council member, David Grosso (I), who chairs the education committee, said it is time to uncover the truth about the transfer dispute.
“We will be looking to get to the bottom of this,” Grosso told the {Washington Post}.
The chair of the education committee said he will hold a hearing for all the political players in the scandal to testify under oath.
“I feel like it’s time for us to have a public conversation under oath, about what happened,” Grosso said. If Niles, Wilson, and Bowser refuse to appear voluntarily, council committees, such as education, have the power to subpoena witnesses.
The student lunch debt has been wiped out for all 56 schools in the Saint Paul Public Schools district in Minnesota, the district Castile worked for, according to the charity, Philando Feeds the Children.
“That means that no parent of the 37,000 kids who eat meals at school need worry about how to pay that overdue debt,” according to an update from the charity website. “Philando is still reaching into his pocket, and helping a kid out. One by one. With your help.”
Stacey Koppen, director of Nutrition Services at Saint Paul Public Schools, worked with Castile, and remembers him as a “kind and caring” person.
“This fundraiser honoring him and his memory couldn’t be more perfect,” said Koppen. “This is what he did. He did so without question or praise.”
Though all students of the district can receive free breakfast, only some students are eligible for free lunches depending on household income guidelines and district funding. That leaves some students with lunch debt if they can’t pay and don’t meet the requirements.
Philando Feeds the Children started as a college class project led by Metropolitan State University students. It has now reached approximately 3,500 donors and received over $130,000 in donations to feed the children of St. Paul. The organization said it is currently seeking official non-profit status with the state of Minnesota.
Now that Philando Feeds the Children has eliminated all of the school lunch debt in the district, charity organizer and Metro State University professor Pamela Fergus said the organization will use the rest of the money raised to help more students in the future.
Castile had a reputation at the school for caring about the students’ welfare.
“He remembered [students’] names,” Joan Edman, a recently retired paraprofessional at the school, told TIME shortly after Castile’s death. “He remembered who couldn’t have milk. He knew what they could have to eat and what they couldn’t.”
Known fondly by students as Mr. Phil, Castile had worked at J.J. Hill since he was 19 years old, and was promoted in 2014 to his position as a nutrition services supervisor, according to a statement by the Saint Paul Public Schools. Remembered as a cheerful presence in the cafeteria, he maintained close relationships with staff, students, and colleagues.
Castile’s death sparked nationwide protests and demonstrations against police brutality. He was shot five times in his car by a police officer who was later acquitted of manslaughter charges.
President Trump wants to arm teachers to prevent, or reduce the carnage from, future school shootings like the one at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., this month. “A teacher would have shot the hell out of him before he knew what had happened,” Trump said last week about the attacker in Florida. He’s not the only one who thinks this is a good idea: Several states are already considering legislation to allow guns to be carried into schools, ostensibly to protect kids.
But putting guns into the hands of schoolteachers would be extraordinarily dangerous for black and Latino students, who are already often forced to try to learn in hostile environments where they’re treated as threats.
How long would it be, if Trump’s plan became reality, before a teacher shoots a black student and then invokes the “I feared for my life” defense we continually hear from police officers who misinterpret young black people’s behavior with deadly consequences?
A mountain of data on persistent racial biases and disparities in education and on police presence in schools — as well as a recent increase in racial harassment in schools — makes it clear that kids of color won’t be safe if their teachers are carrying weapons…
Calling all educators, pupil services, educational assistants, administrative staff, and those in the process of obtaining their license! Come to the Educator Recruitment Fair on Saturday, April 7, 2018 from 8 AM to 1 PM at Shorewood High School, Shorewood, WI. Multiple schools in Southeastern Wisconsin are looking to fill vacancies for the 2018-2019 school year. Register to attend: www.cesa1.k12.wi.us.
Students at Oliver Wendell Holmes School on Milwaukee’s north side are making new friends – with volunteers from the Milwaukee Urban League and GE Healthcare. Volunteers from both organizations are engaging with students as tutors and mentors and using their expertise to raise student achievement. Milwaukee Public Schools has similar mentor relationships in many schools that provide students with individual attention from caring adults.
The Milwaukee Urban League is growing its relationship with O. W. Holmes and the community by providing a variety of resources for school families. A generous contribution of $15,000 from the Milwaukee Urban League will support Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) in the school as well as family programming. The organization also regularly sends staff to connect families with community resources such as employment, financial literacy, adult education and driver’s license assistance. The Milwaukee Urban League is leveraging its Guild and Young Professionals affinity groups and its relationship with GE Healthcare to send volunteers to the school.
The MPS Department of Business, Community and Family Partnerships is grateful to the Milwaukee Urban League, its Guild and Young Professionals groups, and GE Healthcare for their generous support of O. W. Holmes students and families.
Oliver Wendell Holmes School offers Head Start through 8th grade and is located at 2463 N. Buffum St. Kindergarten enrollment for fall 2018 is open until March 4, 2018. To enroll, visit mpsmke.com or call (414) 475- 8204.
On February 11, 2018, the members of the Hampton Roads community gathered in Suffolk to celebrate Nansemond-Suffolk Branch’s Freedom Fund Banquet. This year’s theme was: Maximizing the Moment, Laying Hold of the Future: Honoring Our Exceptional Youth.
Before a standing room only crowd, the keynote speaker was the impressive young leader, Ms. Gerica Goodman, policy director with Virginia21. She reminded the guests and audience how important it is to be engaged, to get involved in your community, and let your voices be heard.
The Suffolk NAACP hosted 20 well-deserving youth, their parents, family, and the community at-large. Each youth honoree received a medallion of excellence, a certificate of accomplishment and a stipend. Several members of the Hampton Roads legislative delegation were in attendance, including the Honorable Congressmen Donald McEachin and Bobby Scott. Many city officials attended as well.
Two of Hampton Roads’ outstanding business people. Rillco, Inc., and TimeAway, Inc. received he President’s Award for Small Minority-Owned Business Excellence.
NAACP President Seneca Bock said, “As we endeavor to increase economic and social justice, we always encourage small minority-owned business development, entrepreneurship and innovation. These two companies continue to lead the way for many to come behind them.”
Keith Willis, incoming 100 BMIE president, said that he and the other volunteer mentors were taking late night calls from their boys, talking up and tweaking speeches until the last minute.
“They are very involved, very excited about the showcase. I’ve been on the phone, and they’ve been practicing,” he said.
The program, in partnership with the Pomona chapter Jack and Jill of America and the 100 BMIE Education Committee, helped the youth develop their presentations around some of the most significant civil rights heroes throughout Black history.
He said that “the 100” has been focused on outreach and broadening their students’ exposure to get out of the area to social events. They have been especially excited to collaborate with the Boy Scouts of America and in December, they took the boys to a leadership camp where they participated in a team-building exercise.
It was important to give students an opportunity that they wouldn’t ordinarily get in in the Inland Empire, he said.
The boys and youth also attended a young men’s conference sponsored by Jewett Walker, Div. President and Chairman of the Board of the 100 Black Men of Los Angeles.
“There were over 500 students there. It was an opportunity for our students to meet up with Los Angeles students and discuss issues that relate to growing up in America, in the climate that we have today. It was a very good exercise,” he said.
Wherever the 100 Black Men charters exist, part of the big picture is keeping students tight with local college campuses and formal higher education environments.
The organization provides strong academic support, but they especially want the boys grounded in a sense of self, with the cultural and social support they need for college success.
“It’s very important that students not feel like college is a foreign concept,” Willis said. “We want them to feel comfortable on campus, with various campus cultures so they can examine what is a good fit for them academically.”
Prior to coming on as president, Willis chaired the education committee, where his pet project was jump-starting the pilot program for the Saturday Academy at Cal Baptist University.
Their mentoring program at Chemawa Middle School, part of the Riverside Unified School District, is now in its second successful year. This week, in partnership with CBU, they are taking the middle school students out to the ball game for another fun day with higher education strategies hidden in the mix.
“It’s for a slice of college life,” he said. “We are also looking forward to building up a collaboration with University of California, Riverside, and the Black Student Union there to work on programs together.”
Willis said that he joined “the 100” because he was seeking a way to academically impact youth, which is part of the mission of the organization. Initially, he served on the mentoring committee with Chemawa Middle School, eventually transitioning into the Saturday Academy.
“I came, and I was immediately enamored because it was exactly what I wanted to do,” said Willis, formerly a social studies teacher, and now an attorney. “We’re able to provide support, and a consistent presence of mentoring there.”
As students aged out of the middle school, the organization piloted a program with CBU, which encompasses some students from area high schools. All those attending wear their signature 100 Black Men of the Inland Empire shirt and khaki pants for their regular bi-monthly meetings. Currently, they have about 30 regular students aged 12 to 18.
In the coming weeks, the organization is also pushing community support for its April 20 Annual Gulf Tournament fundraiser to help keep the local programming strong for the kids.
Much of the energy in recent years has been in getting their bearings as a new organization, and developing programs that are a good fit for the local boys. But the students who tend to be more involved also have strong parental support, he said. They make sure the boys come out to the meetings at the CBU campus.
As they’ve grown in the program, their boys and youth have developed persistence and staying power. One student recently missed a class, and he was clearly upset about it.
“Once they go consistently, they want to keep going. It’s really been a positive experience,” he said.
For more information on the golf tournament or to get involved, email 100bmie@gmail.com
SUFFOLK