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Posts published in “Philanthropy”

Anonymous Donor Pays Homeless Chicago Family’s Rent For a Year For Christmas

By goodblacknews on December 25, 2015
Latoya Ellis (CREDIT: ABC7 Chicago)
For those who may have wondered if there’s any good left in the world, just turn to Chicago woman LaToya Ellis as proof there are still people with kind hearts.
The mother of three fell on hard times when she was laid off from her managerial position at the fast-food sandwich chain Jimmy Johns, and later evicted from her apartment. Ellis stayed with friends and family for a while, but eventually moved into a homeless shelter.
Ellis’ story was then covered by local TV Station ABC 7, which quickly went viral with many wondering how they could lend a helping hand. Ellis, who is also an advocate for the homeless, was overwhelmed by the support, but quickly received the best Christmas present when a donor called Ellis and said he’d cover a year’s worth of rent in the neighborhood of her choice.
“It’s indescribable. I didn’t know how to process it,” Ellis said, recalling her reaction when she received the phone call. “No one has ever done anything like that for me.”
Her new home now allows for her children to have their own rooms, and since the gracious gift from the anonymous donor, good samaritans have also offered basic needs such as household supplies, gifts for the children and job services.
Ellis plans to use her year wisely by saving money to open a catering business and eventually finish up her bachelor’s degree. She also intends to spread the goodwill.
“Most of all, I just want to pay it forward,” she said. “I’m going to continue advocating, I’m going to continue volunteering — it’s not just about my family.”
article by Shenequa Golding via vibe.com

Chance The Rapper Aids Effort to Bring 1,000 Coats to Homeless In Chicago

By goodblacknews on December 24, 2015

chance-the rapper
Chance The Rapper (photo via eurweb.com)

Need a source of holiday inspiration? Try Chance the Rapper.
According to Mic.com, the Chicago rhymesayer is making it his business to bring at least 1,000 coats to his city’s homeless population via a recent partnership with the Empowerment Plan, a Detroit-based nonprofit organization that employs homeless people from local Detroit shelters to create long, self-insulating coats that transform into sleeping bags and totes.
The project, known as Warmest Winter, launched Wednesday (Dec. 21) with the goal of bringing the coats to Chicago by asking folks to sponsor a coat with a $100 donation for the manufacturing of the coat. Broken down, the money will help cover the labor, materials and overhead expenses involved in creating the coat.
To date, the Warmest Weather project has raised more than $43,000, which has funded the manufacturing of 430 EMPWR coats. The coats are noted for being water resistant and self-heating, in light of them being constructed with upcycled automotive insulation and durable work fabric from Carhartt. When they are not being worn, the coats can be carried as an over-the-shoulder bag.
Founded by Veronika Scott, a social entrepreneur, the Empowerment Plan started distributing the EMPWR coats in Detroit in 2011 with 10 formerly homeless women the organization initially employed, according to The Huffington Post. Since its creation, the Empowerment Plan now employs 20 formerly homeless individuals, who have created more than 9,000 coats.
The organization’s partnership with Chance the Rapper allows for its coats to come to Chicago with an ultimate goal of opening an Empowerment Plan factory in the city and offering homeless Chicago residents a chance to earn a living wage.
For his part, Chance the Rapper is using the power of social media to actively promote the Warmest Winter initiative. Since last week, the rhymesayer has been busy encouraging his more than 1.2 million Twitter followers and 900,000 Instagram fans to donate to the cause with offering donors such things as
tickets to one of his concerts, a Chicago White Sox game and a Chicago Bulls game.
Within hours of Chance the Rapper’s first tweet about Warmest Winter, $7,500 — or 75 coats — had been raised, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The support comes at a troubling time in Chicago, which is experiencing a harsh winter. Mic.com references findings from the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, which reveal that an estimated 125,838 Chicagoans were homeless during the 2014-2015 school year. The National Coalition for the Homeless found that out of the homeless population in America, about 700 people die of hypothermia every year.
Estimates by Warmest Winter state that for each 1,000 coats funded, it can save 14 lives. The initiative is set to run until Jan. 13.
For more information and to donate to  Warmest Winter, click here. To see one of Chance the Rapper’s tweets about Warmest Winter, scroll below:


article via eurweb.com

NBA Lends Its Name and Its Stars to Campaign Against Gun Violence

By goodblacknews on December 23, 2015
An image of the Warriors’ Stephen Curry from an ad that is the result of a partnership between the N.B.A. and the organization Everytown for Gun Safety. (photo via nytimes.com)

The National Basketball Association, alarmed by the death toll from shootings across the country, is stepping into the polarizing debate over guns, regulation and the Second Amendment with an advertising campaign in partnership with one of the nation’s most aggressive advocates of stricter limits on firearm sales.

The first ads, timed to reach millions of basketball fans during a series of marquee games on Christmas Day, focus on shooting victims and contain no policy recommendations. The words “gun control” are never mentioned.

Besides N.B.A. players, the ads feature survivors of shootings and relatives of those killed by guns. (photo via nytimes.com)

The N.B.A.’s involvement suggests that a bloody year of gun deaths — in highly publicized mass shootings and countless smaller-scale incidents — may be spurring even some generally risk-averse, mainstream institutions to action.

Players who appear in the first 30-second ad, which will run five times on Friday, speak in personal terms about the effects of gun violence on their lives. Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors describes hearing of a 3-year-old’s shooting: “My daughter Riley’s that age,” he says. Chris Paul of the Los Angeles Clippers recalls the advice he heeded as a child: “My parents used to say, ‘A bullet doesn’t have a name on it.’”

The N.B.A. said it held little internal debate about working with Mr. Bloomberg’s group. “We know far too many people who have been caught up in gun violence in this country,” said Kathleen Behrens, the league’s president of social responsibility and player programs. “And we can do something about it.”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPcZo-f6Fhc&w=560&h=315]

But the decision may prove tricky for the league: While many of its teams are based in cities dominated by Democrats, a number of other teams — and millions of N.B.A. fans — hail from places where Mr. Bloomberg and his approach to guns are viewed with deep suspicion. Ms. Behrens said the league had not shown the ads to team owners, but added, “We’re not worried about any political implications.”

The Bloomberg-N.B.A. partnership was brokered by an unlikely figure: Spike Lee, a member of Everytown’s creative council, whose latest film, “Chi-Raq,” set on Chicago’s South Side, confronts gun violence with an unflinching eye.

Over breakfast at the Loews Regency Hotel in Manhattan in November, not long before the movie was released earlier this month, Mr. Lee proposed the idea for the ads to John Skipper, the president of ESPN, who then took it to Adam Silver, the N.B.A.’s commissioner. Mr. Lee insisted on the participation of Everytown, with which he collaborated on a protest march down Broadway after the film’s New York premiere.

In an interview, he sounded many of the themes that Mr. Bloomberg himself has emphasized in the past, saying it was time for “common sense anti-gun laws.”

“But because of the N.R.A., politicians and the gun manufacturers, we’re dying under that tyranny,” Mr. Lee said.

Mr. Bloomberg’s interventionist policies as mayor and his left-leaning tactics on guns have earned the vitriol of gun-rights advocates, who have mocked him with TV ads as an out-of-touch elitist.

NBA All-Star James Harden Takes 20 Single Moms, Kids Holiday Shopping

By goodblacknews on December 22, 2015

Houston Rockets' super star, James Harden, took 20 single moms and their children holiday shopping Sunday afternoon.
Houston Rockets’ superstar, James Harden, took 20 single moms and their children holiday shopping Sunday afternoon. (photo: KHOU 11 News)

HOUSTON – There’s no telling how many kids dream of what it would be like to be on the same team as James Harden; on Sunday, 40 local kids found out.
The Houston Rockets superstar and his mom took 20 single mothers and their kids, all dressed in “Team Harden” T-shirts and blue Santa hats, holiday shopping at a South Houston Target store.
“Growing up, my mom was by her lonesome, so I had to do a lot, me, my brother, and my sister,” said Harden. “So I can kind of relate.”
“I was trying to guide the moms in a direction so they can help guide their kids in a better direction,” said Monja Willis, Harden’s mother.
Sunday’s event marked the fourth year in a row this mother and son, and his siblings have paid it forward. “I don’t want to say too much because I’m gonna get teary eyed,” said Demetrias, who was shopping with her grandson she’s helping raise. “I’m getting teary eyed right now. I don’t wanna cry, okay? But it means a lot to me. It really does.”
Others had trouble holding back that emotion.  “I’m really appreciative of this,” said Tammy Copeland, a single mother of three young kids who was taking part in the event. “I work and I go to school, and I’m a single mother of three kids. Very hard, but things like this, God just keeps on blessing me.”
But the emotion for most of these kids as they filled their shopping carts was joy, an emotion contagious even to an NBA All-Star.  “Yeah, he’s a big kid,” said Willis. “Don’t tell him I said that.”
A big kid and 40 of his new friends creating a picture perfect holiday memory.
“They’re never gonna forget this,” said Copeland.
BBVA also gave each mom $100 savings certificates for each child taking part in the shopping spree to open a new savings account.
article via khou.com

Superintendent Tiffany Anderson Has Figured Out How to Make School Work for Low-Income Kids in Jennings, MO

By goodblacknews on December 21, 2015
Tiffany Anderson, the superintendent of the 3,000-student Jennings School District in Jennings, Mo., addresses college-prep students on Dec. 10. Anderson has a “hands-on” approach and visits classrooms frequently. She has brought additional funding, initiative and momentum to the district. (Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post)

JENNINGS, Mo. — School districts don’t usually operate homeless shelters for their students. Nor do they often run food banks or have a system in place to provide whatever clothes kids need. Few offer regular access to pediatricians and mental health counselors, or make washers and dryers available to families desperate to get clean.
But the Jennings School District — serving about 3,000 students in a low-income, predominantly African-American jurisdiction just north of St. Louis — does all of these things and more. When Superintendent Tiffany Anderson arrived here 3 1/2 years ago, she was determined to clear the barriers that so often keep poor kids from learning. And her approach has helped fuel a dramatic turnaround in Jennings, which has long been among the lowest-performing school districts in Missouri.
“Schools can do so much to really impact poverty,” Anderson said. “Some people think if you do all this other stuff, it takes away from focusing on instruction, when really it ensures that you can take kids further academically.”
Public education has long felt like a small and fruitless weapon against this town’s generational poverty. But that’s starting to change. Academic achievement, attendance and high school graduation rates have improved since Anderson’s arrival, and, this month, state officials announced that as a result of the improvements, Jennings had reached full accreditation for the first time in more than a decade.
Gwen McDile, a homeless 17-year-old in Jennings, missed so much school this fall — nearly one day in three — that it seemed she would be unlikely to graduate in June. But then she was invited to move into Hope House, a shelter the school system recently opened to give students like her a stable place to live.

She arrived a few days after Thanksgiving. The 3,000-square-foot house had a private bedroom for Gwen, who loves writing and poetry; a living room with a plush sofa she could sink into; and — perhaps most importantly — a full pantry.
She’s no longer hungry. She has been making it to class. She believes she will graduate on time.
“I’ve eaten more in the last two weeks than I’ve eaten in the last two years,” Gwen said on a recent afternoon, after arriving home from school and digging into a piece of caramel chocolate. “I’m truly blessed to be in the situation I’m in right now.”

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture to Receive $22M Renovation Including Outdoor LED Screen

By goodblacknews on December 20, 2015
The ambitious renovation project includes installing a high-definition LED screen on the facade, new benches and landscape on Lenox Avenue, expansions to the gift shop and research spaces, and adding a new exhibition space for children.
Schomburg Center Renovation Project includes installing a high-definition LED screen on the facade, new benches and landscape on Lenox Avenue, expansions to the gift shop and research spaces, and adding a new exhibition space for children. (image via dnainfo.com)

HARLEM — The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is getting a $22 million facelift, officials announced Friday.
The ambitious renovation project includes installing a high-definition LED screen on the facade, new benches and landscape on Lenox Avenue, expansions to the gift shop and research spaces, and adding a new exhibition space for children.
“All of this makes for a really terrific start into the 21st Century and puts the Schomburg on its way its next 90 years,” said Director Dr. Khalil Gibran Muhammad.
The renovation comes at a time of growth at the research library, which is celebrating its 90th anniversary. Over the last three years their attendance has increased by 26 percent and program attendance by nearly 40 percent, according to NYPL President Tony Marx.
This is the most significant investment in the library named after Arturo Schomburg since its 1979 expansion, said the founder’s grandson Dean Schomburg.
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“I’m standing here thinking what my grandfather would have felt with what’s going on here today,” he said. “It would’ve been an enormous, enormous pleasure for him as it is for me to see what is happening.”
The research library’s reading room will get a makeover as will the video division. New storing and presentation equipment will make it easier for people to access historic recorded equipment, said Muhammad.  “Some of the Schomburg’s greatest treasures are locked in hiding in those spaces and will begin to see the light of day again,” he said.
Scaffolding is already up on the south side of the building. The project is expected to be completed sometime in 2017.
article by Gustavo Solis via dnainfo.com

Korey Wise Of "Central Park Five" Donates $190,000 to Help Fight Wrongful Convictions

By goodblacknews on December 18, 2015

Korey Wise (photo via cnews.com)
Korey Wise (photo via cnews.canoe.com)

The University of Colorado’s Innocence Project got a boost and a new name with a $190,000 donation from Korey Wise, a man exonerated in New York City’s high-profile Central Park jogger case.
The program, operated out of CU’s law school, is now named the Korey Wise Innocence Project at Colorado Law. Wise’s donation allowed the student-led volunteer program to hire a full-time director this fall and provides financial support for its investigative work.
The Innocence Project is a national nonprofit with chapters across the country that investigate claims of wrongful convictions. Colorado’s chapter was founded in 2001 under the Colorado Lawyers Committee and moved to the CU law school in 2010.
Wise was 16 when he was tried and convicted as an adult in connection with the 1989 attack and rape of a female jogger in Central Park.
He spent more than a decade in prison and was exonerated in 2002 after another man admitted to the attack and DNA testing confirmed his involvement. The convictions of the four other men accused in the attack were also overturned.
The men, who became known as the Central Park Five, settled with the city of New York for $41 million in 2014.
This is believed to be Wise’s first major philanthropic gift.

LeBron James Shares Touching Moment with Special Olympics MVP Aaron Miller

By goodblacknews on December 16, 2015

LeBron James and Special Olympics MVP Aaron Miller (photo via Vibe.com)
LeBron James and Special Olympics MVP Aaron Miller (photo via Vibe.com)

Tuesday night, Lebron James showed everyone what good sportsmanship looks like.
Even as the Cleveland Cavaliers pushed towards a 89-77 win in Boston, the 11-time NBA All-Star went out of his way to greet Special Olympian Aaron Miller.
Miller, who is a golfer and basketball player, beamed in awe as James ran over to the side of the court to shake his hand during the second quarter.
“I wasn’t able to hear the whole story because I was in the game and Coach [David Blatt] was drawing up the play,” James said of the moments leading up to the encounter. “But I looked up by the JumboTron and I saw what [Miller had] been through and where he is now. I think the doctor said he would never walk again or talk again. I looked up there and right from there, it became so much more than basketball.”
James also gave the 16-year-old, who suffers from severe brain damage, his basketball shoes he wore during the game.
“When I saw his story, it was just like, I don’t know, I felt like I was a part of him. Just showing my respect, gave him my shoes. It was well received by him. It was not for you guys or the fans. It was for him.”
article by Blue Telusma via thegrio.com

Sisters Create Cross-Cultural Organization Connecting U.S. and African Youth

By goodblacknews on December 14, 2015

Twin sisters and founders of Focal Point Global, Hassanatu and Hussainatu Blake (photo: black enterprise.com)

Twin sisters and founders of Focal Point Global, Hassanatu Blake and Hussainatu Blake are on a mission to provide a global experience that enlightens youths in Africa and the United States about different cultures, countries, and lifestyles. Using modern technology such as Skype and Google Hangout, Focal Point Global makes it possible for youths to connect, learn, and address social issues together, and become leaders in their communities.
As 2012 White House Champions of Change, the dynamic duo has accomplished a great deal since launching the organization in 2010. This includes creating The U.S.-Southern Africa HIV Education Initiative (2010), the US-Cameroon Child Trafficking Awareness Project (2012), the Gambia-Namibia HIV/Ebola Education Initiative (2014), preparing 150 global youth alumni, and serving as 2013 TEDxEmory Keynote Speakers.
BlackEnterprise.com caught up with the Cameroonian-American sisters to delve into their background and learn more about their plans for 2016.
BlackEnterprise.com: Tell us a bit about your background.
Hussainatu: I have a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tufts University, a Masters degree from Middlebury Institute of International Studies, and a law degree from Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School. I have lived and worked in Germany, South Africa, Namibia, and The Gambia. While living in Germany, I assisted the NAACP with educating Africans about their legal rights. I also worked for the International Organization for Migration’s Counter-Trafficking Department in South Africa, aiding trafficked Africans. I have published articles about slavery in Mauritania for International Affairs Forum, a publication of the Center for International Relations in Washington, D.C.
Hassanatu: I have a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tufts University, a Master of Public Health degree from Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, and a Master of Business Administration degree from Plymouth State University. I’ve also lived, worked, and studied in Germany, Jamaica, Namibia, Zambia, Antigua, St. Lucia, Cameroon, The Gambia, and South Africa. I have focused on improving health issues globally. Recently I worked with BroadReach Healthcare to implement a national management and leadership training program for health professionals in Zambia. I also conducted maternal/child health research with the National Institutes of Health and University of Alabama in Jamaica, worked with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Namibia to support Namibia’s national fight against HIV/AIDS, and managed technical assistance projects in Africa and Asia with USAID Global Health Technical Project in Washington, D.C. I’ve also written on a variety of health topics for the African American online health resource, BlackDoctor.org.
Tell us about the defining moment that inspired you to launch Focal Point Global.
Seven years ago, Focal Point Global started as an idea while we were sitting in our parents’ living room. We had just returned from working overseas and we read a New York Times article about the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in the D.C. metro area being as high as 3%. Although 3% may not seem high for many people, based on our global public health and international development backgrounds, we knew this prevalence rate was high for an industrialized country like the U.S., and also comparable to some prevalence rates in West African cities. What makes it more alarming is that many who are impacted are youths between the ages of 15 and 25. After reading the article, we did research on how HIV was being addressed in the U.S., particularly in the youth population. We realized there was a critical gap that wasn’t being fully utilized — global peer education. Right then, we decided to create a project connecting youths in the U.S. and in Namibia (Southern Africa) so they could have a cross-cultural educational platform to discuss HIV and a space to create solutions to address this disease in their communities.

Meathead Movers Offers Services for Free to Victims of Domestic Abuse

By goodblacknews on December 12, 2015
Aaron Steed remembers helping a woman move items out of her home years ago so she could flee an abusive relationship.  Steed and his moving company had moved many women in similar situations, but this time things turned scary.
He remembers the woman’s abusive boyfriend coming home, flinging a toaster toward the wall and accusing Steed of taking his items, leading Steed to call 911.  Looking back, the company owner says it was all worth it. His Meathead Movers helps victims of domestic violence get away from their abusers by moving their belongings for free.
“To our unfortunate surprise, during the first two or three years running the company, I’d be the one who would pick up the calls,” said Steed, 35, of Avila Beach, in San Luis Obispo County. “I’d periodically get calls from someone — usually a woman — fleeing an abusive relationship. There were a lot of intense moments and crying.
“I remember the conversations pretty vividly and feeling a tremendous amount of panic and sadness. Handling those phone calls made it very real very quick. As the jobs went on, we realized we were potentially saving lives.”
He felt bad taking money in these situations, so shortly after the company was created 18 years ago, that became company policy — free moving services to people fleeing violent situations.
The company, which Steed and his brother started in San Luis Obispo while both were still in high school, now has four offices in California, including a Santa Ana location that opened in January 2014.