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Posts tagged as “President Barack Obama”

President Obama Signs Law That Increases Opportunities for Women's Businesses

By goodblacknews on January 4, 2015
(Image: Thinkstock)
(Image: Thinkstock)

President Obama has signed a law that seeks to level the playing field for women-owned businesses seeking federal contracts.

The National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2015, Section 825, authorizes federal agencies to award sole-source contracts to women-owned small businesses eligible for the Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Federal Contract Program, giving women the same level of access to the federal contracting marketplace as other disadvantaged groups.

This is a critical move that will now allow women-owned small businesses to earn their fair share of the federal marketplace and gain economic opportunities, notes Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, Maria Contreras-Sweet.  “Women entrepreneurs are growing at an unprecedented rate.  More than one in four U.S. companies is owned or led by a woman, and these firms employ more than 7.8 million Americans. Passage of the women’s small business provision in NDAA is a win for women entrepreneurs and a win for America. This will help women-owned small businesses gain equal access to federal contracting as they add jobs to the U.S. economy. A big thank you to the leaders of the Senate and House Small Business and Armed Services Committees for helping make this a reality,” said Contreras-Sweet in a statement.
In July, Administrator Contreras-Sweet testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship that federal agencies needed this tool to level the playing field for women-owned businesses. Many of the committee members shared the sentiment, and the SBA worked with Congress and key small business stakeholders to include this provision.
Currently, women entrepreneurs are receiving less than five percent of federal contracts. While Congress established the WOSB Federal Contract program in legislation passed in 2000, it was not implemented. From President Obama’s first day in office, providing economic opportunity to women has been a top priority and the steps to enact the program were put in motion, which was implemented in April 2011.
This new provision will give the SBA a new tool to continue to open doors for more women entrepreneurs in the federal and commercial contract space. SBA’s efforts include aggressively promoting the Women-Owned Small Business Contract Program, which aims to expand federal contracting opportunities for women-owned small businesses.
article by Carolyn M. Brown via blackenterprise.com

Black Captain America Leading Comic Book Diversity

By goodblacknews on January 2, 2015

Diverse Superheroes

WASHINGTON (AP) — For decades, comic books have been in color, but now they truly reflect all the hues of American society.
The new Captain America is black. A Superman who is suspiciously similar to President Barack Obama recently headlined a comic book. Thor is a woman, Spider-Man is part-Puerto Rican and Ms. Marvel is Muslim.
Mainstream comic book superheroes — America’s modern mythology — have been redrawn from the stereotypical brown-haired, blue-eyed white male into a world of multicolored, multireligious and multigendered crusaders to reflect a greater diversity in their audience.

Society has changed, so superheroes have to as well, said Axel Alonso, editor in chief at Marvel Comics, who in November debuted Captain America No. 1 with Samuel Wilson, the first African American superhero taking over Captain America’s red, white and blue uniform and shield.

“Roles in society aren’t what they used to be. There’s far more diversity,” said Alonso, who has also shepherded a gay wedding in the X-Men, a gender change from male to female in Thor and the first mainstream female Muslim hero in Ms. Marvel.
The change to a black Captain America is already having an impact outside of comics.

Gallup Poll Reveals President Obama, Hillary Clinton Are Most Admired Americans

By goodblacknews on December 29, 2014
POTUS and Hillary Clinton
President Barack Obama and then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the White House September 12, 2012 in Washington, D.C.
President Barack Obama is the man Americans say they admire most, while Hillary Clinton is the woman living anywhere in the world whom they admire most, according to Gallup poll results released Monday.
Obama, who recently completed two years into his second-term in office, has been the most admired man for each of the last seven years, beginning in 2008, the year he was first elected president. The renewed vote of confidence couldn’t come at a better time. The president has suffered a number of political setbacks this year, including stunning midterm election losses by Democrats across the country. The second most admired man is Pope Francis; Bill Clinton is third; the Rev. Billy Graham is fourth; and George W. Bush is fifth.
Hillary Clinton, who is believed to be gearing up to run again for president, has held the top women’s spot in each of the last 13 years and 17 of the last 18, with that streak interrupted only by first lady Laura Bush in 2001 after the 9/11 terror attacks, the report says. Clinton is in good company. Oprah Winfrey is ranked second; Malala Yousafzai, the activist for women’s education in Pakistan and the youngest- ever Nobel Prize laureate is third; Condoleezza Rice is fourth and first lady Michelle Obama is fifth.
The Gallup poll results are based on telephone interviews conducted Dec. 8-11, 2014, with a random sample of 805 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, the report says. For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is plus or minus four percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level, according to the report.
article via theurbandaily.com

Obamas Extend Warm Wishes For Kwanzaa (12/27-1/1)

By goodblacknews on December 27, 2014

Popularity Of Celebrating Kwanzaa Declines (thumbnail)

The White House issued the following statement from President Barack and first lady Michelle Obama on Friday:
“Michelle and I extend our warmest wishes to those celebrating Kwanzaa this holiday season.  Today begins a celebration highlighting the rich African-American heritage and culture through the seven principles of Kwanzaa—unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith.  During this season, families come together to reflect on blessings of the past year and look forward to the promises in the year ahead. As we remain committed to building a country that provides opportunity for all, this time of year reminds us that there is much to be thankful for.

As families around the world unite to light the Kinara today, our family extends our prayers and best wishes during this holiday season.”

Kwanzaa ends Thursday Jan. 1.

article by Tonya Jameson via newsone.com

Shonda Rhimes Calls Out Sony Email Exchange as "Racist" Not "Racially Insensitive"

By goodblacknews on December 14, 2014
Shonda Rhimes
In the latest fallout from the Sony hack, “Scandal” and “Grey’s Anatomy” Creator/Producer Shonda Rhimes has responded bluntly to a leaked email exchange between Sony Pictures Entertainment chief Amy Pascal and producer Scott Rudin.
“Calling Sony comments”racially insensitive remarks” instead of “racist”? U can put a cherry on a pile of sh*t but it don’t make it a sundae,” the Scandal showrunner wrote on her Twitter account on Thursday afternoon.
On Wednesday evening, BuzzFeed posted excerpts of leaked emails between Rudin and Pascal in which they corresponded about a Jeffrey Katzenberg democratic fundraiser and made mention of Kevin Hart, Quentin Tarantino‘s Django Unchained and Steve McQueen‘s 12 Years a Slave.
Read more Chris Rock Pens Blistering Essay on Hollywood’s Race Problem: “It’s a White Industry”
Earlier in the day, Hart responded with a statement of his own, saying that is “able to brush ignorance off of my shoulder and continue to move forward.”
Pascal and Rudin have both issued apologies for the email exchange.
Rhimes, who was honored at The Hollywood Reporter‘s Women in Entertainment event on Wednesday, spoke about race and gender in the industry during the breakfast.
“The view from here  —  way up here where the glass ceiling is broken  —  would be incredible. Right? So how come I don’t remember the moment? When me with my woman-ness and my brown skin went running full speed, gravity be damned, into that thick layer of glass and smashed right through it? How come I don’t remember that happening? Here’s why: It’s 2014,” she stated. Read her entire speech here.
article via hollywoodreporter.com

#Obamacare Sign-ups Near 500,000 in 1st Week of 2014 Enrollment

By goodblacknews on December 2, 2014

obamacare
About half a million people selected a health insurance plan in the first week of the 2015 enrollment period under the Affordable Care Act, according to a new federal report that underscores huge progress since last year, when website problems made signing up for coverage nearly impossible.
From Nov. 15 to Nov. 21, the Department of Health and Human Services announced, 462,125 people signed up for a plan through HealthCare.gov, the federally run insurance marketplace that serves 37 states nationwide.
Tens of thousands of additional people signed up for coverage on state-run marketplaces in the remaining 13 states, including California, Maryland and Connecticut, and the District of Columbia.  California reported last week that more than 11,000 people had selected plans in the first four days of open enrollment.
The HealthCare.gov total — which is split roughly evenly between new enrollees and people renewing coverage they had in 2014 — is a major advance from last year, when the website did not work for more than a month.
Just 106,000 people signed up for coverage in the first month of open enrollment last year.
This year, it appears that the site is working far better. Administration officials said Wednesday it had not crashed since it opened, though it had twice directed users to an online “waiting room” that is deployed when there is high volume or other technical issues with the site.
In total, more than 3.7 million users visited HealthCare.gov in the first week of the new enrollment period, according to the health agency.
And in another indication of improvement, wait times at call centers around the country averaged only a little more than three minutes.
Still, it remains unclear whether the Obama administration will be able to hit enrollment targets by the time the sign-up period closes in 2 1/2 months.
The tally released Wednesday counts only plan selections, not the number of people who have paid premiums, which is usually lower. Consumers have until the middle of December to pay in order to guarantee they have coverage starting Jan. 1.

President Obama Requests $263 Million For Ferguson, Police Body Cameras

By goodblacknews on December 2, 2014

uptown_barack_obama_2014
President Barack Obama asked Congress for $263 million to contain the civil unrest in Ferguson, Missouri and improve police departments with better training and new body camera equipment.

The President made the request Monday after a day of meeting with civil rights leaders and police officials to discuss a plan of action for Ferguson, the town where riots have been rampant after the announcement that ex-policeman Darren Wilson would not be indicted for killing an unarmed black teen.
If the $263 million plea is granted, a portion will be spent within three years to purchase 50,000 cameras that will be worn on officers’ bodies to prevent speculation of police insubordination and create trust between law enforcement and citizens, White House officials say.
President Obama has enlisted Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey and former Assistant Attorney General Laurie Robinson to head a police protocol report, according to ABC News.  This document, due by late February, is expected to “promote effective crime reduction while building public trust.”
Obama also provided the results of his review on federal programs that will provide law enforcement with military-style equipment.  He instructed staff to create ways to improve the “consistency in oversight” of the programs before he will sign the executive order.
article by kwhaley via uptown magazine.com

Ferguson Police Department to Seek More Black Recruits; No Severance for Darren Wilson

By goodblacknews on December 2, 2014
March from Ferguson to Jefferson City
NAACP members and supporters pass by an auto parts store in Ferguson, Mo., that was destroyed by rioters as they walk Saturday on the first day of a planned seven-day, 120-mile march to the governor’s mansion in Jefferson City, Missouri’s capital. (Scott Olson / Getty Images)

Ferguson, Mo., will establish a civilian review board to monitor police conduct and will recruit more African American officers, the mayor announced Sunday.

But Mayor James Knowles III said there would be no imminent changes in the leadership of the police department in the wake of unrest after a grand jury declined to indict a white police officer who killed an unarmed black man.

Knowles spoke at a news conference a day after Darren Wilson, the officer who fatally shot Michael Brown on Aug. 9, resigned from the police force. Wilson did not receive severance pay, Knowles said.
Also Sunday, the White House announced that President Obama would hold several Ferguson-related events Monday.  Obama will meet with his Cabinet to discuss federal programs and funding that provide equipment to state and local law enforcement agencies.  Then he will meet with civil rights leaders and later with law enforcement officials and community and faith leaders “to discuss how communities and law enforcement can work together to build trust,” the White House said.
In Ferguson, the mayor said that adding a civilian review board and recruiting more African Americans would help improve the predominantly white police department’s relationship with Ferguson’s predominantly African American residents.
“We are committed to rebuilding our city,” Knowles said. “And a part of that is having officers invested in the community.”
In addition, Knowles said, the city will unveil a program in public schools that will aim to forge a bond between police officers and young people.
“We are here for you and will not leave you,” Knowles told residents.
For much of the last week, sometimes-violent protests have roiled the St. Louis suburb of about 21,000 after the grand jury’s decision.
When Wilson resigned Saturday, he said in a letter that he was told his “continued employment may put the residents and police officers of the city of Ferguson at risk.”
“It is my hope that my resignation will allow the community to heal,” Wilson wrote. “I would like to thank all of my supporters and fellow officers throughout this process.”
Wilson’s lawyer, Neil Bruntrager, said the officer had resigned after learning of threats of violence against other officers and the department.  Knowles said Sunday he was unaware of any specific threats to Wilson and did not give him a deadline for a resignation.
Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson said Sunday he would not resign, despite widespread criticism from protesters and calls for him to step down.  “My focus has been on safety and security of citizens,” Jackson said. “I report to the leadership of Ferguson. I’m concerned about the city. I will not resign.”
Jackson said he spoke with Wilson last week and was unaware of any specific threats to him. But Jackson added, “It’s been a threatening environment all along. Everybody knows that.”
Separately, Benjamin Crump, a lawyer representing Brown’s family, said Sunday that Wilson’s resignation was no surprise.
“The family will pursue all the legal avenues,” Crump told CBS’ “Face the Nation.” Crump said a wrongful-death lawsuit could be filed in the near future.

GOP Staffer Elizabeth Lauten to Resign After Writing Facebook Rant Slamming Obama's Children

By goodblacknews on December 1, 2014

2014-11-30T13-06-23-666Z--1280x720.nbcnews-video-reststate-800
A GOP staffer will resign after launching a verbal assault on Malia and Sasha Obama in the wake of their appearance at the president’s annual turkey pardoning ceremony last week at the White House.
Elizabeth Lauten, who served as a communications director for Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-Tenn.), criticized the two girls in a Facebook rant which eventually went viral. “Act like being in the White House matters to you. Dress like you deserve respect, not a spot at a bar. And certainly don’t make faces during televised, public events,” wrote Lauten.
She also said that the Obama daughters, who largely stay out of the limelight, should show “a little class.”
Many have argued Malia and Sasha were behaving like typical teenagers at the event. They appeared unamused by their father’s corny jokes and at one point Malia declined to pet the Thanksgiving turkey by simply saying, “Nah.”
RELATED: Obama family goes book shopping
Lauten has since apologized for her post, admitting, “When I first posted on Facebook I reacted to an article and I quickly judged the two young ladies in a way that I would never have wanted to be judged myself as a teenager.” Lauten’s name became a trending topic amid the controversy, with over 22,000 mentions in 24 hours. She had previously been responsible for a gaffe this summer when she accidentally tweeted about “shagging” on Fincher’s official Twitter account. Now, her resignation is “in the works.”
article by Adam Howard; read more at msnbc.com

Verna Jones Named American Legion's First Female Executive Director

By goodblacknews on November 17, 2014
Verna JonesThe American Legion has named Verna Jones its new executive director, making her the first woman to lead the veterans’ organization in its nearly 100-year history.
Jones, an attorney and Army veteran who served as a personnel sergeant, stepped into her new role on Nov. 1. Legion spokesman Marty Callaghan said he believed that Jones is the organization’s first African-American executive director, but he couldn’t confirm it absolutely. Previously, she served as the director of the Legion’s veterans affairs and rehabilitation division.
“We’re still focused on the [Department of Veterans Affairs], the quality of health care, timeliness, the backlog, benefits — all the things that we’ve been focusing on, and the things that veterans need. Access to health care is huge for us,” Jones said in an interview with The Huffington Post in her new office.
Jones became the most animated when asked about sexual assault in the military, an issue that several members of the Legion, including Jones, have testified about before Congress. The organization has said the military needs to have a “zero tolerance policy” on the issue.
“To those people who may assault people, [we need to] let them know that we’re not going to stand for that, and there are some very serious consequences the first time,” said Jones. “So we’ve got to create programs, we’ve got to create awareness, and we have to be willing to say that military sexual trauma exists. Stop sweeping it under the rug and pretending it’s a small thing, because it’s not.
“There needs to be punishment,” she added. “Something punitive needs to happen. If you’re in the military and you sexually assault somebody, then you don’t need to be in the military anymore.”