https://www.lagrantfoundation.org/

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Listen to “LAGRANT FOUNDATION 26TH Anniversary Scholars and Donors Events 3/4” on Spreaker.

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The LAGRANT Foundation is a nonprofit 501 (c)(3) organization whose mission is to increase the number of ethnic minorities in the fields of advertising, marketing, and public relations by providing scholarships, career & professional development workshops, mentors, and internships/jobs to African American, American Indian/Native American, Asian American/Pacific Islander and Hispanic/Latino undergraduate and graduate students. Our goal is to open the proverbial “door” for minorities by providing the necessary resources and tools not commonly available to many minorities entering the fields of advertising, marketing, and public relations.

Seeking to enhance the academic and professional development of undergraduate and graduate students pursuing careers in these fields, the activities The LAGRANT Foundation are as follows:

Scholarships

The LAGRANT Foundation annually provides scholarships to undergraduate and graduate students who are attending accredited institutions and are pursuing careers in the fields of advertising, marketing, or public relations.

Career Development

The LAGRANT Foundation annually coordinates a career & professional development workshop for its scholarship recipients. The workshop provides the recipients with an opportunity to speak with industry professionals about their field of interest and specialty. Additionally, workshops are held in major college markets nationwide for students outside of the scholarship recipients.

Internship Programs

The LAGRANT Foundation provides internships to undergraduate and graduate students at selected advertising, public relations, and marketing agencies, as well as publishing companies and communications-related businesses. Internships consist of on-going, hands-on communications experience and training for at least a three-month period.

Mentors

The scholarship recipients will have a chance to team-up with mentors who provide them with opportunities for experience, exposure, guidance, and career development. The mentors are advertising, marketing and public relations professionals who volunteer their time twice a month to meet in-person with students and provide academic and professional guidance.

Professional Development

Scholarship recipients receive on-going professional development from The LAGRANT Foundation, until students obtain a position in advertising, marketing, or public relations. Development includes, resume writing, interviewing skills, internship and job search skills, grammar review, writing skills, business etiquette, interpersonal skills, tips on company politics, professional appearance and providing necessary materials such as a briefcase, business card holder, resume folder, portfolio case and access to computer training.

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He was the first professor of Afro-American studies at Harvard University. In recognition of his merits, the Ephraim Isaac Prize for Excellence in African Languages is given annually to the Harvard graduate who writes the best essay in African studies.

Early life
Isaac was born to an Ethiopian mother and a Yemeni Jewish father in Wolega Kifele Hager, Nejo, Ethiopia, in 1936. His actual date of birth is unknown. In high school, he randomly chose 29 May as his nominal birthday. He received his early education in Ethiopia.

Career
Isaac has been a professor at various universities and has published scholarly articles and books. He was the first faculty appointment in Harvard University’s Department of African and Afro-American Studies in 1969, and he played an important role in the early history of the department. Committed to this emerging field of scholarship, Isaac continued as a faculty member until 1977 and taught almost half of the students enrolled in the program.

Isaac has also lectured at:

Princeton University Department of Near Eastern Studies, 1983–1985; introduced the first African language course in 1984; was visiting professor of religion and African American studies 1995–2001; and remains a fellow of Butler College.
Hebrew University (ancient Semitic languages)
University of Pennsylvania (religion, Semitic languages)
Howard University (Divinity School)
Lehigh University (religion)
Bard College (religion, history)
His subjects range from those mentioned above to Biblical Hebrew, rabbinic literature, Ethiopian history, the concept and history of slavery and ancient African civilizations. He was a fellow at the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute for Advanced Studies. He has been a fellow at Harvard University’s W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute (1985–1986) and at the Center of Theological Inquiry at Princeton (1989–1992).

Isaac had a long-running dispute with the president of Harvard regarding the denial of his strong nomination for tenure by the then Department of African American Studies. After several appeals by the president of Harvard to drop the charges, Isaac won a major victory when the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston ruled in his favor by that rejected the president’s appeal, after which the president proposed to settle the case out of court, offering Isaac a fellowship position and paying all legal fees.

In November 2021, Canadian author Jeff Pearce leaked a video that appeared to show Isaac in a virtual meeting with Eleni Gabre-Madhin and several Western diplomats working to topple Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government to create a transitional government in favor of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) during the Tigray War. Despite both being able to refute the allegations, they were barred from traveling to Ethiopia, and a wide range of condemnation came from within Ethiopia and its diaspora.

Peace contributions and activities
Contributions

As a peace activist, Isaac has made important contributions to peace and reconciliation. He founded an ad hoc Peace Committee at a critical stage in 1989. The committee – a dozen Ethiopian elders – facilitated bilateral negotiations between the government and conflicting parties at home and abroad. This created a forum for a peaceful resolution to the violence and bloody conflict. The committee accelerated the July 1991 end of the 30-year civil war in the Horn of Africa. The committee also helped raise funds to defray the cost of the Addis Ababa Conference for a Peaceful and Democratic Transition at the end of the war. A transitional government of Ethiopia was formed, and the Transitional Council later became the Parliament of Ethiopia. He participated in the conference as an observer, and gave one of the three concluding addresses. In 1992, he organized, with the help of fellow elders, Dr. Haile Sellasie Belay and Dr. Tilahun Beyene, an international teleconference of religious reconciliation – with eight conflicting Ethiopian archbishops and several other religious leaders. It resulted in the resolution of serious religious disputes that arose among the archbishops of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church regarding church administration and appointment of a patriarch.

Between 1998 and 2000, he led an Ethio-Eritrean peace delegation to Ethiopia and Eritrea during the tragic war between the two. This delegation was the only group from the region that both sides found acceptable or welcome. Since 2007, he has promoted reconciliation and repatriation of several Ethiopian and Somali liberation front movements in exile. In 2007, he negotiated the release of 30 Ethiopian political leaders and members of parliament. Isaac has also negotiated the release of about 35,000 prisoners and has helped organize inter-political party dialogues, an election board, national police chiefs and justices seminars. This was done in cooperation with the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York and other experts, and an interfaith symposium to promote the value of democratic and human rights to strengthen peace and reconciliation efforts. In 2009, he was actively engaged behind the scenes in the Ethiopian government treaty with a major branch of the Ogaden National Liberation Front. In 2012, he was involved with the release of two kidnapped Germans and in 2013, the release of two Swedish journalists. He continues his peace and reconciliation work.

Activities
Isaac is currently the international chair of the Horn of Africa Board of Peace and Development Organization (Addis Ababa, Asmara) and the former president of the Yemenite Jewish Federation of America. He founded (1960), and was chair of the Committee for Ethiopian Literacy, the first African/Ethiopian federal tax-exempt organization: the National Literacy Campaign of Ethiopia (NCLO), for which he was executive director from 1967 to 1974, which made millions literate in the late 1960s. In 1959, he organized the founding meeting of the Ethiopian Students Association in North America (ESANA) in Chicago, becoming the first president of the organization.

He is on editorial boards of two international scholarly journals: Journal of Afroasiatic Languages and Second Temple Jewish Literature. Isaac is a member of the board or advisory council of several interfaith and intercultural groups and organizations, nationally and internationally. These include the Temple of Understanding, the Institute of Religion and Public Policy, Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding, Princeton Fellowship in Prayer, Institute for Jewish Community Research, and the Oxford Forum in England. In this capacity, Isaac has contributed to numerous peace and reconciliation dialogues in the Middle East, Africa and Ireland.

In the 1980s he was an active member of the Harvard-Radcliffe Alumni Association against Apartheid. He was nominated twice to the Harvard University Board of Overseers on an Anti-apartheid slate along with fifteen other distinguished Harvard alumni, including those who struggled against South African Apartheid and Archbishop Tutu. In 1993 (Chicago, IL) he was a signatory to the groundbreaking Document Toward a Global Ethic along with the Dalai Lama, the late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin of Chicago, and others, as a Jewish delegate to the Parliament of World’s Religions and a member of the about 150 Assembly of Religious and Spiritual Leaders. He was the first to propose in October 1993 to the Parliament the idea of a “united nations” of world religions (UR) to promote world peace and prosperity. Between 1994 and 2005 (New York, NY), he was an active member of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy at the height of their involvement with the Northern Ireland peace process. In 2004 (Amman, Jordan) he contributed to peace meetings as a member of the peace delegation of Peacemakers in Action of the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding, sponsored by Prince Hassan Ibn Talal with the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding. In 2005 (Amman, Jordan) Isaac also contributed to other peace-building symposia among the three followers of the Religio

#ephraimisaac #afroamericanstudies #harvard #peace #freedom

The post Ephraim Isaac, the first professor of Afro-American studies at Harvard University. In recognition of his merits, the Ephraim Isaac Prize for Excellence and so much more for Peace and FREEDOM… appeared first on Good News!.

http://goodnewsplanet.com/happy-juneteenth-weekend/
Good News was invited to The Positive Community Magazine” 20th Anniversary
Inaugural Great American Emancipation Day Awards Banquet, it was a powerful and important event.
Honoring Champions of Community Progress on
Wednesday, January 1, 2020
Sponsored by Prudential Financial
Awards Banquet to be Held New Year’s Day from 2 pm-6 pm ET in the
Grand Ballroom at the Historic Robert Treat Hotel in Newark, NJ
Emcee: Liz Black of Inspiration with Liz Black”, WBLS/WLIB Radio
NEWARK, NJ – January 01, 2020 – In celebration of its 20th anniversary, The Positive Community (TPC) is hosting the first annual Great American Emancipation Day Awards Banquet honoring three extraordinary individuals for their exemplary community service with the Torchbearer Award: Hon. Mildred C. Crump, president Newark Municipal Council; Hazel N. Dukes, president New York State Conference, NAACP; and Rev. Calvin McKinney, general secretary National Baptist Convention, USA on Wednesday, January 1, 2020, from 2 pm-6pm ET in the Grand Ballroom at The Robert Treat Hotel in Newark, NJ.
Joining the three honorees will be organization honorees: African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey, John Harmon, president; African-American Clergy and Elected Officials (AACEO Brooklyn), Rev. Robert Waterman, president; and Friends of Harlem Hospital, Rev. Jacques A. DeGraff, president.
The awards banquet purposely takes place on New Year’s Day, an important date in American history, especially for African Americans. On New Year’s Day, January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation declaring slaves within the rebellious states free. The Emancipation Day Awards Banquet is sponsored by Prudential Financial, AARP, United, PSE&G, McDonald’s, Berkley College, and Two Fish and Five Loaves.
“Prudential’s partnership with The Positive Community is steeped in our alignment around financial literacy and creating pathways to financial wellness for all,” says Shané Harris, Vice President of Corporate Giving and President of the Prudential Foundation. “We are particularly honored to be a part of TPC’s Great American Emancipation Day Awards Banquet to celebrate and highlight the progress of the Black community. We congratulate The Positive Community for two decades and service to the Black community, and we salute the awardees for their dedication and service to this continued progress, particularly in our hometown of Newark.”
WHEN: Wednesday, January, 01, 2020
TIME: 2;00pm – 6:00pm
WHERE: The Robert Treat Hotel
50 Park Place, Newark, NJ
BACKGROUND: “January 1 is a date of deep meaning to African Americans,” says Adrian A. Council, co-founder and publisher of The Positive Community. “It is our day of liberation, the start of our freedom journey. Without this day there would be no Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., no Motown, no Juneteenth, no Godfather of Soul no Queen of Soul.” The vision of TPC co-founders Council and Editor-in- Chief Jean Nash Wells was to create a balanced medium that accurately reflects the community building efforts of churches, small businesses, corporations, and concerned individuals.
In 2012, TPC created and introduced The Cultural Narrative. Written to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Great Emancipation, the document is an account of America’s freedom journey condensed into 281 words. On New Year’s Eve 2012, hundreds of churches participated in TPC’s Great Watch Night Initiative which involved singing the Negro National Anthem; having a young person read The Cultural Narrative before the congregation; and concluding with everyone exiting the sanctuary singing the Negro hymn We’ve Come This Far By Faith. What started as an initiative is now an established tradition among many churches and clergy groups.
Launched in 2000 by Adrian Council, Publisher and Jean Nash Wells, Editor-in-Chief, The Positive Community (TPC) is the only faith-based lifestyle magazine targeted to the African American consumer in the New York/New Jersey market. For nearly two decades, the magazine has delivered on its tagline, focusing on Good News from the Church and the Community.

The post Emancipation Day, free slavery in America. Celebrate Juneteenth – FREEDOM FOR ALL appeared first on Good News!.

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THIS YEAR, DURING BLACK HISTORY MONTH, THE U.S. ARMY RESERVE IS RECOGNIZING THE INDISPENSABLE ROLE OF AFRICAN AMERICAN SOLDIERS AND PAYING TRIBUTE TO THEIR SERVICE. TODAY, AFRICAN AMERICANS MAKE UP MORE THAN 20% OF THE ARMY RESERVE AND SERVE ON VARIOUS LEVELS OF MILITARY LEADERSHIP.
TWO EXAMPLES TODAY ARE THE ARMY RESERVE HAS THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN TO BECOME THE ARMY’S DEPUTY CHIEF OF CHAPLAINS AND THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN TO COMMAND THE 91ST TRAINING DIVISION.

HERE TO TALK ABOUT HOW DIVERSITY MAKES THE ARMY RESERVE STRONGER AND SHARE A FEW STORIES OF BRAVERY AND SERVICE IS:

• BRIGADIER GENERAL ANDREW HAREWOOD, THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN TO BECOME THE ARMY’S DEPUTY CHIEF OF CHAPLAINS IN THE ARMY RESERVE

BIO-Chaplain Harewood became the Deputy Chief of Chaplains, United States Army Reserve, in November 2020. He serves as the primary Army Reserve liaison to the United States Army Chief of Chaplains and the Chaplain Corps’ chief strategist. He is ordained as a minister and endorsed as an Army chaplain by the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Chaplain Harewood provides advice and counsel to the Chief of Army Reserve and Commanding General, U.S. Army Reserve Command, and oversees resources, training, and policy for more than 700 chaplains serving 190,000 Army Reserve soldiers, their families, and Army Reserve civilians. Concurrent with his military duty in the Reserve Component, Chaplain Harewood’s experience has included many years serving as a civilian pastor. He first entered military service as an enlisted soldier in 1990 as a 71M, and was commissioned 1st Lieutenant, in 1996. His subsequent assignments have included 323rd Military Intelligence Battalion; 109th Detachment Team, 453rd Finance Group; 413th Adjutants General Company. COL Harewood have deployed to Central America, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and to Combined Forces Command Afghanistan. Following redeployment, he was assigned to the Office of the Chief of Chaplains as the Force Management Integration Action Officer, and later was re-assigned to the Office of the Secretary of The Army as the Deputy Pentagon Chaplain. He served as Logistics, Information and Resources Manager for the United States Army Reserve Command; Command Chaplain of ASA Joint Base McGuire Dix Lakehurst; Command Chaplain for the 80th Training Command (TASS), and most recent the Senior Chaplain Advisor, IMCOM–Readiness, FORSCOM HQ Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He is a graduate of the NCO Academy, the U.S. Army Chaplain Center & School Officer’s Basic Course, Resource Manager Course, Advance Career Course, The Army Force Management Staff College, Command and General Staff College, Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, Strategic Framework for Non-Profit and Non-Governmental Organizations Program. He is a Certified Trainer of Living Works Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training; Myers Briggs Type Indicator; Trainer of The Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program and the Emotional Quotient Inventory Certification Instrument. He completed both Master’s and Doctoral Degrees at Howard University, and was the Howard University 1995 recipient of the Henry G. Maynard Scholastic Award. COL Harewood is the recipient of several Military awards, and Citations to include recognition from The White House, Pennsylvania Senate and various other civic and Denomination awards. He is married to Karen Annette, a Medical Doctor and they have four sons; Andrew, Jason, Aaren and Jalon. His hobbies include reading, distance running, billiards, Scuba diving, and devising creative and educational methods of comprehensive leadership. Andrew’s Life Motto is, “Don’t tell me, show me”!

#army #reserve #black #history #month #chaplain #brigadier #general #andrew #harewood #military #african #american #soldiers #diversity #chief #primary #liaison #strategist #life #motto #don’t #dont #tell #me #show

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Reactions

“You will continue to suffer if you have an emotional reaction to everything that is said to you. True power is sitting back and observing things with magic. True power is restraint. If words control you that means everyone else can control you. Breathe and allow things to pass.”

-Warren Buffett
Dear Friends and Members,

Life is full of miracles, waking up each day, talking to a stranger (who really is our Homosapien brother or sister!), seeing a squirrel run up a tree and so on.

Warren Buffet, a very successful man financially… has no IPHONE, IPAD, but does enjoy his Egg McMuffin at McDonald’s shares his thoughts above. What can help each of us to have peace and love in our life is the realization that everyone has their own thoughts and words and to “Let Them Be.” Mr. Buffet says, ” If words control you, then everyone else can control you. Breath and allow things to pass.”

The old adage, Sticks and Stones may break your bones, but words can never hurt or break me,” according to Wikipedia has been around since 1862. when it appeared in The Christian Record. a publication of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, interesting during BLACK HISTORY MONTH.*

As 2021 unfolds for us and as always filled with GOOD NEWS if we see it, let us all BE STRONG and some cases BE STRONGER than we ever were by allowing others to sharetheir thoughts, even when we dont agree. More Good News, or LIFE, will then come our way because as Warren Buffet states, “Breath and allow things to pass.”

TONIGHT, Saturday, 02/06/21, A Piano Concertfor our HEROES, who continue to give of themselves for others. 7 pm est, from the www.montaukmanor.com Paul Sladkus Facebook Live. We will rebroadcast on www.goodnewsplanet.tv, where we have so much more Good News.

Lastly, please support and join our nonprofit www.peacedayparty.org

With Peace & Love for ALL,

Reverend Paul Sladkus (All Faiths and Spiritual) and our Team

PS – If you need me for any ceremony or to talk please call 212 647 1212. Paul.

PPS – Stay tuned for our MLK SPECIAL BENEFIT CONCERT, translated into Spanish, Chinese and other languages.

* Alexander William Kinglake in his Eothen (written 1830, published in London, John Ollivier, 1844) used “golden sticks and stones”.

It is reported[1] to have appeared in The Christian Recorder of March 1862, a publication of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, where it is presented as an “old adage” in this form:

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never break me.

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Tuesday 05 January 2021

Welcome to the first Future Trends of 2021.

While 2020 certainly showed that predicting the future is full of fallacy, we look forward to bringing you this weekly roundup of news stories that we think provide some insight to the road ahead.

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What you need to know this week — ex-Pentagon chiefs caution Trump, Brexit deal finalised, African free trade bloc opens, and Japan develops wooden satellites. 

Politics

Ten former Pentagon chiefs warn Donald Trump against involving military in pursuing election fraud claims. All 10 living former Secretaries of Defence, who are a mixture of Republicans and Democrats, have cautioned against any move to involve the military in pursuing claims of election fraud. Signatories include Cheney and Rumsfeld as well as two ex- Secretaries of Defence appointed by Trump.

Indian state bans Islamic schools, drawing criticism. Assam, an Indian state ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party passed a law abolishing all Islamic schools, saying they provided sub-standard education.

UK parliament approves Brexit trade deal with EU as both sides look to future. The deal is inclusive of trade which covers about 20% of the UK economy but doesn’t cover services, including finance. London is Europe’s leading financial centre and it is unclear how the divorce will affect its position.

Thousands march against Nepal PM’s dissolution of parliament. Thousands of opponents of Nepal’s Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli marched through the streets of Kathmandu urging him to reverse his decision to dissolve parliament and call for early elections.

Turkish-Russian ties not an alternative to NATO or EU – says Turkish minister. Turkey’s relations with Russia are not an alternative to its ties with NATO and the European Union, Turkish Foreign Minister told a joint news conference with his Russian counterpart in Russia.

Development

Japan developing wooden satellites to reduce space junk. A Japanese company and Kyoto University have joined forces to develop what they hope will be the world’s first satellites made out of wood by 2023. Research firm Euroconsult estimates that 990 satellites will be launched, on average, every year this decade.

COVID-19 is here to stay. World Health Organization experts have warned that even though the coronavirus pandemic has been very severe, it is “not necessarily the big one”, and that the world will have to learn to live with Covid-19.

Iran tells IAEA it plans to enrich uranium up to 20% at Fordow site. Iran has told the UN nuclear watchdog it plans to enrich uranium to 20% purity, a level it achieved before its 2015 accord, at its Fordow site buried inside a mountain.

Canary Islands sees more than eight-fold increase in migrants in 2020. As north and sub-Saharan Africans grew desperate after losing incomes from tourism and other industries because of the COVID-19 pandemic, 23,023 migrants arrived in the archipelago last year, up from 2,687 in 2019.

Social

Joe Biden says it will take years to vaccinate the US against COVID-19 at the current rate. “Even if we boost the speed of vaccinations to 1 million shots a day, it will still take months to have the majority of the United States’ population vaccinated,” he said. The vaccination takes two shots.

UK extradition decision on mental health grounds a victory for Assange, not press freedom, lawyers and campaigners say.  A British judge’s decision not to extradite Julian Assange to the US was based purely on mental health grounds.

Microplastics found in the placentas of unborn babies. The health impact of microplastics in the body is as yet unknown. But scientists said they could carry chemicals that could cause long-term damage or upset the foetus’s developing immune system. The particles are likely to have been consumed or breathed in by the mothers.

Dissatisfaction with democracy is growing in developed nations, improving in Asia. In the US, society’s divisions have deepened under the Trump administration, leading to demonstrations by opposing forces. In Europe, Britain left the European Union and populism spread.

Virus found to be 3 times deadlier than flu. This is according to coverage of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus.

Conflict

Afghan troops, police abandon nearly 200 checkpoints to Taliban. Afghan security personnel have abandoned nearly 200 checkpoints in restive Kandahar province in recent weeks. In some cases, they left behind their weapons which were seized by the Taliban.

Violence closed 800 polling stations in the Central African Republic. More than 14% of polling stations failed to operate during the recent presidential and legislative election due to armed rebels who attacked voters and barred electoral staff, the electoral commission said.

Breakthrough reached in Gulf dispute with Qatar. A breakthrough was reached in Qatar’s three-year-old dispute with Saudi Arabia and three other Arab countries, with an agreement to end their rift to be signed.

Iranian authorities seized a South Korean-flagged tanker in Gulf waters and detained its crew for chemical spill. Seoul confirmed the seizure of a South Korean chemical tanker by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps in the waters off Oman, and demanded its immediate release.

Economics

African free trade bloc opens for business. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) aims to bring together 1.3 billion people in a $3.4 trillion economic bloc that will be the largest free trade area since the establishment of the World Trade Organization. The World Bank estimates it could lift tens of millions out of poverty by 2035.

China and EU poised to sign long-delayed investment deal. The investment talks have centred on opening up Chinese markets for European investment and changing forced labour practises.

Africa’s debt and fragile economies likely to cause pain in 2021. Africa’s debt has doubled in the last decade with many countries likely to default. Along with subdued commodity prices, many African nations may experience political and civil unrest in 2021.

Turkey, Iran and Pakistan join China’s belt and road initiative. The governments of Turkey, Iran and Pakistan will revive a transnational rail service linking Istanbul, Tehran and Islamabad in 2021.

OPEC sees oil outlook for first half of 2021 full of downside risks. OPEC sees plenty of downside risks for oil markets in the first half of 2021, its secretary general said, before meeting allies led by Russia to discuss output levels for February.

At a time when politics is more furious and fragmented than ever, when technology is colonising our everyday existence, when COVID-19 is reshaping our lives, we still look to books to make sense of things. Peace in the Age of Chaos is the perfect reading accompaniment in this uncertain period. The world now has an opportunity to reset, but unless we approach global problems with new approaches we won’t meet these challenges.

Get your free chapter now

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DoorDash & NY Urban League Partner to Support Black New Yorkers

Partnership will provide direct relief, resources for Black workforce, Black-owned businesses

New York, NY (November 12, 2020)—The New York Urban League (NYUL) and DoorDash today announced a partnership to provide direct relief to Black-owned businesses and restaurants through NYUL’s COVID-19 African American Family Relief Fund, support for NYUL’s workforce development programming and expanded access to low-barrier-to-entry earning opportunities like earning on the DoorDash platform through Dashing, and expanding support for Black-owned businesses. The partnership will build on NYUL’s 100-year history of civil rights work.

With an array of synergies between the organizations, NYUL & DoorDash are partnering on several engagement opportunities including three key initiatives:

1. Direct relief in the age of COVID: DoorDash will contribute to NYUL’s COVID-19 Family Fund to support black owned business, restaurants, and NYUL programming.
2. Workforce Development: DoorDash will partner with the New York Urban League to promote and support NYUL’s existing workforce development programming, counseling and referrals to help un- and underemployed individuals become job ready and take advantage of meaningful employment opportunities, as well as raising awareness among NYUL members of low-barrier-to-entry earning opportunities like Dashing through member education.
3. Expanding support for Black-owned businesses: ​NYUL will work with DoorDash to expand DoorDash’s Black-owned business program to NYUL members. In addition, DoorDash will work with NYUL to identify opportunities for DoorDash to support NYUL’s programming through providing gift cards or discounts for DoorDash orders. This will enable the NYUL to access free or discounted meals for Urban League events and programs.

Arva Rice, President and CEO of the New York Urban League said, “We are immensely grateful to DoorDash for their generous grant and partnership which will allow us to continue our work, ever more crucial during pandemic, which is disproportionately affecting the African American community.”

“We’re incredibly proud to join the New York Urban League and further our commitment to supporting Black communities and Black-owned businesses,” said David London, Head of U.S. East & Federal Government Relations at DoorDash. “From loan matching and direct financial relief, to elevating Back-owned businesses and entrepreneurs on our platform, to supporting state and local organizations, we remain dedicated to uplifting communities of color and look forward to partnering closely with the New York Urban League on this shared mission.”

Highlights of the New York Urban League’s Covid-19 Response Work

African American Family Relief Fund: NYUL’s Relief Fund for African American children and families provides direct cash grants of up to $1000 to assist families with rent, utilities and other bill payments during the pandemic.

Educational Town Halls: The New York Urban League has organized and hosted a series of Virtual Town Halls with local, state and federal officials, civil rights leaders and medical professionals, serving to provide information and to dispel myths and untruths about the coronavirus. Five such Town Halls have been held, including “The COLOR of COVID19” NYUL Virtual Town Hall on Health Disparities, Beyond the Classroom: Resources and Support for Virtual Learning and Support for Small Biz.

Highlights of DoorDash’s Support for Black-Owned Business

This summer, DoorDash announced a number of new initiatives and actions to support Black-owned businesses and stand for justice. These include the following: 

• Highlighting “Black-owned” businesses on both the DoorDash and Caviar platforms to help customers easily support Black-owned restaurants. A month later, DoorDash saw a 275x increase for these searches over the previous month.
• Donating $1 million, with $500,000 going to Black Lives Matter and $500,000 to create a fund to be directed by the Black@DoorDash Employee Resource Group (ERG) towards state and local organizations.
• Establishing a Dashers of Color Council to advise the company on issues facing Black Dashers, including safety and access.

Additional details on DoorDash’s commitment to equity and justice can be found on the DoorDash blog here, and here.

About DoorDash

DoorDash is a technology company that connects customers with their favorite local and national businesses in more than 4,000 cities and all 50 states across the United States, Canada and Australia. Founded in 2013, DoorDash empowers merchants to grow their businesses by offering on-demand delivery, data-driven insights, and better in-store efficiency, providing delightful experiences from door to door. By building the last-mile delivery infrastructure for local cities, DoorDash is bringing communities closer, one doorstep at a time. Read more on the DoorDash blog or at www.doordash.com.

About New York Urban League

For over 100 years, the New York Urban League (NYUL) has led the way in the education, employment, and empowerment of underserved African-Americans across the five boroughs of New York City. During this time, we are proud to have inspired, influenced, and ignited over one million Black people to achieve their highest aspirations. NYUL remains a vital resource for our city’s African-Americans and other underserved groups. We invest to transform the lives of over 8,000 families each year by providing quality higher education options, economic opportunity, and community engagement.

Visit https://www.nyul.org/, https://www.facebook.com/newyorkurbanleague/ and https://twitter.com/NYUrbanLeague.

Contact: Lisa Skriloff (for the New York Urban League)

Multicultural Marketing Resources, Inc.

212-242-3351, Lisa@multicultural.com

Charles Kretchmer Lutvak (for DoorDash)

Risa Heller Communications

917-748-3096, charles@risaheller.com

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Thursday, February 20th at 6:00 p.m.

Harlem, N.Y., January 30, 2020 — Today the Apollo Theater announced it will screen the award-winning documentary Bakosó: Afrobeats of Cuba on Thursday, February 20th at 6:30 p.m., as part of ImageNation’s Cocktails & Cinema series. This screening marks the second installment in the Theater’s partnership with Harlem-based non-profit and will continue to be an ongoing quarterly event, which will highlight films that showcase the global Black experience. Bakosó: Afrobeats of Cuba, winner of the Best Feature Documentary at Belize International Film Festival, was directed by Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi, curator of the Annual Fist Up Film Festival and co-founder of Defend Puerto Rico. The screening will be preceded by a reception and live DJ set by Bembona beginning at 6:00 p.m., followed by a post-film Q&A with director Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi; producer Khalil Jacobs-Fantauzzi; and Mai-Elka Prado Gil, founder of the Afro-Latino Festival of New York.

Bakosó: Afrobeats of Cuba follows DJ Jigüe to his hometown of Santiago de Cuba as he searches for new inspiration in the form of sound. Through his discovery of Afrobeats, DJ Jigüe ushers in an original sound creating a new genre called Bakosó, celebrating the connection between Africa and Cuba. The film’s score, created by the founders of the genre, and stunning visuals highlight the technology, culture, and landscape that shape this Afro-Caribbean fusion.

For more information, or to view the trailer for Bakosó: Afrobeats of Cuba, please visit: https://www.apollotheater.org/event/imagenations-cocktails-cinema-bakoso-afrobeats-of-cuba/

Ticket Info.
Tickets begin at $25 and includes appetizers and one beverage (wine or beer). A cash bar will be available. Tickets are available at the Apollo Theater Box Office: (212) 531-5305, 253 West 125th Street, and Ticketmaster at 1-800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com.

About ImageNation
ImageNation Cinema Foundation is an innovative Harlem-based non-profit created to develop cinemas and audiences for independent films and music, that depict the global Black experience. ImageNation’s goal is to empower Black communities by presenting a variety of public programs that foster media equity, media literacy, solidarity, cross-cultural exchange and highlight the humanity of Pan-African people worldwide.

Led by Moikgantsi Kgama (Founder & Executive Director) and her husband Gregory Gates (Executive Producer), ImageNation has hosted film screenings, live music performances and other cultural events for more than 200,000 people worldwide since its inception. ImageNation is a founding partner in AFFRM, a national film distribution collective, founded by Ava DuVernay. ImageNation has presented internationally in South Africa, Scotland and Canada and domestically at Harvard University, MASS MOCA, Lincoln Center and in Dallas, TX, Los Angeles, CA, Baltimore, MD, Chicago, Ill, Indianapolis, IN, and Washington DC. Programs have featured appearances by luminaries such as Spike Lee, Lee Daniels, Ava DuVernay, Stanley Nelson, Ruby Dee, Erykah Badu, Chuck D, Raoul Peck, India. Arie and many others. In line with its commitment to Black cinema, ImageNation’s RAW SPACE, will be developed into the Sōl Cinema Cafe, a boutique cinema highlighting global Black film and culture.

About the Apollo Theater
The legendary Apollo Theater—the soul of American culture—plays a vital role in cultivating emerging artists and launching legends. Since its founding, the Apollo has served as a center of innovation and a creative catalyst for Harlem, the city of New York, and the world.

With music at its core, the Apollo’s programming extends to dance, theater, spoken word, and more. This includes the world premiere of the theatrical adaptation of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me and the New York premiere of the opera We Shall Not Be Moved; special programs such as the blockbuster concert Bruno Mars Live at the Apollo; 100: The Apollo Celebrates Ella; and the annual Africa Now! Festival. The non-profit Apollo Theater is a performing arts presenter, commissioner, and collaborator that also produces festivals, large-scale dance and musical works organized around a set of core initiatives that celebrate and extend the Apollo’s legacy through a contemporary lens, including the Women of the World (WOW) Festival as well as other multidisciplinary collaborations with partner organizations.

Since introducing the first Amateur Night contests in 1934, the Apollo Theater has served as a testing ground for new artists working across a variety of art forms and has ushered in the emergence of many new musical genres—including jazz, swing, bebop, R&B, gospel, blues, soul, and hip-hop. Among the countless legendary performers who launched their careers at the Apollo are Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, Luther Vandross, H.E.R., D’Angelo, Lauryn Hill, Machine Gun Kelly and Miri Ben Ari; and the Apollo’s forward-looking artistic vision continues to build on this legacy.

In fall 2020, the Apollo Theater will mark its first ever physical expansion with the theaters at the Victoria, part of the vision for a future Apollo Performing Arts Center. The theaters at the Victoria will support the growth of the Apollo’s artistic programming as it continues to provide a home to artists of color, create an expanded 21st century American performing arts canon, and provide additional educational and community programming in Harlem and beyond. For more information about the Apollo, visit www.ApolloTheater.org.

Support
The Apollo’s 2019-2020 season is made possible by leadership support from Coca-Cola, Citi, Ford Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, Jerome L. Greene Arts Access Fund in the New York Community Trust, and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Public support for the Apollo Theater is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

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For more information, please contact:
press@apollotheater.org

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