By Fiona Murphy

October 7, 2025

NEW YORK (RNS) — As New York City Mayor Eric Adams prepares to leave office this fall, after suspending his reelection bid amid outcry over a scandal-ridden mayorship, he leaves behind a new network of faith leaders mobilized by his crisis initiatives and concerned those partnerships will falter under a new administration.

Adams, who was indicted in 2024 on federal charges of wire fraud, bribery and conspiracy tied to campaign fundraising, decided not to run in the Democratic primary in June, choosing to run in the general election as an independent candidate instead. But faced with the popular Democratic candidate, Zohran Mamdani, and the familiar face of former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Adams announced on Sept. 28 that he would not seek reelection, after a Quinnipiac poll showed his approval rating was among the lowest for a New York City mayor in recent decades.

Despite his unpopularity with many New Yorkers, Adams’ legacy among faith communities is marked by an unprecedented partnership that brought small and often overlooked congregations to the front lines of city governance in ways no modern mayor had before.

“I think we were looking to make sure that the faith-based community had direct access to New York City resources,” Monrose said. “Adams wanted to make sure that the faith community is consistently on his radar, that he would be in touch with them, and our office would continue to maintain relationships.”

Monrose turned that mission into a sustained network of outreach. Through the OFBCP, members of different faith communities across New York’s five boroughs were invited to monthly meetings with city commissioners to discuss services such as food pantries, clothing drives and issues that affected their small congregations. Monrose manages a WhatsApp group with hundreds of contacts he’s gathered over his years as a pastor in Brooklyn, along with an email list that sends out announcements several times a week about upcoming events sponsored by his office.

“There are some rooms that I have been in that I would never have been in if it wasn’t for Eric Adams,” said Latricia Davis, the outreach ministry pastor at the Community Church of Christ in Jamaica, Queens. “The emails, the texts and the response from his office was unbelievable. I’m getting emotional about it because he cared about us.”

​​The office’s work evolved into citywide initiatives. In 2023, it launched the faith-based shelter program, mobilizing churches, mosques and synagogues to house asylum-seekers during the city’s migrant crisis by providing renovations and resources to congregations citywide.

“Mayor Adams was willing to work with congregations as a way of addressing social safety net needs in the city that has been so far unique,” said Peter Gudaitis, executive director of New York Disaster Interfaith Services, or NYDIS, a nonprofit that has provided disaster relief and faith-community recovery services that worked closely with the OFBCP to coordinate and activate the faith-based shelter program.

In June 2023, as thousands of migrants arrived in New York City, the city’s homeless shelters and hotel voucher program were overwhelmed. With asylum-seekers lining the streets and criticism mounting over the city’s slow response, Adams, through the OFBCP, began turning to houses of worship for help.

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“The novels comprising my 19th century “Trilogy”, are intended to inform through entertainment,” says author Marvin V. Blake. “While many of the characters are real, the history is pure, and the ideas behind the story are very real and important. People need to see what slavery was really like, through the eyes of those who were slaves.”

The series examines three co-existing 19th-century American cultures – the defeatist South’s response to the post-Civil War era of reconstruction, the former Black slaves who are attempting to adjust to life as freedmen, and the noble nomadichunter-gatherer society of the Plains Indians fighting to defend and to maintain their way of life.

“I have all of my adult life, served and loved this country,” says Blake, a US Navy veteran. “I think it is important that readers learn about our nation’s history, especially what it was like a century-and-a-half ago when the country was ripped apart by a civil war, slavery, and the United States’ 19th century policies towards Indians…Native Americans.”

About Marvin V. Blake
Following his graduation from Baltimore’s Southern – High School, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy. During his more than six years of active duty, in the Navy, Marvin attended and graduated from the US Navy’s Hospital Corps School, and the US Navy School of Medical Technology.
Following his discharge from the Navy, he earned his undergraduate Degree from Long Island University, and his graduate Degree from New York’s New School University. His long professional career was spent as a senior hospital administrator of several prestigious teaching medical centers in NYC and Nassau County. He also taught Immunohematology, as an Adjunct Professor of Biology in the City of New York (CUNY), college system. In 2002, after 9/11, Marvin decided to once again serve his country. He sought and took the position of Administrative Officer, Dept of Pathology, and Laboratory Medicine for the New York and the Brooklyn VA Medical Centers. For more info, see www.booksbymarvinblake.com.

About The Books
The first book, why: A Novel, provides a gripping and potent tale of choice, racism, and equality.
The story revolves around two young sisters – one a black-slave, the other, a white owner of slaves; Both girls are fathered by the same white-man – the rich, white plantation owner. Despite their not knowing that they are sisters; despite antebellum Southern law, despite seemingly unsurmountable societal barriers; the girls forge an unshakeable-bond. A bond that sustains them—when together, as young teens—are captured and enslaved by Comanche Indians. A bond that they need to survive, and to ultimately each, gain their freedom.

The second book, E. Pluribus Unum: From Many, One, is a spellbinding story of love and loss, oppression, and freedom in the lives of men and women fighting for the survival of a young nation. It is about two people – one is a slave boy and the other a white woman slave owner – whose preordained statuses in life were at diametrically opposite ends of the South’s Antebellum society. Two people with absolutely nothing in common now had lives that were inexorably linked.

Precious (In His Sight), the third book, tells of the myriad 19thcentury life-altering US government-sanctioned and implemented changes that followed the Civil War’s conclusion,
Adjustments, programs, implemented…mistakes made. One step forward, two steps back. Progress achieved,

The interactions between cultures shaping the ‘Re-United States of America, through the eyes…and the lives of the heterogeneous peoples…Red; Brown; Yellow; Black and White,all essential members…of the American-People

#civilwar #slavery #marvinblake #author #indians #entertainment #slaves #black #defend #nativeamericans #hospital #corps #schools #us #navy #medical #technology

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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.

# # #

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

#apollo #bakosó #afrobeats #cuba #cinema #bakoso #belize #international #film #festival #eli #jacobs #fantauzzi #jacobs-fantauzzi #defend #puerto #rico #producer #khalil #afro #latino #founders #visuals #technology #culture #caribbean #fusion #theater #apollotheater #pan-african #pan #african

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Recent Study Shows One In Four American Workers Will Suffer An Income-interrupting Disability and Won’t Be Prepared For it

Council for Disability Awareness Launches Educational Campaign

Targeting Working Americans

Radio Interviews with President of the Council for Disability

Awareness Barry Lundquist

More than one in four of today’s entrants to America’s workforce will suffer an income-interrupting disability at some point during their working careers. But a recent Council for Disability Awareness (CDA) study shows that despite the potentially catastrophic financial impact, most Americans, and even their financial advisors, significantly underestimate their odds of becoming disabled. Worse yet, about two-thirds of the workforce is not covered by private long term disability insurance.

In an effort to engage Americans about the critical importance of protecting their ability to earn an income, the CDA has launched the Defend Your Income movement. This educational program seeks to unite consumers, advisors, employers and insurers in the fight to protect the incomes of working Americans from the financial risks of serious illness or injury.

In interviews on November 13th, Barry Lundquist will give tips on the risks and consequences of experiencing an income limiting sickness or accident, and how to protect your most valuable financial resource – your income.

Barry Lundquist’s professional background includes over 30 years of insurance industry success in underwriting, sales, sales leadership, senior executive management and consulting roles for employee benefits and individual disability products and sales channels at Paul Revere, Provident and Unum. In 2000, Barry founded Eastport Marketing Group, a consulting and marketing services company that helps insurance companies and distributors improve results. Since May of 2009, Barry has served as President of the Council for Disability awareness, based in Portland, Maine.

This interview is provided by The Council for Disability Awareness

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Excerpt from The ABC’s of Homeschooling

By Laura Ann Huber

My husband and I don’t always see things eye to eye. We have had many disagreements and arguments, mostly because I have what I like to call “Momma Bear Syndrome.” Momma Bear Syndrome is an instinctive, unthinking act to defend the cubs at all costs. If Poppa Bear disciplines more harshly than Momma Bear deems appropriate the claws come out, and Momma Bear is on the attack. Watch Out! This can cause confusion and disruption in the den. Parents must quietly go behind doors if this happens and talk about what is wrong or right. Try to find middle ground. Sticking together is very important. Sometimes it’s hard because men and women see things so differently. Once a decision is made, go out and talk to the kids together. If a punishment is needed now is the time to explain it to the child. Let them see you are now on the same page. You must stick together, or your children and the outside world will—wear you down.

Our decision to homeschool our children was not made overnight, nor was it blissfully blessed by both of us at first. The idea was first introduced to us when my husband met a colleague’s son, named Josh. The boy seemed so bright and out-going, able to speak and talk to adults better than any other child my husband knew. Every day he would come home from work bragging about Josh and the fact that his mother homeschooled him. I was really intrigued, but in my own small thinking brain the thought that I could homeschool my children never occurred to me.

When it was time to sign our oldest child up for kindergarten I was having a very difficult time. He was still so little and young; I just couldn’t imagine sending him off into a world that didn’t include me or his family. I prayed and prayed about it without my husband knowing how I was feeling. The year I was supposed to sign Keith up for kindergarten happened to be 1999. On Tuesday, April 20, 1999, the unthinkable happened in a high school named Columbine. Two high school seniors went on a murderous rampage, killing thirteen students. It sickened every parent in America and frightened every student who heard of the horrific event. My heart had been telling me for quite some time I should homeschool Keith, but being inundated with the culture and society we live in I just didn’t feel I was qualified. I felt that he needed to go to school. Even after the tragedy, I still thought it best that he attend school. After all, that’s what everyone else was doing.

But my spirit would not let the issue rest. I lay in bed every night praying for an answer. Finally, I expressed my feelings to my husband, “You are always coming home and talking about how well rounded and what a great kid Josh is. I thought maybe I should homeschool Keith.” His answer echoed my own feelings of self-doubt and he said, “But you’re not a teacher. Josh’s mom is a licensed teacher.” Sad and dejected I decided to sign Keith up for kindergarten.

I made arrangements to talk to some kindergarten teachers and visit some classrooms. First I would be going to the public school, and then to the private Catholic school I had attended as a child. Since my nephew, Ethan, was in first grade and attended the public school I would be visiting, I decided it would be fun if I could take him to school that morning. We started off around eight. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining brilliantly, and I couldn’t help noticing he would really rather be playing outside. He took me in through the front doors of the school into what I perceived as total pandemonium. Having attended a Catholic school all my life, I had never witnessed children running from here to there in the hallways. I put it aside because Ethan was excited about me purchasing a mechanical pencil for him to use that day. After visiting with a kindergarten teacher, I was more confused than ever. I told her I had been considering homeschooling and asked her opinion, expecting her to convince me sending my children to school was the best thing for them. She answered me honestly saying, “If you can homeschool, your children will be better off. My sister homeschools her children. She offers them way more than any teacher could.” This was a lot to consider.

Next it was off to my old alma mater. Here the children were treated totally the opposite of what I had witnessed at the public school. Discipline ruled as the kids walked out of church in quiet lines like little soldiers. Neither school was what I wanted for my children.

Perplexed and confused I went to a store before going home. As I was making my purchase the woman behind the counter asked me in a shocked voice, “Have you heard about the bomb threat at

Brookville Elementary School?” All I could see was my precious, little blond headed, blue-eyed nephew whom I had just dropped off less than an hour ago. My heart aching and my stomach churning, I longed to go back into the school and pick him up and take him back to his safe home, but this was not in my authority. I had no right to do that. Only his parents could. I did, however, have a say about my own children.

That afternoon I called a neighbor who homeschools her children. She is not a licensed teacher and her children were learning just like everyone else’s children. It could be done. I approached my husband that night about how I was feeling. The shootings. The threats of bombings. The pandemonium. The discipline. The words of the kindergarten teacher. He took a long deep breath and said he would think about it. We were both unsure, but we both agreed that no matter what we decided to do, we would stick together on our decision. Supporting each other through thick and thin.

Finally we both agreed that we would give homeschooling a try, at least through Keith’s first year of kindergarten. After that, each year we would re-evaluate making sure we were doing the right thing. Back in 1999 if you were homeschooling your child many people questioned your motives and the well-being of the child. Some people were supportive, some were not. One thing is for sure, when you decide to homeschool your children, many people become experts in giving advice on raising them, even if their kids didn’t turn out to be successful well-rounded adults, they now know what is best for yours. Even if a person doesn’t have any kids, some still think they know what’s best for yours.

That happened to me a lot back then. I took most of the flack because I am the children’s primary care giver, and my husband is the bread winner. He always seemed to be at work or in another room when people questioned me. Sometimes I felt as if I had to defend my position like Grant defending the Union. But my husband, Bryon, always had my back, and if someone would sneak in from the left flank when my defenses were down—he was on guard and there to protect me. Once a close friend of Bryon’s was questioning me about homeschooling after Bryon went out of the room. He was getting madder and madder at the fact that we weren’t sending Keith to school; not now and not any time in the near future. Neither of us knew that Bryon could hear his every word. I was feeling overwhelmed and was really getting upset, when Bryon came in like the knight in shining armor he always is for me. He sat down banging his fist on the table and saying, in a rather commanding voice, “If anyone has anything to say about our decision to homeschool, they need to come to me and I will answer any questions they may have.” No one questioned us much after that. Everyone knew we had made a decision and were sticking together and sticking to it. This meant more to me than words can say. It gave me confidence in myself, our decision, and our marriage.

Each of us is a different individual raised in different home environments with a variety of discipline techniques and belief systems. When you marry and have a family you must take the best from both sides and leave the rest rumbling behind, creating new values and new ideas. George Washington once said, “I have always considered marriage as the most interesting event of one’s life, the foundation of happiness or misery.” Keep a loving and respectful open mind toward your spouse’s views and opinions.

Encourage him to do the same for you and you’re most likely to experience happiness and not misery. The country music song by Diamond Rio, Meet in the Middle, tells us how to stick together and avoid arguments. It goes like this, “I’d start walking your way, you’d start walking mine. We’d meet in the middle ‘neath that old Georgia pine.” Sometimes, it’s not quite the middle where we have to meet. Sometimes one spouse has to walk a lot farther than the other. Once a decision is made, stand by your spouse. Be proud of each other. Your family will be much stronger and you’ll create a home that no one can divide.

Laura Ann Huber is the author of The ABC’s of Homeschooling and the proud parent of three children.More information about their adventures can be found at: www.laurahuber.com.

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