Greene County Democrat

Author: greenecodemocratcom

  • Commission renews CFO contract; approves board appointments, equipment purchase and road naming

    CFO Macaroy Underwood

    The Greene County Commission held its monthly meeting Monday, August 12, 2024 with all commissioners present. Before the agenda was approved, Commissioner Roshanda Summerville requested to present amendments. The commission approved adding the following items: Consider renewing the CFO’s contract under its existing agreements; Consider adopting a resolution naming Caroline Carpenter Road one half mile from the Union City limits; Consider a resolution to approve the Rebuild Alabama Plan.
    The Commission acted on these items individually with all approving naming the county road Caroline Carpenter Road and adopting the resolution for Rebuild Alabama. The renewal of CFO’s contract was approved on a 3-2 vote, with Commissioners Allen Turner and Corey Cockrell voting in the negative. Turner expressed concern that the existing contract should be reviewed before acting on it. CFO Macaroy Underwood expressed that he was agreeable with renewing his contract with existing terms.
    The status of Attorney Mark Parnell’s contract with the county was not raised at this commission meeting.
    The Commission accepted the resignation of David Bailey from the Water Authority Board, District 1, and approved the Commissioner Spencer’s recommendation of Barry Walker for the Board.
    Commissioner Summerville recommended the appointment of Donald Woods, District 5, for the Water Authority Board.
    Appointments to the E-911 Board were as follows: Geraldine Thompson, District 1; Johnny L Isaac, District 4. The Commission tabled a request from the E-911 Board for emergency operating funds, since an amount had not been discussed and agreed upon.
    At the Commission’s work session, August 7, Mr. Johnny L. Isaac, Chairperson of E-911 Board, appealed to the county for financial assistance. According to Isaac, E-911 lost $100,000 when Greenetrack had to stop disbursements. “ The state provides approximately $2,100 per month and the county awards $30,000 per year. All these funds have been depleted,” Isaac said. He noted that E-911 does not generate funds and must keep employees on the job 24/7 with six full time and two part time persons. Isaac said that at this time the operations need about $800,000.
    The Commission approved, as a blanket, the following items proposed by the Engineering Department:
    * Solicitation for consultant/engineering proposals to address bridge scour.
    * CDBG reimbursement for $19,000.
    * Use of JM Woods Auction to action/sell four tractors and three dump trucks.
    * Sell four tractors and bush hogs and purchase four new tractors at additional cost of approximately $40,000, totaling $160,000.
    * Trade three dump trucks and purchase three new dump trucks at additional cost of approximately $10,000, totaling $30,000.
    The Commission acted on the following items requested by the Greene County Industrial Development Authority:

  • Newswire : Sierra Leone’s president uses UN Security Council presidency to urge more seats for Africa

    The UN Security Council holds a meeting on the Middle East Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2019 at United Nations headquarters. Canada is still vying for a seat on the United Nations Security Council, but it’s already warming up the chair with a plan to hire trainers for Canadian officials. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Mary Altaffer

    By: AfricaNews and AP
    After decades of seeking a bigger voice in the United Nations ‘ most powerful body, Africa “cannot wait any longer,” Sierra Leone’s president told the Security Council on Monday.
    Chairing a meeting that his country convened, President Julius Maada Bio pressed a longstanding bid for African countries to get more council seats, including two permanent and potentially veto-wielding spots.
    “The time for half-measures and incremental progress is over. Africa must be heard, and its demands for justice and equity must be met,” Bio said, calling his continent the “unquestionable victim” of an imbalanced, outdated and unrepresentative Security Council structure.
    It wasn’t the first time the council has heard calls for expanding and reshaping its membership — and African countries aren’t the only ones that want more representation. While there’s a general sense that the council needs to change, discussions have bogged down over differences on how much to expand the group, what countries to include and what powers it should have.
    But Bio’s presence put an exclamation point on the issue ahead of a U.N. “Summit of the Future” and the annual General Assembly gathering of presidents, prime ministers and monarchs. Both gatherings are scheduled next month.
    Some countries are hoping for momentum from the summit, which is meant to generate a wide-ranging new vision of what international cooperation should look like in this century. The latest draft of the summit’s potential “Pact for the Future” terms Security Council reform a priority and pledges an “ambitious” result, with specific language still to come.
    “We are sure it is a matter of time. Because the gatekeepers will find it difficult to let us in,” Bio said at a news briefing Monday, but “we have a genuine and compelling case.”
    Set up in 1945 to try to maintain peace in the wake of World War II, the Security Council can levy sanctions, deploy peacekeeping missions and otherwise pass resolutions that are legally binding, if sometimes ignored.
    Its composition reflects the postwar power structure, and a time when most of Africa was under European control.
    The United States, Russia, China, Britain and France are permanent, veto-wielding members. Ten other seats — originally six, until a 1965 expansion — go to countries that get two-year council terms, without veto power. The broader General Assembly elects them by region, with three seats for Africa.
    African countries, and many others, have argued that the arrangement shorts the continent with the world’s fastest-growing population, now at 1.3 billion. The continent’s 54 countries make up 28% of the U.N.‘s member states. Five of the U.N.’s 11 current peacekeeping operations are in Africa, as are four of the top 10 countries in terms of sending troops.
    The African Union, a regional group, has called for two additional elected seats — yielding a total of five — and two permanent ones for countries on the continent.
    The permanent seats, in particular, must “be urgently addressed,” Namibia’s foreign minister, Peya Mushelenga, told the council Monday.
    Any changes to the council’s composition would be up to the General Assembly, which has held negotiations for years. Assembly President Dennis Francis said Monday that Africa is “manifestly underrepresented” on the council and that the status quo is “simply wrong.”
    But the U.N.’s member countries have floated many different ideas for changing the council, and any move to accommodate Africa would likely stir pressure to consider other proposals. The United States, for instance, backs adding permanent seats for countries in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, among others.
    “Let’s stop admiring the problem here. We need to move to solutions,” U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, whose prior postings include multiple African countries, told the council.
    Bio, whose nation currently holds the council’s rotating presidency, urged the group to get behind giving his continent priority in any structural changes.
    “Africa cannot wait any longer,” he said.

     

  • Newswire : HUD announces significant policy changes to aid homeless veterans

    By Stacy M. Brown
    NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

    The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has announced significant policy changes to help veterans experiencing homelessness. The new regulations ensure that veterans receiving service-connected disability benefits are not ineligible for supportive housing projects supported by project-based rental assistance through the HUD-Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program.
    Previously, VA benefits, provided for injuries or illnesses acquired or worsened during military service, were considered income when determining eligibility for housing assistance. The agency said this caused some veterans to exceed the income threshold for these programs. The updated policy will now exclude these benefits from income calculations, allowing more veterans to qualify for housing assistance. Alongside this change, HUD awarded $20 million to public housing agencies to further improve the HUD-VASH program.
    “No veteran should ever have to experience homelessness, but when they do, they should not face barriers to getting help they deserve,” said Acting Secretary Adrianne Todman. “This policy change will ensure that veterans who are receiving the disability benefits they earned through service and sacrifice can access the housing assistance and supportive services they need to resolve their homelessness.”
    The HUD-VASH program is a vital resource for housing veterans experiencing homelessness. It pairs rental assistance through housing vouchers from HUD with case management and other supportive services provided by the VA. The homeless program staff at local VA medical centers identify veterans experiencing homelessness and refer them to public housing agencies, which issue vouchers to eligible veterans and their families. Officials said VA staff provide case management and other supportive services to help veterans find and maintain housing, and connect them to healthcare, employment, and other support services.
    VA Secretary Denis McDonough emphasized the importance of the new policy, stating, “The days of a veteran having to choose between getting the VA benefits they deserve and the housing support they need are finally over. This is a critical step forward that will help veterans nationwide – and bring us one step closer to our ultimate goal of putting an end to veteran homelessness for good.”
    To expand access to HUD-VASH for veterans, HUD is:
    Requiring public housing agencies (PHAs) that administer HUD-VASH to set the initial income eligibility for veterans at 80% of Area Median Income, rather than 50%. This higher initial income eligibility threshold was previously optional but is now mandatory.

    Adopting an alternative definition of annual income for applicants and participants of the HUD-VASH program that excludes veterans’ service-connected disability benefits when determining eligibility.

    According to HUD officials, the agency has been collaborating with the U.S. Department of the Treasury to assess the impact of the alternative income definition for HUD-VASH participants looking to receive Low Income Housing Credits-subsidized housing. Treasury officials said that agency expects to issue guidance on this issue soon. HUD will also encourage state and local governments to make corresponding changes in their subsidy programs to ensure that all veterans experiencing homelessness have access to supportive housing.
    “Every veteran deserves a roof over their head, and the Biden-Harris Administration is doing everything we possibly can to end veteran homelessness,” said White House Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden. “Today’s actions reflect President Biden and Vice President Harris’s commitment to breaking down barriers to housing so that every veteran gets the benefits they have earned.”
    HUD also awarded $20 million for additional administrative fee funding to 245 public housing agencies in 43 states currently administering HUD-VASH. With this funding, officials said they’re encouraging PHAs to expand their housing search assistance to support veterans, expand landlord recruitment for the program, offer incentives and retention payments, help veterans with security deposits, and provide landlord-tenant mediation activities.
    Since the program’s inception, HUD-VASH has assisted more than 200,000 veterans in exiting homelessness and obtaining permanent, affordable housing. The HUD-VASH program has been crucial in reducing the number of veterans experiencing homelessness by more than 50% since 2010. For more details on the revised HUD-VASH operating requirements, visit HUD’s website.

  • Newswire : Mixed-race voters say Donald Trump’s attacks on Kamala Harris’ race are painfully familiar

     Vice-President Kamala Harris

    By Char Adams and Sakshi Venkatraman

    After Donald Trump told journalists on Wednesday that his presidential opponent Kamala Harris “turned Black” for political gain, Trump’s comments have impacted the way many multiracial voters are thinking about the two candidates.
    “She was only promoting Indian heritage,” the former president said during an interview at the National Association of Black Journalists convention last week. “I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black.”
    “Is she Indian or is she Black?” he asked.  She’s both. 
    Harris, whose mother was Indian and her father is Jamaican, would make history if she is elected president. She would be both the first female president, the first Asian American president, and the second Black President after Barack Obama.
    Multiracial American voters say they have heard similar derogatory remarks about their identities their whole lives. Some identify with Harris’ politics more than others but, overall, they told NBC News that Trump’s comments will not go unnoticed. 
    Bria Beddoe, 31, who is African American and Trinidadian, said she had mixed feelings about Harris and was hesitant to give her full support to the candidate. She said she doesn’t support Harris’ past criminal justice policies as a district attorney and she doesn’t think President Joe Biden is doing enough to support Gaza. But she said Trump’s rhetoric helped to change her perspective. 
    “I was not super on board for Kamala Harris being the presidential candidate, but then when I saw the way that they were slandering her and the things that they chose to slander her about, it definitely made me more sympathetic to her … and made me want to support her,” she said.
    Beddoe, who lives in Washington, D.C., said she’s experienced similar ridicule and disbelief over her Black, Indian, Chinese and Portuguese roots. As a result, Beddoe said, she sympathizes with Harris and the ways she’s been racialized throughout her political career. 
    “I grew up not being believed by people until they saw a member of my family,” she said. 
    “It’s been a very triggering time to see all these people try to say, ‘Well, you’re not this because you look like this, and you identify as this.”
    How Harris has been racialized throughout her career
    Harris’ heritage and the way she talks about it has been a topic of conversation throughout her political career, especially after she joined Biden’s ticket as his vice-presidential pick in 2020. 
    She’s been criticized by some for not emphasizing her roots enough, and most recently she’s been labeled by Trump and others on the right as a “DEI candidate” who only made it by  playing “the race card.” Some have entirely left her South Asian background out of the conversation, others minimize her Blackness. 
    “It’s almost like people are talking about her as two separate women,” Dhanashree Thorat, an assistant professor at Mississippi State University who studies race, feminism, and systemic oppression, told NBC News when Harris was campaigning with Biden in 2020. “You have Kamala who’s a Black woman and Kamala who’s a South Asian. And she’s not two separate people.”
    Those who knew her say she was steeped in her heritage on both sides. 
    Emily Grullón, 33, of Los Angeles, said Trump’s comment only highlight the microaggressions mixed-race people often experience in the United States. She said she hopes this controversy will prompt a national conversation about these experiences.
    “Was I surprised at his comments? Not so much,” said Grullón, who is an Afro-Indigenous Latina with Dominican roots. “I don’t support his comments, but I’m glad we can now have this discussion.” 
    Grullón, an assistant professor of occupational therapy at Southern California University of Health Sciences, said she’s had people question her Blackness and express shock at her ability to speak Spanish. 
    “It’s like we don’t fit in anywhere,” Grullón said. “I hope there’s more awareness now that the mixed experience is pretty nuanced.”
    She said her heritage plays a major role in the way she votes. Grullón said she has her reservations about Harris. She said she doesn’t agree with Harris’ stance on the Israel-Hamas war and doesn’t believe Harris to be the “saving grace” the country needs. 
    But “I believe she’s a better candidate than Biden,” Grullón said, adding that she holds more “progressive” views than Harris.
    “I vote with my values,” she said, adding that she’s supporting Harris reluctantly. “Those values are who’s going to speak on the needs of the communities that I come from, and those who are most affected within our communities. And it’s certainly not Donald Trump.”
    Harris addressed Trump’s comments hours later in Houston, at an event for the historically Black sorority Sigma Gamma Rho. “It was the same old show — the divisiveness and the disrespect,” Harris said. “And let me just say the American people deserve better. The American people deserve better.” 
    Trump doubled down on questioning Harris’ racial identity later in the day, writing in a social media post, “Crazy Kamala is saying she’s Indian, not Black. This is a big deal. Stone cold phony. She uses everybody, including her racial identity!”
    Trump has relied on his familiar tactic of attacking Harris’ race and gender since Biden dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Harris. 
    But some have said Trump’s race- and gender-centered attacks may alienate women and voters of color.  Joe Hill, who is Bolivian and white, said Trump’s attacks have only pushed him further into Harris’ corner.
    “They make me want to be more supportive and more active, whether it’s donating $15 to her campaign or commenting on a post, making my voice heard,” Hill, 41, of Florida, said, adding that he’d already planned to vote for Harris in November. 
    Hill said his mother is an immigrant with Jamaican and Indian parentage, like Harris, and he didn’t speak English when he moved to the U.S. as a child. As a result, he grew up embracing and learning about both his Bolivian heritage and American identity.
    “What Trump said about her is stuff I’ve heard!” Hill said. “Having two very different cultures, and loving both equally, and someone questioning that is so awful.

  • Newswire : ‘The work that remains’: Ben Crump commemorates Michael Brown’s life 10 years later with call to action

    Brown family attorney, Benjamin L. Crump, speaks to the media along with Lesley McSpadden (L) and Michael Brown Sr. (R) during a press conference outside the St. Louis County Court Building on April 23, 2015. in Clayton, Missouri. Family members announced a civil lawsuit over the death of Michael Brown Jr. in Ferguson, Missouri. | Source: Michael B. Thomas / Getty

    By: Editor at NewsOne

     

    Civil rights attorney Ben Crump commemorated the life and death of Michael Brown Jr. on Friday — 10 years since the tragic police shooting death of the 18-year-old in Ferguson, Missouri — with a call to action in the name of social justice and reforming law enforcement.
    Crump was the attorney representing Brown’s family — Michael Brown Sr. and Lesley McSpadden — and their fight for justice after now-former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson gunned down their loved one with six fatal shots on Aug. 9, 2014. The shooting led to what’s been called the Ferguson Uprising, a series of protests that began the day after Brown Jr.’s death and also contributed to the rise of the national, powerful and highly influential Black Lives Matter movement.
    Crump, a longtime advocate for consequences for police misconduct who has been retained to work on some of the biggest social justice cases in modern history — including Trayvon Martin’s brutal shooting death by a vigilante in Florida in 2013 and George Floyd’s police murder in Minneapolis in 2020 — on Friday marked the somber anniversary in part by recalling the effect that Brown Jr.’s death had not on just Black America, but also the U.S. at large.
    “Ten years after the tragic death of Michael Brown, we are reminded of the profound impact his loss has had on the fight for justice and the movement for Black lives,” Crump said in a statement that was shared with NewsOne. “Michael’s death was a catalyst for a racial reckoning in our society, particularly relating to law enforcement and their treatment of people of color. His memory compels us to keep fighting against the injustices that have plagued our communities for far too long.”
    Still, Crump added, while much progress has been made, there is still quite a ways to go to ensure that Brown Jr. didn’t die in vain.
    “But while we reflect on the progress made, we must also acknowledge the work that remains,” Crump continued. “Michael’s death, like the deaths of so many others, is a painful reminder of the urgent need for comprehensive reforms that ensure no other family has to endure the heartbreak of losing a loved one to police violence.”
    Crump concluded his statement: “Today, we honor Michael Brown’s legacy by renewing our commitment to justice, equality, and the relentless pursuit of change. His life mattered, and his memory continues to fuel our resolve to build a world where Black lives are valued and protected.”

  • Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance

    Federation of Southern Cooperatives/ Land Assistance Fund
    57th. Annual Meeting on August 15 to 17, 2024

    Thursday, August 15: 6:00 PM –
    Estelle Witherspoon Lifetime Achievement Award Dinner
    Sheraton Civic Center Hotel – Birmingham, Alabama

    Friday, August 16, 2024
    Rural Training and Research Center – near Epes, AL
    • 9:00 AM – Panel on USDA Programs
    • 1:00 PM – Special Session on DFAP
    • Afternoon of Workshops, Tours, and Fish Fry

    Saturday, August 17, 2024
    Rural Training and Research Center
    7:30 AM: Mattie Mack Pretty Hat Prayer Breakfast
    9:30 AM: Business Meeting with Reports from the
    Board of Directors and Executive Director
    11:30 AM ; State Caucus meetings

    To register go to website: http://www.federation.com

  • Shomari Figures headlines commemoration of 59th anniversary of signing the 1965 Voting Rights Act at the bridge in Selma

    Shomari Figures and Hank Sanders speaking in Selma

    By John Zippert, Co-Publisher

    Shomari Figures, the Democratic candidate for the new 2nd Congressional District in Alabama, was the headline speaker at yesterday’s rally and strategy session in Selma, at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, to commemorate the 59th anniversary of the signing by President Lyndon B. Johnson of the Voting Rights Act on August 6, 1965.

    Figures is the candidate selected by the Democratic Primary in April 2024 to run for the new Congressional District that stretches from Russell County at the Georgia line and goes to Pritchard, in Mobile County, almost at the Mississippi line. This district was created after a five-year legal battle between voters in the district and the Alabama Legislature to create a second Congressional district in the state that could elect a Black congressional representative.

    The U. S. Supreme Court ruled, using Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, that Alabama’s 27% Black population deserved two districts, out of the seven in Alabama, that could elect a Black congressperson. Figures won the Democratic primary and will face Caroleene Dobson, a white attorney from Troy, Alabama, who is well funded and supported by ALFA and other right-wing groups in Alabama.

    Figures is the son of Michael and Vivian Figures of Mobile County, both of whom served in the Alabama State Senate. Vivian being named to and later elected to the seat that Michael held until his untimely death from a brain aneurism.

    Alabama’s 7th district incumbent Congresswoman Terri Sewell sent a video tape to the meeting, since she was working in Washington, D. C., to commemorate the passage of the 1965 VRA and urging passage of the John Lewis Voter Advancement Act which would restore the full strength of the VRA.

    In his remarks in Selma, Shomari Figures said, “I have to come to Selma, even though it is not in the new 2nd. Congressional District, because all Black people in political office or running for political office, owe a debt to the courageous people of Selma and surrounding areas, that can never be repaid.” He also thanked Hank and Faya Rose Sanders for their continuing work on voting and civil rights and their friendship with his family.

    Figures said,” This is one of the most important Congressional races in the nation. We can take a district from the Republicans and put it in the Democratic Party’s column, which will affect the overall control of the House of Representatives. This will be important in determining what legislation gets through the next Congress.”

    “This is not a coronation. I know that just because we won the Democratic nomination, does not mean that we will win the General Election on November 5th. We have a lot of campaigning to do in the twelve counties of the new district. We are running against a rich candidate who is well funded with campaign contributions of her own and others. We did not get into this to cpme out in second place!” ,said Figures.

    Other speakers at the rally included Charles Steele of SCLC who explained that “Freedom ain’t free, and we have to continue fighting for it and things like the Voting Rights Act!”

    Joe Reed, long-time President of the Alabama Democratic Conference (ADC) said he has been working all of his life to place Blacks in every chamber of government from City Hall to the White House. Reed warned, “If you listen to Trump, he says he is going to abolish the Constitution and we will not have to vote anymore. Abolishing the Constitution means abolishing the 13th. Amendment, which freed the slaves. Does he intend to take us back into slavery. Listen closely to what he is saying.”

    Reed told the story of trying to get an old Black lady to vote. “In an election you have to vote. She told me that she would pray for me. I had to tell her in elections they do not count prayers – only votes!’

    Two youth speakers spoke, Micah Thomas and Azali Fortier, why made the point that young people must participate and vote. Rebecca Marion of the Bridge Crossing Jubilee also made clear that voting was a right that had been fought for at the cost of people’s lives and that everyone who is eligible must vote.

    Amin Badat of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, representatives of the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice and John Zippert, speaking for the SaveOurselves Coalition for Justice and Democracy also spoke.
    Faya Rose Toure mentioned that Sam Walker of the National Voting Rights Museum had a stroke and was in the hospital trying to recover. A “Go Fund Me Account” has been set up to help with his medical expenses. Walker has always coordinated logistics for the Bridge Crossing Jubilee and other activities in Selma.

    Persons interested in supporting the campaign of Shomari Figures for Congress in District 2, may go to this website: figures4congress.com/27?t=JrG5Aj, to contribute.

  • School Board approves resignations, employments and service contracts

    The Greene County Board of Education held a called meeting, Thursday, August 1, 2024, to act on personnel and administrative items relative to the opening of the new school term. As a special called meeting, the board could only address the items intended for the agenda. Board members present were Mr. Leo Branch, President; Mrs. Veronica Richardson, Vice President; Mr. Robert Davis, Member.
    The board approved the following personnel items recommended by Superintendent Dr. Corey Jones.
    Resignation: Daphne Jones Richardson – Mental Health Services Coordinator/Truancy Officer and Cheer Sponsor at RBMS, effective July 18, 2024; Wennoa Peebles – Special need bus driver for the system, effective August 16, 2024:
    Employment for the 2024 – 2025 school year: Cedric Murry – Business Teacher – RBMS; Breshayla Hoskins – 5th grade teacher – RBMS; Dawn Cook – 6th grade teacher – RBMS; Xavier Askew – Long-term sub (In-School Suspension); Mitchell Davis – Custodian – EPS; Quentin Walton – Teaching Assistant/Computer Lab Facilitator – EPS; Veronica Williams – Bus Driver – GCSS; Canesha Ray – Long-term substitute (3rd grade); Shameria Jordan – Long-term substitute (2nd grade);
    Additional Service Contracts 2024 – 2025 for the following employee(s) at Greene County High School: (Separate Contract): Ms. Drenda Morton – Cheerleader Sponsor.
    Stipend in the amount of $850 for the following Future Teachers of Alabama sponsors:
    Dr. Aslean Jones – GCHS; LaMonica Little – GCCC.
    The board approved the following administrative items recommended by the superintendent. * * Job description for Reading Improvement Teacher.
    * Greene County Schools Wellness Plan 2024 – 2025.
    * Greene County Schools Procurement Plan for CNP.
    * Estimate from Yondr, Inc. to purchase the Yondr Pouch Education Package in the amount of $23,180.
    Addendum (two additional games) to original agreement between the Greene County Board of Education and Greene County Ambulance Service to provide ambulance services during home football games for the 2024 – 2025 season.
    Service contract between Greene County Board of Education and Zachary Rutledge to develop and provide a Dual Enrichment (Welding Level I Lab) program for students at Greene County Career Center August 7, 2024 to August 23, 2024.

  • Haywood Brothers visit Tuscaloosa library named for their grandfather

    L to F: Dr. Yolanda Paige, President of Stillman College, John Haywood III, Sharon Harrison, Weaver-Bolden Librarian, George Haywood, and Marti Ball, Library staff member

    Two brothers, George and John Haywood, recently visited the Weaver Bolden Library in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The library is named for their maternal grandfather, George Weaver, who was the first Black doctor in Tuscaloosa, who operated the Stillman Hospital for
    Black people.

    This was their first visit to Alabama, although they often heard stories about the family’s ancestral home at the dinner table when they were growing up. At his death, Weaver left his collection of books to establish a library for Black people on the west side of Tuscaloosa. Librarian Ruth Bolden, resigned from her job with the school system to establish the library in the 1940’s, which later became a part of the Tuscaloosa Public Library system.

    The brother’s mother was Marie Weaver Haywood, who taught at Lincoln School in Marion and Stillman College in Tuscaloosa before marrying and moving to the Washington D. C. area. When she was teaching at the Lincoln School, their mother taught Coretta Scott (King) in the eighth grade.

    John Haywood III (78) spent additional days visiting civil rights movement sites in Greene, Sumter, Dallas, Hale and Montgomery counties.

  • Newswire : Bloomberg Philanthropies announces $600 million gift to Historically Black Medical Schools

    By : NNPA Newswire

     

    In a monumental move to address the underrepresentation of Black physicians in the United States, Bloomberg Philanthropies has announced a $600 million donation to the endowments of four historically Black medical schools. Officials said the donation is part of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Greenwood Initiative, which aims to advance racial wealth equity and address systemic underinvestment in Black institutions and communities.
    Howard University College of Medicine, Meharry Medical College, and Morehouse School of Medicine will each receive $175 million, while Charles R. Drew University of Medicine & Science will receive $75 million. Additionally, Bloomberg said $5 million in seed funding will support creating a new historically Black medical school in New Orleans, the Xavier Ochsner College of Medicine.

    The historic investment will more than double the endowments of three medical schools, significantly boosting their financial stability and capacity to educate future Black physicians.

    A recent study highlighted the need for such support, revealing that only 5.7% of U.S. physicians identify as Black or African American. This is despite Black Americans comprising 13% of the population. According to research, treating black patients by black doctors results in better health outcomes and more frequent medical care. For instance, Black patients are 34% more likely to receive preventative care if they see Black doctors.
    The four historically Black medical schools receiving funding reportedly graduate around half of all Black doctors in the U.S. but have been traditionally underfunded due to systemic inequities, including lower federal and state support. Since the early 1900s, discriminatory practices and the impacts of the Flexner Report have led to the closure of 10 Black medical schools in the United States. The financial boost from Bloomberg Philanthropies should have a transformative impact.

    Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor, Democratic presidential candidate, and founder of Bloomberg LP, will formally announce the donation at the National Medical Association’s annual convention. “This gift will empower new generations of Black doctors to create a healthier and more equitable future for our country,” Bloomberg said.

    In 2020, Bloomberg Philanthropies granted $100 million to these same medical schools to reduce the debt load of enrolled students facing severe financial burdens exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Valerie Montgomery Rice, president of Morehouse School of Medicine, noted that the 2020 gift relieved an average of $100,000 in debt for each student, significantly enhancing the school’s ability to fundraiser and support its students.
    Denise Smith, deputy director of higher education policy and senior fellow at The Century Foundation, emphasized the importance of such philanthropic gifts. She pointed to MacKenzie Scott’s donations to HBCUs in 2020 and 2021 as pivotal in sparking increased support from other large donors. “Donations that have followed are the type of momentum and support that institutions need in this moment,” Smith told the Associated Press.

    Dr. Yolanda Lawson, president of the National Medical Association, expressed relief upon hearing about Bloomberg’s gift, especially in light of the Supreme Court’s recent decision striking down affirmative action and attacks on programs promoting inclusion and equity.

    “This opportunity and this investment affect not only just those four institutions but our country’s health and future,” Lawson asserted.