A list of some of the accomplishments of President Obama's Administration

"Robert P. Watson, Ph.D. Coordinator of American Studies Lynn University "Email: rwatson@lynn.edu
I am always being asked to grade Obama's presidency. In place of offering him a grade, I put together a list of his accomplishments thus far. I think you would agree that it is very impressive. His first six months have been even more active than FDRs or LBJs the two standards for such assessments. Yet, there is little media attention given to much of what he has done. Of late, the media is focusing almost exclusively on Obama's critics, without holding them responsible for the uncivil, unconstructive tone of their disagreements or without holding the previous administration responsible for getting us in such a deep hole. The misinformation and venom that now passes for political reporting and civic debate is beyond description.As such, there is a need to set the record straight. What most impresses me is the fact that Obama has accomplished so much not from a heavy-handed or top-down approach but from a style that has institutionalized efforts to reach across the aisle, encourage vigorous debate, and utilize town halls and panels of experts in the policy-making process. Beyond the accomplishments, the process is good for democracy and our democratic processes have been battered and bruised in recent years. Let me know if I missed anything in the list (surely I did).
1.. Ordered all federal agencies to undertake a study and make recommendations for ways to cut spending
2. Ordered a review of all federal operations to identify and cut wasteful spending and practices
3. Instituted enforcement for equal pay for women
4. Beginning the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq
5. Families of fallen soldiers have expenses covered to be on hand when the body arrives at Dover AFB
6. Ended media blackout on war casualties; reporting full information
7. Ended media blackout on covering the return of fallen soldiers to Dover AFB; the media is now permitted to do so pending adherence to respectful rules and approval of fallen soldier's family
8. The White House and federal government are respecting the Freedom of Information Act
9. Instructed all federal agencies to promote openness and transparency as much as possible
10. Limits on lobbyist's access to the White House
11. Limits on White House aides working for lobbyists after their tenure in the administration
12. Ended the previous stop-loss policy that kept soldiers in Iraq/Afghanistan longer than their enlistment date
13. Phasing out the expensive F-22 war plane and other outdated weapons systems, which weren't even used or needed in Iraq/Afghanistan
14. Removed restrictions on embryonic stem-cell research
15. Federal support for stem-cell and new biomedical research
16. New federal funding for science and research labs
17. States are permitted to enact federal fuel efficiency standards above federal standards
18. Increased infrastructure spending (roads, bridges, power plants) after years of neglect
19. Funds for high-speed, broadband Internet access to K-12 schools
20. New funds for school construction
21. The prison at Guantanamo Bay is being phased out
22. US Auto industry rescue plan
23. Housing rescue plan
24. $789 billion economic stimulus plan
25. The public can meet with federal housing insurers to refinance (the new plan can be completed in one day) a mortgage if they are having trouble paying
26. US financial and banking rescue plan
27. The secret detention facilities in Eastern Europe and elsewhere are being closed
28. Ended the previous policy; the US now has a no torture policy and is in compliance with the Geneva Convention standards
29. Better body armor is now being provided to our troops
30. The missile defense program is being cut by $1.4 billion in 2010
31. Restarted the nuclear nonproliferation talks and building back up the nuclear inspection infrastructure/protocols
32. Reengaged in the treaties/agreements to protect the Antarctic
33. Reengaged in the agreements/talks on global warming and greenhouse gas emissions
34. Visited more countries and met with more world leaders than any president in his first six months in office
35. Successful release of US captain held by Somali pirates; authorized the SEALS to do their job
36. US Navy increasing patrols off Somali coast
37. Attractive tax write-offs for those who buy hybrid automobiles
38. Cash for clunkers program offers vouchers to trade in fuel inefficient, polluting old cars for new cars; stimulated auto sales
39. Announced plans to purchase fuel efficient American-made fleet for the federal government
40. Expanded the SCHIP program to cover health care for 4 million more children
41. Signed national service legislation; expanded national youth service program
42. Instituted a new policy on Cuba , allowing Cuban families to return home to visit loved ones
43. Ended the previous policy of not regulating and labeling carbon dioxide emissions
44. Expanding vaccination programs
45. Immediate and efficient response to the floods in North Dakota and other natural disasters
46. Closed offshore tax safe havens
47. Negotiated deal with Swiss banks to permit US government to gain access to records of tax evaders and criminals
48. Ended the previous policy of offering tax benefits to corporations who outsource American jobs; the new policy is to promote in-sourcing to bring jobs back
49.. Ended the previous practice of protecting credit card companies; in place of it are new consumer protections from credit card industry's predatory practices
50. Energy producing plants must begin preparing to produce 15% of their energy from renewable sources
51. Lower drug costs for seniors
52. Ended the previous practice of forbidding Medicare from negotiating with drug manufacturers for cheaper drugs; the federal government is now realizing hundreds of millions in savings
53. Increasing pay and benefits for military personnel
54. Improved housing for military personnel
55. Initiating a new policy to promote federal hiring of military spouses
56. Improved conditions at Walter Reed Military Hospital and other military hospitals
57. Increasing student loans
58. Increasing opportunities in AmeriCorps program
59. Sent envoys to Middle East and other parts of the world that had been neglected for years; reengaging in multilateral and bilateral talks and diplomacy
60. Established a new cyber security office
61. Beginning the process of reforming and restructuring the military 20 years after the Cold War to a more modern fighting force; this includes new procurement policies, increasing size of military, new technology and cyber units and operations, etc.
62. Ended previous policy of awarding no-bid defense contracts
63. Ordered a review of hurricane and natural disaster preparedness
64. Established a National Performance Officer charged with saving the federal government money and making federal operations more efficient
65. Students struggling to make college loan payments can have their loans refinanced
66. Improving benefits for veterans
67. Many more press conferences and town halls and much more media access than previous administration
68. Instituted a new focus on mortgage fraud
69. The FDA is now regulating tobacco
70. Ended previous policy of cutting the FDA and circumventing FDA rules
71. Ended previous practice of having White House aides rewrite scientific and environmental rules, regulations, and reports
72. Authorized discussions with North Korea and private mission by Pres. Bill Clinton to secure the release of two Americans held in prisons
73. Authorized discussions with Myanmar and mission by Sen. Jim Web to secure the release of an American held captive
74. Making more loans available to small businesses
75. Established independent commission to make recommendations on slowing the costs of Medicare
76. Appointment of first Latina to the Supreme Court
77. Authorized construction/opening of additional health centers to care for veterans
78. Limited salaries of senior White House aides; cut to $100,000
79. Renewed loan guarantees for Israel
80. Changed the failing/status quo military command in Afghanistan
81. Deployed additional troops to Afghanistan
82. New Afghan War policy that limits aerial bombing and prioritizes aid, development of infrastructure, diplomacy, and good government practices by Afghans
83. Announced the long-term development of a national energy grid with renewable sources and cleaner, efficient energy production
84. Returned money authorized for refurbishment of White House offices and private living quarters
85. Paid for redecoration of White House living quarters out of his own pocket
86. Held first Seder in White House
87. Attempting to reform the nation's healthcare system which is the most expensive in the world yet leaves almost 50 million without health insurance and millions more under insured
88. Has put the ball in play for comprehensive immigration reform
89. Has announced his intention to push for energy reform
90. Has announced his intention to push for education reform.......
Oh, and he had a swing set built for the girls outside the Oval Office

I think this last accomplishment shows what kind of man we have for a president. I hope you have a great day.

National Train Day at 30th Street Station

Come on down to the station and join the celebration in Philadelphia! Don't miss your chance to see model trains, train equipment displays (tickets needed for train equipment displays go to website www.nationaltrainday.com)and much more:
Baseball Junction: The History of Baseball and the American Railroad
Train Equipment Displays
Model Train Displays
AmtraKids Depot
Go-Green Express: Eco Exhibit
National Park Service Trails & Rails Exhibit
Snapshot Station
Trains Move our Economy Exhibit
Amtrak Brand Display - Enjoy the journey®
National Train Day in Philadelphia features Baseball Junction: The History of Baseball and the American Railroad. In the early days of America's favorite pastime, trains helped baseball teams travel across the country to meet their rivals on the diamond. On National Train Day, Philadelphia's 30th Street Station will feature an exhibit showcasing memorabilia, photos, video and audio depicting the memories of former players from a variety of leagues. A prominent sports personality will host a panel discussion with former players

The Nuts and Bolts of Grant Writing Sat. April 24th 10am-1pm

EPIC LEADERSHIP INITIATIVE The Department of Human Services, Community Based Prevention Services Division along with the Equal Partners In Change (EPIC) Community Stakeholder Groups are sponsoring “The EPIC Leadership Initiative” a series of capacity building workshops focusing on individual and organizational skill building. All the workshops are free and open to individuals, community residents and organizations. The Nuts and Bolts of Grant Writing and Proposals Dates: Saturday, April 17, 2010, 10am – 1 pm Loc: Temple University Center City, 1515 Market Street Note: Bring photo Identification to gain admission This workshop provide attendees with a better understanding of how to write a strong applications, grant application guidelines and how to access grants from corporations, foundations and government agencies. Topics include: Components of a Grant Proposal Requirements for Proposal/Grant Application Government Grants (Federal, City, State) Program Planning Evaluation Tools How to Start a 501 (c) (3) Non Profit corporation Dates: Saturday, April 24, 2010, 10 am – 1 pm Loc: Temple University Center City, 1515 Market Street Note: Bring photo identification to gain admission This workshop provides attendees with an understanding of how a non-profit is organized for charitable, religious or educations purposes. The workshop will also cover what documents are needed for the State and Federal Government in order to become a non-profit corporation. Topics include: Forming a non-profit corporation Types of non-profit corporations Articles of Incorporation By-laws Applying for federal tax exempt status To register call 215-683-4068 or 4027 or email aretha.m.hall@phila.gov. Space is limited. Blessed by the Best Michael Rice Community Development Specialist Office of Truancy & Delinquency Prevention Division of Community Based Prevention Services Three Parkway 1601 Cherry Street, 9th floor Philadelphia, PA 19102 215-683-4027

College Fair April 10th 10am-2pm

PHILADELPHIA, March 24 – State Rep. Cherelle L. Parker, D-Phila., in partnership with Future Minds, will host a College Fair for all young people interested in pursuing higher education.

Parker said that more than 30 accredited colleges, universities and other educational institutions will be on hand for the event, as well as agencies and organizations that can assist students in finding financial aid, scholarships and other funding opportunities.

"There are so many young adults who are interested in obtaining a college education but they just don't know where to start," Parker said. "This event brings colleges and universities from Philadelphia and all across our region, as well as organizations and agencies that offer financial aid options, to one location. I encourage any resident of my district who is interested in getting a college education to attend this worthwhile and important event."

The free event takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 10 at Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church, Family Life Center, 2800 W. Cheltenham Ave. Registration is not required.

Although incomplete at this time, the list of colleges expected to attend includes: Bryn Athyn College, Chestnut Hill College, Cheyney University, Cornell University, Eastern University, Eastern University (School of Arts & Sciences), Hampton University, Hofstra University, Johnson C. Smith University, LaSalle University, Manor College, Metropolitan Career Center, Pennsylvania State Police Academy, Rosemont College, St. Joseph's University, Spelman College and the University of Notre Dame.

For more information, contact Parker's office at 1536 E. Wadsworth Ave. or by phone 215-242-7300.
Melissa Scott
State Representative Cherelle L. Parker
200th Legislative District
1536 E. Wadsworth Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19150
215.242.7300- Phone
215.242.7303-Fax
mscott@pahouse.net

Become a community news reporter

Community News Reporting
DATES: Thursday, Thursdays April 15th, 22nd, 29th and May 6th. May 1 at WPEB. TIMES: 7:00 – 9:00 PM and Saturday from 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM *Saturday will take place in the WPEB Studio; SPRING 2010
Instructor: Heshimu Jaramogi
Workshop Location:
Scribe Video Center
4212 Chestnut Street
3rd FloorPhiladelphia, PA 19104
Fee: $75. Free to members of the WPEB 88.1 FM community
Learn the skills to be a community news reporter!
How do you uncover the news? How do you know if a story is important? How do you produce a radio news story – quickly and accurately? Workshop participants learn the craft and technique of radio journalism by researching, producing and editing short news or feature stories about West Philadelphia for broadcast on WPEB. The workshop culminates in a live radio broadcast on WPEB featuring news reports produced by workshop participants.
INSTRUCTOR: Heshimu Jaramogi anchors the morning news on WURD-AM and is also a correspondent for the American Urban Radio Network. His career in radio spans 25 years. He has worked as a news anchor/producer for Clear Channel Radio, a public affairs program host for WHYY, WPEN and WCAU and as a reporter for WDAS AM & FM, WPEN, and WCAU.

Umar Bin Hassan of The Last Poets at Temple Thursday March 25th

HIP HOP 101 and Pan African Studies Community Education Program

present

UMAR BIN HASSAN
of
THE
LAST POETS


“THE GODFATHERS OF HIP HOP”


WHEN: Thurs., 3/25, 7 pm
WHERE: Temple Univ.
1700 N. Broad St., 3rd Fl.
(Broad & Cecil B. Moore Ave.)
COST: FREE!

215/552-8714
MichaelCoard@msn.com

50th Anniversary Conference of Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee(SNCC) History

http://www.sncc50thanniversary.org/sncc.html

Home What is SNCC Conference Hotel Registration Form Planning Committee Program Saturday Dinner Support News Meet the Authors Links
What Happened in Raleigh in 1960?
In February 1960 black students initiated a series of “sit-ins” to protest racial injustice and discrimination in cities across the south. The student protesters from Atlanta, Memphis, Greensboro and other cities did not know each other. The idea arose to get the various student movements together at a conference so they could network and learn from each other.
Article from Greensboro Times Feb 2, 1960
One of the most enthusiastic observers of the student protests in the early months of 1960 was Ella Baker, SCLC chief of staff. Baker hoped that a meeting of student leaders would enable protesters to communicate with each other and to acquire the knowledge necessary to sustain their movement. Her desire was that the student protest remain student led and not be taken over by an established civil rights organization.
By the second week of March 1960 Baker was working on plans for such a meeting to be held over Easter weekend, April 15-17 at her alma mater, Shaw University in Raleigh. After borrowing $800 from SCLC and contacting an acquaintance at Shaw to secure facilities there, she sent a note, signed by herself and Dr. King, to all major protest groups, asking them to send representatives to The Southwide Student Leadership Conference on Nonviolent Resistance to Segregation. In the letter, student leaders were offered the opportunity “TO SHARE experience gained in recent protest demonstrations and TO HELP chart future goals for effective action.” The purpose of the meeting was to achieve “a more unified sense of direction for training and action in Nonviolent Resistance.” The letter assured students that, although “Adult Freedom Fighters” would be present “for counsel and guidance,” the conference would be “youth centered.”
On March 16 Baker flew to Raleigh to finalize the arrangements. Since Shaw could only house about 40 people, Baker contacted nearby St. Augustine College, the YMCA, and local residents to arrange additional housing.
On April 5 Baker issued the first public announcement of the Shaw meeting. The release explained how student representatives from across the South had been invited, and that James Lawson, who had been expelled from Vanderbilt’s divinity school in March for advising the Nashville sit-in students to continue their protest, would be the keynote speaker.
On April 10 Dr. King spoke at Spelman College, and the next day talked with reporters about the upcoming Shaw conference. King predicted “a Southwide council of students will come out of the meeting,” one wrote. “He said he would serve in an advisory capacity only, and any future direction in the protest actions would come from the student themselves.” He also urged the students to learn more about the philosophy of nonviolence.
Nearly 100 of the student demonstration leaders from 19 states spent the first weekend in April at Highlander Folk School in New Market, Tennessee at the invitation of Septima Clark, where they exchanged phone numbers, philosophies, and their favorite tips about how to run a demonstration.
Two weeks later, some 300 students and observers, three times the number Baker expected, gathered at Shaw on Friday April 15. 120 black student activists representing 56 colleges and high schools in twelve southern states and the District of Columbia attended, along with observers from thirteen student and social reform organizations, representatives from northern and border state colleges, and a dozen southern white students.
One of the largest delegations at the Raleigh conference, and the one that would subsequently provide SNCC with a major share of its leaders, was the Nashville student group. Fisk University provided a number of these protest leaders, most notably Marion Barry and Diane Nash. Another Nashville protest leader, John Lewis, was a ministerial student at American Baptist Theological Seminary.
King spoke to the press and students at the beginning of the meeting, emphasizing “the need for some type of continuing organization.” He hoped that the students would weigh a nationwide selective buying campaign, and that they also “seriously consider training a group of volunteers who will willingly go to jail rather than pay bail or fines.
That evening James Lawson delivered a keynote speech on the importance of nonviolence. Lawson expressed a visionary set of ideas that distinguished the student activists both from the rest of society and from more moderate civil rights leaders. On Saturday, the delegates split up into discussion groups to talk about nonviolent protest and the next steps for the student movement. When the delegates assembled on Saturday afternoon, King spoke to them, praising Lawson’s speech.
The student delegates held the final plenary meeting on Sunday. A “temporary” Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was approved, to be headquartered in Atlanta, with King and Lawson each serving as advisors. The only controversy was over whether only southern students, and not northern ones, would be represented on that committee. A compromise solution was agreed upon, and the delegates departed from what almost all agreed had been an encouraging conference.
Lawson’s influence was evident in the conference’s general emphasis on nonviolence.
Students at the conference affirmed their commitment to the nonviolent doctrines popularized by King, yet they were drawn to these ideas not because of King’s advocacy but because they provided an appropriate rationale for student protest. SNCC’s founding was an important step in the transformation of a limited student movement to desegregate lunch counters into a broad and sustained movement to achieve major social reforms.
Ms. Baker’s speech to the conference, entitled “More than a Hamburger”, warned that work was just beginning: integrating lunch counters was one thing, breaking down barriers in areas as racially and culturally entrenched as voting rights, education and the workplace was going to be much tougher. Ms. Baker also warned: don’t let anyone else, especially the older folks, tell you what to do. A few months later Ella Baker wrote in The Southern Patriot that the student conference made it “crystal clear that the current sit-in and other demonstrations are concerned with something bigger than a hamburger…The Negro and white students, North and South, are seeking to rid America of the scourge of racial segregation and discrimination—not only at the lunch counters but in every aspect of life.”
At the Raleigh conference Guy Carawan sang a new version of “We Shall Overcome,” which had previously been adapted from a religious hymn, “I’ll be Alright” into an old labor song. This new song would become the national anthem of the civil rights movement. People joined hands and gently swayed in time singing “Deep in my heart, I do believe, we shall overcome some day.” This bonding act of camaraderie represented a coming together and reaching out to one another for strength and spiritual support.
The conference ratified a Statement of Purpose drafted by Lawson (reproduced below). Marion Barry, SNCC’s newly elected chairman, conducted his first press conference for the few reporters covering the meeting. (Barry resigned the chair of SNCC in the fall to return to graduate work at Fisk University; Charles McDew then became SNCC’s second chair).
The student movement’s temporary coordinating committee held its first official meeting in Atlanta on May 13 and 14. The 11 students present ratified the statement of purpose and voted to hire a temporary staff member whom SCLC offered to house in its office at 208 Auburn Avenue, Atlanta. Baker recruited Jane Stembridge, daughter of a white Baptist minister from Virginia and a student at Union Theological Seminary, to run the SNCC office until a permanent administrative secretary could be found. In June, Stembridge and other student volunteers published the first issue of SNCC’s newspaper, the Student Voice.
In July, Baker and Stembridge were joined by Robert Moses, a former graduate student at Harvard Univ. When Stembridge suggested that Moses assist SNCC by recruiting black leaders in the Deep South for an October conference, he agreed to do so at his own expense.
Also during that summer Barry and other SNCC representatives were given an opportunity to address members of the platform committees of each party at the Democratic and Republican conventions. Stembridge addressed the National Student Association (NSA) at its annual convention in August.
At a fall conference at Atlanta University on October 14-15, 1960, SNCC attempted to consolidate the student protest movement by establishing an organizational structure and clarifying its goals and principles. Topics covered in workshops included desegregation of public facilities, black political activity, discrimination in employment, and racial problems in education. Workshop leaders included black students who had been active in sit-ins – Diane Nash, Ben Brown of Clark College, and Charles McDew of South Carolina State College – a white southern student, Sandra Cason of the Univ. of Texas, and Timothy Jenkins from the National Student Association. About 140 delegates, alternatives and observers from 46 protest centers attended the conference, as well as over 80 observers from northern colleges and sympathetic organizations. The principal accomplishment of the conference was to create a permanent organizational structure for SNCC. The delegates voted to drop “temporary” from their name, and established a Coordinating Committee to be composed of one representative from each southern state and the District of Columbia. In addition, there was to be a staff made up of field secretaries and an expanded office staff. The going salary was $10.00 a week.
The October conference marked a turning point in the development of the student protest movement. SNCC gained permanent status, and its student leaders became increasingly confident of their ability to formulate the future course of the movement. Charles McDew, a native of Massilon, Ohio and a student at South Carolina State, replaced Barry as chairman. McDew served as chair until the election of John Lewis in 1963.
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Statement of Purpose adopted in April 1960
We affirm the philosophical or religious ideal of nonviolence as the foundation of our purpose, the presupposition of our faith, and the manner of our action. Nonviolence as it grows from Judaic-Christian tradition seeks a social order of justice permeated by love. Integration of human endeavor represents the crucial first step toward such a society.
Through nonviolence, courage displaces fear; love transforms hate. Acceptance dissipates prejudice; hope ends despair. Peace dominates war; faith reconciles doubt. Mutual regard cancels enmity. Justice for all overthrows injustice. The redemptive community supersedes systems of gross social immorality.
Love is the central motif of nonviolence. Love is the force by which God binds man to Himself and man to man. Such love goes to the extreme; it remains loving and forgiving even in the midst of hostility. It matches the capacity of evil to inflict suffering with an even more enduring capacity to absorb evil, all the while persisting in love.
By appealing to conscience and standing on the moral nature of human existence, nonviolence nurtures the atmosphere in which reconciliation and justice become actual possibilities.
Sources:
BEARING THE CROSS, David J. Garrow, pp. 131 et seq.;
EYES ON THE PRIZE, Juan Williams, p. 137
IN STRUGGLE, Clayborne Carson. Ch. 2
Ijele: Art eJournal of the African World (2001): http://www.ijele.com/vol2.1/morton.html
ELLA BAKER AND THE BLACK FREEDOM MOVEMENT, Barbara Ransby, Ch. 8
WALKING WITH THE WIND: A MEMOIR OF THE MOVEMENT, John Lewis, p.115
ELLA BAKER: FREEDOM BOUND, Joanne Grant, Ch. 7
FREEDOM’S DAUGHTERS, Lynne Olson, 148-49
ORGANIZING BLACK AMERICA, Nina Mjagkij, P. 647
PARTING THE WATERS, Taylor Branch, 290

Opportunities For Black Males To Get a Ph.d at Penn

SPREAD THE WORD

Opportunities For Black Males To Get a Ph.d

The University of Pennsylvania is launching an 18-month Academy focused on preparing Black males for admission to PhD programs in education immediately upon completion of their undergraduate studies. U Penn will begin the Academy this fall with 10 Black males who are in their junior year of college. Check it out here: http://www.gse. upenn.edu/ grad_prepEach Academy participant will receive a 4-day all-expense paid visit to Philadelphia this fall; opportunities for meaningful engagement with the dean, faculty, graduate students, and Black male alumni; free enrollment in a 3-month Kaplan GRE Prep Course (for which Penn is paying$1,200 per participant) ; a current Black male Ph.D. student who will mentor him through the application process; and an application fee waiver when he applies for Fall 2011 admission to Penn (valued at $85). Most importantly, those who are admitted to our Ph.D. programs two years from now will be fully funded for their entire 3-4 years of doctoral study.Please forward this information to Black male undergraduates you know and encourage them to submit applications by August 21st. The Academy is only for Black men who are starting their junior year this fall and planning to graduate in Spring 2011

From MEE Productions Federal and Private Grant Opportunities

ADMINISTRATION FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES, OFFICE OF COMMUNITY SERVICES ASSETS FOR INDEPENDENCE PROGRAM (AFI)Eligibility: Nonprofit organizations, including faith-based and community organizations; state, local or tribal government agencies applying jointly with a nonprofit; community development financial institutions that partner with a community-based anti-poverty group; low income credit unions that partner with a community-based anti-poverty group; consortia of organizations and agencies that target multiple service areas.Amount: Up to $1,000,000 for five-year awards. The average AFI project grant is approximately $350,000 for the five-year grant period. Applicants must secure non-federal funds in an amount equal to or greater than their AFI project grant.Purpose of Grant: To help low-income people move toward greater self-sufficiency by accumulating savings and purchasing long-term assets.Contact: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/afi/assets.html
Deadline: Applicants may submit application materials at any time throughout the year. OCS will review and fund new grants in three cycles annually in calendar year 2010. The winter cycle deadline has passed. The remaining application receipt dates are as follows: spring cycle is March 25, 2010, and summer cycle is June 25, 2010. Applications must be received by 4:30 p.m. on the receipt dates.

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SECOND CHANGE MENTORING GRANTSGrants of up to $300,000 will be awarded under the FY 2010 Second Chance Act Mentoring Grants to Nonprofit Organizations, administered by the federal Bureau of Justice Assistance. Go to Bureau of Justice Assistance Website.

Contact: Call 1-877-464-2066 for additional information.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++THE LAWRENCE FOUNDATIONThe Lawrence Foundation is a private family foundation focused on making grants to support environmental, education, human services and other causes. Eligibility: Nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status and public schools and libraries. The foundation has no geographic restrictions.Amount: Varies.Purpose of Grant: To support environmental, educational, human service and other causes.Contact: http://www.thelawrencefoundation.org/grants/index.php
Deadline: April 30, 2010
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HOME DEPOT FOUNDATION AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING BUILD RESPONSIBLY Eligibility: Nonprofit organizations; projects must have been completed and placed in service between January 1, 2008, and December 31, 2009; at least five units must have been sold to families earning 80 percent or less of area median income. See the Web site for additional eligibility standards. Amount: Up to $75,000. Purpose of Grant: To identify, recognize and showcase the outstanding and innovative work of nonprofit organizations in the area of design and management of affordable housing. Contact: http://www.homedepotfoundation.org/grants.html
Deadline: March 31, 2010

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ING AND NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR SPORT AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION: RUN FOR SOMETHING BETTEREligibility: Programs that target grades 4-8 in public elementary or middle schools. Amount: Up to $2,000.Purpose of Grant: To empower school-age children nationwide with the means to achieve and maintain a healthy lifestyle through a school-based running program.Contact: http://www.aahperd.org/naspe/grants/grants/ING/index.cfm
Deadline: April 15, 2010, by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time.

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ENERGY ALERT ALLIANCEEnergy Efficient Lighting Grants Eligibility: Educational institutions (private and public), churches, charitable organizations, community groups, and all other qualifying nonprofit organizations nationwide.Amount: Cash grants towards the purchase of fixtures and lamps; the program includes free professional design and consulting services, reduction of installation costs through the ALERT electrical contractor network, and possible additional grants directly from Energy ALERT Alliance member firms.Purpose of Grant: To provide qualifying nonprofit organizations with thousands of dollars in cash allowances and services for the purpose of installing new energy efficient lighting systems.Contact: http://www.energyALERTalliance.com/grants.php
Deadline: March 31, 2010

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ AMERICAN HONDA FOUNDATION GRANTS FOR YOUTH EDUCATION AND SCIENCE EDUCATION Eligibility: Nonprofit organizations classified as a 501(c)(3); a public school district; a private or public elementary or secondary school as listed by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Amount: $20,000-$60,000. Purpose of Grant: To help meet the needs of American society in the areas of youth and scientific education. Contact: http://corporate.honda.com/america/philanthropy.aspx?id=ahf
Deadline: May 1, 2010

Comic Book Stars Workshop at Blackwell Regional Library 125 S. 52nd St.

Wednesday, March 17th,2010 4:00pm

Skilled comic book artists from the East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention(ECBACC) STARS program will engage children and teens in a variety of exercises using comic books,worksheets and activities. Participants will be engaged in interactive reading,writing,drawing and using positive imagery to illustrate comics as a fun, exciting and creative medium.

At PENN MUSEUM March 17th Panel Discussion Conversation on Urban Poverty on March 17th one panelist is Elijah Anderson Author of Code of the Streets

The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology complements its special exhibition Righteous Dopefiend: Homelessness, Addiction and Poverty in Urban America with a series of special programs in March, April, and May. The exhibition, on view in the Penn Museum's Merle-Smith Gallery East, will remain open after hours, 4:30 to 9:00 pm, prior to and after each program. All programs are pay-what-you-want.

Wednesday, March 17, 6:00-8:00 pm A Conversation on Urban Poverty in Philadelphia and the United States Round table discussion with audience participation. Scholars of urban America, whose life work has been dedicated to a theoretical and practical understanding of US intercity poverty, ethnic segregation, and the history of drug use and violence, participate.Participants: • Philippe Bourgois - Richard Perry University professor of Anthropology & Family and Community Medicine, University of Pennsylvania• Elijah Anderson - William K. Lanman, Jr. Professor of Sociology, Yale University• Eric Schneider - Assistant Dean and Associate Director for Academic Affairs in the College of Arts and Sciences, Adjunct Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania• Michael Katz - Water H. Annenberg Professor of History, Research Associate in the Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania

Monday, March 22, 6:00 pmPlay Reading: Corner Wars"Corner Wars," a two act play, is the story of a day in the life of a group of young drug dealers working a street corner in North Philadelphia. Philadelphia playwright Timothy Dowlin, who studied theater at the High School for Creative and Performing Arts, wrote the play, his literary debut, which was first produced at 47th Street Theatre in New York by Theater for a New Generation in 2003. The play was awarded Newsday's George Oppenheimer award. Director Omar Evans organizes the reading; Mr. Dowlin joins for a question and answer period following the reading.
Tuesday, April 6, 6:00-8:00 pmAddiction and Recovery: Lessons from PhiladelphiaRound table discussion with audience participation. Panel participants, to be announced, include practitioners and survivors working on the front lines in Philadelphia and at the national level, finding solutions to problems of addiction, homelessness, and poverty. Panelists to be announced.

Tuesday, May 4, 6:00-8:00 pmPublic Health and Law Enforcement: Reframing the Debate in PhiladelphiaRound table discussion with audience participation. Panel participants, to be announced, will re-examine the stalemate of the war on drugs, asking the question: can the contradictions between zero tolerance laws and law enforcement, and public health needs and services, be mediated productively? Panelists to be announced.

In Righteous Dopefiend: Homelessness, Addiction and Poverty in Urban America, anthropologist Philippe Bourgois and photographer-ethnographer Jeff Schonberg document the daily lives of homeless drug users, drawing upon more than a decade of fieldwork they conducted among a community of heroin injectors and crack smokers who survive on the streets of San Francisco's former industrial neighborhoods. About 40 black and white photographs are interwoven with edited transcriptions of tape recorded conversations, fieldwork notes, and critical analysis to explore the intimate experience of homelessness and addiction. Revealing the social survival mechanisms and perspectives of this marginalized "community of addicted bodies," the exhibition also sheds light on the often unintended consequences of public policies that can exacerbate the suffering faced by street-based drug users in America.
The research for Righteous Dopefiend was funded by the National Institutes of Health.
The Penn Center for Public Health Initiatives is co-sponsor of this exhibition as a part of their 2009/2010 series, "Creative Action: The Arts in Public Health," and Penn's Arts and the City programming initiative.
The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology is dedicated to the study and understanding of human history and diversity. Founded in 1887, the Museum has sent more than 400 archaeological and anthropological expeditions to all the inhabited continents of the world. With an active exhibition schedule and educational programming for children and adults, the Museum offers the public an opportunity to share in the ongoing discovery of humankind's collective heritage.
Penn Museum is located at 3260 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (on Penn's campus, across from Franklin Field and adjacent to SEPTA's University City Regional Rail station serving the R1, R2, and R3 lines). Museum hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 am to 4:30 pm, Sunday 1:00 to 5:00 pm. Closed Mondays and holidays. Admission donation is $10 for adults; $7 for senior citizens (65 and above); $6 children (6 to 17) and full-time students with ID; free to Members, Penncard holders, and children 5 and younger; "pay-what-you-want" after 3:30 pm Tuesday through Saturday, and after 4:00 pm Sunday. Penn Museum can be found on the web at www.penn.museum. For general information call (215) 898-4000.
Photograph, above, by Jeffrey Schonberg, in the exhibition Righteous Dopefiend

Free GED assessment tests and classes starting in April at Kingsessing Branch Library

SPREAD THE WORD

GED assessment tests and classes are starting in April!

Do you want to earn your G.E.D.?
Are you preparing for the G.E.D. exam on your own?

The next session of FREE GED & GED-prep classes will be offered here at the Kingsessing Branch beginning April 2010!

If you are interested, you will need to register at the Kingsessing Branch to take an assessment test.
This assessment test is FREE and will be offered twice times in April: Tuesday, April 6 and Thursday, April 8 from 1pm to 4pm at the Kingsessing Branch.

Seating is limited for the assessment test and you must register in advance.

For more information, contact the Adult/Teen Librarian at the Kingsessing Branch at 215-685-2690.

Classes are planned to start the week following the assessment test. Please spread the word! We also have some flyers here at the branch and will have more shortly, so if you would like to take some to post at local community centers, churches, etc., that would be great. I’ve sent a copy of the announcement to Ted for the Southwest Globe Times, but if know of other community papers or newsletters that should be advised, please let me know.

Thanks!

Kirsten Brodbeck-Kenney
Children's Librarian & Acting Branch Head
Kingsessing Branch
1201 S. 51st St.
Philadelphia, PA 19143
(215)685-2690
(215) 685-2691 (fax)
brodbeckk@freelibrary.org

Youth Action Members on TV and radio

Youth Action Announcement
We are on Radio and Television!!
Youth Action on The CW Philly This Sunday

MEMBER TO REPRESENT YOUTH ACTION on TV
Youth Action's corresponding secretary Gavin Grant will represent the team in an interview with Natasha Brown(pictured on the right here) on the CW Channel (Channel 57) this Sunday, March 14th, 2010 from 8:00 AM-8:30 AM on "Speak UP!"
Speak UP! is a half-hour public affairs program that airs Sundays at 8:00 a.m. on The CW Philly. The program features community leaders discussing pertinent issues that affect the region
Gavin will discuss Youth Action's role in the community as well as issues concerning youth in Philadelphia.


Gavin Grant is a 18 year old native of Philadelphia, PA. He is a member of the National Society of High School Scholars and a 4.0 graduate and valedictorian of Wyncote Academy. During his senior year of high school, he was enrolled in business and legal courses at Arcadia University, Temple University, and Manor College as a member of the Dual Enrollment Program. In his last year, he was recognized for accumulating over 400 hours of community service, most prominently through his involvement with Youth Action, City Year Philadelphia, The American Cities Foundation, and Youth Workforce Development. He currently attends Drexel University as a Freshman in the LeBow College of Business, he majors in Economics and Business Administration and minors in Legal Studies. Ultimately, he aspires to go to law school and obtain a Masters in Business Administration and a PhD in Economics.

Youth Action on WURD 900AM Radio Program

YA member and College Networking Event and Career Fair Coordinator, Alan-Michael Hill will appear on the radio tomorrow Thursday March 10th at 5:00 PM to represent Youth Action on the Al Butler Show on WURD 900AM. Alan will discuss Youth Action as well as the team's upcoming Youth Networking event to be held at Peirce College at 1420 Pine Street Philadelphia, PA 19102 on Thursday, March 18th, 2010 from 6:00 PM- 8:00 PM.

He will also be featured on WURD 900AM's Thera Martin Connelly Show on March 15th at 10:30am.


Please tune for the television and both radio programs!

Regards,

Anthony Phillips
Youth Action, President
aphillips@youthactionteam.org
1(888)Youth90 ext 906
About Youth Action
Youth Action is a not-for-profit community organization founded in 2003 by alumni of the Tavis Smiley Foundation and consists of young African American teens and young adults aspiring for positive change in their communities. What sets Youth Action apart from many other community organizations is that aside from a handful of adults who are involved, high school and college students solely run the organization. These ambitious and dynamic youth are committed to making an effective change in their communities. Youth Action's mission is to work to empower young African Americans to becomes socially, economically and civically aware. For more information about Youth Action and its outreach programs, please contact Managing Director James Jones at jjones@youthactionteam.org, 1 (888) YOUTH-90 or visit us at: www.youthactionteam

Black History Showcase Sat and Sunn March 13th and 14th PA Convention Center 11:00am-7:00pm

FREE ADMISSION & EVERYONE IS WELCOME
Date: March 13th & 14th, 2010
Time: 11am - 7pm
Place: Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia, PA @ 12th & Arch Streets



Black History Showcase Exhibit List
Museum of African American Slavery: Lest We Forget - Phila, PA
Features the most extensive collection of slavery artifacts, Jim Crow memorabilia and information ever assembled for public examination “free of charge”. Includes shackles, branding irons, photos, documents and more.

Not Just A Hoe - Summerville, SC
Features furniture, pottery and textiles handcrafted by enslaved Africans. Items were made and used on many of the plantations throughout South Carolina. This exhibit illustrates the design intellect and craftsmanship of slaves.

Black Inventions Museum - Los Angeles, CA
Pays tribute to the invaluable intellectual contributions African Americans have made to the progress of society. Features information about Black inventors and their inventions along with replicas of some.

Granville T. Woods: The Black Edison - NY
A tribute to this electrical genius who patented over 45 electrical and mechanical inventions that were critical to communications and the development of rail transportation.

George Washington Carver Exhibit - Washington,DC
Includes information about this prolific scientist and the multitude of his inventions and other little known facts about his inventive genious.

Tuskegee Airmen Exhibit - Philadelphia Chapter
Features surviving members telling the “real stories” about America’s first Black fighter pilots. Includes a photo exhibit about the history making “sky warriors” along with their personal collections of medals and gear.

Buffalo Soldiers Exhibit - Philadelphia Chapter
Features surviving members of the 9th and 10th Calvary telling “real stories” about their service to our country. Includes military artifacts, medals and gear from their personal collections.

United States Colored Troops Exhibit
Features photos and historical information about the participation of African Americans in the Civil War. Includes performances by the 3rd Regiment Infantry United States Colored Troops Civil War Reenactors.

Belmont Mansion Underground Railroad Museum - Phila, PA

History of Blacks In Sports
Breaking The Barriers - Newport, RI
An exhibit from the International Tennis Hall of Fame & Museum honoring the American Tennis Association (the national African American tennis organization founded in 1916) and Black tennis pioneers.

Ground Breakers: Sports Heroes and Sheroes - Phila, PA
Profiles on African American athletes (Alice Coachman, Willie O’Ree, Chuck Cooper, Marshall Taylor, Oliver Lewis, Althea Gibson) who persevered and succeeded in sports where they were systematically excluded. Exhibit provided by the Proud African American Foundation.

Negro League Baseball Exhibit: The Burnett Collection - Phila, PA
A display of vintage baseball equipment used by Negro League players, photos and other memorabilia.

The History of Blacks in Hockey Exhibit - Phila, PA
An exhibit that provides information about the participation of Blacks in Ice Hockey. Includes photographs about the Canadien based Colored Hockey League and pioneers such as Willie O’Ree who has the distinction of breaking the National Hockey League’s color barrier.

Basketball Slave: Andy Johnson Harlem Globetrotter / NBA Story
This book written by Mark Johnson (son of Andy Johnson) is a fascinating and inspirational true story of a young boy from Louisiana (Andy Johnson) who became a man through the lessons of basketball. It is filled with tales from behind the scenes of the early original Harlem Globetrotters. It also contains information about the slow, quota-based inception of African American athletes in the NBA and the role the original Harlem Globetrotters played in making the NBA a multi-billion dollar organization. This exhibit includes a display of basketball memorabilia from Andy Johnson’s personal collection.

Althea Gibson Exhibit - Phila, PA
This exhibit is provided by the Althea Gibson Community Education and Tennis Association (CETA). It provides information about the first African American to win a major tennis grand slam. It also contains memorabilia.

Wilt Chamberlain Exhibit
The Games of Tennis:An African American Journey - Bernard Chavis
A book about breaking racial and cultural barriers in tennis. Author has the distinction of being the first African American to serve as President of the USTA Philadelphia District (1994) and has served as the National President of the American Tennis Association.

Living Legends
Surviving members of these historical groups will be on hand for photographs and autographs: Philadelphia Stars Negro League Players, Tuskegee Airmen, Buffalo Soldiers
Distinguished Speakers
Dr Molefi Asante - African Americans: The Journey of Liberation
TBD ~ Booksigning immediately following.-->
Living History Performers
3rd Regiment Infantry United States Colored TroopsNed Hector - Revolutionary War Hero

Town Hall Meeting RE: Progress Haddington Plaza Today Tuesday March 9th, 2010 6:00pm

Town Hall Meeting Re:Progress Haddington Plaza today Tuesday, March 9, 2010 6:00pm‏

SPREAD THE WORD

The meeting will take place at Vine Memorial Baptist Church
5600 Girard Ave In the Fellowship Hall

To be discussed: 1.Employment and greater collaboration in the Haddington/Carroll Park Area
2. Save-A-Lot coming to the plaza

INVITED: STATE SENATOR VINCENT HUGHES,STATE REP. VANESSA LOWERY BROWN,COUNCILMAN CURTIS JONES, JR., BUSINESS OWNERS AND MERCHANTS FROM PROGRESS HADDINGTON PLAZA

For more information contact: adawan@thesullivantrust.org or Nathaniel Bracey, Executive Director nbracey@thesullivantrust.org or call 215-684-3400

Penn Institute for Urban Research Presents Dying in the City of Brotherly Love: Homicide in Postwar Philadelphia

Penn Institute for Urban Research presents
a Public Interest Series event
Dying in the City of Brotherly Love: Homicide in Postwar Philadelphia
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
5:30pm
Benjamin Franklin Room, Houston Hall
3417 Spruce Street

Eric Schneider, Penn IUR Faculty Fellow and Adjunct Professor of History at Penn, will discuss his most recent research, which focuses on homicide in the city of Philadelphia during the postwar era into the present. His latest book, Smack: Heroin and the American City, won the 2009 Kenneth Jackson Best Book Award. Professor Schneider will discuss reasons for the concentration of homicide in urban African American communities. John MacDonald, Jerry Lee Assistant Professor of Criminology, will also be present to discuss the implications of Professor Schneider’s research and the effects of race and ethnicity on criminal justice and social policy responses to homicide.

Reception to follow. Register by March 26 by emailing penniur@pobox.upenn.edu. This event is free and open to the public.
Please visit www.upenn.edu/penniur for more events and information.

Jazz Brunch at West Philadelphia Senior Center

Jazz Brunch at West Philadelphia Senior Community Center

Sat. March 20th 10:30am-1:00pm‏

West Philadelphia Senior Community Center- 1016 N. 41st St(41st and Poplar) Tickets are

$20 Music by Philadelphia Clef Club Call 215-386-0379 for more info

National Association of Black Social Workers Presents African- American Market Place

Tuesday-Friday April 6,7,8,9, 2010 8:00am-8:00pm


Vendors from across the country featuring unique and unusual art, jewelry, designer clothing, cultural artifacts

Philadelphia Marriott Hotel

Exhibit Hall
12th & Market Streets
Philadelphia, Pa

Looking for parents, residents, faith-based to sit on Community Councils for Renaissance Schools

From: Brandon Brown Subject: [phillyblocks] Looking for people to participate on Renaissance School's Community Councils.To: "phillyblocks@yahoogroups.com" Cc: "melissa@cdatrust.com" Date: Sunday, March 7, 2010, 3:37 PM

The person listed below is trying to identify parents, residents and faith-based to sit on Community Councils for the following Renaissance schools: Daroff, Mann University City, West Philadelphia, Ethel Allen, Vaux, Dunbar, Douglass, Roberto Clemente, Potter-Thomas, Stetson, Bluford, Harrity, and Smedley. Again, this is for the Renaissance Schools.PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE AND CONTACT HER DIRECTLY AS SHE IS NOT A MEMBER OF PHILLYBLOCKS YET.Melissa C. DeShieldsCommunity Development Associates, Inc.melissa@cdatrust. com(m) 609-876-6343(o) 267-773-8115www.cdatrust. comCDA helps people and organizations strategically think, connect and act in the relationships that spark transformative change.Thank you in advance.Brandon R. BrownDirector, Youth & Family ServicesNu Sigma Youth Services(215) 851-1755

Report from Leave No Neighbor Behind Town Hall Meeting

UNSUBSCRIBE HERE
Dear friend,
On February 2nd, Bread & Roses Community Fund hosted a town hall to bring together concerned neighbors from communities throughout the Delaware Valley.
The topic? Organizing to prevent gentrification and disinvestment. Over 200 people came out to the "No Neighbor Left Behind" town hall meeting.
Ellen Somekawa (Asian Americans United), Lynn Cummings and Harold Adams (Neighbors Empowering Pennsuaken) Rev. Dr. Kevin Johnson (Bright Hope Baptist Church), and Ian Phillips (ACORN) all shared stories about successful organizing campaigns they'd run. After the presentation, small groups broke out to talk more about building just and sustainable neighborhoods.
Click here to see pictures and video from the event and learn what you can do to get involved.
Here are some of the personal action goals group members came up with:
Joining civic groups is important
Elected officials need to hear from their constituents on matters of disinvestment and reinvestment
Local businesses, especially banks which provide capital to people of color and women, must be supported
Here are some of the policy reforms they proposed:
Make property tax laws fair
Revise the zoning codes to favor community members
Encourage mixed-use development
Return abandoned buildings to communities
Develop land trusts
The purpose of the town hall was to bring together neighbors from all over the Delaware Valley to talk about an important issue. Bread & Roses will convene town halls like this one again from time to time on a variety of topics.
Specifically, in terms of disinvestment, reinvestment and gentrification, our intention was to bring together some of the people who care the most about the issues to network and build an infrastructure to organize for change.
If you have any questions, comments or further ideas for us, please feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,Patrice Greendirector of grantmaking and capacity building

Viewing and Discussion of Digital Inclusion Summit tomorrow March 9th

Digital Inclusion Summit: Working Together to Expand Opportunity Through Universal Access
Live Viewing and Discussionof the:Federal Communications Commission & Knight Foundation Digital Inclusion SummitTuesday, March 9th10:30am-12:15pmMedia Mobilizing Project4205 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia
The Federal Communications Commission and the Knight Foundation will host the Digital Inclusion Summit: Working Together to Expand Opportunity Through Universal Access this Tuesday. The Summit, taking place at the Newseum in Washington, DC will present a new agenda for bridging the gap to internet access that affects nearly a third of Americans, and over 40% of Philadelphians.We will be watching the Summit from Philadelphia at the Media Mobilizing Project office. You are invited to join us for refreshments, and discussion after the live webcast of the Summit.
Digital Inclusion Summit: Working Together to Expand Opportunity Through Universal AccessMedia Mobilizing Project4205 Chestnut Street, PhiladelphiaTuesday, March 9thLive Viewing 10:30-12:15Followed by DiscussionFor more info please email bryan@mediamobilizingproject.orgAnd for details on the Washington, DC visit: http://www.digisummit.org

Pennsylvania to fund jobs using federal stimulus money

Pa. to fund jobs with federal stimulus money
By Jane M. Von Bergen
Inquirer Staff Writer
Pennsylvania's state government will use hundreds of millions of federal stimulus dollars to provide government-subsidized jobs to up to 20,000 adults and young people.
How many will actually receive jobs will depend on how quickly local workforce investment boards can recruit employers and place people. The money runs out Sept. 30.
"I don't want to be in the situation where we have overpromised," said acting Secretary of Public Welfare Harriet Dichter, who announced the program yesterday with Sandy Vito, secretary of the state Department of Labor and Industry.
Under the program, the state will pay employees' salaries, with the hope that many workplaces will then hire the workers permanently. Eligible are those on public assistance or food stamps. Pay will be $7.15 an hour for young people and up to $13 an hour for adults.
"Together, we have the chance to make a real difference in the lives of low-income families," Dichter said in a statement. "Providing them with these opportunities connects them to the workplace, lets them earn some additional income, and builds new skills that will help them to be more successful at work."
Pennsylvania's unemployment rate was 8.9 percent in December, the most recent month for which U.S. Department of Labor statistics were available.
The state will draw the money from a $5 billion emergency stimulus fund created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant. TANF money funds welfare programs.
The stimulus money can be used for basic assistance, short-term emergency needs, and subsidized job programs such as the one Pennsylvania is setting up. Pennsylvania is eligible for $359.7 million in TANF emergency funds and has drawn $29 million of the sum for basic assistance and short-term uses.
"We are very pleased that the state has recognized the need for a jobs program and is taking advantage of the opportunity to fund it with stimulus dollars," said Sharon Dietrich, who heads the Community Legal Services employment practice in Philadelphia and has been advocating for the program.
"This program is a win-win for business, which can benefit from these subsidized jobs, and for the unemployed, who are desperately looking for work," Dietrich said.
"The key is to place people in meaningful work," said Gerald Birkelbach, executive director of the Montgomery County Workforce Investment Board. "We don't want one of the outcomes to be more government dependency. We want to look at it as a temporary way to upgrade a resumé during these challenging times."
Putting together the program quickly represents a managerial challenge, said Sallie Glickman, who heads Philadelphia's Workforce Investment Board. The easiest way might be a bulk placement, she said.
The program specifically requires that its participants cannot be used "when an employer has terminated individuals from employment or caused an involuntary reduction in its workforce to fill the vacancy with a subsidized worker," according to state guidelines.
That poses a problem. So many companies, such as Independence Blue Cross and Pfizer Inc., have had layoffs that it might be difficult to find employers who qualify.
Smaller employers might be able to use the help, but "we have to see how many dollars are there for administration," Glickman said. "Can we manage 2,000 work sites?"
Still, she said, "it's exciting to have the resources." Both she and Birkelbach will meet with their staffs next week to draw up plans.
Local boards must submit their plans to the state by March 30.
Contact staff writer Jane M. Von Bergen at 215-854-2769 or jvonbergen@phillynews.com.

Documentary "Black Soldiers in Blue"

“BLACK SOLDIERS IN BLUE”
a video documentary commissioned by the
Citizens for the Restoration of Historical La Mott
about Camp William Penn and
the United States Colored Troops
who trained there
Thursday, March 11, 2010 — 8:00 PMCurtis Hall
1250 W. Church Road, Wyncote, PA (corner of Church Road and Greenwood Ave)
Free Admission • Handicapped-Accessible • Refreshments

Following the video, we will have the opportunity to discuss it with —
Warren Bass, filmmaker Jim Paradis, historian 3rd Reg. USCT Re-enactors
Presented by The Cheltenham Township Historical Commission
For more information 215-885-2258 or, E-Mail pt@usct.org
To visit other times Call 215 885-2258Or E-mail pt@usct.org
LinksUnited States Colored Troops formed in North CarolinaUnited States Colored Troops Institute105th United States Colored Troops 6TH Regiment Infantry United States Colored TroopsAfrican American Troops In the Civil War

Monthly Community Stakeholder Forum Meeting Tuesday March 9th

MONTHLY COMMUNITY STAKEHOLDER FORUM
William Penn E.P.I.C Stakeholder's monthly forum taking place on Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 6pm-8pm, Friends Neighborhood Guild (735 Fairmount Ave.).
We encourage you to come as an organization, individual, resident, pastor, leader, teacher, or parent. We welcome you to participate in our meeting which is aimed at developing solutions to our community challenges. Its a collaborative process, so all voices are recognized and heard. Topics Reviewed: Safety within the community.
Education: Understanding its impact in the community. Charter and public school's Development Understanding Student Testing/Assessment. College Process for juniors and seniors. Rights of parents within their child's school. Drop out affect the safety and/or development of our communities Teacher’s & School District’s responsibilities. What questions to ask? New school teacher contract. What does it say? Students being better prepared for college and employment
Summer Employment for Young People.
Dinner Served Resource Tables available with employment, parent, business, & event info. For more information on the monthly forum, please contact Bunmi Samuel at 215-989-9809 or friendsdirector@gmail.com Sponsored By: Department of Human Services & Friends Neighborhood Guild

Four Key Points of the Current Health Care Legislation

Four key parts of the legislation that:-
1.Prohibit insurance companies from denying people coverage or charging them more if they have a pre-existing condition or are women; limits higher cost on the basis of age; and eliminates annual and lifetime cap oncoverage.-
2. Create insurance exchanges that allows individuals and small businessesto come together to purchase insurance with the same rates and benefits thatbig businesses and Members of Congress have.-
3.Subsidize insurance for working people and the middle class. Familiesof 3 with an income of $27,000 a year will pay about $90 a month for good,comprehensive health insurance. That is a subsidy of over $1000 a month. The subsidies help the middle class as well, providing benefits for families of 4 with incomes up to $88,000 a year.-
4. Has half a dozen provisions that will increase the supply of primarycare doctors; encourage more research on best medical practices; andcarefully change payment and delivery systems so that health care costs, andthus insurance, increase more slowly.

The legislation is not perfect. But it will save tens of thousands of livesa year; keep hundreds of thousands out of bankruptcy; reduce fear and uncertainty for tens of millions, and save all of us a great deal of moneyon insurance premiums. And it sets the stage for further reforms both at thefederal level and here in Pennsylvania.

Marc Stier
PA State DirectorHealth Care For America Now
MarcStier@hcanpa.org>.org <
MarcStier@hcanpa.org>
(215) 880-6142

Some School District Resources

Free Classes and Workshops
The District’s Parent University offers free classes and workshops at various locations in the city. The only requirement is that you have a child attending school within the District. Contact 215-400-4180 or www.philasd.org/parentuniversity to register. 2010 PSSA Informational Sheets for Parents will be available on the Philadelphia School District website next week. Go to: http://www.philasd.org/parents/

Scholarship Clearinghouse:
Provides information on scholarships and other financial aid opportunities to parents and Philadelphia school students. Please visit the Scholarship Clearinghouse and search our scholarship database to find the right scholarship for you. http://webgui.phila.k12.pa.us/offices/c/ccawareness/programs--services/scholarship-search


Sample PSSA Booklets are available for parents to review. The purpose of reviewing these sample questions is for parents and students to get a sense of the type and format of questions that appear on the test. These questions will NOT be on the 2010 PSSA. To view the Sample PSSA Booklet please go to: http://webgui.phila.k12.pa.us/offices/p/publicengagement/parents-are-equal-partners-prep2

School Annual Reports: As a commitment to improving education for our children, the School District of Philadelphia’s Office of Accountability has developed School Annual Reports. The purpose is to create consistent performance measures for our schools that is publicly transparent. The Parent Guide to the School Annual Reports provides a brief overview of what each performance category and target includes. Please visit: www.philasd.org/ or contact the Office of Accountability at 215-400-4250.

The School District of Philadelphia’s Office of Early Childhood Education is offering: The Parent-Child Home Program that promotes learning and language development through the use of books and toys. For more information, call 215-400-4270 or email parentchildhome@phila.k12.pa.us

The Office of Parent and Family Engagement wants at least one parent from each school to volunteer to receive training on Title I related topics and then, share the information with other parents. Call 215-400-6268 to get more information about the PREP (Parents 'R' Equal Partners) Program .

Information about your child's school's 2008-2009 PSSA (PA System of School Assessment) scores to determine if the school has made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) are available at http://paayp.emetric.net/ Contact the school or the Office of Parent and Family Engagement for assistance in understanding this information .

Quibila A. Divine
The School District of Philadelphia Office of Parent, Family, and Community Engagement
440 North Broad Street, Room 114 Philadelphia, PA 19130
215-400-6443 215-400-4181 (fax)
qadivine@philasd.org

High School Seniors 10 week course preparing for transition between high school and college

High School Seniors can participate in a 10-week Seniors’ Crash Course to help them better understand the transition between high school and college. Tokens and travel between the workshops (held on Thursdays) and trips are provided. Applications are accepted until March 10 th . Call 215-243-4141 or email cnorton@eaalliance.org for more information.

Blacks Educating Blacks About Sexual Health Issues Awareness Day

BEBASHI celebrates its 25th year with Awareness Day: Blacks Educating Blacks About Sexual Health Issues is sponsoring free HIV testing and gift cards on Wednesday, March 10th from 9 am to 7 pm in recognition of National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day and the group’s 25th anniversary. The event will take place at 1217 Spring Garden Street in Philadelphia. For more information, call 215-769-3561 or go to: http://www.bebashi.org/

Computer Thrift Store

Computer Thrift Store : Non-Profit Technology Resources, 1524 Brandywine St. Open Monday –Friday 10am to 6pm. Computer Systems, Laptops, Accessories, Computer Repair. For more information, contact 215-564-6686 or email: www.ntronline.org

Free EPIC leadership Initiative Training Series

EPIC LEADERSHIP INITIATIVE TRAINING SERIES
Posted by: "michael.rice@phila.gov" michael.rice@phila.gov
Sat Mar 6, 2010 3:33 pm (PST)
[Attachment(s) from michael.rice@phila.gov included below] Effective Meeting Facilitation Training One Day Interactive Workshops Thursday, March 18, 2010, 6 - 9 pm School District Bldg, 440 N. Broad Street Saturday, March 20, 2010, 10 am - 1 pm. Temple University, Center City, 1515 Market Street Want to learn how to run a better meeting? How to get your members more involved? How to develop an agenda? How to deal with opponents during your meeting? Join us for EFFECTIVE MEETING FACILITATION This interactive training will enhance the trainee's leadership abilities in the area of meeting facilitation. Members will learn how to conduct a comunity or organizational meeting. They will learn basic facilation skills including how to guide and control their meetings. Topics include: What's an efffective Meeting? Meeting preparation From meeting to Action Agenda Setting Room Set up The use of effective icebreakers Facilitation techniques. Dealing with Opponents Who should attend? Community Leaders, block captains, heads of non-profits, or anyone interested in conducting an effective meeting that leads to outcomes. This training is sponsored by the Department of Human Service, Community Based Prevention Services Division as part of the Equal Partners In Change Leadership Initiative Training Series. All trainings are free and open to the public. Registration You can register by contacting your local EPIC Group (SEE BELOW) or call 215-683-4086-4027 or email Aretha.hall@phila.gov
WHAT IS EPIC? The Department of Human Services, Community Based Prevention Division sponsors a Community Engagement Initiative called: EQUAL PARTNERS IN CHANGE (EPIC) COMMUNITY STAKEHOLDER GROUPS. The groups conduct monthly meetings that provide both resources and relationships within the community that support elevation of the quality of life with the communities in Philadelphia and the goals of the Department of Human Services. An Equal Partners In Change (E.P.I.C.) Community Stakeholder Group is defined as individuals, organizations, institutions and/or other entities that either reside in or have a consistent presence or interest in the development and growth of the community. EPIC Stakeholders are committed to the E.P.I.C. process. Through the E.P.I.C. process, members develop strategic plans that address the challenges families encounter within the community. The issues that the strategic plans address include: low academic achievement, drugs abuse, truancy, community and domestic violence and family fragmentation. The ultimate goal of each E.P.I.C. Stakeholder group is to develop and implement a process that can create and enhance the community’s abilities to respond to the needs of children and family.
EPIC Group Contact Information :
CENTRAL NORTH E.P.I.C. Coordinator: Millicent Davis-Walker 215-482-1423 ext. 1391 mdavis@northernhome.org millceD@aol.com
LOGAN/OLNEY E.P.I.C. Coordinator: Charlene Samuels (215)456-5561 csamuels@cvca-pa.org HUNTING PARK E.P.I.C. Coordinator: Mayra Pabon 215-455-1300 ex 139 mpabon@aspirapa.org
KENSINGTON E.P.I.C Coordinator: Jonathan Centeno 215-455-1300 ex 190 centeno5x5@gmail.com
NORTHEAST E.P.I.C. Coordinator: Kim Washingon 215-701-2880 kwashington@coraservices.org
NORTHWEST E.P.I.C. Coordinator: Nan Rhone 215-549-2686 nrhone@pathwayspa.org SOUTH PHILA E.P.I.C. Coordinator: Glenn Wrighten 215-468-6111 ext 24 GlennWrighten@ucsep.org SOUTHWEST E.P.I.C.Coordinator: Lois Clayton eclayton@pcv.org 215-730-2262 WEST PHILA E.P.I.C. Coordinator: Marquita Muse 215-748-2997 marquita.muse@yahoo.com WILLIAM PENN E.P.I.C. Coordinator: Bunmi Samuel 215-989-9809 friendsdirector@gmail.com

Michael Rice Community Development Specialist Office of Truancy & Delinquency Prevention Division of Community Based Prevention Services Three Parkway 1601 Cherry Street, 9th floor Philadelphia, PA 19102 215-683-4027

President Obama at Arcadia Univ on Monday Tickets needed to get in

On Monday, March 8, 2010, President Obama will visit the Philadelphia area and deliver remarks on health insurance reform at Arcadia University. Doors open at 9:00 am and the event is supposed to start at 10:30.The right wing opponents to the President's health care bill are, we're told, coming out in force. Will you join us and stand up for health care reform?This event is free and open to the public, however, tickets are required. Tickets will be distributed on a first come, first served basis on Saturday, March 6 at 3:30 PM in the Hospitality Room of the Kuch Recreation and Athletic Center at Arcadia University. I hope you can pick up a ticket to get into the event. But whether you can or not, come out and show your support for health care reform, We are in the final stretch of our work, with critical votes expected in the next few weeks. Now is the time to finish our work and bring health care reform home.

You can also join us on Tuesday on a bus to go to Washington DC to tell Congress to listen to us, not the insurance companies. Seats on the buses in the Philadelphia area are rapidly filling, so RSVP today at http://hcanpa.org/m9.

ThanksMarc Marc StierPA State DirectorHealth Care For America Now(215) 880-6142

Rep Roebuck co-sponsoring March 11 College Financial Aid Workshop

Roebuck co-sponsoring March 11 college financial aid workshop

I will sponsor a workshop with the College Access Program-West to help local students and their families complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, also known as FAFSA.

I will attend the workshop, which will be held from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Thursday, March 11 at the College Access Program-West, located in the Enterprise Center, first floor, 4548 Market St. Food will be provided at no cost. Advance registration is requested – call 215-476-2227.

As chairman of the House Education Committee, I want to make sure that students and their families do not miss out on grants or reduced-rate loans for school. Completing this form can be easier than you think, and it's free. For the Pennsylvania State Grant, the FAFSA deadline is May 1 for degree programs.

To complete the FAFSA, participants will need to bring the following:
· Social Security number for student and parents or legal guardians, or alien registration number for non-U.S. citizens
· Driver’s license number, if applicable
· 2009 federal income tax returns for student and parents or legal guardians
· 2009 W-2 forms for student and parents or legal guardians
· Records or documentation of untaxed income received, such as Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF), Social Security, military or clergy allowances, welfare or veterans' benefits
· Business records, if applicable

Information about the FAFSA and financial aid for higher education also is available by visiting www.pheaa.org or my Web site. If you have a question about this or another state-related concern, please contact me.

Next Public Hearing on School Violence March 16th

PUBLIC HEARINGS ON SCHOOL VIOLENCE

BE A PART OF THE SOLUTION!
Have you experienced bullying or violence at your school because of your race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, disability, sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation?
How did your school respond?
Who helps to reduce violence and conflict and create harmony at your school (teachers, staff, classmates, outside programs, community organizations)?
What suggestions do you have to make your school safer?
The Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations (PCHR) is holding public hearings to hear from students, parents, faculty, police, community members, and youth-service organizations about violence in Philadelphia's public schools.

The hearings will focus on violence motivated by race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, disability, sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation.

The second public hearing will be held:
March 16, 2010
4pm-7pm
Myers Recreation Center
58th Street and Kingsessing Avenue
Language interpretation services will be available.
Come Out and Be Heard!
You should register to testify at the hearings, e-mail Naarah' Crawley at naarah.crawley@phila.gov or call 215-685-4674.
You can also submit your testimony in any language via e-mail to: hrcommissioners@phila.gov.
Your testimony will help us to create a report with recommendations that will be submitted to the School District.
If you are deaf or hard of hearing and need an ASL interpreter, or other accommodation please call TTY: 215-686-3238 or e-mail naarah.crawley@phila.gov.
Espanol Khmer Tieng Viet French Arabic

City of Philadelphia
Commission on Human Relations
and Fair Housing Commission
Center City OfficeThe Curtis Center601 Walnut Street, Suite 300 SouthPhiladelphia, PA 19106Phone: 215-686-4670Fax: 215-686-4684E-mail: faqpchr@phila.gov

North Philadelphia Field Office601 W. Lehigh AvenuePhiladelphia, PA 19133Phone: 215-686-9761Fax: 215-685-9768

Save the Date WURD Speaks Light at the end of the tunnel 5/20/10

WURD SPEAKS: LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL-Surviving a down economy

DATE:Thursday, May 20th,2010

PLACE: The Enterprise Center
4548 Market Street
Philadelphia, Pa

Time: 5:00pm-8:00pm

DESCRIPTION: This WURD Speaks interactive event will shed light on our current economic reality-where we are,how we got there, and above all, how do we survive the recession?

We will examine emerging industries and innovative strategies to take advantage of economic opportunities that present themselves.

For more information, visit www.wurdspeaks.com

"They can hear me and be inspired"

Cheryl Hyman's journey from dropout to City Colleges chancellor
'THEY CAN HEAR ME AND BE INSPIRED' At 17, she ran from drug-addicted parents; at 40, she's running the City Colleges
March 3, 2010
BY Fran Spielman
City Hall Reporter
A former Orr High School dropout who left home to escape drug-addicted parents and rose to become a top executive at Commonwealth Edison is Mayor Daley's choice to become chancellor of the City Colleges of Chicago.
Cheryl Hyman, 40, has told her compelling personal story to countless young people while serving as a mentor and prime mover at the Black Star Project.Now, she will oversee a $476 million a year City Colleges system with 5,700 employees and 115,000 students.
Hyman currently is ComEd's vice president of operations, strategy and business intelligence. She replaces Wayne Watson, who spent 10 years as chancellor before moving on to Chicago State University.
"What I bring to the kids more than anything else is hope and confidence. . . . I want them to know that you, too, can have these same problems and end up one day running one of the very institutions you graduated from," said Hyman, who attended Olive-Harvey College, got a bachelor's degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology and earned master's degrees from North Park University and Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.
At 17, Hyman dropped out of Orr and left home to avoid following her parents down the dark tunnel of drug addiction. It was an excruciating decision made easier by the neighbors who took her in temporarily and the grandmother who provided a permanent home after a nomadic year of shuffling between homes.
"I had . . . a lot of anger. At the same time, those were my parents and I love them. But something in me knew that, if I stayed there, I would become a product of that, too. I didn't care how I was going to take care of myself. All I knew is that I could do better. . . . I was not going to allow my circumstances to dictate my destiny. And that's what I want these kids to understand," she said.
"I get asked all the time, 'What made you not do it?' I don't know. . . . But a lot of our kids don't have that inner strength. Success needs to look like them. Success needs to feel like them. They need to see me. They need to hear this. They need to see my parents," who have been clean for many years.
During his sometimes tumultuous tenure, Watson expanded athletics and started vocational training programs to help students enter careers in construction, health care and the culinary arts.
He also survived a bitter, three-week strike and faculty vote of no-confidence and oversaw the development of a new $254 million Kennedy-King College that created a "real campus," which Daley hopes to duplicate at all seven city colleges.
"That alone has changed the whole feeling of Englewood -- the whole South Side. . . . The excitement that both the staff has and the students -- it's just reinvigorated everyone," the mayor said in 2007.
Hyman shares the mayor's vision. "Thousands of young people who could be inspired by my story -- their success is hinging on my ability to do this job well. I do not take that lightly," she said.
"They can hear me and be inspired. But, I have to be able to build a world-class institution at a time of national recession that still puts them in a better position in life than when they came through the doors."

From The Black Star Project list

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

More than 400,000 Philadelphia residents—one quarter of the city's population—now use SNAP. However, there are still more than 150,000 residents who qualify for these benefits but do not receive them. To bridge that gap, the Coalition Against Hunger launched the SNAP Campaign in 2002. Every year, we screen more than 7,000 residents for SNAP benefits, which allows them to buy groceries for their families and frees up money to cover other needs, like rent, medicine and childcare. The SNAP Campaign reaches residents through: The Food Stamp Hotline (215-430-0556): Eligible Philadelphia residents can apply for SNAP benefits by phone in multiple languages. Hotline counselors are available Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. In-Person Assistance: Since 2002, the Coalition has trained more than 450 volunteers to conduct SNAP screening and application assistance at Philadelphia health centers, CareerLink centers and other community sites. Case Management: The Coalition advocates on behalf of Philadelphia residents who are wrongly denied SNAP benefits. With the cooperation of Philadelphia's County Assistance Offices, we resolve the majority of the 100-plus cases we handle each month. In addition, staff from the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger make presentations to community groups and social service providers to give them more information about food resources in Philadelphia, including SNAP. For more information, please contact: Anna Kastner, Outreach Coordinator Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger akastner@hungercoalition.org 215-430-0555, ext. 105 Or visit http://www.hungercoalition.org

Seeking Members for School Advisory Councils for 14 Renaissance Schools

Cecelia Thompson Chairperson, Philadelphia Right to Education Local Task ForceParents and Community:We need parents and community members from the following schools to serve on the School Advisory Councils that are now forming:
Ethel D. Allen
Guion S. Bluford
Roberto Clemente Middle School
Samuel H. Daroff
Fredrick Douglass
Paul Lawrence Dunbar
William F. Harrity
William B. Mann
Potter-Thomas
Franklin Smedley
John B. Stetson Middle School
University City
Roberts Vaux
West Philadelphia

As you are aware, at each of the 14 Renaissance-Eligible schools, a School Advisory Council will be formed of a minimum of 7 and maximum of 21 parents and community stakeholders. The School Advisory Council will represent the broader community in providing recommendations to the Superintendent around the turnaround team that best meets the needs and interests of the community, assist the selected turnaround team with the incubation and transition periods, and participate in periodic monitoring of Renaissance School progress toward performance targets for students.Enclosed you will find the application packet for School Advisory Councils. For your convenience, I have also attached the application packet in Spanish language. If you are in need of any other languages, please let us know and we can send them to you. I have also attached the full list of Renaissance-Eligible schools.Note: If you or someone you know would like to print out the application to make copies of it or to complete it by hand, please use the adobe version. If you or someone you know would like to complete the application electronically, please use the Word version.All applications are due by March 5th. But we are encouraging everyone to submit the applications as soon as possible, so we can begin the formation of the councils by early March. Applications can be submitted via email, by fax, or by postal email. Submission instructions can be can be found directly on the application form. If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact me directly.For more information, please visit the Renaissance Schools website at www.philasd.org/renschools or give me a call at 215-400-5668.Thank you for your ongoing support,Yvonne L. SotoCoordinator of Innovation and Partnership ProgramsOffice of Charter, Partnership and New SchoolsSchool District of Philadelphia440 N. Broad StreetPhiladelphia, PA 19130215-400-5668 (phone)215-400-4091 (fax)ysoto@philasd.org

West Philadelphia High School Get Parents Involved Stipends Provided

Help Strengthen
West Philadelphia High School
Get Parents Involved
Stipends Provided
The West Philadelphia High School
Community Partners is starting a new
parent outreach project. We are
recruiting an outreach team that will
knock on the door of every parent in
the school in order to get parents
involved in the school and their
children’s lives. The outreach team
will work one evening and one
Saturday per week from March
through May and be paid $8 per hour.
The Community Partners are seeking a dynamic team of students, parents, teachers, and
community members to conduct this outreach. The following qualifications are desired:
 Ability to communicate effectively with West Philadelphia parents.
 Passion for ensuring high quality education for all young people in West
Philadelphia.
 Strong knowledge of the West Philadelphia community and its various
neighborhoods.
 Familiarity with public schools.
To apply, send a resume and cover letter explaining your qualifications and why
you are interested to:
Eric Braxton
Small Schools Project Coordinator
Philadelphia education Fund
1709 Ben Franklin Parkway
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Or: ebraxton@philaedfund.org
The West Philadelphia High School Community Partners brings together students,
parents, teachers, and community members to strengthen education in the school and is
part of the Small Schools Project of the Philadelphia Education Fund.
For more information contact Eric Braxton at ebraxton@philaedfund.org or 215-
665-1400 x 3312

Attend the exclusive elite entrepreneurship seminar

Pre-Registration Ends Thursday: Elite Entrepreneurship Seminar!‏
From:
Sulaiman (sulrah@urbanphilly.com)
Sent:
Tue 3/02/10 3:23 PM
To:
bjpa@hotmail.com
ATTEND THE EXCLUSIVE ELITE ENTREPRENEURSHIP SEMINAR!
March 6th, 2010 from 9:30 a.m. – 3:15p.m. at Ramada Philadelphia Airport

If you've had any access to media, the world has been in a financial whirlwind for the last 24 months. Individuals and families alike have been suffering all over this country and the world. You probably have had a heartfelt, unfortunate situation that has happened as a result of this global turmoil. Government and media claim that our economy is getting better but it will take time. The question is, will it get better before it impacts you in a way that you or your family can't recover from? In life as we know it, there will always be recessions, depressions and bad times. You have to determine if you will let life take you for a ride or will you CREATE YOUR OWN ECONOMY.On February 6th, you will have DIRECT access to two of the most successful emerging entrepreneurs that create their own markets AT WILL. Ephren TaylorCreated a video game at the age of 12 years old Became a millionaire by developing a 3.4 million dollar company by the age of 17 Wall Street Journal Best Selling Author CEO of one of the Wall Street Journal’s top 100 Socially Conscious Corporations. Named by The Michigan Chronicle as one of the top “ten people making a global difference” Recognized as “The Business Accelerator” Youngest ever African American CEO of a Publicly Traded Company
Dezmon LandersHas grown 4 startups from $0 to $5 million in revenue Raised $1.7 Million in Venture Capital Owns a top online marketing firm out of NYC Responsible for 1.5 million registered web users total Youngest person to serve on the Ohio Department of Education Entrepreneurial Advisory Board Youngest person in history to address U.S. Congress on issues of National Financial Literacy Owns 3 provisional innovation patents
In this exclusive seminar, you will learn how to be an elite entrepreneur in the following areas:
· Learn the 7 Life Cycles of the Successful Entrepreneur Venture.
· Shortcuts to marketing and branding your business overnight.
· What does it take to build a company that is sellable?
· How to retire with a six figure annual income and never work again!
Ephren and Dezmon command in upwards of $12,000 for an hour speech but for you this is ONLY $37 until Thursday, March 4th, 2010. You don't want to miss the event because it will not be offered in the foreseeable future and NEVER again at this price. Ask yourself, do you want to deal with the same financial frustration that you're dealing with now or do you want to CREATE YOUR OWN ECONOMY and CALL YOUR OWN SHOTS.We look forward to seeing you on March 6th, 2010!

To register, go to: http://eliteseminar.eventbrite.com/
For questions contact 1.800.838.8152 or ericabennett@ascendantstrategy.net