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California recently announced a $500 million Small Business Covid-19 Relief Grant program for eligible small business owners and nonprofits who have been impacted by COVID-19 and the health and safety restrictions. Grants up to $25,000 will be given to eligible small businesses and nonprofits to help cover expenses during the pandemic. 

The new website, https://erc.mylendistry.com/login , is now live!  Visit to review your eligibility, prepare your business documents and apply.

HIGH DESERT, CA—-While 2020 was a hard year for all of us in one way or another due to COVID-19, recording artist Justified Smith and his organization Fathers In Hip Hop set out to make a difference and became a source of hope and inspiration for many fathers and families across the country with their BLESSED IN THE MESS Campaign. 

In March 2020, after the devastation of COVID-19 hit the world, Fathers In Hip Hop wanted to bring some relief to fathers and families that had been affected financially by the pandemic. With so many out of work and small business owners being forced to shut down Justified decided to be a blessing to his social media following by disbursing $100 daily to random fathers through Cash App, a popular app used to transfer money.  

Everyday Justified would have various Hip Hop Influencers join him on Instagram Live to share insights and opinions evolving around the subject of Fatherhood. Among those influences were the likes of Freeway Ricky Ross, Bizzy Bone (Bone-Thugs-In-Harmony), Spider Loc (G-Unit) Kokane, Terminologyst (Good Daddy Gang) and many other. During the IG LIVE viewers were prompted to post their Cash App handles in the comments, and random men were selected and received cash app payments from Fathers In Hip Hop.  

While the cash app disbursements were small amounts ranging from $25 to $100, the heart behind the campaign was huge, and the feeling of being blessed randomly by complete strangers was priceless. Fathers In Hip Hop continued to Bless The Mess on IG LIVE all the way through Father’s Day 2020 with a minimum of $100 disbursed daily with money that was raised through donations from Fathers In Hip Hop’s Supporters.  

In July 2020, the giving shifted to a more up close and personal approach. Justified would go to Walmart and purchase $25 Gift Cards and hand them out to random fathers and families shopping for essentials. By September this random act of kindness grew into the BLESSED IN THE MESS WALMART GIFT CARD GIVEAWAY. With the support of DANIEL RAMOS, who at the time was campaigning for Adelanto City Council, Fathers In Hip Hop were able to raise $2,000 in which they purchased gift cards from the Walmart Adelanto in the amounts of $50 and $100 and distributed them all to fathers and families inside the Walmart shopping.  

In October, Fathers In Hip Hop took the giving back to Justified’s hometown of Compton Ca. and raised $3,000 including a $1,000 Donation from Aftermath Recording Artist Slim The Mobster and repeated the process of giving away the Walmart gift cards to random fathers and their families. In November 2020, the spirit of giving stayed alive and $2,200 was raised and given away in the same fashion at the Walmart in Victorville off of Armargosa Rd.  

For the Christmas season Fathers In Hip Hop decided to do something different with the money they raised and launched the BLESSED IN THE MESS CHRISTMAS GIVEAWAY where they raised $2,700 and instead of taking the money to Walmart for gift cards, they took the money to the local Toy Store “Toys Of Eden” and purchased toys and electronics to give away to random fathers and families in the High Desert. Not only were the families that received the toys blessed, but “TOYS OF EDEN” was also blessed with the toy sales which brought much needed income to the store that had lost business during the Covid-19 Pandemic.  

Fathers In Hip Hop plan to bring the blessings into 2021 with a full calendar of events to bless fathers and their families during a time when everyone can use a blessings.  

COLTON, CA— San Bernardino County Fifth District Supervisor Joe Baca Jr., released the following statement after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved COVID-19 vaccination began at San Bernardino County Arrowhead Medical Center.

“Today is a momentous occasion for San Bernardino County in its fight against COVID-19.  San Bernardino County’s brave and resilient front line workers will receive the first 15, 600 doses of the Pfizer BioNtech vaccine.   These five high-risk workers represent the best of our county and embody the true meaning of public service.  

As the representative of the Fifth District, I know how critical it is for the County to start vaccinations because my community is one of the most impacted by the scourge of COVID-19. This disease has disproportionately impacted the elderly, poor, and communities of color. This vaccine and the others that will soon follow, give me and our community hope, that we can overcome this pandemic.

Our goal should be to continue to keep ourselves and loved ones safe until widespread access to the vaccine becomes available. Believe me, I can’t wait until we can get back to normal. Until then, we all must continue to do our part by wearing a mask, practicing social distance, and following CDC guidelines. 

Although it is not over yet, I know together we will conquer COVID-19.”

By Megan Jamerson

SAN BERNARDINO, CA—- On Christmas Day, a documentary film on the city of San Bernardino called Berdoo will premiere on YouTube. The film is the creation of Executive Producer Nishita Matangi, a graduate of Loma Linda University’s School of Public Health. She saw the need to tell the story of a resilient community working to help its youth overcome barriers to simply attending school.

Matangi is originally from Northern California and said she first learned about San Bernardino when she made the decision to move there for graduate school.

“I obviously Googled it and when I Googled it, you can imagine the things that came up,” said Matangi. She saw headlines saying the city was the most unsafe place in California to live and other startling stats.

During her program, a research project on the city’s school district continued to build on that negative narrative. She learned that nearly 18 percent of students chronically miss school. That’s higher than rates seen at the state and national level.

“So with chronic absenteeism, it counts the days the students miss school, maybe because they were sick or they were staying home because they were taking care of family,” said Matangi. “So it accounts for life situations and not just they’re ditching school.”  

But the data didn’t tell the whole story. She remembers the first focus group they did with students, parents, faculty and staff.

“We were all in a room just listening to students kind of banter back and forth, and they were just telling these little life scenarios that you would never even consider, for lack of a better word, a normal upbringing,” said Matangi. “Things like ‘Oh yeah, my dad’s in prison’ or ‘My uncle was shot down the street.’ Right there down the street, and they could pin-point exactly.”

She said while safety was clearly a big issue, students had found ways to adapt and were striving to succeed, with the help of a community that was actively investing in them. And so, the idea to make a film that celebrates the true spirit of San Bernardino was born.

“It’s not a big headline story to say that, hey, this kid woke up and went to school every single day regardless of the fact that his parent was working three or four jobs and nobody was pushing him to go to school,” said Matangi. “It’s just not talked about and I think it’s so sad because these kids, all they hear about their city is the negative, and there’s nobody really sharing the positive side of it.”

The film began production in January of 2020. Filming halted at the start of the pandemic, but the crew got creative and wrapped production in August. One of the community members interviewed in the film is Shanaye Sumner. Sumner said she was asked by Matangi to be in the film after they met at the San Bernardino Food Fest.

“I was excited,” said Sumner. “I didn’t feel like my life was special enough to share that for the film, but once she asked me, I was super excited and I was glad they were doing something on San Bernardino that wasn’t negative.”

Sumner is a 2006 graduate of Cajon High School and said locals like her have a lot of pride in their city. She is also an example of local persistence. Despite growing up seeing substance abuse and violence in the community, she hasn’t lost sight of her childhood dream to become a registered nurse.

“For me personally, I didn’t want to be that statistic,” said Sumner. “Even though the city gets a bad rap, you don’t want to make it look worse by being what everybody expects you to be. So you have to have that mindset, that I got to do what I got to do, no matter what.”

Sumner is now just a few credits away from starting a nursing program. She said the love and support of her grandma has kept her going after getting off track for a while. She would like it if the film inspires others. Executive Producer Matangi agrees and would also like the film to be a gift of hope to the community.

“2020 has been such a rough year,” said Matangi. “San Bernardino has been through so much, just going through its history and it’s come back strong every single time. This is just one more thing to mark down in San Bernardino’s history that people rise up from.”

Berdoo will be available to stream on YouTube for free from December 25 to January 4. To learn more visit berdoofilm.com.

LOS ANGELES, CA—- An organ donor from Moreno Valley will be among those honored by OneLegacy and Donate Life as part of the Tournament of Roses 2021 TV special, “The Rose Parade’s New Year Celebration presented by Honda.” The local donor, Xavier Kesan Brown, passed away at 13 months old. His family chose to donate his liver, lungs, pancreas, both kidneys and small intestine. 

Xavier’s mother, Kayla Fouse, said that donating her son’s organs was the best decision she ever made for him and for her family.  

“It takes love and sacrifice to make the decision to donate organs, but it’s the greatest give anyone could ever give, and I am proud that my son was able to do that,” said Fouse. “While he is not physically here with us, there’s a piece of him still here helping others make memories he wasn’t able to make with us. He has given families more years, more birthdays and more holidays with their loved ones.” 

Since 2004, OneLegacy has been the lead sponsor of the Donate Life Rose Parade float to spread the lifesaving message of organ, eye and tissue donation to an international audience. Although the 2021 parade is canceled due to COVID-19, Donate Life and the OneLegacy Foundation will keep the tradition alive with a 25-foot floral sculpture, honoring 21 deceased donors from across the nation.  

“Lifesaving transplants would not be possible without generous donors and their families, who, in the midst of tragedy as they lose a loved one, find the courage to say yes to donation,” said Tom Mone, chairman of the Donate Life Rose Parade float committee and CEO of OneLegacy, the nonprofit organ, eye and tissue recovery organization serving the greater Los Angeles area. “We are proud and grateful to honor Xavier, and all these donors, whose acts of kindness have given others a second chance at life.” 

The Donate Life floral sculpture, themed “Community of Life,” features a vibrant floral honeycomb built by bees, sharing the important message that we’re stronger when we work together as a community. Individually dedicated roses will adorn this floral installation to honor the gift of life given by donors, donor families, transplant recipients and health care heroes, carrying personal messages of love, remembrance, hope and gratitude. 

The Tournament of Roses 2021 TV special will include live-to-tape musical and marching band performances, heartwarming segments related to the Rose Parade, celebrity guest appearances, special Rose Bowl game football highlights, equestrians, spectacular floats from years past, and a behind-the-scenes look into the making of a float. The Rose Parade TV special will air on various broadcast networks January 1, 2021. 

The Donate Life Rose Parade Experience is produced by OneLegacy and is made possible thanks to dozens of sponsoring donations, transplant, health care and family care organizations along with individuals who help make donation and transplant possible across the country. Sponsors for 2021 include: American Association of Tissue Banks, Axogen, Community Tissue Services, CryoLife, Dignity Memorial Providers of Las Vegas, Donate Life California, Donor Alliance, Donor Network West, JJ’s Legacy, Legacy Donor Services Foundation, Legacy of Hope, LifeLink Foundation, LifeShare of Oklahoma, Lifesharing, LOPA, Nevada Donor Network, New England Donor Services, New Jersey Sharing Network, OneLegacy and Specialist Direct. 

About OneLegacy   

OneLegacy is a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives through organ, eye and tissue donation in seven counties in Southern California: Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara and Kern. It serves more than 200 hospitals, 11 transplant centers, a diverse population of nearly 20 million, donors and families across the region, and waiting recipients across the country. For more information, visit onelegacy.org.  

SAN BERNARDINO, CA—The San Bernardino City Unified School District (SBCUSD) Board of Education welcomed newly elected trustee Mayra Ceballos during its meeting on Tuesday, December 15.

Ceballos and returning Board of Education members Dr. Margaret Hill, Gwen Rodgers, and Dr. Scott Wyatt were sworn into four-year terms. The Board presented outgoing Board member Michael J. Gallo with a special resolution in honor of his service.

The Board unanimously elected Rodgers to a second term as Board president and Wyatt as vice president.

The Board members develop the policies by which the educational programs and other business of the District are carried out. Meetings are held on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. and can be viewed live on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCS0je7TAd8.

Meetings are open to the public, except for closed sessions, which the Board is permitted to hold to discuss confidential matters relating to employees, students, or litigation. Actions taken in closed session are reported out at the end of the meeting.

Edited by Naomi K. Bonman, Written by the Smile America Abdi Foundation

The holidays are all about the spirit of giving and Smile America Abdi Foundation had plenty to give this year. On September 24, 2020, the foundation gave out over 400 backpacks with supplies. In October, the foundation gave out 200 homeless survivor kits throughout Rialto, Fontana, San Bernardino, and Colton. In addition to the kits, 10 individuals were able to be placed shelters. This was just the first part of the season, before the holidays kicked off.

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As the days rolled into the Thanksgiving holiday, Smile America Abdi gave out over 200 turkey and chicken plates at Werner Elementary School on November 24. And most recently, on Monday, December 21, over 1000 toys were given away at the same elementary school.

“Not a day or a second that goes by that we do not think of Abdi and Miss Abdi so much,” Farah M., representative of the Smile America Abdi Foundation, stated. “No matter what Abdi’s Spirit is with us and his Love of improving, empowering his Community will continue until the End of time GOD WILLING.”

The Smile America Abdi foundation was founded by Abdi Mohamed of Somalia located in East Africa. He has lived and knows of the struggle that many African Refugees face. However, he noticed that not much was different after relocating to Southern California. He noticed that the Black communities in California were no better than the refugees in Africa.

Mohamed’s love of helping, empowering, motivating, and advocating for his people as continued here in Southern California. In addition to the holiday giveaways, through the foundation he tutors children after school, and he recycles in order to buy pizza at the park so children in the community do not join in local gang groups. He also teaches youth skills in money management, how to fill out college applications and FAFSA forms. He also babysat for single mothers.

Abdi Mohamed did great works for the foundation, but unfortunately, he was killed in 2018; however, his work is not in vain and is now being carried out by his sister Farah Mohamed.

“My brother Abdi believed in bringing local government, local business, and the community together in order to make our community a better place for the next generations to come,” Farah Mohamed said.  

SACRAMENTO – With COVID-19 cases rising at an alarming pace and ICU beds at or nearing capacity statewide, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) today launched the “Mothers” advertising campaign featuring real California moms urging people to stay home this holiday season.

The mothers in this campaign advocate that the best way to protect yourself and your loved ones is to stay at home, wear a mask, wash your hands, and physically distance. This Christmas, staying apart will keep us together.

The campaign’s goal is to encourage Californians to pause plans to gather with extended family and friends for the holidays and shine a light on the catastrophic effect family gatherings can have as COVID-19 continues to spread. Beloved family traditions can continue with video-call present opening or online cookie baking. 

“We have lost more than 20,000 people in California to COVID-19 and are reporting record numbers of new cases again today, which makes every gathering riskier than ever before in this pandemic,” said Dr. Erica Pan, Acting State Public Health Officer. “Tragically, more than 20,000 families will have an empty seat at their holiday tables this year. As a mom and a daughter, I know how painful it will be to miss out on holiday celebrations, but the only way we can end this heartbreak is to protect one another by staying apart and finding alternative ways to show our love this year.”

The campaign will run statewide in English and Spanish throughout December, with additional ads through January. Campaign components include TV, radio, social media and digital platform spots. The campaign has an equity focus as Californians from ethnic and racial minorities are at increased risk of getting sick and dying from COVID-19 because of social inequities.

“The messages from these moms are clear and compelling,” said First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom. “Our cherished extended family traditions can wait. This year, the most important gift we can give our loved ones is protection against COVID-19, and that means staying apart. The Governor, our children and I will be celebrating the upcoming holiday at home without extended family and friends, and we hope you will too. It’s too dangerous otherwise.”

“For me, it’s loving people from a distance,” says Dawnita Flowers, a mother of two from Riverside, who is featured in the ads. “If I don’t see you it’s because I love you more.”

The new campaign is made possible with $9 million in funding from Kaiser Permanente and is in partnership with The Center at Sierra Health Foundation. The concept was designed by Gallegos United, a California-based, Latino advertising agency. It was filmed with actual California mothers, in accordance with CDPH’s strict public health guidelines for filming. Under the state’s Regional Stay at Home Order, public service advertising is a permitted, critical infrastructure activity.

To view the Mothers ads, English:

Spanish: 

The campaign website is LoveMeansStayingAway.org.

For more tips about keeping yourself and your community safe over the holidays, go to https://covid19.ca.gov/holidays/.

SAN BERNARDINO, CA—- San Bernardino County has filed an action directly in the California Supreme Court asking the court to find that the governor’s stay-at-home orders exceed the authority found in the California Emergency Services Act. The county seeks to exercise local control in response to the COVID-19 pandemic rather than be restrained by the state’s regional approach that treats San Bernardino County the same as significantly different counties such as Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and San Diego.

“The governor is not permitted to act as both the executive and legislative branch for nine months under the California Emergency Services Act,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman Curt Hagman. “If it is concluded that the act allows him to do so, the act is unconstitutional as it permits the delegation of the Legislature’s powers to the executive branch in violation of the California Constitution.”

San Bernardino County has worked tirelessly on behalf of county residents and businesses urging the state to recognize that the county’s size and geographic diversity should allow for fewer restrictions in communities with lower COVID-19 metrics than the county as a whole.

“The governor declared that the state’s approach would be based on science and data, but the state has not produced science or data that suggest the restrictions he has imposed would address the current trajectory of the pandemic in San Bernardino County,” said former Supervisor Josie Gonzales, who joined the county in the Supreme Court filing as a private citizen.

The filing states the county seeks to reclaim its constitutional authority “to tailor regulations and orders which are specific to its residents based on facts which are unique to their locations rather than subject its residents to overbroad multi-county, Governor-implemented, regionalized lockdowns.”

By Dale Hunter | In Partnership with California Black Media 

Depending on where in California you live, some of the water from your faucet probably traveled hundreds of miles from its origins: either a melting snowbank in the high Sierra Nevada or a winter rainstorm that doused its foothills. 

That origin point, California’s headwaters, on average receive 60 percent of the state’s annual precipitation falling as rain or snow. Californians consume roughly the same amount of water after it flows through streams and rivers into reservoirs, accounting for half of the state’s surface water storage. 

However, the harsh reality of destructive wildfires that mar every California warm season — especially this year — can also hit these headwater forests. When these catastrophic blazes, which are driven by climate change, burn through forests, they can affect water treatment because ash is washed into watershed streams and rivers.

Intense heat from these fires bakes the ground into hardpan. Seasonal rains wash ashes off the surface into streams leading to reservoirs that feed water treatment plants. Water providers can still treat and deliver safe drinking water, but the ash makes the job more difficult because it adds sediment to the reservoirs. 

The good news is there are solutions within our reach. Work to achieve those solutions is underway in many parts of the Sierra Nevada and requires reversing a hundred years of well-intentioned, but ultimately destructive forest management. 

During most of the last century, wildland firefighting focused exclusively on preventing forest fires from starting. And When one did start, minimizing its size at all costs was the main priority. However, this strategy ignored the natural role of fire over millennia. Ignited by lightening or set by Native Americans who understood its value, natural fire kept forests thinned and healthy by removing excess undergrowth. These fires tended to creep along the forest floor and burn less hot and in more controlled patterns than today’s raging and record-setting conflagrations. 

However, large swaths of forests kept largely free from fire have overgrown. Instead of larger trees spaced apart, much of the Sierra Nevada headwater forests have become a thick carpet of smaller trees packed together and growing over dense underbrush. Years of severe and intermittent drought have cooked this vegetation into bone-dry kindling, explosive fire fuel that feeds all-consuming fires such as the ones that swept through California and the Pacific Northwest this year. 

Removing this undergrowth, thinning headwater forests back to their natural state and restoring the role of fire within the ecosystem represents a massive undertaking, but is not impossible. In California, public water agencies, environmental nonprofit organizations, as well as local and state agencies and the federal government are collaborating on many levels to enhance headwaters health, and in doing so protect the quality and reliability of our water supplies. 

Natural fire has partially returned through what are known as prescribed burns. Set outside of the height of fire season and closely monitored, this tactic has successfully cleared out overgrowth in limited sections of forest. There are risks, and these fires do affect air quality, but the alternative is far worse. Another tactic, although labor intensive, is employing work crews to manually thin sections of forests. These projects often use heavy machinery, such as masticators, which are tractor-mounted woodchippers. 

One example can be found in the Northern Sierra Nevada. The Placer County Water Agency (PCWA) is leading a public-private partnership that treated more than 1,000 acres of forest in the Lake Tahoe area during 2019. Over 10 years, this single project aims to restore health to 22,000 acres of forest within the headwaters of the American River, a major source of water for the Sacramento area. 

Making those forests less vulnerable to catastrophic wildfires will require a long-term financial commitment, as well as determination. However, as with many challenges with California water, collaboration involving water agencies has opened a clear path toward a more resilient future for our state’s water supply.