WSSN Stories

By Joe W. Bowers Jr | California Black Media

On January 10, Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled his record $222 Billion state budget for 2020-21. The $84 billion he allocated in it for K-12 schools and community colleges represents a historic high level of funding for education in California.

The proposed investment in K-14 education is 3.03 percent or $3.8 billion more than last year. Total K-12 expenditures from all sources in the budget are projected to be $17,964 per pupil.

While state spending on education is at its highest level numerically, Governor Newsom expressed that “none of us is spiking the ball” because education outcomes for many students are not where it should be or can be.

According to Newsom, “We are making progress, but it is stubborn and slow. We have disparities that are being closed and disparities that are persistent.”

The achievement gap is being closed for Latinx students, students with disabilities, low income students, and African-American students in some metrics. Latinx students narrowed their gap in English language arts scores and high school graduation rates. Students with disabilities made the greatest gains in math and English language arts. African-American students showed the largest graduation rate gain among student groups.

Where progress has been slow has been with students with disabilities, youth in foster care, homeless youth, and African-American students continuing to score below the state standard on English language arts and math tests.

Newsom was very candid in pointing out that 23 low-performing, high-poverty school districts have an over-representation of African-American students.

 “It seems self evident that we should focus and concentrate our efforts in those areas in order to address ….the substance of the vexing issue as it relates to academic achievement for African-American students.”  

 “We have to start getting serious and do something about it. We believe the biggest achievement boost is fully prepared teachers,” Newsom said.

The governor is proposing $900.1 million to be invested in workforce investment grants, professional development grants for existing teachers, and teacher recruitment strategies.

“The plan is to build a diverse teaching workforce of stable, prepared professional teachers, including more teachers that look like their students. That’s incredibly important as related particularly to African-American achievement,” Newsom said.

The budget includes $100 million to fund $20,000 stipends for new teachers who choose to teach in high-need schools. This addresses the stubborn fact that high-poverty schools have three times as many unprepared teachers.

$300 million in grants is being made available to close the academic achievement in the lowest-performing districts.

Another $300 million is proposed to expand community schools to address students’ physical and mental health needs by establishing public-private partnerships with community services.  The funds will also be used to promote parent engagement.

“Special Education in the state of California is in a crisis,” according to Newsom. About $900 million dollars is being allocated to increase base funding for Special Ed students, support specific teacher training, fund early diagnosing and intervention and pay for studies on how districts are delivering services to respond to the learning needs of those students.

The budget calls for establishing a new Department of Early Childhood Development to consolidate under one roof the various efforts to implement the governor’s Master Plan for Early Learning and Care, a policy initiative he announced last year.

Newsom is committed to adding 10,000 full-time preschool slots this year and providing universal preschool for all low-income 4-year-olds by the end of next year.

Education leaders’ reactions to the governor’s 2020-21 state budget presentation has been mixed.

“The Governor mentioned that students should have teachers that look more like them, and we couldn’t agree more. We look forward to having the opportunity to invest in our teacher workforce and the pipeline of future teachers coming into the profession, specifically teachers of color and in the fields of science, math, and special education,” Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said.

State Board of Education President Linda Darling Hammond said, “Some students spend the year in classrooms staffed by highly trained, highly prepared teachers. But many others do not. These disparities are particularly grievous for low-income students of color. The 2020-21 budget investments in educator recruitment and professional development will help place California on solid footing moving forward as we work to build, train and support the kind of high-quality educator workforce all our students need and deserve.”

California Teachers Association President E. Toby Boyd expresses some cynicism.

“Despite California’s economy consistently expanding – now being ranked fifth-largest in the entire world – we have some of the most underfunded schools in the country,” he said. “We rank 39th in the nation in per-pupil funding. We boast the most overcrowded classrooms in the entire country.”

Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Austin Beutner said, “California’s public schools will remain woefully underfunded, especially when compared with the rest of the nation.”

“This budget proposal does not go far enough in funding supports for our most vulnerable students,” Beutner added. “Including students whose families are experiencing homelessness and students with special needs.”

The governor’s presentation begins the formal state budget process. Over the next several months, the California legislature will hold hearings on the budget and special interest groups and the public will have an opportunity to comment on various budget proposals. In mid-May the Governor will release a revised budget plan reflecting changes to spending. The budget will be finalized by the end of  June 2020.

SAN BERNARDINO, CA— Cal State San Bernardino alumni Charles Brown and Wil Greer, who is also a CSUSB assistant professor of education leadership and technology, were honored at the 8th annual Educators’ Prayer Breakfast hosted by the National Sorority of Phi Delta Kappa, Delta Rho Chapter on December 8, at the National Orange Show in San Bernardino.

Greer earned his master’s degree from CSUSB in educational administration and has been teaching at the university for five years. Greer also earned his bachelor’s in ethnic sociology from UC Riverside and his doctorate in urban educational leadership from Claremont Graduate University.
 
“Being honored is nice, of course, but I know it wouldn’t have happened without my family, without my ancestors, without my community, and without my God,” Greer said.
 
Brown, who is director of Equity and Targeted Student Achievement for the San Bernardino City Unified School District, received his undergraduate degree in liberal studies in 1996 from CSUSB. He recently earned his Ed.D. from Brandman University.
 
Along with Greer and Brown, the sorority honored Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity during the event.
 
The National Sorority of Phi Delta Kappa, Delta Rho Chapter was chartered in 1982. Two CSUSB alumna – Margaret Hill ’80 and Joyce Payne ’67 – are members of the chapter. The sorority not only recognizes contributors of education, but also provides scholarships to graduating seniors, partners with San Bernardino Valley College and hosts an annual Teach-A-Rama.

In an effort to recognize MLK day and Black History month, Essence Atkins has joined forced with #NotMe to end harassment and discrimination in the workplace and beyond. Stay tuned for her story and why she is passionate about #NotMe, to be posted on MLK Day.

People often think of harassment as only sexual, but the reality is that bullying-related to race and gender discrimination are at the top of the list of workplace harassment. With MLK and Black History Month being right around the corner, we think there is a real opportunity to shed light on this issue and offer people a solution.

The prevalence of workplace discrimination is vast, and it affects black women the most – 25% of black women are harassed compared to 11% for white men. Blacks reported a 60% higher rate of discrimination compared to whites. Black women filed 28.6 percent of pregnancy discrimination charges, despite making up only 14.3 percent of the female labor force. Help us make the change our society needs.

#NotMe is a free and simple to use app that aims to prevent workplace harassment. The platform empowers anyone to safely report misconduct they’ve witnessed or experienced all via their mobile phone in as little as three minutes.

APPLETINIES Tiny & Tasty Chocolates was this year’s gift bag sponsor at Luxury Experience & CO Celebrity Gifting Lounge in partnership with The Vanderpump Dog Foundation and Valerie Beverly Hills during the 77^th Annual Golden Globe weekend on January 4, 2020 in Beverly Hills, California. Guest attendees included Chad Johnson(ABC’s The bachelorette; Bachelor In Paradise), Aubury Marquez (NBC’s Chicago Fire), Olden Polynic (Former NBA Player), Sally Kirkland (Best Actress Oscar Nominee, Golden Globe winner, Independent Spirit Award winner, and veteran of over 200 films), and many others.

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APPLETINIES Tiny & Tasty Chocolates is a family owned business by mother and son duo Sonja Wilfling and Lukas Wilfling who hail from Sinabelkrichen, the apple region of Austria, about an hour and a half from Vienna. APPLETINIES are 100% organic, gluten free, vegetarian, vegan & kosher, with no preservatives, no artificial ingredients, and 100% made in Austria offering nine different flavours. They are THE healthy sweets alternative with 100% chocolate taste and a particularly high addictive factor.

What are APPLETINIES? Start with organically grown apples, dried with care, and then covered in a wafer-thin layer of melt-in-your-mouth organic chocolate. Available in nine flavors and bundled in award-winning packaging. 

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Organically grown chunks of apple dried with care, covered in delicate, melt-in-your-mouth organic which consists of gently dried apple pieces, covered with a wafer-thin layer of tenderly melting organic chocolate in the flavours whole milk, dark & white chocolate with cinnamon. Once Appletinies – always Appletinies with Chocolate!

APPLETINIES Tiny & Tasty Chocolates are now available on Amazon and can be found under APPLETINIES Sweets.

To read more about APPLETINIES Tiny & Tasty Chocolates, visit their website at http://appletinies.com.

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By Lou Yeboah

Boy, only, if we would take that stance, how different our lives would be. But naw, we want, “Our Will”  to be done. Well, News Flash! It’s not about “Our Will,” it’s about “God’s Will,” and the sooner we register that the better off we will be.  For thus saith the Lord, “You come into the New Year expecting Me to do for you what you want do for Me. Tell Me… What have you done for Me lately? Have you fed the hungry? Visited the sick? Or even entertained strangers? No! Then why do you bother Me? What do you want from Me? You want Me to give you what you want, while all of the time you have neglected, overlooked, and not even considered my will, nor my work. Well forget about it! If you can’t keep My Commandments, why should I let you inquire of me at all? [Ezekiel 14:3]. I tell you, “If you love me, you will obey what I command. For whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one that gets My blessings. So until you obey, don’t expect my blessings, Period!  I told you, “My New is not Your New in 2020, and I don’t care what man has prophesied to you, until you obey, forget about it! The Great I Am has spoken!”

I tell you, just as Haggai’s message was blunt and he pulled no punches and wasted no words, I want you to know that God is withholding His blessing because your priorities are not right. As Haggai said, “Put God’s house first and He will bless you.” Jesus said the same thing: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.”  [Psalms 37:4] says, “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” 

Understand that the blessings of God as promised to all believers do not materialize automatically. There are some things that God says we need to do to activate His blessings. According to [Deuteronomy 28:1-2] “If we will LISTEN diligently to the voice of the Lord our God, being watchful to DO ALL His commandments, THEN the Lord will set you high above all the nations of the earth, and all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you.  This is the key to unlocking the blessings of God in your life. [Psalm 112:1].

I believe that every year that God gives us on this earth is to be a year where we are as productive as we can be for His work and as pleasing as we can be for His glory. I hope that the longer you live the more you realize just how fleeting these years are and just how important it is to maximize the potential of each year for being what you ought to be and doing what you ought to do. The truth that obedience to God brings blessing, is the first principle in understanding what it means to be a child of God. Failure to understand this first principle and failure to implement it is to forfeit God’s best  in your life. 

I write this not to condemn anyone, but to remind us all that Jesus who suffered and died for us, expects something from us. We cannot expect to continually take and take from Him and not do something for Him. It is after all, a relationship that we have with Him, and relationships are all about give and take. God wants us to do our part – so He can do His. 

Listen…. Follow… Do…. Blessings Activated by Obedience.  Welcome to the New Year… 2020!

By Aldon Thomas Stiles | California Black Media

Kim Kardashian West will likely check “Black or African American” on the US 2020 Census form when marking the race of her children.

In several interviews with various media outlets, the famous media personality and businesswoman, who lives in the San Fernando Valley near Calabasas, has said she’s very conscious of race when it comes to her and rapper Kanye West’s four children.

Kardashian, who is half-White and half-Armenian, has said she identifies the race of her children as “Black” and says the advocacy she has recently been involved in: addressing racial inequities in the criminal justice system – is partly inspired by the race of her children.

On this year’s census form, Kardashian’s other option for checking the race box to identify her children would be to select “Other.” That’s if she chooses to count them as bi-racial or mixed race.

Race and ethnicity have often been – and continue to be – controversial and misunderstood census categories. Experts suggest that some people might be confused about the difference between the two.

On the 2020 census forms,  there will be six ways people can identify their race: American Indian or Alaska Native; Asian; Black or African American; White; Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander; and Other.

Options will also be available for respondents to include an ethnic identification, too. For instance, a Trinidadian-American of African descent may select “Black or African American” under the racial category and write in “Trinidadian” under the ethnic category.

According to the Census Bureau, “Overlap of race and Hispanic ethnicity is the main comparability issue.” For example, the U.S. Census Bureau includes Black Hispanics in both the number of Blacks and in the number of Hispanics.

Dr. Walter Hawkins, former California State University San Bernardino Director of Research and Policy Analysis, helped clear some of that confusion by detailing the numerous ways people can self-identify on US 2020 Census forms, mentioning the “100 percent count.”

“Under the Census Bureau, in order to get the 100 percent count, they have to use what’s called the ‘Hispanic exclusive method’ because a person who is Hispanic can be any race. So, if you do not take that into consideration, you end up with over 100 percent,” said Hawkins.

Hawkins stated that this distinction affects the overall count for African Americans in California.

“The Black alone ‘non-Hispanic’ population in California is about 2.2 million compared to about 2.7 million if all racial and ethnic combinations are included,” Hawkins said.

Hawkins noted that much of the complication with racial self-identification originated from an old census rule called “head of household.”

“If you marked ‘Black,’ your whole house was Black. And if you marked ‘White,’ your whole house was White,” Hawkins said.

Data collected during national censuses, which the federal government conducts every 10 years, directly impacts not only the availability but also the quality of services in communities, according to Dr. Anthony Asadullah Samad, Executive Director of the Mervyn Dymally African American Political and Economic Institute (MDAAPEI) at California State University Dominguez Hills.

Inaccurate census counts can lead to billions of dollars lost in government funding for states and local communities. That loss of cash can be critical for already under-served neighborhoods that rely on federal and state tax dollars for social programs, healthcare, infrastructure, schools and other local public services. Census counts also determine the number of representatives a state is allotted in the US Congress.

“Cultural identity is important to every community. First, in understanding presence. Second, in understanding population growth,” Samad said. “Every ethnicity faces this challenge in the upcoming census, including Latinos and Asian Pacific Islanders, because demographic descriptions speak to a particular community’s service needs.”

According to Samad, African Americans have been at a disadvantage in this regard.

“For the last three censuses, there have been African-American undercounts,” Samad said. “The only ethnicity with larger undercounts have been Native Americans, largely due to their populations being on sovereign lands that limit census-taker access.”

According to the Census Bureau, the population of Black or African-American people who did not identify with any other race in 2018 counted for 6.5 percent of the overall population in California. Whereas, the population of people who identified as mixed race made up 3.9 percent of the state’s overall population.

The mixed population counts as its own category, making it unclear how many of these people have African lineage.

Samad pointed to another factor that might skew the amount of African Americans being accounted for in the Census: Fear.

“Black people have legitimate fears for sharing information with the federal government for numerous reasons,” Samad said. “However, there hasn’t been sufficient education tying the Census to the community’s welfare.”

Dr. Tecoy Porter, Sacramento President of the National Action Network, shares this concern.

“One of the reasons African Americans are undercounted are our household situations. We  tend to not want to reveal all of our information or we do not trust the government,” Porter said. “We think that information could be applied against us.”

Hawkins says he understands those fears. However, he believes that they should not prevent people from wanting to be counted.

“Most of the time if a person is skeptical, they won’t fill out the form at all,” Hawkins said. “But the Census information is completely confidential.”

While some experts underscored the importance of an individual selecting a specific race on his or her census questionnaire, others pointed to the significance of participants choosing how they want to identify themselves.

Lanae Norwood, Strategic Communications Director of the California Black Census and Redistricting Hub “My Black Counts,” stated that while educating African Americans on their options when identifying themselves during the 2020 Census is their goal, individual expression is equally important to her organization.

“Our civic engagement program is about educating and encouraging the Black community to be part of the census count. We are not telling blacks – or anybody for that matter – how to self- identify in the census or what box to check,” Norwood said. “we recognize that Black is not a monolith and contains much racial and ethnic diversity. We trust people to select the racial or ethnic identity that most represents them.”

RCHF and the City of Riverside provide a year-long fitness challenge for the Riverside community to promote health.  

Riverside, CA – Riverside Community Health Foundation (RCHF) in partnership with the City of Riverside, will present a year-long opportunity for Riverside residents to adopt healthy behaviors with health education classes and physical activity opportunities through the Start RIGHT (Riverside Is Getting Healthy Together), End Strong Challenge. 

The Start R.I.G.H.T. (Riverside Is Getting Healthy Together), End Strong kick-off on Saturday, January 25, 2020 from 10:00am to 2:00pm at Ryan Bonaminio Park (5000 Tequesquite Avenue, Riverside, CA 92506) will be an exciting time for participants to learn more about the opportunities RCHF has planned for the year. 

“I walk, I hike and bike and there is usually ‘Connect with the Mayor’ in partnership with Riverside Community Health Foundation and others” said Mayor Rusty Bailey during his Riverside Monthly on RiversideTV interview with Terri Akens, Director of Community Health Programs for RCHF and Amia Henderson, Senior Health Educator for RCHF. “I am out there [to] lead by example, [because] we are fit, fresh and fun in Riverside and this [Start RIGHT, End Strong] is an example of that.” 

 
The expo at this year’s Kick-Off event will include vendors from RUHS Mobile Health Clinic, BreckenFit, IEHP, Inland Regional Center, Boys & Girls Club, La Bufadora Food Truck and more. Information on health education classes and physical activity sessions will also be provided. 
  

Anita Inzunza, past Start RIGHT, End Strong participant and winner says the challenge helped her to maintain her health.”It wasn’t about winning for me,” said Anita, “satisfaction came from maintaining my weight. The classes helped me to understand how much and what I am supposed to be eating.” 

 
Classes, events and exercise sessions throughout the year include: Mental Health 101, Stress Management, Diabetes Cooking Class, monthly fitness challenges created by a local physician, Zumba Fitness, RIPPED, POP Pilates, Tai Chi, Aqua Aerobics, a Heart Healthy Seminar. Classes and events are provided at no cost! 

Getting fit during this year’s Start RIGHT challenge starts at the tip of your fingers through the new RCHF app, now available for download on all your mobile devices through your iOS App Store or Google Play Store.  Participants will “End Strong” in December 2020 during the Foundation’s grand finale of the healthy lifestyle change program. The celebration will include a recognition ceremony for the milestones reached in health by all participants and a grand prize will be offered to the top three participants with the highest accumulation of points. 

For more information about the Start R.I.G.H.T., End Strong challenge or how to register, please contact Amia Henderson at amia@rchf.org or call (951) 788-3471 ext. 135. Sign-up via Eventbrite at www.RCHF.org/StartRight

By Khalil Abdullah, Ethnic Media Services

PHOENIX, AZ. — In the conference room of the Phoenix Indian School Visitor Center, a chair sat empty at a recent convening of community media and stakeholders to promote Arizona’s 2020 census.

Lizbeth Luna, regional director for NALEO’s Arizona census initiative, abruptly cancelled as a speaker, learning her father had been detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE). The intersection of immigration and the census was one of several topics at the convening, but the empty chair spoke to the tenuous netherworld of immigrant status in the United States.

In June, the Supreme Court barred Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross from adding a question on citizenship to the Census 2020 form. The ruling was applauded by Katie Hobbs, Arizona’s Secretary of State, who supports a permanent ban on such an initiative. After the question’s dismissal, advocates continue to fear diminished participation in the census, particularly from the Latino community. Worries are the current administration will not respect the confidentiality of personal information, despite laws and fines discouraging the sharing of individual census responses among federal agencies.

At the convening, co-hosted by Ethnic Media Services, OneArizona, the Arizona Community Foundation and the Leadership Conference Education Fund, EMS executive director, Sandy Close encouraged attendees to collaborate in their messaging and outreach on Census 2020. Citing the decrease of traditional community media as one motivation, Close said the driving impetus for collaboration should be concern about the potential loss of census data-based funding for federal programs that contribute to children’s well-being. Children are the most likely to be undercounted and highly vulnerable to funding reductions.

“We, as media, need you, as community organizations, to extend your communication outreach, especially to populations that don’t have media outlets,” Close said. “Today’s meeting is an effort to forge a consensus across ethnic groups, community organizations, state and local government groups and other stakeholders. Do it for the kids.”

Jim Chang, state demographer, Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity, provided an overview of the state’s racial demographics. He projects that the decreasing and aging white population, currently comprising 54%, and the increasing, younger Latino one, now at 32%, would reach relative numerical parity by 2050 at 45% and 40% respectively. The balance of the population, with no cohort above 5%, is comprised of Asians, blacks, Native Americans and others.

“A lot of people I talk to believe that, right now, the births to Hispanic mothers are higher than the births to non-Hispanic whites,” Chang said, “but that was true only one year, 2007.” Since then, white, non-Hispanic women have led their Latina counterparts with no anticipated change through 2050. Importantly, Chang has seen estimates of Arizona’s 2010 census undercount of children at 4%, 7% and as high as 10%. “Every method has its flaws,” Chang said, but overall, compared to other states, Arizona did fairly well in its total population 2010 census assessment.

Alec Thompson, representing the Arizona governor’s office, acknowledged hard-to-count communities within the state where undercount percentages have been higher than those for children. Though the state legislature rejected his budget request to fund census public education initiatives, he said Gov. Doug Ducey has about $1.5 million for paid media advertising.

“We are hoping to grow that number,” Thompson said, with media outreach as part of a plan that includes a complete count committee’s credible messengers to reach diverse communities.  Government agencies will be directed to contact the customers they serve, for example, the state’s 6,000 foster parents will receive an email about the census.

Thompson said Arizona had spent no state money for 2010 census outreach due to fiscal caution after 2008’s recession. A key motivation to encourage 2020 census participation is a calculation that “a 1% undercount is a direct loss of $62 million to the state.”

Whitney Walker, director of communications and public policy for Protecting Arizona’s Family Coalition, (PAFCO), spoke to the need for more state level advocacy to bolster the housing trust fund and domestic violence shelters, among other initiatives that ameliorate “the cycle of poverty vulnerable Arizona families are facing.”

To her point, the annual Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT Data Book on the status of American children living in poverty ranks Arizona at only 43rd in overall wellbeing for children.

In Arizona, immigration is a highly contested issue. Walker said the political climate can interfere with the dissemination of clear and concise information. She didn’t dispute the assessment of Arizona’s 2010 census efforts, but noted that there was “a 30% undercount for Maricopa County, which now has a population of over four million people.”

Janice Palmer of the Helios Education Foundation, which focuses on Latino students’ academic success, underscored Walker’s observations: “Maricopa County had the second largest undercount of Latino children.” Using 7% as the projected undercount,  she estimated, in that county alone, 27,000 Latino children were omitted from census 2010 data.

The Native American and Alaskan Native populations pose unique challenges to the census, according to Mark Trahant, editor of Indian Country Today.

“The primary problem for us is that it comes down to self-identification, and when you’re dealing with tribal communities, you’re talking about citizenship and a more complex way of looking at identity,” Trahant explained. He added that ICT has been reporting for three years that the 2020 census has been in trouble, partly due to underfunding. In Alaska, he noted, two field tests were cancelled to save funds and, overall, a dearth of linguists available to translate census instructions and information into local languages.

For Trahant, paramount is how to transform Native American presence into political representation. Even with the recent election of Native Americans to Congress, he calculates they constitute less than three-quarters of one percent of that body, assuming Native Americans represent 2% of the population, which is itself “probably an undercount.”

To achieve accuracy, the Census Bureau will have to contend with Native Americans’ lack of broadband access and the difficulty of determining addresses in remote communities. Additionally, Trahant said tribal identification will be “a demographer’s nightmare” because many Native Americans have multiple tribal identifications in their family trees. How will resources be fairly allocated, he mused?

D.L. White, reporting for The Arizona Informant, also raised the issue of accountability, asking state Rep. Diego Rodriguez – the convening’s final speaker — how an undercount could negatively affect funding for minority groups and refugee communities. Rodriguez responded that allocating funds is a result of horse trading at the heart of the budgeting process.

“We all agree that the budget represents your values,” Rodriguez said, but “we have to make sure our numbers are counted so that we get adequate representation.”

Acknowledging representatives from Somali, Congolese and other emerging refugee groups at the briefing, as well as from Native American, black and Latino populations, Tameka Spence of Arizona Community For Change emphasized that the first step is addressing the trauma many have experienced. “In trying to help folks understand why the census is important, we’re asking them to confront that trauma and we need to acknowledge that it’s there, it’s real.”

Though the empty chair attested to the Luna family’s immediate trauma, the Indial School Visitor Center venue exuded optimism. Once the site of a federally run school to socially re-engineer Native American students, Center director Rosalie Talahonva – herself an alumna — recalled how students were drawn from different tribes often deeply at odds with each other as well as the U.S. government. Whether antagonisms were ancient or personal, new or imagined, the students persevered, forging consensus and cooperation among themselves — an inspiration for Arizona’s mosaic of stakeholders striving to achieve an accurate census count.

By Curt Hagman

A new decade has dawned and with it will come several important community events this year that will shape our future.

Among these 2020 events are the March 3 Presidential Primary Election and the November 3 Presidential General Election.

The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors and Registrar of Voters encourages all eligible citizens to be #VoteReady ahead of these two national elections. Don’t wait until Election Day to make sure your vote counts.

The Registrar of Voters and California Secretary of State offer several resources to help citizens exercise their right to vote.

If you are one of the 25 percent of eligible residents not currently registered to vote, you may register online at SBCountyElections.com or RegisterToVote.ca.gov.

Voter registration applications are also available at the Registrar of Voters office in San Bernardino and throughout the county at post offices, city clerks’ offices, county libraries, and the Department of Motor Vehicles. A map of these locations is available on the Registrar of Voters website.

The deadline for registering to vote in the March 3, 2020 Presidential Primary Election is February 18, 2020.

After that date, eligible citizens may conditionally register and vote by visiting the Registrar of Voters’ office, one of five early voting sites in the county during the week before the election, or any polling place on Election Day.

If you are still 17 years old today but will turn 18 by Election Day, you may pre-register to vote online or with a paper application.

If you are already registered to vote, the Board of Supervisors and Registrar of Voters encourages you to verify your registration status, including your political party preference, by using the My Elections Gateway tool on the Registrar of Voters website or the Secretary of State’s VoterStatus.sos.ca.gov website.

Your party preference will generally determine how you vote for candidates for U.S. President in the March 3, 2020 Presidential Primary Election.

If you are registered with one of the six qualified political parties in California, you will receive a primary ballot with only your party’s candidates for President.

If you are not registered with a qualified political party but want to vote for President in the primary, you have two choices you can make.

1. The American Independent, Democratic, and Libertarian political parties have agreed to allow you to vote in their presidential primary contest without requiring you to re-register with their party.

You can apply to receive a mail ballot containing the presidential candidates for one of these three parties by returning a postcard the Registrar of Voters mailed to all permanent mail ballot voters in early December or by calling (909) 387-8300 or (800) 881-VOTE (8683) no later than February 25, 2020.

If you vote at a polling place on Election Day, you can request a ballot from one of these three parties when you show up to vote.

• The Green, Peace and Freedom, and Republican parties have chosen to only allow their party members to vote in their presidential primary contests.

If you wish to vote in the primary for the presidential candidates for one of these three parties, you will need to re-register to vote and choose that political party as your party preference.

If you are not registered with a qualified political party and do not request a party ballot or re-register with a qualified party, you will receive a nonpartisan ballot for the March 3, 2020 Presidential Primary Election that does not include any candidates for U.S. President.

All primary ballots will still include contests for other federal, state and local offices for which you are eligible to vote based upon your residential address.

The winner of each party’s presidential primary will represent that party in the November 3, 2020 Presidential General Election, when all voters, regardless of party preference, can vote for U.S. President.

For more information about how to vote for U.S. President, visit HowToVoteForPresident.sos.ca.gov.

For more information about registering, re-registering or pre-registering to vote, visit the Registrar of Voters website at SBCountyElections.com, or call (909) 387-8300.

Be #VoteReady and help make sure #SBCountyCounts.

UPLAND, CA – National Football League linebacking legend Dick Butkus paid a surprise visit to Upland High School on Monday to present his namesake award to Highlander standout Justin Flowe.

One of the most heralded linebackers to come out of California in recent years, Flowe can now add Butkus Award winner to an impressive resume that includes his ranking as the top linebacker recruit in the nation.

Flowe was unaware that Butkus was on campus or that he had even won the award – given to the top high school linebacker in the country. When the moment arrived, in a quickly arranged ceremony at the high school library, Flowe was stunned, but grateful – and showed the humor and grace that have marked his four years at Upland High.

“I thought I’d gotten in trouble,” he said of getting pulled out of class earlier in the day, only to find his parents, teammates, coaches and staff all waiting for him.

Butkus, whose Hall of Fame career with the Chicago Bears earned him the distinction as one of the fiercest competitors ever to have played the game, said the choice was easy.

“Justin completely ran away with the award,” he said. “I would be honored to play with a guy like this.”

Where Flowe will play next is unclear; he’s still determining where he will go to college.

“Wherever he goes, that school will be getting an extraordinary player, and an awesome kid,” said John McNally, Upland High’s athletic director.

Justin’s father, Johnny, said he knew at an early age that his son had a gift for football.

“He was so intimidating at the age of 9 that the other teams (in youth football) would refuse to play if he played,” Mr. Flowe said.

The Butkus Award was instituted in 1985 by the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando, and is given annually to the top linebackers at the high school, college and professional levels. Although the award recognizes prowess on the playing field, winning it is about more than football, Butkus said.

“I like to see their excitement and sincerity about winning the award,” the former linebacker said. “We hope that he understands that ‘OK, I’m the best of the best but I have a responsibility to give back to other people.’”

Flowe said he appreciates the opportunity.

“Thank you for giving me this award. It’s really a blessing. God’s watching over me.”