Be a Santa to a Senior kicks off in Redlands

REDLANDS, CA—- The holiday season is also the season of giving and a time to share smiles with those around you. As you gather to drink hot cocoa and sing carols with family and friends, it’s important to remember there are seniors in your community who would love to celebrate, too. However, many seniors live alone, without someone to share this special time.

Home Instead Senior Care is once again offering the Redlands community a chance to spread joy to local seniors. Through the Be a Santa to a Senior program, community members can give a senior a special holiday gift. Since the program’s inception in 2003, the Be a Santa to a Senior program has mobilized more than 60,000 volunteers, provided approximately 1.2 million gifts and brightened the season for more than 700,000 deserving seniors nationwide. Last year, more than 800 local seniors received 3,200 gifts.

“The Be a Santa to a Senior programis all about including seniors in the joy of the holiday season,” said Geneva Labate, owner of the Home Instead Senior Care office serving San Bernardino County. “A simple gift shows them they are a loved and vital member of our community.”

Be a Santa to a Senioris a true community program, with generous support from Southern California businesses, nonprofit organizations, retailers, numerous volunteers and members of the community. The Home Instead Senior Care office serving Redlands has partnered with local organizations to help with gift collection and distribution.

It’s easy to help. Visit one of the participating locations listed below and look for the Be a Santa to a Senior tree on display from November 12 to December 17. Each tree will be decorated with ornaments featuring seniors’ first names and gift suggestions. Holiday shoppers can choose an ornament, buy the requested gift and return it to the store with the ornament attached. There’s no need to worry about wrapping — community volunteers and program partners will wrap and deliver the gifts to local seniors in time for the holidays.

“While it may seem like a small act of kindness, it can really make a difference for someone this holiday season,” said Labate. “Watching seniors open the gifts they received through Be a Santa to a Senior and seeing the smiles and appreciation on their faces is one of my favorite parts of the holiday season.”

Be a Santa to a Senior trees can be found at the following locations:

• Alta Vista Credit Union, 1425 W Lugonia Avenue, Redlands, CA
• Jose’s Mexican Restaurant, 33527 Yucaipa Blvd., Yucaipa, CA
• Redlands Chiropractic, 620 Alabama St, Redlands, CA
• Redlands Sewing Center, 422 E State St, Redlands, CA
• Jake’s Bistro and Brew, 12170 4th St., Yucaipa, CA
• Blossom Grove Alzheimer’s Special Care, 11116 New Jersey St., Redlands, CA
• Jose’s Mexican Restaurant, 950 S. E St, San Bernardino, CA
• Alta Vista Credit Union, 1425 W Lugonia Ave, Redlands, CA
• Dream Dinners, 1404 Industrial Park Ave, Redlands, CA
• Linda Valley Assisted Living, 25393 Cole St, Loma Linda, Ca.
• Jose’s Mexican Restaurant, 2094 W Redlands Blvd., Redlands, CA
• Mi Cocina Mexican Restaurant, 27961 Highland Ave, Highland, CA
• Mission Commons Gracious Retirement Living, 10 Terracina Blvd., Redlands, CA
• Martha Green’s Eating Room, 107 E Citrus Ave, Redlands, CA
• Carlson Chiropractic, 529 Cajon St, Redlands, CA
• La Loma Federal Credit Union, 26151 Mayberry St, Loma Linda, CA
• Beaver Medical Group, 2 W. Fern Avenue, Redlands, CA
• Arrowhead Aftercare, 27007 W 5th Street, Highland, CA
• Beaver Advantage Health Center, 1600 E. Citrus Avenue, Redlands, CA
• Beaver Medical Group, 1690 Barton Road, Redlands, CA
• Beaver Medical Group, 33758 Yucaipa Blvd., Yucaipa, CA
• Cotton Gin Fabric, 411 E. State Street, Redlands, CA
• Golden Oaks Senior Living and Retirement Community, 33398 Oak Glen Road, Yucaipa, CA
• Highland Care Center of Redlands, 700 E. Highland Avenue, Redlands, CA
• InnovAge PACE, 410 East Parkcenter Circle, San Bernardino, CA
• Somerford Place, 1319 Brookside Avenue, Redlands, CA
• The UPS Store, 25745 Barton Road, Loma Linda, CA
• Villas at San Bernardino, 2985 North G Street, San Bernardino, CA
• Wildwood Canyon Villa, 22951 Colorado Street, Yucaipa, CA
• Yucaipa Senior Center, 12202 First Street, Yucaipa, CA
• Home Instead Senior Care, 461 Tennessee Street, Suite O, Redlands, CA
• Epic Management, 1980 Orange Tree Lane Suite 103, Redlands, CA
• Epic Management, 1615 Orange Tree Lane, Redlands, CA

For more information about the program, visit BeaSantatoaSenior.com or call (909)-370-0343.

For more information about how you can help seniors in your community, visit imreadytocare.com.

SAN BERNARDINO, CA—- Assistant County Fire Chief Dan Munsey will serve as the new Fire Chief for the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District effective immediately following his appointment by County Chief Executive Officer Gary McBride, with concurrence from the Board of Supervisors.

Munsey, who has served with County Fire since 1995, succeeds Mark Hartwig, who left the department in February to accept a job as fire chief for Santa Barbara County. Deputy Fire Chief Don Trapp has served as interim chief since Hartwig’s departure.

Munsey’s appointment concluded a nationwide recruiting effort that began shortly after Hartwig’s departure and yielded a broad field of applicants.

“There were several outstanding candidates,” McBride said. “But the Board and I concluded that Assistant Chief Munsey offered the best combination of the traits we were seeking: the leadership skills and commitment to operate County Fire effectively and professionally, and the ability and desire to work productively with public safety agencies throughout the county.”

“Being chosen to serve as fire chief for this organization is a tremendous honor,” Munsey said. “This is a team of highly skilled, dedicated professionals who serve a great community. I am excited about this opportunity to lead them and provide them with the tools and the environment they need to help County Fire fully achieve its great potential.”

In his most recent assignment as Assistant Chief, Division 11, Munsey was responsible for rescue operations, fire, and emergency medical response in the High Desert region, which is the largest of the five regions served by San Bernardino County Fire.

Munsey began his career in the fire service in 1995 as a paid-call firefighter. He became a full-time firefighter in 1998, where he was assigned to Lake Arrowhead. He has worked in every division of County Fire, promoting to captain in 2004, battalion chief in 2008, and assistant chief in March 2014.

Munsey holds a master’s degree in public administration with an emphasis on business and government and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Grand Canyon University. Munsey is the current president of the Operations Section of the California Fire Chiefs Association and president of the Hi-Desert Water District Board of Directors. He has been active for a decade in the Rotary Club of San Bernardino, Victorville, and Yucca Valley.

In 2013, Munsey graduated from the San Bernardino County Management & Leadership Academy, a program that provides comprehensive management and leadership training to county employees. Participants gain theoretical and practical knowledge of public service management and leadership practices, with specific emphasis on understanding their application within San Bernardino County government.

The San Bernardino County Fire Protection District has about 1,000 employees, covers approximately 19,000 of the county’s 20,105 square miles, and serves more than 60 incorporated municipalities and unincorporated communities within four Regional Service Zones – Mountain, North Desert, South Desert and Valley – including the City of Grand Terrace, City of Hesperia, City of Needles, City of San Bernardino, City of Twentynine Palms, City of Upland, Town of Yucca Valley, and unincorporated areas. Additionally, County Fire provides contractual fire protection services to two cities: Adelanto and Fontana, via its independent fire protection district.

County Fire is a community-based, all-hazard emergency services organization providing emergency mitigation and management for fire suppression, emergency medical services, ambulance services, hazardous materials response, arson investigation, hazard and terrorism/weapons of mass destruction abatement, and technical rescue, including water-borne, flooding and mudslide, and winter rescue operations.

FONTANA, CA—EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)—- Fontana Unified School District was named Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) district of the year for the West End and East Valley regions of San Bernardino County during an awards ceremony on November 14.

The district also had two platinum award-winning schools – the highest honor bestowed by the California PBIS Coalition – and 14 other silver and gold medal schools at the event.Harry S. Truman Middle School and Citrus Elementary School were Fontana’s platinum-winning schools.

The districts’ other gold and silver schools honored during the ceremony were: Alder (silver);Cypress (gold); Date (silver); Fontana High (gold); Dolores Huerta International Academy (gold); Juniper (silver); Jurupa Hills High (gold); Live Oak (silver); Mango (silver); Randall Pepper (silver); Sequoia (gold); Sierra Lakes (silver); Southridge Tech (silver); and West Randall (silver).

They were among a record 186 schools and programs from the West End and East Valley regions of San Bernardino County that received recognition for their platinum, gold and silver awards at the ceremony, which was held at the Way World Outreach Church in San Bernardino.

The event was hosted by San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools’ PBIS program.

For a list of all the schools and district recognized at the awards ceremony, visit County Schools’ website.

By Ana B. Ibarra | Special to California Black Media Partners

Russell Desmond received a letter a few weeks ago from the American Kidney Fund (AKF) that he said felt like “a smack on the face.”

The organization informed Desmond, who has kidney failure and needs dialysis three times a week, that it will no longer help him pay for his private health insurance plan – to the tune of about $800 a month.

“I am depressed about the whole situation,” said the 58-year-old Sacramento resident. “I have no clue what I’m going to do.”

Desmond has Medicare, but it doesn’t cover the entire cost of his care. So, with assistance from AKF, he pays for a private plan to cover the difference.

Now, the fund, which helps about 3,700 Californians pay their premiums and out-of-pocket costs, is threatening to pull out of California because of a new state law that is expected to cut into the dialysis industry’s profits – leaving patients like Desmond scrambling.

The letter portrayed the fund as helpless. “We are heartbroken at this outcome,” it read. “Ending assistance in California is the last thing we want to do.”

But supporters of the new law are calling the threat a scare tactic. State Assemblyman Jim Wood (D- Healdsburg), the author of AB-290, said there is nothing in the measure that prohibits the fund from continuing to provide financial assistance to patients.

“AKF has simply made a conscious decision, without merit, to leave the state despite the many accommodations I made by amending the bill in the Senate to ensure that it can continue to operate in California,” Wood said in a written statement.

What’s behind this dispute, critics of AKF Say, is the tight relationship between the fund and the companies that provide dialysis, which filters the blood of people whose kidneys are no longer doing the job.

People on dialysis usually qualify for Medicare, the federal health insurance program for people 65 and older, and those with kidney failure and certain disabilities. If they’re low income, they may also qualify for Medicaid, which is called Medi-Cal in California.

But dialysis companies can get higher reimbursements from private insurers than from public coverage. And one way to keep dialysis patients on private insurance is by giving them financial assistance from AKF, which helps nearly 75,000 low-income dialysis patients across the country.

The fund gets most of its money from DaVita and Fresenius Medical Care, the two largest dialysis companies in the country. The fund does not disclose its donors, but an independent audit of its finances conducted by the accounting firm CliftonLarsenAllen, LLP,  reveals that 82 percent of its funding in 2018 – nearly $250 million –  came from two companies.

Insurance plans, consumer advocacy groups and unions have accused AKF of helping dialysis providers steer patients into private insurance plans in exchange for donations from the dialysis industry. Wood said his bill is intended to discourage that practice.

 AKF CEO LaVarne Burton denied the accusations and said her group plays no role in patients’ coverage choices.

Starting in 2022, the new law will limit the private-insurance reimbursement rate that dialysis companies receive for patients who get assistance from groups such as AKF to the rate that Medicare pays. The rate change won’t apply to patients who are currently receiving assistance as long as they keep the same health plans. The bill will also address a similar dynamic in drug treatment programs.

To determine which patients receive financial aid, the law will require third-party groups to disclose patients’ names to health insurers starting July 1, 2020.

These disclosure requirements are spurring AKF’s decision to leave, Burton said. She argues that they conflict with federal rules and violate patient privacy.

“AKF has no choice but to leave or seek legal relief,” Burton said.

In mid-October, the fund started sending letters to its financial aid recipients in California warning of its departure. And Nov. 1, it joined two dialysis patients in filing suit against the state, asking a U.S. District Court to rule the law unconstitutional.

Gov. Gavin Newsom cautioned against such actions when he signed the bill, and urged “both opponents and supporters to put patients first.”

But as the threats and legal battle play out, patients are caught “squarely in the middle,” said Bonnie Burns, a consultant with California Health Advocates, a Medicare advocacy group.

Their options may be limited, she said. Those who don’t work won’t have access to employer-sponsored coverage to make up the difference. And in California, Medicare recipients under age 65 are not eligible to purchase supplemental insurance known as Medigap.

The state Department of Managed Health Care offers a fact sheet for affected patients, directing them to programs such as Covered California and Medi-Cal.  

Paige Hosler, vice president of insurance management at DaVita, said insurance counselors and social workers at the company’s clinics are working with patients to find other options. “We will continue to treat all patients, regardless of insurance status,” she said.

Hosler noted that some patients may qualify for DaVita’s charity care program. 

Dialysis companies have been at the center of recent legislative and ballot-box battles, and have spent big to defend their bottom lines. Last year, they poured a record-breaking $111 million into a campaign to defeat Proposition 8, a ballot initiative that would have capped their profits. The measure failed. 

The industry also spent about $2.5 million in California on lobbying and campaign contributions in the first half of this year to oppose Wood’s measure. 

Desmond said he understands why lawmakers targeted the dialysis industry but can’t fathom why they did so at the expense of patients.

Desmond was laid off from his job as a computer programmer in Massachusetts in 2009 and moved to California to join his brother. One year later, he was diagnosed with kidney failure.

He lives off his Social Security Disability Insurance benefits, which come to about $2,000 a month after his Medicare premiums are deducted. Medicare pays for 80 percent of his care.

He also qualifies for Medi-Cal coverage that comes with high out-of-pocket costs, so he relies instead on a private Aetna insurance plan to cover the remaining 20 percent.  The American Kidney Fund has been paying the premiums for his private plan since 2015. 

“What they did is take away our life raft and left us to drown,” he said of lawmakers.

Brian Carroll, 40, of Sacramento, has been on dialysis for five years. He moved back in with his parents in 2016 because, he said, dialysis left him too weak to work. 

“I am now completely depending on other people,” Carroll said. AKF pays the $270 monthly premium for his private insurance plan that covers what Medicare doesn’t.

“That’s an entire month of groceries and gas for me,” he said. 

Carroll said he supported Proposition 8, even though dialysis companies argued that it would force them to cut back services and shut down clinics.

In this current situation, he’s not sure whom to blame – the lawmakers, who passed the law with no back-up plan for patients, or the fund, which is essentially holding patients hostage.

“What I do know is that you can’t just leave dialysis patients like this,” Carroll said. “It’s cruel.”

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This story was produced by Kaiser Health News (KHN), which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation. KHN is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

By Joe W. Bowers Jr. | California Black Media

EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK—ENN— When California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond announced the English language arts and math results of the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) test last month, we found out that African-American students’ scores lagged behind the much higher marks their White, Asian and Hispanic peers obtained. 

Statewide, just over 40 percent of all public school students met or exceeded standards in math and 51 percent were proficient in English.

Of those numbers, only 21 percent of African-American students were proficient in math, compared with 74 percent of Asian-American students, 54 percent of White students, and 29 percent of Hispanic students. In English, only 33 percent of African-American students were proficient. Compare that with 77 percent of Asian-American students, 64 percent of White students, and 41 percent of Hispanic students. Five years ago, California adopted the CAASPP assessment tests. Each year since then, our African-American student scores have ranked at the bottom of the results of all racial subgroups in the state. During that time, the achievement gap between Black students and their White and Asian peers has seen only marginal improvement, while getting wider between our children and their Hispanic counterparts.

The achievement gap between African-American and White students was first acknowledged over fifty years ago in a 1966 federal government study called the Coleman Report. The United States Congress commissioned the report after it passed the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Since then, education researchers and practitioners have been hard at work trying to identify the causes and propose what can be done to address it. Despite decades of education reform efforts and billions of dollars spent in federal, state and local funding, the achievement gap persists.

Ronald Edmonds, the late Harvard education researcher, said 40 years ago, “We can, whenever and wherever we choose, successfully teach all children whose schooling is of interest to us. We already know more than we need to do that. Whether or not we do it must finally depend on how we feel about the fact that we haven’t so far.”

To Edmonds and education experts like him, closing the achievement gap is absolutely solvable. The fact that little progress has been made to narrow it can be attributed more to the absence of political will than to any lack of social science research on the problem. The social factors that contribute to the achievement gap and the actions necessary to close it have been well studied, but public policymakers tend to avoid or overlook the data and recommendations that could cost them any  political capital. For example, in 2013 California revamped education funding to provide extra money for school districts with large numbers of “high-needs” students, mostly  kids from poor families or foster children and “English-learners.” The Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) pushed expenditure decisions down from the state to local school districts because Gov. Jerry Brown and the legislature believed that those closest to the day-to-day operation of schools were best suited to identify what their students needed and would work best for them.

However, this has proven to not be the case, particularly when it comes to the performance of Black students in California. When the California Department of Education first introduced the new public education finance system in 2013, some lawmakers warned that the LCFF did not provide mechanisms to adequately track how local school officials would spend funds. Gov. Brown and groups representing school districts shot down attempts by legislators like Assemblymember Shirley Weber (D-San Diego) to address that concern. This month, California State Auditor Elaine Howle announced that her office’s recent examination of LCFF spending found that the system lacked sufficient oversight and accounting controls, confirming Weber’s reservations. Realizing that there has been very little progress toward closing the achievement gap despite the state having redirected billions of dollars to help solve it, may finally force lawmakers to now consider passing the kind of legislation Weber initially proposed.

Edmonds, who was African American, made the observation that progress toward resolving the achievement gap might not happen as quickly as it could because of how White policymakers viewed the issue. He did not question their sincerity about solving it, but was concerned about how they would approach it given biases they might have.

The former dean of the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, Andy Porter, who is white, validated Edmonds’ concerns when he made this statement, “I would like to see the achievement gap closed, but not at the expense of my kids. I think everybody feels that way.”

It is hard to assess how much the attitude Porter expressed, and the unstated biases of others like him, may have stalled progress toward closing the achievement gap, or if they have had any effect at all. But, in California right now, there is a unique opportunity if leaders in Education grow the political will to develop effective policy toward closing the achievement gap for African-American students in our state, even if attitudes like Porter’s continue to exist within – and wield influence on – our education system. 

Today our key Education Leaders in California are African American. They are Tony Thurmond, State Superintendent of Public Instruction; Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond, President of the State Board of Education; E. Toby Boyd, President, California Teachers Association; Margaret Fortune, Board Chair, California Charter School Association; and Emma Turner, President, California School Board Association. We need these leaders to come together to propose a functioning system that will guide those working hard to achieve results for African-American students in our state. Working with legislators like Dr. Weber, we will begin to close the achievement gap.

“There has never been a time in the life of the American public school when we have not known all we needed to in order to teach all those whom we chose to teach.” – Ronald Edmonds

It’s time to take gloves off on a very crucial Census in 2020

Judging from the flat and barely noticeable national conversation on the critical importance of needed mass Black participation in the Census, it’s business as usual from various community organizations who are rolling out campaigns eleventh hour.

The problem is that not only have these campaigns failed to achive an urgent, fevered pitch, but the messaging has not been crafted in such a way that makes the conversation relatable to the broader Black audience which needs all hands on deck for this exercise. Response to the urgency of the Census should be done in a way reminiscent of mass Black-oriented marketing successes such as Marvel’s Black Panther film and the first release of the Popeye’s franchise chicken sandwich.

Priorities.

That hasn’t happened, yet. The scheduled 2020 Census promises to – once again – dramatically decrease the official Black population in the United States. The consequences of this are both enormous and fatally dangerous to Black communities nationwide. This is, clearly, by design and reflects a centuries-long, ongoing and nefarious effort by the federal government to actively diminish and “disappear” the presence of Black people in the United States through any means at their disposal. Indeed, the Census has been weaponized in such a way. Take a look at undercount trends since 1950.

We know the Census Bureau won’t take any major steps towards rectifying or correcting undercounts because it never has. In fact, it’s more involved in underfunding itself or looking for creative ways to streamline its mandated responsibility as opposed to doing it fully and comprehensively.

That burden of increased Census participation will fall on us.

This cannot be business as usual on the part of Black grassroots and community advocate infrastructure which includes large organizations such as the National Urban League, the NAACP and the National Action Network to name a few. Black churches should be mobilizing congregations every Sunday while every effort is made to reach every visible and/or known Black person in every venue including schools, barbershops, hair salons, nail places, parks, sports games, concerts, and through urban radio. That effort should coincide with or be attached to aggressive voter mobilization efforts. Instead, the Census conversation and campaign effort seems very grasstops at the moment; it’s a box checked off by social network groups, fraternities and sororities looking for community service points.

But, we can’t be cute about this. No stone should be left unturned. Every creative effort should be made to ensure every Black person possible is answering the 10-question Census, by 1) mailed questionnaire, by 2) phone or 3) online. Every effort should be made to ensure households know when to look out for their unique identifier in the mail, the ID they’ll need to take the Census online, which will look this

… and to not consider if junk mail.

Yet, there are no visible signs of anything ambitious or a tipping point national moment where the public is freaking out over predicted mass undercounts of Black persons – and, yes, we should be freaking out about it.

Here are several key points to push when having that Census conversation:

Don’t Make Yourself Invisible

That’s pretty much what an undercount amounts to: making Black people disappear. And if you want the federal government, in collusion with state and local governments who rely on this “authoritative” data to consider you as not existing then, go ahead, be our guest and don’t take the Census. While we keep saying the national Black population is 13 percent, it’s really 15 percent or more.

The Census Bureau itself, in a casual “our bad” mea culpa, admitted to undercounts back in 2010 after the last decennial exercise …

Notice how the Black undercount was the most significant compared to all other racial groups?

Indeed, notice the states with the highest concentrations of Black residents are projected to experience the most drastic medium-to-high risk undercounts, according to the Urban Institute graphic below …

Fewer Black People = Less Political Representation

Don’t let obscure or very academic terms used to describe important elements of the Census put you to sleep. Stay alert. When you’re not counted in the Census, your community loses the 1) “apportionment” game – which means you lose Members of Congress to represent you in the Congress. Fewer members of Congress means you not only lose representation, but you just lost out on a chance at federal resources, responsiveness and money. In addition, you also lose the 2) “redistricting” game – which means the Congressional, state legislator or local lawmaker district you live in not only loses clout, but the fewer Black people counted in it means the lawmaker is conveniently less inclined to take you seriously … because, once again, he/she is under the official impression that, well, “there’s not that many of them living in my district, anyway.”

Your Community Will Get Fewer to No Federal Dollars

The last 2010 Census determined how nearly $700 billion in federal funds would get distributed to communities for everything from schools, roads, Medicaid, school lunches, grants and more. This 2020 Census raises that stake to $900 billion – and that doesn’t even include the appropriation of billions of dollars more policymakers will determine based on existing Census data. These are the top 10 federal programs most reliant on federal dollars from the 2010 Census, according to the Tax Policy Center …

Undercounts Exacerbate “Gentrification,” the Affordable Living Crisis and Food Insecurity

Lots of people are upset about “gentrification” and the displacement of urban Black populations that happens as a result of higher rents, escalating housing prices and bad schools – but, no one is talking about participating fully in the Census as a strategy to help solve that.

It’s simple: the fewer Black people counted in a community gives landlords, real estate developers, employers, grocery stores, mass transit agencies and school districts a variety of excuses to make living standards that much harder for economically distressed and already strapped Black populations …

• Rents are systematically raised because the impression, based on Census data, is that more middle-class White professionals who can afford higher rent have moved in.
• Housing prices spike up and homes become unaffordable because, well, there is less of the financially-distressed population in that geographic space.
• Businesses rely on Census data, as well, among one of several research tools to determine if it’s feasible for them to set up shop in a community. Fewer businesses in a community mean fewer market options and fewer jobs for people living in that community – meaning residents have to travel farther to get to a job. But, then …
• Mass transit agencies cut bus routes and other services if they believe (or use the Census data to believe) they are fewer people in a community to service.
• Grocery stores won’t build if it’s perceived the market conditions aren’t ideal, based on Census data, hence the expansion of food deserts leading to food insecurity … and, well, more “dollar stores” with unhealthy, cheap carcinogenic food to buy.
• School districts are slow to invest in, renovate or improve neighborhood schools if Census data show fewer families and children to service.

Source: https://thebenote.com/

By Lou Yeboah

Listen, nobody told you to go do what you did. You knew better but you wanted to prove to your homeboys that you were down. Now you crying woof? Well ain’t no need of crying now. You should have cried before you did what you did. Stop your crying!

You know my mama used to tell me that I was a hard headed kid. That was her way of telling me that I was stubborn. And she was right, I’ve learned a number of hard lessons in life because I did things my way. When we are young, we see ourselves as masters of our own future. We tend to be impatient with advice from others older and more experienced than us. We naively think that everything will go smoothly and easily. But one of the realities of life is that sooner or later we will run into things that are neither of our choosing nor to our liking. Many times, we learn lessons the hard way. So many lessons come from mistakes, poor choices and, dare I say it, sin. 

The problem I earnestly believe is that we do not know how powerful sin is.  We do not know, we have no idea, it’s a term we toss around and we talk about it in a gleeful tone.  But let me say something to you, we have under estimated its power, its grip, and its hold on us.  I submit to you, that we have been bamboozled, fooled, brain washed, and beguiled. Sin is a cruel taskmaster. It robs one of much and provides him with nothing. And like the old saying says, “Sin always takes you farther than you want to go, keeps you longer than you want to stay, and costs you more than you are willing to pay.” It is extremely important that we understand sin and its all-consuming power.

You know, the Bible – God’s Word always deals with realities. Among these is the fact that we get things wrong and do stupid things. Another is the fact that troubles will often come into our lives whether we go looking for them or not. I tell you, life is hard, but GOD IS GOOD! He doesn’t give us what we deserve because of our stubborness, or our pride. I want you to know that just like God tried ever so gently to reason with Cain, He is ever so gently trying to reason with us. Know that there is no substitute for self-control and alertness when it comes to sin. God says, sin is standing at the door desiring to come in as master. Because sin is not satisfied with living in one room in your heart. It wants full run of the house. It wants in the closets, attics and basements and the whole nine yards. Sin is not satisfied until it completely masters the whole of your life. You better know that you know.

Some of the hardest life lessons repeat themselves over and over again, and it’s on each and every one of us to be reflective enough to witness them happening in the moment — so that this time around, a different decision can be made. Making the same mistakes over and over can be costly in more ways than one. Grasp the lessons life is trying to teach you. And know that God is reaching out to you again to give you another chance to repent.  God will forgive you and restore you again. But if you continue to disobey and live in sin, God’s anger will descend on you like king Manasseh. That could be fatal. Don’t take God’s grace for granted. Galatians 6:7-8 tells us: Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Listen, as the quote says, “Life is a school, learn your lesson quickly so that you would not have to repeat it!”

SAN BERNARDINO, CA— — Southern California Edison (SCE) donated to Young Visionaries Youth Leadership Academy (YVYLA), to help give support to their S.A.M. Program, which stands for Student Achievement Mentor Program. Most of SCE grant funding is targeted to help meet the needs of diverse ethnic groups, seniors, people with special needs, women, low-income, and gay and lesbian populations groups that are often under-served.

A donation of $5,000.00 was donated to the Young Visionaries SAM Program. Young Visionaries Youth Leadership Academy’s Student Achievement Mentoring (SAM) is a program designed to address and reduce suspensions through effective implementation of positive behavior support systems. SAM is a goal-oriented program designed to support the educational and professional aspirations of all students. The Program increases the completion of developmental courses, retention and graduation rates. To accomplish this, the program increases exposure to educational, professional, and civic opportunities.

The Student Achievement Mentoring Program through mentoring works to:

• Improved Self Confidence and Self Esteem

• Increase Motivation

• Broaden horizons and experience of students

• Raise Achievements and Aspirations

• Build Relationships

• Establish Employment Development Skills

• Support to Graduation

The City of San Bernardino is home to a diverse and prominently minority population: 66% Hispanic, 14% African American, 13% White, 4% Asian, and 3% other. 23% percent of the population is foreign-born. In San Bernardino, the 2016 median household income was $39,472, compared to $63,783 for the State. Unemployment has remained above both state and national levels since the 2008 financial crisis, and the 2018 unemployment rate for the City was 5%, compared to 3.9% for the county, 4.6% for the state, and 4.1% for the United States.

Young Visionaries Youth Leadership Academy has large annual outreach events for the San Bernardino community. For example, February, “Hearts for Hygiene” at this event YVYLA collects 200 bags of hygiene and distribute them to the youth in our programs that need hygiene. June is Young Visionaries Annual Youth Conference, this conference average up to 300 youth in attendance. The month of August the youth group has an annual “2000 Backpack and School Supplies” giveaway, the month of November is a Thanksgiving event giving out 1000 Thanksgiving Turkeys and boxes of food to 1000 families in need. During the month of December for Christmas YVYLA has their annual 1000 Toy giveaway to 1000 community youth.

“We would like to thank, Southern California Edison for their generous donation and recognizing the need in our community” says Terrance Stone, CEO and Founder of Young Visionaries Youth Leadership Academy.

EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK—ENN— The family of the late Queen Wyteria Ophelia Arrington Musgrove wishes to acknowledge the many expressions of sympathy and gestures of kindness shown to us following our sad loss.

On behalf of the Arrington family we would like to send out a note of great appreciation, gratitude, admiration, and thanks to our many friends, neighbors and well-wishers who visited our home, telephoned, travelled long distance, sent floral tributes, cards and messages of condolences, and who attended the wake, service and burial and who provided emotional and practical support for us doing our difficult time. Thank you for the outstanding loyalty and participation on November 4th 2019, while laying to rest our Queen Wyteria Ophelia Arrington Musgrove, we are truly grateful.

As it would be impossible to thank everyone individually, please accept this acknowledgement as an expression of our deepest gratitude for the respect that you showed the family and the honor you gave us in this time of need. Celebrating the life of Wyteria would not have been complete without you.  Many thanks, the family of Wyteria.

A special word of thanks to Dr. and Mrs. Raymond Turner, Temple Missionary Baptist Church; Pastor, Dr. Joshua and Mrs. Beckley, Ecclesia Christian Fellowship; Pastor Harrison J. and Ursula Carolina , Evangelist Jerry Musgrove, Pastor Nathaniel Newman, Pastor David McKenzie, Reverend Church Esters Jr., Ms. Karen Sanderlin, Ms. Dyanna Montgomery, Brandie Lee, The Celebration Mass Choir, LaSalle Lewis (Marissa Watkins), Soul Winners, Brandie Lee and Katrina Patterson, Tillman Riverside Mortuary, and Montecito Memorial Park and Mortuary for their kindness and respect shown at all times.

LOS ANGELES, CA— Hollywood Power Broker Creator and Executive Producer Koshie Mills, presented a live audience taping of her groundbreaking cultural talk show series “The Diaspora Dialogues” Live in Los Angeles on Friday, November 1st at the California African American Museum. The show and movement is designed to bridge the gap between Africans from Africa and African descendants in the Diaspora. 

“The Diaspora Dialogues will ignite the long-overdue conversations needed between black people globally to extinguish our cultural disconnection and create a better understanding of our different experiences but shared identity.” says Mills.

Born in Ghana, West Africa and curated in Los Angeles, Koshie’s initial experience in the entertainment industry came from managing the careers of her three successful sons who are all actors. Kwame Boateng (Everybody Hates Chris; The Plug), Kofi Siriboe (Queen Sugar; Girls Trip) Kwesi Boakye (Claws; Colony).

The Diaspora Dialogues will lend its important cultural voice by coming into the community Live and curate conversations in diverse environments to address our internal racism, identity crisis and cultural disconnect.

“The focus will be on the journey to healing and what the 21st century African Renaissance has the potential to look like for all its descendants.” says Mills.

The live taping was presented to a full house of multigenerational community supporters in the audience. It was standing room only and the evening was steered by the master of ceremonies Actor Duain Richmond (VH1 Drumline: A New Beat) and the first half of the program included a spoken word performance from poet Yasmin Monet Watkins and a screening of “The Diaspora Dialogues” first season and first episode, “Who Do You Think You Are” guest starring musical artist Estelle and Digital content creator Suede.

The talk show taping began with the introduction of Ghanaian-American Creator, Executive Producer and host Koshie Mills. Thefeatured panelists came from diverse upbringing and backgrounds, British-Nigerian, Gina Yashere (Co-Creator, Writer, Producer CBS show Bob Hearts Abishola),Dutch-Surinamese Actress, Yootha Wong-Loi-Sing (Love Is; Hunter Street) and African American, Ebonee Davis (Model/Activist). A prolific and masterful conversation ensued about the cultural divide plaguing black people as a whole globally. Many notable quotes from the panelists and host ended the programming with a standing ovation and a lengthy line for questions and answers from the audience. 

“Caribbean slaves suffered as much as American slaves, it’s just we don’t hear about it as much because America has a louder microphone” – Gina Yashere

“Our ancestors built this country and it’s not about running to Africa and leaving America but going to Africa to understand who we are and where we come from.” – Ebonee Davis

“Black Pete is such a horrible representation of black face in Dutch society and it’s sad how it portrays black people in the Netherlands.” – Yootha Wong Loi-Sing

“Africans from the continent have African Privilege, they have a clear sense of identity and self, therefore they have no concept of what their African American, Caribbean and South American counterparts face daily from the results of oppression and their stolen identity. I am challenging us to lean in and lead with empathy on both sides.” – Koshie Mills

The evening concluded with “The Diaspora Lounge” afterparty where guests enjoyed complimentary wine, catered traditional African food such as Jollof Rice, plantain and the atmosphere was electric with Afrobeats from DJ Major league, culminating in an immersive experience for all.

The taping also drew out other notable celebrities to attend and walk the red carpet. Celebrity attendees included Kofi Siriboe (Queen Sugar; Girls Trip), British Actress Shola Adewusi  (CBS show Bob Hearts Abishola), V. Bozeman (Empire; Recording Artist), Vanessa Williams (Soul Food), Lewis T. Powell (CSI), Duain Richmond (VH1 Drumline: A New Beat), Kwesi Boakye (Claws; Colony), Yazmin Monet Watkins (Actress), Bambadjan Bamba (Actor, Black Panther), Mishon Ratliff (R&B Artist), YDN (African Musical Artist), Kwame Boakye Sr. (Designer; Style Aficionado), and many others. 

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