(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)—-SAN BERNARDINO, CA—The San Bernardino County Board of Education unanimously elected Hardy Brown II as president of the five-member governing body for one year during its monthly meeting on Monday, December 3.

Brown, who was just elected to a new term in November, represents Trustee Area D, which includes the districts of Rialto, San Bernardino and Snowline.

In addition to the presidency, Laura Mancha was elected vice president of the Board. Mancha represents Trustee Area C, which includes the school districts of Chaffey Joint Union, Chino Valley, Cucamonga, Fontana, Mountain View and portions of Ontario-Montclair. Board members are elected to four-year terms.

Prior to the meeting, Brown, along with newly elected Board members Ken Larson of Trustee Area A and Rita Fernandez-Loof of Trustee Area B, were sworn into office.

The Board establishes policy, adopts an annual budget, approves building plans and hears 

student expulsion, inter-district transfer and charter school appeals. The Board meets monthly, regularly the first Monday of the month.

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)—- SAN BERNARDINO, CA— Learning about African American History on Sunday, December 2, 2018 at the Center for Youth & Community Development was engaging for all Beautillion Knights and their support group. Dr. N. Lawson Bush, V, Professor of Educational Leadership and Administration and Pan African Studies at California State University, Los Angeles and the former director of the University California Irvine and Cal State Los Angeles Joint-Doctoral Program in Urban Educational Leadership spent time educating Social Lites, Inc.  Beautillion Knights on African American History.  

Alumni Beautillion Knights are encouraged to contact Mrs. Tina Darling or Mrs. Bettye Brewster before the end of December 2018.  All Alumni Knights are welcome to attend Sunday meetings with the 2018 Knights every Sunday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Center for Youth & Community Development (formerly Boys and Girls Club of San Bernardino) located at 1180 W. 9th Street in San Bernardino.

The Social Lites, Inc. 52nd Beautillion program will commence on March 30, 2019 at the National Orange Show of San Bernardino. 

For more information, please telephone chairperson, Mrs. Tina Darling at knight.beautillion@gmail.com or Ms. Joyce Smith, President at (909) 881-5841 or Ms. Bettye Brewster, Business Manager, (951) 204-0022.

By Lou Coleman-Yeboah

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)— You got to be kidding right? Tell me, it is not so…? Because don’t you know that you cannot dance with the devil without paying the devils’ price? Don’t you know that you can’t sleep in the sewer without getting dirty…? Don’t you know that you can’t compromise with evil and come away clean. Don’t you know…? You can’t hold hands with God and walk with the devil. Listen, Satan is the enemy of our soul, yet he comes to you as a romancing lover. He entices your emotions, serenades your senses, lures your lovesick heart and woos you in your weakness… he is after you. Make no mistake about it, he knows your desires and your passions and he will play on them to get what he wants… he promises everything and leaves you with nothing. He may love you and please you for a season; he ultimately will destroy you for eternity. Satan doesn’t give a cramp about you. He is not your friend and if you dance with the devil you will pay the piper. You better know that you know!

The truth about the devil is that he does not play fair. Satan is a liar! He will trick you into believing him! You gotta be on guard at all times. Satan is very sophisticated and specialized. He is the greatest under-cover agent of all times. Biblical descriptions of him include everything from an angel of light to a ravenous beast. Anyone is a welcome challenge to him, from Adam to Jesus himself. Nobody is too good or powerful for his advances. He can provoke, tempt, enter into, transform himself, and vex. He is a cunning trap-setter, and his prey is man. The bounty he collects is eternal damnation. You better know that you know!

Satan has been seducing for years and the results have always been the same. He seduced Adam and Eve and the result was the fall of mankind [Genesis 3: 1-6]. He seduced King David and the result was the death of his son and the division of his kingdom [2 Samuel 11-12]. He seduced Judas Iscariot and the result was the betrayal of Jesus and Judas committing suicide [John 13:21-30; Matthew 27:3-5]. He seduced Ananias and Sapphira and the result was that they dropped dead [Acts 5:1-11]. He tried to seduce Jesus and the result was the destruction of the Devil himself. Jesus forever proved that Satan could be defeated and that man did not have to bow down to his seduction. You can be victorious against the seduction of Satan…. Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Stop cuddling with the devil. Because, sooner or later, sin’s consequences will catch up with you. You better know that you know!

The 10-year grant is a gift from the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians

By Tess Eyrich

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)—- RIVERSIDE, CA— Over the past 13 years, more than 500 Native American high school students from across the country have gotten a taste of college life courtesy of a one-of-a-kind summer experience held at the University of California, Riverside.

Known as the Gathering of the Tribes Summer Residential Program, the eight-day initiative is organized by UCR’s Native American Student Programs, or NASP. According to NASP Director Joshua Gonzales, between 30 and 50 students attend each year, with about 30 percent of them coming from out of state. With the exception of transportation to and from UCR, most costs associated with attending are covered by NASP.

Over the past 13 years, more than 500 Native American high school students from across the country have gotten a taste of college life courtesy of a one-of-a-kind summer experience held at the University of California, Riverside.

Known as the Gathering of the Tribes Summer Residential Program, the eight-day initiative is organized by UCR’s Native American Student Programs, or NASP. According to NASP Director Joshua Gonzales, between 30 and 50 students attend each year, with about 30 percent of them coming from out of state. With the exception of transportation to and from UCR, most costs associated with attending are covered by NASP.

The program was designed to help American Indian youth get acclimated to a university setting by living in on-campus residence halls and immersing themselves in a variety of academic, cultural, and personal development workshops. During their time at UCR, participants attend daily writing sessions geared toward responding to essay prompts on the University of California’s standard undergraduate application. They also hear from UCR-affiliated guest speakers — including faculty — and tour research hubs like the School of Medicine.

So far, Gonzales’s approach has been a fruitful one. A UCR alumnus, he first came to campus on a cross country/track and field scholarship. He was active as a student in the NASP office and became a program assistant there in 2005 — the same year the Gathering of the Tribes initiative was activated by former NASP Director Earl Dean Sisto. Since then, Gonzales said, 93 percent of the summer program’s participants have gone on to attend community colleges or four-year universities, with many later receiving master’s and doctoral degrees.

In recent years, the success of the initiative caught the attention of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, a federally recognized American Indian tribe located near the city of Highland, at the base of the San Bernardino Mountains. San Manuel Chairwoman Lynn Valbuena said San Manuel targets four key areas to support through charitable giving, with education-related causes comprising one of those areas.

“The tribe is aware that the number of Native American high school graduates across the country who go on to college is relatively small, and we intend to increase that number both regionally and nationally,” Valbuena said.

With addressing those concerns a top priority, in June the San Manuel Band of Missions Indians awarded $1.28 million to NASP. Gonzales said the grant is the largest NASP has received in its 38-year history. It will be used to support the office’s long-term goal of expanding efforts to reach college-going Native American students and better serve them as they earn their degrees. Over the next 10 years, the grant will fund:

• Hiring a full-time staffer to support Gonzales’s student and community outreach efforts, further develop NASP’s educational programming, and create a roadmap for a larger initiative called the Native Pathway to College Program.
• The continuation and growth of the Gathering of the Tribes Summer Residential Program.

A series of 40 academic scholarships — four per year, at $6,000 each — reserved primarily for Native American students in need.

Gonzales, who serves as NASP’s sole permanent, full-time staffer, likened the grant to a life-giving element.

“Our office is like a plant; if you give us enough resources, like sunlight and water, we’ll be able to grow and flourish,” he said. The addition of a second full-time staffer, in particular, he said, will allow NASP to dedicate as many of its resources to student retention as it currently does to recruitment.

He also plans to devise new means of drawing applicants to the Gathering of the Tribes Summer Residential Program and tracking and building relationships with students who have attended in the past. By doing so, NASP hopes to play an integral role in guiding students through the more challenging aspects of tasks like choosing a university, applying for financial aid, and selecting a course of study.

“Here at UCR, we’re surrounded by more than 30 different tribes in the Southern California region, and many indigenous peoples who are affiliated with tribes throughout North America,” Gonzales said. “There’s so much potential to reach more American Indian students in this region — so much opportunity we look forward to developing.”

Fulbright Scholar Roberto Rivera looks to Jamaica as a model of restorative justice

By Tess Eyrich

Roberto “Bobby” Rivera

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)—- RIVERSIDE, CA—- Roberto “Bobby” Rivera spent 20 years as a police officer in Southern California before a medical injury prompted his early retirement in 2011. What he couldn’t have predicted at the time was that the injury that ended one career would also open a door to global research.

Now a doctoral candidate in the sociology department at the University of California, Riverside, Rivera channeled his prior experience in law enforcement into studying criminology. Through his research, he seeks to build a framework for more holistic approaches to policing that consider the larger environments in which crimes occur rather than just the crimes themselves.

“I had numerous Ph.D. offers around the country,” Rivera said of his academic journey. “As a scholar, I wanted to move away from traditional theories of criminology, such as the broken windows theory. I had read Alfredo Mirandé’s book ‘Gringo Justice’ and was influenced by his critical examination of criminology. He, along with other professors from the Department of Sociology, made it quite easy for me to choose UCR to pursue researching alternative policing methods.”

Rivera described holistic policing as a process in which law enforcement perceives and engages those policed with respect and understanding, noting that such a model is an ideal method to focus on human potential and achievement rather than social disorder.

In January 2019, he’ll begin a 10-month term as the Fulbright U.S. Scholar to Jamaica. With the University of the West Indies at Mona as his base, Rivera will conduct in-depth ethnographic research geared toward better understanding Jamaica’s success as a model of restorative justice.

Restorative justice differs from retributive justice in that it views crime as a violation of relationships between individuals rather than as a violation of the law or the state. Communal in nature, it emphasizes rehabilitation through personal accountability and encourages offenders to take responsibility for their actions by seeking reconciliation with both victims and communities, usually in mediated discussion sessions.

Rivera said that although criminal justice practices in the U.S. traditionally have skewed toward retributive, police departments are increasingly starting to examine and incorporate alternative methods used around the world.

In Jamaica, restorative justice techniques have been in practice since 1994. The country has historically had high levels of violence, resulting in a “traumatized population with lower levels of trust in the criminal justice system,” Rivera said.

In response, the country’s Ministry of Justice piloted its National Restorative Justice Programme in 2012 and formally passed the Restorative Justice Act in 2016. As of this year, the ministry announced that more than 200 restorative justice sessions had taken place across the island, with 1,662 people benefiting from the sessions and plans in place to expand the system to schools, among other environments.

“Restorative justice, for me, is a system where everyone has an equal opportunity to access a criminal justice system that’s fair and impartial,” Rivera said. “To go to Jamaica gives me the opportunity to research and advance areas that I’m concerned with, and to see if we can bring back any of Jamaica’s more successful methods to the U.S.”

During his time in the country, Rivera plans to interview at least 30 Jamaican criminal justice practitioners as well as 30 community members, including local representatives from social services and mental health, alcohol, and substance abuse programs.

His main aim is to return to the U.S. with the foundation for a new methodology of holistic policing that prioritizes improving trust between law enforcement officers and the communities they serve. In the future, he hopes to use his Fulbright research to influence policymaking that could see restorative justice practices become more common stateside.

Underscoring his research is a belief that current tensions between police officers and marginalized communities in the U.S. could be greatly improved by increasing trust between the two parties.

We now have issues of higher arrest rates, higher sentencing rates, and mass incarceration of people of color,” Rivera said. “We have the highest rate of incarceration of any other country in the world. How did we do that? Who benefits from it?

“For many in law enforcement, the prototype of a good police officer is someone who goes out and makes a lot of arrests,” he added. “But the reality is that mindset — and associated behaviors — isn’t working for communities of color, and profound changes are needed within police practice.”

Rivera said fostering trust between police forces and racial minority communities, in particular, will help ensure the safety of those communities for years to come.

“When people who live in communities of color lack trust, they become much less likely to report crimes or to come forward and communicate with law enforcement,” he said. “Maybe they’re afraid of being deported, maybe they have a loved one who’s incarcerated, or maybe they’ve experienced police brutality in their communities or against them personally. But once that trust is eroded it usually never comes back, and the effects become generational.”

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)— IDYLLWILD, CA—- Call it an early Christmas present, or a Thanksgiving blessing, but Idyllwild residents have a beautiful new mural to visit.

Third District County Supervisor Chuck Washington, joined by firefighters and law enforcement, presided over the unveiling on Tuesday, November 20 of the community’s newest piece of art at the Idyllwild Public Library. The “Heroes Mural” pays tribute to firefighters, notably those who protected the Idyllwild community after a fire broke out in July along State Route 74.

The Cranston Fire, as it was called, ultimately blackened more than 13,000 acres in the San Jacinto Mountains, burning homes and structures and forcing the evacuation of Idyllwild, Lake Hemet, Mountain Center and Pine Cove. The scars of the fire remain visible.

“The mural represents the hard work that both law enforcement and the firefighters do to keep the community safe,” said Supervisor Washington, who was joined by Idyllwild Fire Chief Patrick Reitz, Riverside County Sheriff’s Department Capt. Leonard Purvis of the Valle Vista station and members of CalFire.

The mural by artist Keith Blum spans the back-exterior wall of the library, which is part of the Riverside County Library System. The painting depicts firefighters from multiple agencies, including the U.S. Forest Service, CalFire and Idyllwild Fire. Blum was originally inspired to paint a mural while attending an art show in Idyllwild. When the Cranston Fire broke out, Blum watched the fire and smoke from his home in Palm Springs.

“I saw the smoke coming off the mountain, thick and dark, often blocking out the sun and dropping ash on us,” he said, adding that he was moved to donate his mural after seeing the “valiant efforts of the firefighters” to protect homes in Idyllwild.

Blum spent a month painting the tribute with local businesses donating supplies, meals and lodging. He included a special thank you to his supporters in the mural.

“We are so excited to have this. We are so blessed to have this in our town,” Chief Reitz said. “We all come together for a common cause and that is to help our fellow human beings.”

The Idyllwild Branch Library is located at 54401 Village Center Drive.

The Third Supervisorial District includes the cities of Hemet, Murrieta, San Jacinto and Temecula. It also includes the unincorporated communities of Aguanga, Anza, Cottonwood Canyon, French Valley, Gilman Hot Springs, Green Acres, Homeland, Idyllwild, Lake Riverside, Mountain Center, Murrieta Hot Springs, Pine Cove, Pinyon Pines, Poppet Flats, Rancho California, Soboba Hot Springs, Twin Pines, Valle Vista and Winchester.

Visit www.supervisorchuckwashington.com for more information.

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)—- SAN BERNARDINO, CA—- Earlier this month, home care workers of the In-Home Supportive Services program (IHSS) represented by SEIU Local 2015, clergy, and community leaders united for a prayer service and action at the Board of Supervisors office in appreciation and recognition of caregivers who are fighting for a contract that offers a livable wage.

County leaders offered a $0 wage increase to the county’s IHSS caregivers after months of negotiations and delivering over 13,000 petitions of support from community members.

“Caregiving is hard work,” said Pastor Harold Hines. “It isn’t easy to fully dedicate your time and energy to someone who depends on you to survive, and in San Bernardino County we are blessed to have over 26,000 people who are willing to step up to the plate and be caregivers to our community’s seniors and people with disabilities. We are thankful for them and the work they do. They deserve more than minimum wage.”

The event started with an invocation at St. Bernadine’s Church and ended with an action outside of the Board of Supervisors building.

Afterward, clergy leaders, caregivers and their care recipients walked up to the Board of Supervisors office and demanded the county create a pathway out of poverty for the county’s IHSS caregivers.

The next bargaining session between IHSS caregivers and the county will be December 12, 2018.

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)—- NATIONAL— National Director of the NAACP Youth and College Division, Tiffany Dena Loftin was awarded the Rising Star Award on Friday, November 16, at the 2nd Annual Black Girls Vote Ball.

The Black Girls Vote Ball celebrates the accomplishments of Black women in politics and activism who are making a difference not only in their community but around the world. The Rising Star Award is bestowed upon a person for their clear demonstration and dedication to changing the world we live in for the better.

Black Girls Vote, Inc. was launched on what would have been Shirley Chilsolm’s 91^st birthday, November 30, 2015 in Baltimore, MD. Through nontraditional engagement efforts that focus on meeting people where they are, Black Girls Vote has registered more than 16,000 voters. Black Girls Vote is also supporting the next generation of leaders and engaged voters through their High School and Collegiate Ambassador Program where BGV Ambassadors activate their student body while bringing BGV’s mission, vision and values on their campus.

This midterm election cycle, under the leadership of Tiffany Dena Loftin the NAACP Youth and College Division completed ahighly successful Vote 2018 campaign in just a few short weeks. They were able to mobilize 5,800 students, recruit and maintain 2,607 new activists, host 232 “vote specific” events, organize at 174 schools across this nation and engage 33 of the 50 states, proving that young people are rising to the occasion and answering the call.

“I dedicate this award to everyone 35 and under who constantly prove this country wrong. I dedicate this award to those who can’t vote. I dedicate this award to every black woman who says I told you so;” stated Loftin while accepting her award “Every year we have an opportunity to not only change government to not only advance legislation but to redefine democracy. I know we’re winning because it’s getting harder, but I am encouraged and inspired, and I’m committed to our communities.”

By Lue Dowdy

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK (ENN)— RUNWAY MODEL CALL is WHAT IT DO!
KD The Stylist is looking for you! Women only and no experience is necessary. All that are interested must wear a size 4 to 16, must bring a pair of high heels, must wear comfortable fitted clothes and must come rip the runway.

The start time is at 2 p.m. at 555 W. 6th Street in San Bernardino. This could be the opportunity you’ve been waiting for.

Catch me next week with more from the streets. L’s!