Juliana D. Norwood
OW Staff Writer
Jul 22 2010

Providing invaluable life skills

Purple Reign Education Center Inc., founded by Sharon Cruse, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization established to address individuals’ behavior and work with them to develop different approaches to living and sustaining a better quality of life. Purple Reign works in partnership with schools, faith-based and community-based organizations, who connect with at-risk youth and young adults.

Jul 22 2010

Spreading joy through dance

The National Dance Day Flash Mob (flash mob: a group of people show up at a location and do a seemingly random or pointless act, in this case dancing) is official and will be held at 10 a.m. on July 31 (location will be disclosed as close to performance day as possible to maintain the sense of surprise and spontaneity).

Jul 22 2010

Teacher transfers cause controversy

LAWNDALE, Calif - Hundreds of Lawndale High School students walked out of class to protest a decision to involuntarily transfer 50 of their top teachers (who were notified of the transferral by the principal, during the middle of class) to Leuzinger High School, one of the lowest performing schools in the state. According to Academic Performance Index (API) scores—the state’s measuring tool of student achievement—Leuzinger is in the bottom 10 percent of public high schools in the state.

Jul 22 2010

Judy Dunlap is in

INGLEWOOD, Calif.—In the Inglewood City Council meeting held Tuesday (and carried over into Wednesday) it was officially announced that mayoral candidate James T. Butts has been disqualified from the race.

Butts’ removal was the result of an investigation that determined that he was not a registered voter in the city of Inglewood by the Feb. 8 deadline.

His request for change of address was not processed until Feb. 12 making him ineligible to run for office by four days.

Jul 22 2010

Rumble in the chambers

Sparks flew at the Inglewood city council meeting held Wednesday thanks to proposals for a transit station site under consideration by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) for the proposed Crenshaw/ LAX transit corridor.
The first recommendation on the agenda was to discuss and prioritize Crenshaw/LAX Light Rail Line station locations at Florence/La Brea Avenue and at Florence/West Blvd./Redondo Blvd.

Jul 15 2010

Get up and move

Through joint efforts by Nigel Lythgoe, the executive producer and judge of “So You Think You Can Dance,” and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, a bill has been introduced into the House of Representatives officially naming July 31 National Dance Day.

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.

California
San Diego college students and volunteers will carry out their sixth home restoration project on Wednesday, July 10 through Sunday, July 14. as part of the “Healing our Heroes’ Homes” (H3) program created by the nonprofit Embrace. The five-day effort will take place at the home of medically retired Marine Corps Capt. Sarah Bettencourt. Bettencourt served with many different units across the country during the Global War on Terrorism and developed a rare neurological disorder in 2008. With a focus to restore the homes of disabled veteran homeowners, H3 falls in line with Embrace’s mission to mobilize college-student volunteers and community members to serve less fortunate members of civilian and veteran communities. The project for the Bettencourts’ home includes kitchen and bathroom remodeling, building ADA-compliant disability ramps, widening their driveway to ADA standards, widening doorways and landscaping.
 
District of Columbia
The 2013 Smithsonian Folklife Festival will showcase its five-year community research project on African American identity with the program “The Will to Adorn: African American Diversity, Style, and Identity.” This multicity collaboration examines the history and culture of the aesthetics of African Americans. The festival will be held June 26-30 and July 3-7, outdoors on the National Mall between Seventh and 14th streets. “Whether we realize it or not, we are all dress artists. The way we compose our look is a creative expression of our ideas about who we are and who we aspire to be,” said Diana N’Diaye, program curator. “This program explores the diversity of African American traditions of style, but also teaches young people the importance of documenting their own culture and saving that information for themselves and future generations.”