Honor Roll

Juliana D. Norwood  |   OW Staff Writer
Jan 26 2012

St. John’s Well Child and Family Center holds groundbreaking ceremony

St. John’s Well Child and Family Center (SJWCFC) is an independent nonprofit community health organization that serves patients of all ages through a network of six federally qualified health centers, the Family Chronic Disease and Environmental Health Center, and four school-based clinics spanning Central and South Los Angeles and Compton.

Juliana D. Norwood  |   OW Staff Writer
Jan 19 2012

Collaboration is a core value

The Harmony Project is an award-winning nonprofit organization that targets at-risk youth in underserved areas of Los Angeles by promoting positive youth development through ongoing, year-round music lessons and ensemble participation.

“Our mission is to promote the healthy growth and development of children through the study, practice and performance of music and to build healthier communities by investing in the positive development of children through music,” said founder Margaret Martin.

Jan 12 2012

Joins with Empowerment Congress Summit to address disparity in distribution state funds

Special Needs Network Inc. (SNN) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to respond to the crisis of autism and other developmental disabilities in underserved communities by providing educational forums, resources, and specialized learning opportunities for parents and caregivers of special needs children, intervention programs, and advocacy training. Founded in 2005, SNN grew out of the efforts of two mothers whose sons were diagnosed with autism.

Juliana D. Norwood  |   OW Staff Writer
Dec 22 2011

Group performs at detention facilities

In 1995, Street Poets Inc. founder Chris Henrikson began teaching a weekly poetry workshop in the Los Angeles County Probation Department’s Camp Fred Miller as a volunteer through the Writers Guild of America. The experience transformed his life, and, in the process, Street Poets United, a grassroots poetry collective for the workshop alumni, was born.

In 1997, the group joined forces with the New York City-based DreamYard Drama Project to form DreamYard/LA.

Juliana D. Norwood  |   OW Staff Writer
Dec 15 2011

Verizon offers $24,900 grant to support efforts

The Junior Firefighter Youth Foundation was founded in 2003 and is a community-based organization that aims to mentor, train and develop young minds for the future. Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Brent Burton is the CEO/founder of the foundation and County Fire Chief Deputy Daryl L. Osby serves as the director.

Burton is also the current president of the African American Firefighter Museum and former president of the Stentorians of Los Angeles County.

The foundation has created and developed the Junior Fire Cadet Program.

Dec 8 2011

Achieving excellence through performing arts

Westside Neighborhood School recently dedicated its new performing arts theater, completing a yearlong process of research, design and construction. A ribbon-cutting ceremony and student performance marked the event, during which students, parents, faculty and special guests celebrated the opening of the new educational space on the WNS campus.

Across Black America

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

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.