Black Families

Feb 28 2013

Director honored for her commitment to Great Beginnings for Black Babies

Great Beginnings for Black Babies (GBBB) Executive Director Rae Jones has been selected one of the 2013 26th District SHeroes by Senator Curren D. Price Jr. and was honored at a February luncheon.

Serving since 2009 at the helm of GBBB, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the healthy development and growth of African American babies and their families, Jones was honored as one of the “extraordinary women who are committed to their professions and communities,” according to Sen. Price.

Feb 21 2013

Dealing with historical fears

The Institute for Black Parenting embarked 37 years ago on one of the most difficult and pressing social-service issues in placing orphaned Black children into stable households.

Lisa Olivia Fitch  |   OW Contributor
Feb 14 2013

Dealing with male-female relationships

“That we arrived at 50 years together is due as much to luck as to love, and a talent for knowing, when we stumble, where to fall, and how to get up again.”
—Ruby Dee on her lifetime marriage to Ossie Davis
 

Jul 12 2012

Effort focuses on youngsters up to 5

Residents of the Watts-Willowbrook, Broadway-Manchester, West Athens and Compton communities believe they are in the process of bringing out the best in their individual communities and the South Los Angeles region. They are doing this through Best Start, an effort of First 5 LA, an advocacy organization created by California voters to invest tobacco tax revenue in programs that improve the lives of children.

Jun 30 2011

Is retirement a boom or bust proposition for African American baby boomers?

As the 78 million boomers—more than 9 million of them Black—continue to make a gradual, but highly visible exit from the workforce, data show that pre-retirement factors, such as income and planning, are key determinants of how well off they will remain financially in their later years.

Boomer and retiree Gilda Austin, of Las Vegas, Nevada, launched her retirement savings plan the day she began her education career by taking advantage of the pension plan made available to her by the Clark County Unified School District.

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.