Education

Sep 23 2011

Workforce Investment Grant

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa today announced the city will receive at least $10 million in federal funds to help keep chronically absent students in school.

The federal Workforce Investment Grant will be given to the Los Angeles Unified School District to hire full-time staff that will work with students year-round to improve attendance.

The grant could be as high as $13 million. The amount might go up after Congress finalizes its budget, but $10 million is guaranteed.

Sep 13 2011

Loyola Marymount University in top 10

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Loyola Marymount University was deemed the fourth-best regional university in the western United States on the U.S. News & World Report’s ranking of colleges and universities released today.

Chapman University in Orange placed eighth on the regional list, which was headed by Trinity University in Austin, Texas. Cal State Long Beach was listed 26th, and California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, was 33rd, tied with Cal State Fullerton and and CSU Chico.

Sep 13 2011

Open call for students grades 9-12

Celebrating 25 years, the signature Los Angeles based program has assisted more than 21,000 African-American students into college
 
LOS ANGELES – Since 1986, the Young Black Scholars (YBS) college preparatory program has assisted more than 21,000 Los Angeles area Black students into college—and the program is looking to increase that number with the start of the 2011-12 academic school year.
 

Sep 12 2011

Magic Johnson-EdisonLearning Assist

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Former Los Angeles Lakers star Earvin “Magic” Johnson announced today he is partnering with a New York-based for-profit education company to help dropouts and at-risk students in failing schools in urban school districts across the country.

Magic Johnson Enterprises will join with EdisonLearning to set up dropout prevention and recovery centers for high school-age students who have already left school or are at risk of leaving and want to earn a standard high school diploma.

Sep 1 2011

Rancho Dominguez Preparatory School

The Los Angeles Unified School District Monday unveiled a new healthier school menu with the kickoff of its “I’m In” campaign at Rancho Dominguez Preparatory School in Long Beach. And although officials say the more than 60 items included on the new menu were kid-tested and -driven, reaction to the food was mixed by some of the students invited to the tasting.

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.