Education

Sep 15 2011

Tell OurWeekly how you really feel.

OurWeekly wants to know how you feel about the California Dream Act?  Do you think that California has enough money to go around and will Black students suffer if it's passed?  Tell us how you really feel.
 

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 9 2011

National primetime special

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—As the school year gets underway, broadcaster Tavis Smiley tackles the subject of education with a new PBS primetime special, an interactive website, and a companion e-book that will examine an undeclared crisis in America—the staggering dropout rate among young Black males. Smiley’s yearlong initiative kicks off with the premiere of the fifth episode of Tavis Smiley Reports, titled “Too Important to Fail,” on Tuesday, September 13, 2011, on PBS (check local listings).

Aug 18 2011

Putting the arts back into education

Despite the usual glum surrounding the issue of education, there are educators who are adamant about making productive changes in schools such as at Florence Griffith Joyner Elementary School. The Summer Cool Program is just the beginning of something revolutionary at the school with the potential to change the community as well.

Aug 16 2011

Commercial and property taxes

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is expected to use a speech at the Sacramento Press Club today to recommend changes to Proposition 13, the 1978 ballot initiative that placed strict limits on property taxes.

Villaraigosa declined Monday to give any details about the speech, other than to say, “I’m going to address more than just Prop. 13,” specifically citing funding for elementary and secondary schools and the state’s universities and colleges.

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.