Raul Midón and Lizz Wright delight at the Ordway MORE ON PAGE 5
November 4 - November 10, 2013
Vol. 40 No. 45 • The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • insightnews.com
NAZ: 1,300 children on college track By Harry Colbert, Jr. Contributing Writer In a basement room lined with college banners, inside the Five Points Building, staffers, parents and partners celebrated Northside Achievement Zone’s (NAZ) milestone of having 1,300 students enrolled and on track to be college ready. NAZ, through its Promise Neighborhood is seeking to build a culture of achievement in a geographic zone between 35th Avenue to the north, Penn Avenue to the west, West Broadway to the south and Interstate 94 to the east. Naz’s goal for its Promise Neighborhood is to graduate children college ready and end a cycle of poverty within the north
Minneapolis area. And though it was a celebratory atmosphere, Geoffrey Canada, founder of the famed Harlem Children’s Zone, Inc., told staffers the celebration should be short-lived as there is plenty more work to be done. “We except no excuses for failure,” said Canada, speaking to a room of about 50 staffers, parents and NAZ partners. “Our kids have been failed for too long. People have to do more. You have to double your efforts of what got you to this point. If you keep doing the same, you’ll be in this same place next year. This is the beginning of a process that takes time, but in a community that doesn’t have time to wait.”
NAZ TURN TO 4
Harry Colbert, Jr.
Geoffrey Canada addresses staff, parents and partners of the Northside Achievement Zone’s (NAZ) Promise Neighborhood. NAZ reached a milestone of 500 families and 1,300 students enrolled in its college readiness program.
Target initiates ban the box nationwide In an overflow meeting at the Capri Theater, executives with Target Corporation engaged in a dialog about how corporate hiring policies prevent people with criminal arrest – disproportionately people of color – from securing a job. The community meeting was organized by TakeAction Minnesota through its Justice 4 All, fair hiring campaign. Jim Rowader, Target’s vice president of employee and labor relations, announced during the meeting that the company would institute a nationwide ban on the checkbox included on employment applications that screens for an applicant’s past criminal history. Officials with TakeAction said the move is a TakeAction Minnesota
Panel discussion moderated by Nekima Levy-Pounds featuring TakeAction Minnesota leaders Renee Zschokke, James Cannon, and Larcel Mack
JOBS TURN TO 10
Urban league tribute to Charles Nichols The Minneapolis Urban League (MUL) mourns the death of Charles Nichols, an educator, advisor, advocate, and public servant. The League also pays tribute to Nichols’ legacy as a trusted leader and mentor who championed efforts to inspire youth to become productive citizens and future leaders of their community. Those whose lives he touched will remember a patient instructor, a strict but caring school administrator, a principled professional, and a seriously fun-loving and witty colleague. Nichols was identified as a candidate for the Minneapolis Urban League’s board of directors back in 1987, and
Charles Nichols
MUL
would eventually become board chair. He was trusted
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Newark’s Cory Booker wins Senate seat By Glenn Townes Special to the NNPA from The New York Amsterdam News In what many expected Newark Mayor Cory Booker nabbed the coveted U.S. Senate seat in a hotly contested race against Republican hopeful Steve Lonegan at a special election on Wednesday in New Jersey. The gregarious mayor becomes the
first African American elected to the U.S. Senate since President Barack Obama. Booker, 44 made his acceptance speech just two hours after polling centers across the state closed and put the new Senator-elect with more than 56 percent of the vote—with about 75 percent of all precincts reporting. Booker eventually garnered about 710,000 votes or about 55 percent compared to Lonegan’s 579,000 or about 44 percent with nearly all precincts
Newark Mayor Cory Booker
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reported. Booker will fill the vacant Senate seat of longtime politico Frank Lautenberg, who passed away earlier this year. Delivering a fire and brimstone acceptance speech to a standing room audience at Booker election campaign headquarters at NJPAC Center in Newark, the gregarious and charismatic outgoing mayor paid homage to his modest beginnings; paid tribute to his father, Cary, who passed away last week and hinted about some
Moore therapy movement
of his plans as the Garden state’s newest senator in Washington. “I will join Senator Menendez in moving the people of New Jersey ahead,” he said. “But make no mistake, we have work to do!” The mantra of “work to do” has long been a staple in dozens of Booker’s speeches—including one of his first speeches after becoming mayor in 2006. Lonegan conceded defeat in a
BOOKER TURN TO 12
Who is to blame for the government shutdown?
In order to grow, you have to MOVE
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