SB American News Week Ending 12/28

A Billion Dollar Fund Is Helping California Homeowners Make Past Due Mortgage Payments

Maxim Elramsisy | California Black Media

2022 Movers and Shakers Year in Review - Marc Philpart

Edward Henderson | California Black Media

Relief is available for homeowners struggling to pay their mortgage due to financial hardships caused by the Pandemic.

The California Mortgage Relief Program is providing a lifeline for qualifying California property owners, especially in underserved communities. Proponents of the program regard it as a safeguard to protecting generational wealth and assets.

“If you are deemed eligible and approved, we send the payment directly to your servicer or the county in which the home resides for the property tax payment, and then they're caught up,” said CalHFA Homeowner Relief Corporation President Rebecca Franklin, who was appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The California Mortgage Relief Program is giving grants that are funded by $1 billion in federal funds from the American Rescue Plans Homeowner Assistance Fund. Grants up to $80,000 for past due mortgages, and up to $20,000 for missed property taxes, will be distributed to households facing pandemicrelated financial hardship. There are NO FEES to apply, and the

PAID BACK.

The relief payments are distributed on a first come, first served basis

“This is an awesome program that reminds me of Keep Your Home, California,” said HUD certified housing counselor Linda Jackson. “Keep Your Home, California did have restrictions, you had to stay in the house for a period of time, so that that loan could be forgiven. I say to everyone, this is free money ya’ll. So, we got to get the free money because you don't have to pay this back. If anyone charges you for this program, run, because it's at no cost.”

The application is at www. CAMortgageRelief.org and it includes a calculator to help you see if you qualify. The website also provides resources to help fill out the application. To complete the process, you will need some basic documentation like a mortgage statement, property tax bill, or utility bill.

The application typically takes less than 20 minutes to fill out online. For help completing it, contact the program center at 1(888)840-2594. Additional help with this program and others is available from the United States

Department of Housing and Urban Development certified counselors at 1-800-569-4287.

“One of the biggest issues is a lot of our community members are older community members that don't know how to use computers,” said Community Action League CEO Pharaoh Mitchell. “They come in and they’re frustrated, and we literally have to be counselors to them, to [tell them] ‘calm down, we're here to help you. This is a friendly process. Let's get you through it.”

“I’m proud that they're making a conscious effort to really reach into the Black community and make sure our underserved community is served,” Mitchell added.

The program is designed to help low and moderate-income households. It has a cap for people earning more than 150% of the median income in their county, adjusted for the number of people in the household. Officials say it was created to assist people who are behind on payments, specifically those who have missed at least two payments and currently have a past due balance as of Dec. 1, 2022.

Aside from the income requirement and the delinquent payment criteria, there are almost no additional qualifiers (properties must be owner occupied, though, but some multi-unit properties may be eligible).

Homeowners with fully paid mortgages may be eligible for relief as well. Those having trouble paying their property taxes because of the pandemic may be eligible for Property Tax Relief. To qualify for the property tax relief, individuals must have missed a previous property tax payment last spring and fallen into delinquency.

Thanks to the program, to date 8,302 households have received relief. Officials anticipate the funding will reach 20,00040,000 more homeowners. A total of $246,538,132 has already been disbursed, leaving more than 75% of the allocated funds still available. The average amount granted across the state was $29,696.

For more information or general questions email info@ CAMortgageRelief.org or call 1(888)840-2594.

The five-year $100 million fund is an initiative to ensure that Black power-building and movement-based organizations have the sustained investments and resources they need to eradicate systemic and institutional racism.

On December 13th, the fund announced $1 million in general operating support to be distributed to five Black powerbuilding organizations in Los Angeles. This is the fund’s fifth round of grants to date, with a total of approximately $26 million in investments that are building Black power across the state. Los Angeles Community Action Network (LA CAN), Dignity & Power Now, Students Deserve, The Hub at LA Black Worker Center, and Youth Justice Coalition were recipients of the funding to supercharge their organizing efforts in 2023 and beyond.

California Black Media asked Philpart to reflect on the past year and share his plans for 2023.

With the work you do advocating for African Americans in California, what was your biggest accomplishment in 2022? The California Black Freedom Fund is a five-year, $100 million initiative to ensure that Black power-building and movementbased organizations have the sustained investments and resources they need to eradicate systemic and institutional racism.

The first state-based fund of its kind, the California Black Freedom Fund prioritizes investments in the courageous and visionary grassroots advocates and community leaders who are transforming our cities, our state -- and our world.

In 2022, across three rounds of grants, the California Black Freedom Fund invested approximately $11.8M in Black led power building organizations and networks across California.

What did you find most challenging over the past year?

Part of our work is to organize and educate the philanthropic sector on the giving gap and needs facing Black power building organizations in California.

Philanthropy has a shared opportunity and responsibility to marshal our resources in order to tackle systemic racism and anti-Blackness in communities across California.

We believe that private and corporate philanthropy has a huge opportunity to prioritize building the power and capacity of Black-led organizations as a strategic imperative.

I look forward to working with philanthropic leaders throughout California in the next year and beyond on this goal.

What are you most looking forward to in 2023? We are excited to develop programs that can support the advocacy, research, and programming needs of Black power building organizations throughout California. By creating and accelerating a new statewide ecosystem of Black-led organizations confronting racism and anti-Blackness, this fund aims to affect the culture, policy and systems changes necessary to realize equity and justice in California.

What’s the biggest challenge Black Californians will face next year?

Our communities must prepare for a mass civic engagement effort that will dramatically expand the Black electorate in the 2024 election. Black power building organizations will need to advocate for new laws, educate and register voters, and innovate new approaches to voter turnout.

CBM: What’s your wish for this holiday season?

My one wish is that people keep ever present the threat that Black communities face with so much injustice in the world and give to Black led power building organizations in their communities or to the California Black Freedom Fund to support the critical work happening throughout the state. You can donate to CBFF here: https:// cablackfreedomfund.org/

Community Action League

CEO Pharaoh Mitchell

CalHFA Homeowner Relief

Corporation

President Rebecca Franklin

Marc Philpart was named executive director of the California Black Freedom Fund in April 2022.

Marc Philpart

Hidden Toll: Thousands of Schools Fail to Count Homeless Students-Part 1

By Amy DiPierro and Corey Mitchell Center for Public Integrity

This story was produced as part of a collaboration with the Center for Public Integrity, The Seattle Times, Street Sense Media and WAMU/DCist.

For months, Beth Petersen paid acquaintances to take her son to school — money she sorely needed.

They’d lost their apartment, her son bouncing between relatives and friends while she hotel-hopped. As hard as she tried to keep the 13-year-old at his school, they finally had to switch districts.

Under federal law, Petersen’s son had a right to free transportation — and to remain in the school he attended at the time he lost permanent housing.

But no one told Petersen that.

“They should have been sending a bus for him. … He’s missed so much school I can’t believe it,” Petersen said. “And school is stability.”

A Center for Public Integrity analysis of district-level federal education data suggests roughly 300,000 students entitled to essential rights reserved for homeless students have slipped through the cracks, unidentified by the school districts mandated to help them.

Some 2,400 districts — from regions synonymous with economic hardship to big cities and prosperous suburbs — did not report having even one homeless student despite levels of financial need that make those figures improbable.

And many more districts are likely undercounting the number of homeless students they do identify. In nearly half of states, tallies of student homelessness bear no relationship with poverty, a sign of just how inconsistent the identification of kids with unstable housing can be.

Roughly 300,000 students entitled to essential rights reserved for homeless students have slipped through the cracks, unidentified by the school districts mandated to help them.

The reasons include a federal law so little-known that people charged with implementing it often fail to follow the rules; nearly non-existent enforcement of the law by federal and state governments; and funding so meager that districts have little incentive to survey whether students have stable housing.

SBCUSD

Students

And Families Invited To First Annual Brick Blast

On January 7, 2023

Building

Block Event to Encourage Creativity and Collaboration

San Bernardino School District Holiday Schedule

To welcome San Bernardino City Unified School District (SBCUSD) students back for the new semester, the District's Expanded Learning Department is hosting a fun-filled Saturday morning of creativity and collaboration featuring Lego building blocks and more.

Expanded Learning, also known as Sunrise/CAPS, has organized its First Annual Brick Blast for Saturday, January 7, 2023, from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Indian Springs High School. The free, all-ages event will feature five interactive stations, including a photo station, MakeN-Take station, and an Explore with Lego station.

“We are so excited to hold Expanded Learning's first Annual Brick Blast. We were

inspired by the nationwide Brick Fests occurring in several states,” said Expanded Learning Director Ann Pearson. “Lego building encompasses several skills such as problem solving, collaboration, communication, science, engineering, technology and just plain fun! We hope to see our scholars at this event.”

The Brick Blast is a free event, but families must sign up in advance for free tickets via EventBrite. Families can select one of three different, hour-long time slots, with the first block starting at 9 a.m. The first 100 students at each time slot who show their SBCUSD school ID will receive a free swag bag. Food trucks will be on site if families would like to purchase food.

Winter Break began Friday, December 16, 2022, for the vast majority of San Bernardino City Unified School District (SBCUSD) students. Students return to class on Monday, January 9, 2023.

The District’s non-schoolbased offices are open with limited hours December 19–22, 2022. Visitors may be required to make an appointment before in-person visits to District offices the week of December 19.

All SBCUSD schools and offices will be closed Friday, December 23, 2022, through Monday, January 2, 2023. The District is asking the public to help keep schools safe during

the winter break. If you See Something, Say Something by calling our hotline at (909) 3886043 to report suspicious activity, crimes, or safety concerns at our schools. All tips are anonymous. District offices will reopen on Tuesday, January 3, 2023. Inland Career Education Center (ICEC) reopens Wednesday, January 4, 2023. TK–12 students return to school Monday, January 9. SBCUSD is encouraging students and staff to take an over-the-counter COVID test the weekend before returning to school or work. Anyone who tests positive is asked to stay home.

Submission Deadline is MONDAYS by 5pm

Email Press Releases to: mary@sb-american

Submit legals to website: sb-american.com

Hidden Toll: Thousands of Schools Fail to Count Homeless StudentsPart 1...continued

“It’s a largely invisible population,” said Barbara Duffield, executive director of SchoolHouse Connection, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit focused on homeless education. “The national conversation on homelessness is focused on single adults who are very visible in large urban areas. It is not focused on children, youth and families. It is not focused on education.”

Losing a home can be a critical turning point in a child’s life. That’s why schools are required to provide extra support.

Nationwide, homeless students graduate at lower rates than average, blunting their opportunities for stable jobs and increasing the risk of continued housing insecurity in adulthood.

The gap is often stark: In 18 states, graduation rates for students who experienced homelessness lagged more than 20 percentage points behind the overall rate in both 2017 and 2018.

The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, first enacted in 1987 and expanded in 2001, requires that districts take specific actions to help unstably housed students complete school. Districts must waive enrollment requirements, such as immunization forms, that could keep kids out of the classroom. They must refer families to health care and housing services. And they must provide transportation so children can remain in the school they attended before they became homeless, even if they’re now outside the attendance boundaries.

Earl Edwards, an assistant professor at Boston College’s School of Education and Human Development, argues that McKinney-Vento was premised on an idea still pervasive in the policy debate on homelessness: Like a tornado that levels towns at random, housing misfortune has an equal chance of afflicting anyone, regardless of who they are.

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Cooler weather is the perfect time to transform your yard with colorful, drought-tolerant landscaping. In fact, water-wise plants not only help you save much needed water during extreme drought, but take your garden to a whole new level of beauty.

The academic cost is not equally shared. Black and Latino children experience homelessness at disproportionate rates, Public Integrity’s analysis showed. Nationally, American Indian or Alaska Native students were also over-represented, as were students with disabilities.

Until recently, it was not clear from federal records which students were hit hardest by housing instability. Data disclosed in U.S. Department of Education reports revealed nothing about the race or ethnicity of students recognized by their school districts as homeless.

That changed in the 201920 school year when the federal government for the first time made public the race and ethnicity breakdowns for individual school districts. The pattern that emerged is a story of the country’s sharp inequities, which put some families at far higher risk of homelessness than others.

In the 1980s, that rhetoric was a potent argument in favor of expanded federal support for homeless services. It was also wrong.

An Inadequate Policy

The McKinney Act — later renamed — took shape at a time when the Reagan administration, if it acknowledged homeless people at all, regarded them as having chosen a life on urban skid rows, said Maria Foscarinis, who helped write the law.

Foscarinis, the founder of the National Homelessness Law Center, reframed homelessness as a broader structural problem impacting families, people of all races, even suburbanites. The outcome was a race-neutral solution, despite data at the time that went counter to that theory.

Foscarinis said the law’s architects knew it was inadequate and planned to follow it with homeless prevention programs and housing. But they faced

stiff resistance. It would have been better to include raceconscious language tracking the demographics of homeless children, she added, but doing so could have jeopardized the entire effort.

“Had we done that, it would have torpedoed the whole thing, which would have hurt Black communities even more,” she said. “Then, we would have nothing at all.”

Figures now available down to the school district show the consequences of homelessness policy that doesn’t address race directly.

Nationally, Black students were 15% of public school enrollment but 27% of homeless students in 2019-20. In 36 states and Washington, D.C., the rate of homelessness among Black students was at least twice the rate of all other students that year.

Boston College’s Edwards said the disconnect lies between the reality of housing inequality and the policies intended to address it.

“If you don’t recognize that Black people, during the time when you were establishing the actual policy, were disproportionately experiencing homelessness” — and that housing discrimination, urban renewal, blockbusting and other systemic factors pushing Black people out of housing were key drivers — “then you make a policy, and the policy doesn’t have anything in place to prevent those things from persisting,” Edwards said.

And under-identification of homelessness could impact Black students more than peers of other races.

In interviews with Black students who experienced homelessness while enrolled in Los Angeles County public school districts, Edwards found that many distrusted school personnel, who underestimated their academic ability, sent them

The Fall of FTX and Renewed Mistrust Signal Disaster for Cryptocurrencies

By

The fall of Cryptocurrencies, the recent wave of the investment craze that includes NFTs and trading cards, has not only ruined bank accounts for some but now has the federal government investigating its dramatic downfall.

FTX, the Bahamas-based cryptocurrency exchange founded just before the pandemic paralyzed America and much of the world, landed in bankruptcy this month, leaving federal authorities perplexed over the fall of the company, which was valued at $32 billion.

Some have compared crypto’s fall to the famed failed Ponzi scheme orchestrated by Bernie Madoff.

“And just as Madoff’s Ponzi scheme fell apart during the 2008 financial crisis, FTX’s collapse arrives amid a broader pullback for the tech industry,” Erin Griffith, a tech writer, penned for the New York Times’s digital newsletter.

“Tech stocks have crashed. Venture capital funding is drying up. As a result, nearly 800 tech companies have laid off more than 120,000 workers this year, with cuts hitting Meta, Amazon,

and Twitter,” Griffith noted.

In a CBS News interview, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the fall of FTX should warn Americans about investing their money in “extremely risky” financial products traded in a space lacking “appropriate supervision and regulation,” adding, “I think this is a space where investors and consumers should really be very careful.”

“We have very strong investor and consumer protection laws for most of our financial markets, but in some ways, the crypto space has inadequate regulation.”

Yet, the crypto space has lured not just financial bigwigs but heavyweights in entertainment like Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, Russell Simmons, and Ja Rule.

Along with friend and business partner Herb Rice, Ja Rule cofounded The Painted House and launched the NFT collection Black Is Beautiful, with a charitable component benefiting historically Black colleges and universities.

Earlier this year, Ja Rule told the Black Press that he wanted to create a space for people of

No-Burn Day Alert Extended Mandatory Wood-Burning Ban In Effect For Residents Of The South Coast Air Basin

All Indoor and Outdoor Residential Wood Burning Prohibited Due to High Air Pollution Predicted for Monday, December 19 Through Tuesday, December 20, 2022

County/Business News

The South Coast Air Quality Management District (South Coast AQMD) has extended a residential No-Burn day alert from Monday, December 19 through Tuesday, December 20, 2022 for all those living in the South Coast Air Basin, which includes the non-desert portions of Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties and all of Orange County. South Coast AQMD reminds residents in these areas that burning wood in their fireplaces or any indoor or outdoor wood-burning device is prohibited during the mandatory wood-burning ban. The No-Burn rule prohibits burning wood as well as manufactured fire logs, such as those made from wax or paper.

Do your part to help keep our air clean by not burning wood during the mandatory wood burning ban. No-Burn day alerts are mandatory in order to protect public health when levels of fine particulate air pollution in the region are forecast to be high. Smoke from wood burning can cause health problems. Particles in wood smoke – also known as fine particulate matter or PM2.5 – can get deep into the lungs and cause respiratory problems (including asthma attacks), increases in emergency room visits and hospitalizations.

Residents can help reduce the harmful health effects of wood smoke by signing up to receive

e-mail alerts at www.AirAlerts. org to learn when a mandatory No-Burn day alert is issued.

South Coast AQMD’s NoBurn day alerts do not apply to mountain communities above 3,000 feet in elevation, the Coachella Valley, or the High Desert. Homes that rely on wood as a sole source of heat, lowincome households and those without natural gas service also are exempt from the requirement. Gas and other non-wood burning fireplaces are not restricted.

South Coast AQMD’s Check Before You Burn program is in effect from November through the end of February, when particulate levels are highest. Three No-Burn day alerts have been issued for the 2022-2023 season. Additional information is available at www.AirAlerts. org. For 24-hour recorded information, call (866) 9663293. An interactive map is available at www.aqmd.gov/ CheckBeforeYouBurnMap.

South Coast AQMD is the regulatory agency responsible for improving air quality for large areas of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, including the Coachella Valley. For news, air quality alerts, event updates and more, please visit us at www.aqmd.gov, download our award-winning app, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Supervisor Joe Baca, Jr. Accomplishes Major Improvements in the Fifth District Throughout his Second Year in Office.

San Bernardino, CA.- San Bernardino County, Fifth District Supervisor Joe Baca, Jr. completes his second full term in office with one success after the other -aiming towards the rise and growth of the Fifth District.

“Over the past two years in office, I have provided residents of my district with the revitalization of several parks, infrastructure improvements, a brand-new animal care center in Bloomington currently in the works and keeping our community safe by introducing three new deputies specifically assigned to be in Rosena Ranch.

As we try our best to face the ongoing problem our county has with homelessness, we have also been able to renew our contract with the Social Work Action Group (SWAG) as they assist our county on treating homeless individuals on a one-to-one basis, on the streets, every day.

As we adjust to the world post Covid-19 pandemic, we are thrilled to share that our County hospital, Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC) is going to begin a mobile medicine unit where they will go to those who need medical care.

2022 was a year full of accomplishments and growth for our Fifth District. This year our foundations to keep growing our Fifth district in the right direction have been strongly placed. This is only the beginning of the potential that we believe can be achieved in the Fifth District. We look forward to many more accomplishments and watching our Fifth District rise. We wish you all a very Happy Holiday season and a prosperous 2023.”

-Supervisor Joe Baca, Jr.

To watch a video that shows many of our accomplishments this year please click on this link: https://youtu.be/JuD034mYnRA

OP-ED: Reaffirming Solidarity Between Blacks and Jews in America

By Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr.

I will not be silent on the issues of racial hatred, violence, and prejudice. I am speaking out publicly in support of the recent call by billionaire African American business leader and philanthropist, Robert F. Smith, to stand up against the resurgence of racism and antisemitism in America.

Blacks and Jews in the United States have had a long history and tradition of working together and sacrificing together for freedom, justice, equality and equity. Lest we forget that we have marched together for over a century. We have shared blood together. And we have died together for the cause of freedom in the Civil Rights Movement.

Both of our communities today increasingly are the targets of violent hatred, ignorant stereotypes, and a demonic supremacist ideology. Racism and antisemitism are twin evils that cannot be ignored or trivialized.

In a recent full page paid advertisement in The New York Times, Robert F. Smith affirmed, “At a time when racism and antisemitism are on the rise, I am determined to partner with leaders from all faiths to recognize ‘Fifteen Days of Light’. We are unifying to celebrate Chanukah and Kwanzaa together, and encourage communities nationwide to join us in our support for one another.”

“Fifteen Days of Light” is a timely national opportunity to do what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. prophetically defined as the development and establishment of a “Beloved Community.” Dr. King envisioned that this would be a nationwide multiracial community where there would be no racism, no antisemitism, and no hatred toward anyone. All people, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, or faith would live together with mutual respect and unconditional love for all.

As we prepare to go into

2023, disunity between Blacks and Jews is ahistorical and counterproductive. We cannot afford to be nonchalant or indifferent. Smith’s statement to encourage participation in acts of remembrance across the nation celebrating both Chanukah and Kwanzaa together over a 15day period this month reminded me of the need to reaffirm the solidarity between Blacks and Jews.

I attended the historic 1963 March on Washington where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his eloquent and transcendent “I Have a Dream” speech. I recall the strong advocacy from Jewish leaders like Arnold Aronson of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights that supported Dr. King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the NAACP, and other civil rights organizations at the March on Washington.

That day I also remember hearing from a dynamic young freedom fighter named John Lewis who emphasized the urgency for racial equality. Then there was a young Jewish folk singer named Bob Dylan who performed at the March a haunting song he wrote about the tragic assassination of civil rights leader Medgar Evers in Mississippi.

On that sunny day in August of 1963 in Washington there were other freedom movement speakers that included a number

of prominent Jewish voices from across the country, including the outspoken Rabbi Joachim Prinz, who spoke about “the shame and disgrace of inequality and injustice” facing the Black community.

Later that year in November 1963 Dr. King joined with theologian Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel at the United Synagogue of America’s Golden Jubilee Convention in New York City. King and Heschel pledged to work together to end racism and antisemitism. In 1965 when Dr. King, John Lewis, Hosea Williams and other civil rights leaders marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Alabama, the historic Selma to Montgomery March, for voting rights, Rabbi Heschel was there marching shoulder to shoulder in solidarity.

The Black community and the Jewish community share a long, shared history of struggle and fighting for civil rights – from August and Henrietta Bondi’s home in Kansas being used as a stop on the Underground Railroad to Jewish organizations participating in the protests following the murder of George Floyd and the acceleration of the Black Lives Matter movement.

According to recent national law enforcement data, today there has been an unprecedented increase in hate crimes targeted

Erin Griffith, a tech writer, wrote in the New York Times newsletter that it would take time and multiple federal investigations to entirely understand what happened behind the scenes at FTX.

The Black community and the Jewish community share a long, shared history of struggle and fighting for civil rights.

Clean Out Your Closets and Cupboards for the Largest Clothing Donation Drive-Thru Event!

Fontana, CA, December 19, 2022- Do you have lots of "stuff" and not quite sure what to do with it? During this holiday season, make room in your closets and cupboards for your new wardrobe and home decor, by donating your old gently used clothing, shoes, accessories, books, blankets, and other home goods to the Legacy Bridges Foundation, Inc.

Clothing Donation Drive-Thru Event on Saturday, January 7th, 2023 from 9:00a.m. to 2:00p.m. This event will be held at the Entrepreneur High School's old campus located at 16730 Arrow Blvd. Fontana 92335.

"Drive-up and we'll unload your vehicles,” said Executive Director Melanee Stovall. "So many of us have an abundance of clothing that we no longer wear or an overflow of shoes, accessories and other items that we just don't know what to do with. Here's an opportunity to give those unwanted items a new home. Take these next couple of weeks to go through your closets and cupboards and set aside these items in preparation of the largest donation drive-thru event in the Inland Empire," she said.

The Legacy Bridges Foundation, Inc. (LBF) is a California 501(c)3 nonprofit public benefit corporation founded to support individuals and families who suffer from epilepsy and other seizure related disorders. LBF's mission is to raise awareness of the disease of epilepsy and other seizure related disorders, shine a light for those individuals and families affected, and partner with other organizations to find a cure.

According to the Epilepsy Foundation, "epilepsy affects 1 out of every 26 individuals; 3.4 million people nationwide, more than 65 million people globally, and 150,000 new cases are diagnosed in the United States each year."

“This is a unique two-fold opportunity that we strongly encourage you to participate in, as it will free up space in your homes and allow you to support a local nonprofit organization doing tremendous work,” said Volunteer Director Melody Solomon. Items we accept include: gently used clothing, shoes, accessories, books, blankets, and other home goods. We cannot accept the following: encyclopedias, hazardous or construction materials, or weapons. Please use bags for clothes and textiles and tightly packed boxes for small household goods. All items must be in clean condition," she added.

Have a large donation, please contact us to discuss pick-up options. For more information or to volunteer, call (951)3740933 or email us at admin@ legacybridgesfoundation.org.

To make a monetary contribution today, visit www.givebutter.com/ LegacyBridgesFoundationDonations. Support the foundation's mission to raise awareness, shine a light and partner to find a cure. All contributions are fully taxdeductible to the extent of the law.

The Legacy Bridges Foundation, Inc. has been recognized by San Bernardino County 5th District Supervisor Joe Baca Jr., Riverside County 5th District Supervisor Jeff Hewitt, Mayor of Fontana Acquanetta Warren, Mayor of Rialto Deborah Robertson, 64th District Assemblymember Mike Gipson, 47th District Assemblymember and Majority Leader Eloise Reyes Gomez, and 36th District Congressman Raul Ruiz; for the work they are doing to raise awareness of epilepsy and other seizure related disorders and for supporting those suffering.

WASHINGTON, D.C. —

Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) introduced legislation to close the gaps in our health care system that have left behind minorities and underserved communities by incentivizing increased health provider participation in disadvantaged areas. The Health Enterprise Zones Act would direct the Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary to accept applications for and designate Health Enterprise Zones (HEZs) in areas with measurable and documented health disparities and poor health outcomes. The

legislation is sponsored by Representative Anthony Brown (D-Md.-03) in the House of Representatives.

“The COVID-19 pandemic shined a spotlight on the severity of the inequities in our nation’s health care system,” said Senator Padilla. “But inequitable access to quality, affordable health care long predates the pandemic. Centuries of structural and systemic racism continue to result in poorer health outcomes in communities of color. That is why our bill would incentivize

Padilla Introduces Bill to Increase Health Provider Services in Disadvantaged Communities...continued health care providers to bring more services to structurally disadvantaged areas.”

“For far too long, communities of color and underserved populations have faced unacceptable barriers in our health care system,” said Representative Brown. “From access, to diagnosis, treatment, and ultimate medical outcomes - these disparities have resulted in preventable deaths and hardship for families. This is unacceptable. We need long term solutions to address the inequities that have plagued our society for far too long. I appreciate Senator Padilla’s partnership on this legislation that will work towards providing the quality, affordable health care that all Americans deserve. Prioritizing health equity must be a permanent part of our strategy to improve care and health outcomes.”

The Health Enterprise Zones Act would:

Define HEZs as areas with an average income below 150% of the poverty line, WIC participation that is higher than the national average, lower life expectancy than average, or more instances of lower birth rate than average;

Incentivize providers to practice in HEZs through federal grants, employee tax credits, a 10% Medicare reimbursement bonus, and student loan repayment.

The legislation is endorsed by Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Maryland Hospital Association, American Heart Association, National Association of Rural Health Clinics, American Public Health Association, Families USA, and Pipeline Health System.

OP-ED: Federal Trade Commission is Creating Challenges for Democrats and Others for the 2024 Elections

By Rev. Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr.

The Fall of FTX and Renewed Mistrust Signal Disaster for Cryptocurrencies...continued from page 3 color in the crypto world.

“That’s important. We need to be at that table,” Ja Rule said.

Simmons, the hip-hop architect, and successful businessman said he leaped into the NFT market because he wanted hip-hop pioneers to get their flowers and much-deserved money while still alive.

In collaboration with NFT marketplace Tokau, Simmons’ NFT honored individuals like D.J. Hollywood, Bizzy Bee Starski, and Grandmaster Caz.

Snoop Dogg agreed to curate the NFT collection.

“This is a multi-billion-dollar industry, and so many of the younger generation don’t know the shoulders on whom they stand,” Simmons told the Black Press at his launch party.

“Some of these guys [founders] don’t even have bank accounts, but we have to consider, all of us have to consider. None of us would be here without them.”

Simmons insisted that Snoop Dogg “gets it.”

“He wants to be a part of this. That’s why I love him so much,” Simmons asserted. “Snoop has such a big heart; he cares about these guys.”

In June, Jay-Z announced that he teamed with Twitter Founder Jack Dorsey to launch a new “Bitcoin Academy” for underserved residents –particularly those in Brooklyn, New York’s Marcy Houses.

crypto space.

This week, a new study found that the District of Columbia topped the list of American states and places that have demonstrated the most interest in NFTs and cryptocurrency.

The study found that Bitcoin sold for a record $68,000 in November 2021, while NFT sales peaked at $12.6 billion in January 2022.

Both have since dropped precipitously.

“Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information as occurred here,” John Ray III, the new CEO of FTX, told MSN as he laid out “a damning description of FTX’s operations under its founder Sam Bankman-Fried, from a lack of security controls to business funds being used to buy employees homes and luxuries.”

“From compromised systems integrity and faulty regulatory oversight abroad to the concentration of control in the hands of a very small group of inexperienced, unsophisticated, and potentially compromised individuals, this situation is unprecedented,” said Ray.

He performed cleanup work in the aftermath of the disastrous Enron scandal.

The next two years will be critical in defining what the future of our country looks like – we need rational leaders who will serve Americans of all backgrounds, especially the minority and underserved communities.

Using geolocation data has changed the way elections are fought and won. This last election cycle, the Democratic Party defied historical trends and a challenging national environment to expand its Senate majority and limit its losses in the House of Representatives.

Democrats spent almost four times the amount of capital compared to Republicans on Facebook and Instagram ads during August and September of this year, and it was well worth it. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spent even more money on its grassroots organizing than television advertising for the first time in its history.

Culturally sensitive and respectful targeting in all public campaigns has proven to be effective and efficient across the nation. All modern political organizing is built upon sophisticated data, analytics, and modeling that allows campaigns to target the voters they need to win using geolocation data.

The caliber of geolocation data has improved exponentially, and its use cases are practically endless. Democrats successfully used it to target donors, track voters and follow other political audiences in a way that hasn’t been done before.

Unfortunately, these services might end abruptly as a recent Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lawsuit against Idahobased company, Kochava, brought to light the severe lack of regulations and guidelines surrounding data privacy. There are no set rules or regulations regarding this type of data privacy, so companies are left to their own devices to define what data privacy means and how they will implement measures to protect it.

For example, Kochava implemented Privacy Block, which blocks out location data at sensitive places, including health clinics and churches; but without guidelines or regulations from the government to standardize and/or define what a sensitive location is, this is the best data providers can do to prevent data from being used inappropriately.

I commend the companies taking it upon themselves to

protect our data, especially any healthcare-related data, in the wake of the Dobbs decision; but I am disheartened that the government is wasting its time with lawsuits instead of creating real legislation that addresses mobile geolocation data privacy.

Congress must continue to draft appropriate legislative regulations and guidelines for geolocation data sharing and user privacy. The ambiguous lawsuit from the FTC will not provide a clean or clear path forward for data-sharing companies.

Geolocation technology made it possible for huge political gain last month, but if Biden’s FTC is allowed to bypass the authority of Congress and suppress data companies, Democrats might not have as much success during the 2024 presidential election.

According to a poll done by the Associated Press, voters under 30 went 53 percent for Democratic candidates last month, which is down from the 2020 election at 61 percent. Black voters still overwhelmingly supported Democrats for Congress, but that support fell between four and seven percentage points compared to 2018. Democrats won in Georgia by less than 3 percent of the vote – which is too close for comfort, and certainly too close to lose a tactic as valuable as geolocation technology.

I look to my friends in the Congressional Black Caucus, including Representative James Clyburn, a neighbor of not only Georgia but of my home state of North Carolina, to bring an action to protect this needed technology and create regulations that clearly define proper use.

The next two years will be critical in defining what the future of our country looks like – we need rational leaders who will serve Americans of all backgrounds, especially the minority and underserved communities. Minority voters are the base of the party and elect those who will fight to end inequalities. We cannot have a repeat of 2016, but I worry that an overzealous FTC will end up costing Democrats elections and silencing the voices of so many Americans.

The plan included adding other locations for the program designed in collaboration with Crypto Blockchain Plug and Black Bitcoin Billionaire.

Jay-Z and Dorsey said their mission included providing education and empowering the community with knowledge.

Program participants were promised MiFi devices, a oneyear limited data plan, and smartphones if needed.

Each of the artists has yet to speak on the current state of the

Griffin wrote in the New York Times newsletter that it would take time and multiple federal investigations to entirely understand what happened behind the scenes at FTX.

However, the impact is already evident.

“Lawmakers are calling for more oversight,” Griffin wrote.

“Crypto die-hards are trying to distance themselves. Critics of this sector of finance are crowing. And for those of you who had, until now, managed to ignore the rise and rise and rise of crypto as a phenomenon? First of all, good for you. And second, you may want to watch this one play out.”

CCA Calls Lame Duck Spending Bill A

Threat To Black Communities

Executive Director Bruce: “Keeping our current dysfunction on autopilot is bad for democracy and bad for Black and Brown communities who need real leadership in Washington.”

Washington, D.C./December 20, 2022 – Today, Concerned Communities for America (CCA) Executive Director DaQuawn Bruce issued the following statement calling for the current Lame Duck Congress to avoid passing a long-term spending bill and instead leave the door open for the new Congress to implement innovative policy solutions that will help Black and Brown communities, which are suffering under the status quo.

“A Lame Duck Congress should not pass a sweeping spending bill that punts difficult decisions far into the future. Keeping our current dysfunction on auto-pilot is bad for democracy and bad for Black and Brown communities who need real leadership in Washington.

“Passing a long-term spending bill in the waning days of this session means fewer

OP-ED: Reaffirming Solidarity Between Blacks and Jews in America...continued from page 3

against Black and Jewish communities. According to the Anti-Defamation League, 2021 was the highest year on record for documented reports of harassment, vandalism and violence directed against Jews since the organization began tracking incidents in 1979.Thus far in 2022 the incidents of antisemitism have not declined but have steadily increased.

The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) has documented a constant increase in racially motivated attacks on Black people throughout the United States during the past decade. All forms of racism and antisemitism should always be challenged relentlessly. Dr. King said it best, “We must all learn to live together as brothers, or we will all perish together as fools.”

Robert F. Smith, Founder, Chairman & CEO of Vista Equity Partners, Chairman, Carnegie Hall, is taking the right stand at the right time. Smith stated in the

ad, “Michael Eric Dyson recently wrote that ‘…African Americans and Jews are passengers on the same ship facing the ferocious headwinds of bigotry and hatred.’ It is time to put aside differences and shift our focus to the shared values that bring all Americans together as God’s children.”

The call to action is: “Join us this holiday season at public events from Los Angeles to New York, or in your own home, to light the Eight Nights of the Chanukah Menorah followed immediately by the Seven Nights of Kwanzaa and the Kinara. Post your own photos of Black and Jewish friends, neighbors and colleagues coming together to #lightthecandles.”

Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. is President and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) and is Executive Producer/Host of The Chavis Chronicles on PBS TV stations throughout the U.S. and can be reached at dr.bchavis@ nnpa.org

Padilla Introduces Bill to Increase Health Provider Services in Disadvantaged Communities

By: Lou K. Coleman-Yeboah

Lou K. Coleman-Yeboah

Take heed! Be on your guard! Things that will appear to be good, will not be good at all. Because the Antichrist is here, and not yet here. Not yet here in its consummation, but already here in significant fulfillments. Be on guard! Be alert! Because it won’t be long now before this evil and ruthless man will be ruling this world. [2 Thessalonians 2:3, 6-7, 9]. He is “already” here, and he is “not yet” here. [1 John 4:3]. In fact, John goes so far as to say: “You have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come” [1 John 2:18]. This is a call to live a sober life of alertness and faithfulness. Your mind should be girded for action [1 Peter 1:13]. You should put on the whole armor of God [Ephesians 6:13–18]. This is all the more urgent, for you to know how late it is; time is running out. [Romans 13:11]. A massive deception is coming. All we see taking place is moving the world right into the final conflict and deception. I’m not just blowing smoke here or coming up with some fun theory. What I am telling you is the absolute truth of God – it is not fiction, not fantasy, not a myth– this is straight from the Word of God. Might you be awake. Might you be alert. Might you be ready. Because I tell you, it is almost showtime. A cataclysmic event will soon take place that will change the world. Take heed! Be on guard! Watch and pray!

“For, he came near where I stood, and when he came, I was afraid and fell on my face; but he said to me, understand, [daughter] of man, that the vision refers to the time of the end. [Daniel 8:17]. He said, listen, and I will tell you what will take place later in the period of wrath, for it refers to the appointed time of the end. [Daniel 8:19]. So, as the year end and the new year begin, do not be deceived. Take heed! Be on your guard because the Book of [Revelation 13] prophesied of two 'beast' powers, [nations] which would be the main end time kingdoms to deceive the world into receiving the mark of the beast. Those two beast powers are the very ones causing the troubles behind the scenes and then they will come in front stage to appear as 'saviors' to bring 'peace.' [Daniel 7:23; Revelation 13] but it is all part of the deception to gain control over the world. Do not be deceived. Nothing in your life will remain the same. Wake up! Pay attention! Be vigilant in watchfulness as Gideons army of 300 men described in [Judges 7:1-7].

What I say to you, I say to everyone, “Be on the alert, stay awake and be continually cautions. [Mark 13:37]. If you don’t recognize this, then you are unprepared for what is to come. The news is full of Bible prophecy fulfilling events now, and there can be no doubt that we are living in the last days. Don’t wait until it’s too late to escape the snare. Be vigilant and pray!

“For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.”

[1 Thessalonians 5:3].

WAR IS OVER (if we want it)/PEACE IS POSSIBLE (if we build it)

Michael Neuroth

A few weeks ago, I visited New York City with my family. As we walked through the bustling Times Square, I remembered that just over fifty years ago—December 15, 1969—a giant black-and-white banner hung in this sensorily overloaded center of American culture and consumption with a simple message: “War Is Over! (If You Want It).” The “War is Over” peace campaign was developed by Yoko Ono and John Lennon and launched in 1969. It strategically used the marketing techniques of advertisers to spread a message of peace across billboards, newspapers, and radio broadcasts in capitols around the world. Banners hung in twelve cities, including New York, Los Angeles, London, Rome, Paris, Tokyo, Berlin, and others. The song “Happy Xmas (War Is Over),” recorded with the Harlem Community Choir in 1971, furthered this message and remains on many of our Christmas playlists today.

The messages of the anti–Vietnam War movement laid bare the insanity of war. Give peace a chance! shifted public opinion and ultimately pressured governments to bring the conflict to an end. While we know that all wars end at the diplomatic table, history has also given us examples of how simple acts and messages of peace or common humanity can interrupt violence. One of the most famous of these examples in history is the “Christmas Truce” in 1914, that occurred during the First World War.

By November of 1914, roughly 100,000 soldiers were mired in trenches across Belgium that stretched 500 miles from the English Channel to the Swiss border. The brutality of trench warfare had been made worse by extreme weather and scarce resources. By December, morale was low. Although there are

stories of spontaneous ceasefires taking place earlier along the line, historical accounts suggest that a wider ceasefire took hold on Christmas Eve, as German soldiers put up candles and sang “Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht,” which was met with verses of “the First Noel” on the British side. Brave soldiers ventured from the trenches waving flags, exchanged greetings and gifts, and even shared in a game of football (soccer) on the battlefield. While the ceasefire only lasted a day it remains a moment in history in which the world saw that, even in the darkest hour, peace is (still) possible.

As we near this Christmas, as war rages on in Ukraine and in so many places, let us take to heart that peace is possible. That war can be over—if we want it and if we work for it. This year, several peace movements, including the Fellowship of Reconciliation, are calling on US policymakers to support a “Christmas Truce” in Ukraine in the spirit of the 1914 Christmas Truce. They are advocating for an armistice starting December 25 until Orthodox Christmas on January 7, 2023. To add your name to this effort, consider signing here: https://bit.ly/ukrainetruce. Such a truce, if agreed to, could be an important step toward wider diplomatic talks and a just and peaceful end to the conflict.

Friends, let us push back against the cynicism and apathy that too often keeps us from boldly proclaiming the message our Prince of Peace brought to the world. It is the vision that somehow, someday, God’s kingdom will come. Swords will be forged into plowshares, the wolf will lie with the lamb, all will have enough, and we will learn about war no more. May it be so!

Michael Neuroth is the Policy Advocate for International Issues for the United Church of Christ.

The Sorors of Eta Phi Bet Sorority, Inc.

Lifestyle News

The Sorors of Eta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.; Gamma Omega Chapter of San Bernardino, CA designated the Highland Palms Healthcare Center in San Bernardino, CA to be this year’s recipient of the Christmas Outreach Program. Soror Barbara Jones, Committee Chair, arranged the December 14, 2022, visit.

We delivered blankets, socks, and gloves for the residents of the facility, which were graciously received. Everyone enjoyed Holiday Carols, Scripture readings and great conversations. The Sorors were able to walk through the facility and hand deliver items to those who were unable to attend the activities in the recreation hall. This is not the first time Gamma Omega Chapter visited Highland Palms Healthcare Center and it will not be the last.

Also, Gamma Omega Chapter’s Christmas Toy Giveaway was on December 12, 2022. The committee Chair, Soror Joyce Hickman, arranged for the chapter to visit the Ronald McDonald House; located in Loma Linda, Ca. Gamma Omega Chapter purchased toys.

In addition to the purchases, the Sorors purchased additional toys as well. Because of Covid 19 restrictions, the Sorors were unable to inter the building so the toys were given to the staff for distribution. We were given the opportunity to take a picture with their Ronald McDonald Statue in front of the Ronald McDonald House. The Center Director as well as other staff joined us and there was nothing but smiles.

Yes, this Holiday season has given the Gamma Omega Chapter of Eta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. exciting opportunities to help many individuals. “Not for ourselves, but for others

Hidden Toll: Thousands of Schools Fail to Count Homeless Students-Part 1...continued

from page 2

to the principal’s office for the smallest perceived slights and threatened to call child protective services.

As a result, Edwards found, many students went unidentified under McKinney-Vento because they feared that sharing their situation would only make things worse. They paid for transit passes out of pocket. They were forced out of their home districts. They navigated college admissions alone. If they were lucky, they found mentors outside of the school system.

Those experiences aren’t an accident, Edwards argues, but the product of historical patterns. For example: “Calling child protective services would not be a severe threat to Black students if racial disparities within the institution itself were less pronounced.”

Beneath the race-neutral veneer of McKinney-Vento, American Indian or Alaska Native students and Latino students also experience housing instability at higher rates than their peers in the majority of states.

In Capistrano Unified, a 44,000-student school district in southern California, the rate of homelessness among Latino students was roughly 24% in recent school years compared to about 2% among the rest of the student body.

“It’s not anything that we’ve really done research on, so I wouldn’t even be able to speculate” as to why, said Stacy Yogi, executive director of state and federal programs for the district.

No one cares about classes if we don’t know where we’re going to put our heads at night.

EJ VALEZ, NATIONAL NETWORK FOR YOUTH’S NATIONAL YOUTH ADVISORY COUNCIL

Across California, Latino students are 56% of public school enrollment but 74% of homeless students.

A 2020 report from the University of California, Los Angeles, found that Black and

Latino students who experience homelessness in the state are more than one and a half times as likely to be suspended from school as their non-homeless peers. They also miss more school days and are less prepared for college.

Public Integrity’s analysis also found that students with disabilities have higher rates of homelessness than the rest of their peers in every state except Mississippi, suggesting that a significant share of students who already require additional support attend school uncertain of where they will sleep that night.

“They’re experiencing trauma, and trauma has a pretty significant impact,” said Darla Bardine, executive director of the National Network for Youth, a policy and advocacy group focused on youth homelessness.

“You have to navigate an overly complicated system, and it’s this competition for limited resources where young people and children and families are just inherently disadvantaged.”

EJ Valez, who has limited vision and requires large-print materials for reading and braille instruction, was among them.

Valez experienced housing instability for most of his youth, bouncing between homes and schools in the Bronx and Reading, Pennsylvania.

“I’m surprised I made it out of school,” he said.

As a teenager, he said, he couch-surfed with friends and acquaintances after he became estranged from his family.

“Somehow I could retain information, but at no point in my childhood before full-on adulthood was there ever actual stability,” said Valez, now a student at Albright College in Pennsylvania and a member of the National Network for Youth’s National Youth Advisory Council. “No one cares about classes if we don’t know where we’re going to put our heads at night.”

That, he said, is why extra help from schools is so critical.

CCA Calls Lame Duck Spending Bill A Threat To Black Communities...continued

opportunities for innovative policies – such as targeted tax incentives and regulatory reform – that could help Black and Brown communities build generational wealth and shrink the racial wealth gap. It’s also a convenient way of ignoring pressing priorities — like building bipartisan support for better policing and community safety practices, better schools and the freedom to choose which ones we send our children to, and improved electoral practices so that all Americans can have faith

in the outcomes of our elections.

“Business-as-usual is not working for minority communities. If we are going to solve the problems that continue to hold back Black and Brown Americans from achieving their full potential, we need to let the new Congress start from a clean slate and bring new voices into the conversation.”

To learn more about Concerned Communities for America, please visit concernedcommunities.org. You can follow CCA on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

MISSION STATEMENT

The San Bernardino American News was established May 6, 1969. A legally adjudicated newspaper of general circulation on September 30, 1971, case number 15313 by the Superior Court of San Bernardino County.

The San Bernardino AMERICAN News subscription rate is $59.00 per year.

The San Bernardino AMERICAN News is committed to serving its readers by presenting news unbiased and objective, trusting in the mature judgment of the readers and, in so doing, strive to achieve a united community.

News releases appearing in the San Bernardino AMERICAN News do not necessarily express the policy nor the opinion of the publishers.

The San Bernardino AMERICAN News reserves the right to edit or rewrite all news releases.

“As the Year End and The New Year Begins Do Not Be Deceived!”

Gamma Omega Chapter Reaches Out To Others By Giving

Saturday December the 17th at 9:45 p.m. the 2022 - 23 Miss Black Awareness Liyah Blevins was crowned by Mrs. California USA Tee Lee. Members of the 2022-23 court are Teen Princess Si'Yae Pernell, Jr. Teen Miss Princess Chardonna Dixon, Jr.

The 55th Miss Black Awareness has been crowned

Teen Miss Duchess Serenity Tim's, Young Miss Princess Sencerity Tim's, and Young Miss Duchess Kylee Brown. The Royal party was started, their first engagement is January the 16th in the San Bernardino Martin Luther King Parade.

California’s New Tobacco Law Holds Retailers, Not

Consumers, Responsible

Latino youth report higher PUP citation rates than their white peers even after accounting for smoking frequency.

Tobacco policies must be crafted and enforced in a way that prevents harm, loss of life, and acts of violence against Black and Brown communities.

California’s New Tobacco Law Holds Retailers, Not Consumers, Responsible...continued

tobacco laws.

Removing all local PUP provisions and enforcing California’s new Flavored Tobacco law are important steps to reducing Big Tobacco’s influence. Laws that focus on retailers and not the

criminalization of individuals is not only better policy — it’s one way that Californians can address racial injustice.

Learn more about California’s path forward to undo the damage at undo.org.

Hidden Toll: Thousands of Schools Fail to Count Homeless Students-Part 1...continued from page 6

Toll: Thousands of Schools Fail to Count Homeless Students-Part 1...continued

Research on doubled-up students shows there’s good reason to provide them with help: They earned lower grades, for example, and were less likely to graduate on time.

In Riverside County, California, Beth Petersen’s son met the definition of doubled up for months, having lived temporarily with her sister and with friends.

Only Petersen didn’t know it at the time.

The California Department of Education intervened in late September to ensure her son received transportation.

“This has been a teachable moment for the district and there are protocols and … barriers that have been removed to ensure the law is met,” an employee at the state agency wrote Petersen in an email.

The tobacco industry has spent decades targeting – and killing – Black community members through predatory marketing tactics designed to hook us on deadly products like mint and menthol-cigarettes. What’s worse, in their efforts to protect profits, the industry pushed the lie that these products are a part of Black culture while exploiting our very real fear of police brutality. The passage of California’s flavored tobacco law in 2022 is groundbreaking not only because it is a giant step forward to ending this exploitation, but because it was designed to avoid further criminalizing Black and Brown folks.

Tobacco is toxic, and so is the racism and inequality that’s central in the tobacco industry and criminal justice system, including who gets policed and why. Laws that criminalize the purchase, use, and possession of tobacco products are called PUP laws. These laws have attempted to reduce youth smoking rates but can result in fines, citations, arrests, and targeting of those who buy and use tobacco products. PUP laws inflict criminal penalties against people of color, especially Black youth. Black and Hispanic/

Tobacco laws should decrease community access to these deadly addictive products. Public health must provide culturally tailored services and programs, such as Kick It California, that decrease demand by supporting people who want to use these products.

PUP laws just don’t work. They can lead to racial targeting and violence and there’s little evidence they work. Laws focusing on tobacco retailers by restricting product sales hold businesses, rather than consumers, accountable. With proper funding and enforcement, retailer sales restrictions have proven to be better than PUP laws at reducing youth initiation and ongoing tobacco use.

California is committed to ending the tobacco epidemic in the state without causing further harm to our communities. To ensure tobacco laws are equitable and work as intended, a California state law decriminalized the purchase, use and possession of all tobacco products or paraphernalia in 2016.

However, this law did not prohibit local jurisdictions from including PUP provisions in local

continued in next 3 columns

Hidden Homelessness

It might seem like common sense to assume that where more children experience poverty, more will experience homelessness, too.

But that’s not what the data from school districts show. One of the most surprising patterns we found is that reported homelessness among students didn’t mirror poverty in 24 states.

The finding runs counter to a growing body of empirical evidence supporting the connection between poverty and housing instability. Children born below 50% of the poverty line had a higher probability of eviction than higherincome peers, lower-income households are more likely to experience forced mobility and renters who are forced to move end up in higher-poverty neighborhoods than renters who move voluntarily.

“There should be a stronger relationship between homelessness and poverty,” said Jennifer Erb-Downward, director of housing stability programs and policy initiatives at the University of Michigan’s Poverty Solutions, “and the fact that there’s not supports that there’s under-identification

taking place.”

Districts can tell teachers and staff to look for common signs of housing instability among students — fatigue, unmet health needs, marked changes in behavior. But those aren’t always apparent.

If they’re following the law, districts will survey families so they can self-identify as homeless. But some parents fear that acknowledging their housing struggles could prompt the government to take their kids away.

And then there’s the gulf between what people commonly think of as homeless and the more expansive definition Congress uses for students. Living in a shelter, on the streets, in a vehicle or in a motel paid for by the government or a charitable organization are included, but that’s not all.

More than 70% of children eligible for services were forced by economic need to move out of their homes — with or without their family — and in with relatives or friends, a practice that the U.S. Department of Education defines as “doubled up.”

continued in next 2 columns

Eventually, the two found housing outside the Temecula Valley Unified School District her son had attended for years. He switched districts, keeping up with the schoolwork but struggling to make friends.

Then a friend of Petersen’s who works at a charter school told her that her son had the right to re-enroll in the Temecula Valley schools because the McKinneyVento law allows students to stay in the same school they attended before becoming homeless.

In early September, Petersen moved with her son into a twobedroom apartment — still outside the district boundaries — paid for by a homeless prevention organization and shared with another family.

Under federal law, her son is considered homeless because they live in transitional housing.

Petersen re-enrolled her son in Temecula Valley Unified but problems persisted. She said she pleaded with the district for weeks, trying to secure bus rides for the teenager. The district never responded to her emails, she said. He ultimately missed a month of classes, Petersen estimated, because she could not afford to continue paying acquaintances to transport her son every day.

A statement provided by Temecula Valley Unified in response to detailed questions regarding the Petersens said the district “does everything in its power to support our McKinneyVento families experiencing homelessness” and has “highly responsive site and district teams,” but declined to comment further.

Experts think students like Petersen’s son are among those most likely to go unidentified and unassisted because their families don’t realize they qualify for help and schools too often fail to fill the information gap.

When that happens, “we’re not even including most of our kids who are experiencing homelessness in the definition of who’s homeless,” said Charlotte Kinzley, supervisor of homeless and highly mobile services for the Minneapolis Public Schools.

“So we haven’t even named the problem.”

In Minneapolis, the reported graduation rate for homeless students is at least 26 percentage points below the rate for all students. The district introduced programs in the last few years to help schools find more students experiencing housing instability and connect them with assistance.

Lesson plans for teachers help high school students understand if they qualify.

Medicare wants to remind you that flu and COVID vaccines are available at no cost to you and will help prevent you from getting seriously ill. Get vaccinated today.

Paid for by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Hidden

Carol McGruder, co-chair, African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council

Small Arkansas City Elects Youngest Black Mayor in U.S. History

NNPA NEWSWIRE — “I’m your newly elected mayor, and it’s time to build,” Mayor-Elect Jaylen Smith declared following his Dec. 6 election victory.

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

Small Arkansas City Elects Youngest Black Mayor in U.S. History...continued

in the United States.

“It’s time to build a better chapter of Earle, Arkansas,” Smith declared. He said he intends to improve public safety,

tear down abandoned houses, and open a new grocery store.

“You’re never too young to want to make a difference in your community,” Smith asserted.

Volunteers Needed For Riverside County 2023 Homeless Count

State/Political News

At 18, Jaylen Smith recognizes the need for civic involvement.

He believes his small city of Earle, Arkansas, would benefit from improved public safety measures and less blight.

Smith will now have the chance to implement those improvements after becoming the youngest Black mayor in America.

He earned that distinction by defeating his friend, Nemi Matthews Sr., who works as the city’s street superintendent.

“I’m your newly elected mayor, and it’s time to build,” Smith declared following his Dec. 6 election victory.

According to the 2020 U.S. Census, Earle is a small city of 2,164 residents just 28 miles west of Memphis, Tennessee.

According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, Earle was named after English-born Josiah Francis Earle, who had land holdings in the area.

Earle had served in the Mexican War and with the Arkansas militia and regular Confederate cavalry during the Civil War.

Following the war, Earle

became active in the Ku Klux Klan, and on one occasion in Memphis, he was rescued by Klansmen before he could be executed by hanging.

Earle died in 1884 and left his considerable holdings to his wife and four children. When the railroad through Earle was built in 1888, Earle’s widow constructed a small depot to encourage trains to stop there; she named it for her late husband.

The most recent train depot was built in 1922 and was abandoned when passenger and freight stops were discontinued in the 1960s; the old depot now operates as the Crittenden County Museum.

Today, the city has an unemployment rate (5.8%) below the national average and enjoys recent job growth.

The cost of living in the predominantly Democrat city is nearly 27% lower than the national average, and the median home cost is $68,400.

Additionally, Earle Public Schools spend $13,778 per student, about $1,300 more than the average school expenditure

continued in next 2 columns

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, Calif.— Riverside County is looking for volunteers to get involved with the annual Homeless Point-In-Time (PIT) Count. The annual county helps agencies respond to homelessness. Volunteers are encouraged to sign up now for the annual survey of homeless adults and youth in cities and unincorporated communities throughout Riverside County.

More than 700 volunteers are needed for the 2023 count, which is scheduled for January 25. Volunteers from communitybased organizations, churches and other groups will fan out across Riverside County’s 7,300 sq.-mile landscape alongside staff from the county and all 28 cities.

“To obtain an accurate count, we need participation from those who know their communities,” says Laura Gonzalez, Social Services Planner and PIT Count Coordinator. “Volunteers can sign up to survey individuals in their city of residence or another city of their choice. Volunteers will work with experienced providers to connect those in need to housing and social services.” Last year, volunteers counted 1,980 unsheltered individuals. Of those, 558 or 28% requested follow-up services and were subsequently referred for supportive services.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires communities that receive funding from the Continuum of Care (CoC) Program, such as Riverside County, to perform the count. The CoC funds provide support and services, including housing, to provide immediate and long-term solutions towards ending homelessness. HUD CoC funding has been combined with other federal and state funding such as No Place Like Home (NPLH), CARES and American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to increase the total number of permanent supportive housing units by 300 units, or 40%, since 2019.

“Riverside County and the Continuum of Care have taken an aggressive approach to address homelessness across the region,” said Riverside County Board of Supervisors Second District Supervisor Karen Spiegel, who is on the CoC’s Board of Governance. “The data gathered from the count informs us where our services are needed most. It is so important that we all support the count, so that every person experiencing homelessness is identified.”

Training is required prior to the count. Volunteers must also have a smart phone or tablet to conduct the survey, be able to continued in next 2 columns

Volunteers Needed For Riverside County 2023 Homeless Count...continued

walk up to two hours and must be 18 or older. Volunteers ages 16-17 must be accompanied by an adult.

The General Point-inTime Count is scheduled for Wednesday, January 25, 2023,

while the Youth Count is scheduled Wednesday, January 25, 2023 through Friday, January 27, 2023.

Interested participants can register at www.rivcohws.org/ homeless-point-time-pit-count.

Ending the Sale of Most Flavored

State/Political News

Sacramento, Calif. – December 20, 2022 – A California law ending the sale of menthol cigarettes and most other flavored tobacco products, takes effect on Wednesday, December 21 despite the tobacco industry’s attempts to stop its implementation.

In 2020, the State Legislature passed the popular and bipartisan law aiming to reduce youth tobacco use initiation and address the health disparities driven by Big Tobacco's predatory practices to addict Black, LGBTQ and limited-income communities.

California voters approved Proposition 31 this November to uphold the measure.

“California voters gave a resounding no to one of Big Tobacco’s most depraved practices: using fruit- and candyflavored products to lure kids into a potential lifetime of addiction,” said Jim Knox, California managing director for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN).

“Over 2.5 million U.S. middle and high school students use e-cigarettes and research shows that flavors drive youth tobacco use, with 81% of kids who have ever tried tobacco starting with a flavored product. The epidemic rates of youth tobacco use we see across the country are the

industry’s expected result.”

Following the election, the tobacco industry bypassed usual federal court processes by requesting an emergency stay directly from the U.S. Supreme Court to prevent the law from taking effect. The Supreme Court denied the petition last week, clearing the way for the law’s implementation.

“The Supreme Court’s rejection of Big Tobacco’s desperate and deplorable attempt to stop this lifesaving law from taking effect is a huge win for our cancer mission,” said Lisa Lacasse, president of ACS CAN.

“While the industry repeatedly pursues legal challenges to delay or thwart policies aiming to protect our communities from the scourges of tobacco use, ACS CAN will continue to vigorously defend this law to ensure it can save lives from cancer caused by tobacco use as intended.”

Tobacco use is still the leading preventable cause of disease and death in the U.S. and smoking is now linked to at least 15 types of cancers, including lung, liver and colorectal cancers. Free resources on quitting smoking can be found at KickItCA.org or through the American Cancer Society’s cessation service, Empowered to Quit program.

Law

Tobacco Products in California to Take Effect Despite Big Tobacco’s Efforts to Block It