BLACK SMALL BUSINESS ASSOCIATION OF CALIFORNIA PRESENTS THE TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE PR OGRAM FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

businesses will take a village; thus, BSBA has recruited a number of collaborative partners and small business experts to provide a transformative experience for TAP participants.

BSBA and its partners bring over 100 years of shared experience to their TAP collaboration. These experts include local nonprofits such as Beyond the Village, which offers career planning, technology training and job creation to veterans and adults over 55, and Pryor & Pryor Consulting, which supports Black entrepreneurs through targeted communication and digital advocacy. Seminars for TAP participants will include educational presentations about business operation from Diversif-I Education Group, and legal compliance from Reed Williams law firm. Maximum Reach 4 Economic Equity, Career Path Development Group, and MoorePark Enterprises will provide development and supportive services designed for small businesses, while Sac Black Biz will provide social media training.

While the economic implications of the coronavirus pandemic have been especially devastating for Black businesses, our entrepreneurs are down now, but they are not out. The Black community is resilient and has a prevailing entrepreneurial spirit that has carried generations through the most horrific atrocities in human history. Black-owned businesses are not only needed; they are essential because they provide both critical services in underserved communities and serve as primary sources of jobs and income in communities of color. To survive this unprecedented emergency, we as a society will have to tap into our collective creativity and combine our community resources. By design, TAP models this because it is intentionally leveraging the knowledge and skills of its local partners who understand the Black community, and they are working together to help Black-owned small businesses pivot and prevent permanent closures.

BSBA and its partners are ready to circle the wagons and help Black small businesses survive COVID-19, and flourish in its aftermath. They also hope that TAP will serve as a model for future collaborative economic efforts that target underserved communities and underresourced small businesses. n

For more information about TAP, please contact BSBA at (916) 573 -0677 or info@bsba-ca.org.

CO-WORKING SPACE at Cap 21 & Capsity Oak Park

LOCATIONS: Cap21: 2572 21st Street, Sacramento, CA 95818 Capsity Oak Park: 3810 Broadway, Sacramento, CA 95817

Call to book a tour (916) 426-6008

www.capsity.com

BEYOND SB793: THINK BEFORE YOU INK.. DON’T BE FOOLED BY TOBACCO AND VAPE INDUSTRY PETITIONS

by Contributing Writer, Twlia Laster

Last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a new law that ends the sale of menthol and flavored tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, little cigars and menthol cigarettes. With this landmark law, Governor Newsom and California lawmakers are sending a message to tobacco and vape industries that their deadly history of targeting of kids, African Americans and other vulnerable populations is finally coming to an end. California is once again leading the fight against tobacco and vape use – the number one cause of preventable death – and setting a powerful example that other states should follow.

These are flavored products that are banned by SB793

The 58-1 Assembly vote and 34-0 Senate vote underscore both the tremendous level of bipartisan support and how popular this measure is. The tobacco industry should heed these votes and comply with the law. Unfortunately, tobacco and vape industry special interest groups have now launched a confusing petition campaign to overturn this important law. Their main goal is to intentionally stall implementation. The industry is spending millions to ensure that the state law cannot take effect until it is approved by voters in the Nov 2022 election. If they receive enough signatures and the ballot were to qualify, tobacco and vape industry interest groups will generate $1.2 billion in profits from the sale of menthol cigarettes alone during the two years that California’s implementation of SB 793’s flavor ban is delayed. That’s two years of making $50 million per month, or $1.64 million per day, while approximately 40,000 more high school kids will start using e-cigarettes (campaign for tobacco free kids). --Blood money earned from potential illness and death of Black and Brown people.

“Since day one, tobacco industry has fed Black and Brown communities nothing but lies - spending millions to deceive people about how addictive their products truly are, mystifying the risks of using e-cigarettes, and the biggest lie of them all: that their candy-flavored products don’t hook kids,” said Carol McGruder, Co-Chair of the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council.

“Their decades of racist and predatory targeting of Black people with mentholated tobacco products has resulted in cycles of generational addiction and death. Thankfully, the Legislature and the Governor saw through their dirty tricks when they passed SB 793; and if it ever comes time for Californians to vote on the cynical ballot referendum - they’ll see right through the cloud of lies too.”

Even more troubling is the fact that smoking doubles your risk of getting sicker from COVID. “A new UCSF study points out (Adams et al., 2020) that vaping and smoking put young adults at much greater risk for COVID-19” said Dr. Phil Gardiner, Co-Chair of the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council. “Stanford researchers published an article showing youth/young adult (13-24 years old) e-cig ever users are 5 times more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19; and past 30-day e-cig and cigarette users are 7 times more likely to be diagnosed! (Halpren-Felsher et al., 2020). Be appraised that there are over 15,000 kid friendly flavors available in the marketplace (https://www.flavorshookkids.org/ 2018). Even more problematic is that the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) half-steps in addressing this issue. Heralded last fall as a full flavor ban, subsequently the flavor ban devolved into a series of loopholes that you could drive a convoy of tractor trailers through.

You can still buy e-cigs with all their kid friendly flavors that are refillable, like Suorin® and Smok®; you can still buy disposable e-cigs, like Puff Bars®; and there is the possibility that some products may return to the market, with FDA approval. And to make matters worse, you can still buy menthol and tobacco flavored Juuls® and other non-disposable tobacco products at the local level. “We just took a major step forward with the passage of SB 793. Let’s not start regressing on the local level after this historic achievement. Said Dr. Gardiner

Passage of legislation restricting the sale of flavored tobacco products in California is critical to the health of Californians and to protect the next generation from a lifetime of addiction. Unfortunately, a ballot to repeal this law is being pushed by the industry solely to protect their profits at the expense of our health. The tobacco industry, specifically Philip Morris, makers of Marlboro Menthol and iQOS electronic cigarettes, is touting their petition as a “youth prevention initiative” that will stop youth from gaining access to tobacco products, which is

a lie. Any petition backed by the tobacco industry should be checked for facts. That is why we say “think before you ink”. Before you sign anything, you should be asking why would the makers of the most popular and profitable cigarette brand want to “prevent smoking”?

It is also important to note that flavored tobacco bans are being adopted and implemented throughout California, the United States and internationally. In California, there are currently 81 bans and counting. Local cities and counties should continue passing these important policies until the state’s law goes into effect. In addition, local jurisdictions can pass even stronger policies than the state law, like including all loose-leaf tobacco and all cigars and that do not penalize or criminalize youth, but places the onus on enforcement on the adults who illegally sell to minors. Contact your local health department to get involved with local organizations or for more information.

With the passage of the state’s law and local laws the SOL Project (Saving Our Legacy, African Americans for Smoke Free Safe Places, realizes that smokers need support to quit. “It takes most people 7-9 times to stop smoking, but it sometimes takes up to 11 times for Black people even though that may not smoke as often”, said Twlia Laster, SOL Project Director. The California Smokers Helpline is currently offering smokers FREE nicotine replacement patches and free counseling:

CALL: 1-800—NO BUTTS OR 1-844-8-NO-VAPE VISIT: www.nobutts.org OR www.novapes.org TEXT “NO VAPES” to 66819 ASK ALEXA: VAPING COACH

Another way to begin your quit smoking journey is by participating in the American Cancer Society Great American Smokeout®. The “Smokeout” is an annual event that encourages and offers support to smokers to make a plan to quit smoking or to quit smoking on the day of the event – the third Thursday in November each year. By quitting – even for one day – smokers will be taking an important step toward a healthier life and reducing their cancer risk. The American Cancer Society Great American Smokeout® takes place on the third Thursday in November - November 19, 2020. To learn more and explore event tools, resources, and where to get help to quit smoking, please visit:

https://www.cancer.org/healthy/stay-away-fromtobacco/great-american-smokeout.html. Under SB793, existing local city and county laws ending the sale of menthol and flavored tobacco products will remain intact and continue to protect the community. If your community does not have laws to end these sales, it is important that advocates continue efforts to educate decision makers on adopting strong policies that eliminate the sales of menthol and other flavored products. For a sample local ordinance and to join the fight against the tobacco and vape industry, contact Twlia Laster, Project Director at 888-774-7685. n

About Saving Our Legacy, African

Americans for Smoke Free Safe Places (The SOL Project) : The SOL Project works with key opinion leaders, businesses, community members, educators, lawmakers and non-profits to adopt and implement smoke-free policies that protect people from the hazards of tobacco smoke and electronic smoking device vapor. SOL advocates for healthy, smokefree communities for African Americans and other populations who suffer disproportionately as a result of social conditions and tobacco use. www.thesolproject.com

About The African American Tobacco Leadership Council (AATCLC) The AATCLC was formed to educate the public about the effects of tobacco on the Black American and African Immigrant populations, the tobacco industry’s predatory marketing tactics and the need to regulate flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes. To more effectively reach and save Black lives, we also partner with community stakeholders and public serving agencies to inform and direct tobacco control policies, practices and priorities. www. savingblacklives.org

LAMILLS GARRETT RUNNING FOR ROSEVILLE CITY COUNCIL by Contributing Writer, Cheryl D Howard

At an incredibly young age, quintessential values were instilled in Roseville’s City Council hopeful, LaMills Garrett. LaMills credits his, in his own words, “fabulous upbringing” to garrettforroseville.com being raised by a single mom in Columbia, South Carolina. His mom worked hard to push her kids towards having more than what she did. She instilled in him self-love, a sense of pride, and appreciation for what they did have. Mr. Garrett was a product of an all-black High School; his teachers were black, and they challenged him daily to be more than he thought he could be based on the environment that he was in.

Right out of high school, he enrolled into the University of Tennessee. Regretfully, he dropped out, but then enlisted into the U.S. Airforce to earn money for school. Studying computer science 6-year career in the Air Force led to him being recruited to Hewlett Packard in Colorado. He started out testing software, then software development, and successfully was promoted to computer programmer.

Garrett worked at Hewlett Packard until 2017. With some experience there in finance, he was moved into executive roles. His career skyrocketed when he arrived at Roseville, CA. Mr. Garrett will admit himself that he does not consider himself a politician. He says that community is his politics. He is a consummate advocate for people. His genuine affinity for people is how he is able to take on such roles as, Political Action Chair for the Greater NAACP, Board of Directors for Placer Food Bank, and he also cherished his 1 year stint with the Roseville Charter Review Commission. He stated that his work there propelled him to run for a city council seat. The Charter is basically the constitution for the city, establishing laws and bylaws for Roseville. Mr. Garrett is proud to say that he was integral in setting up the city’s re-districting commission, securing laws like stopping cities from creating boundaries for districts that only benefit the elected individuals. “I was key as a part of the re-districting commission to determine what the new rules or the new laws were going to be,” Garrett said.

The priority now is to think about how the city can recover from COVID-19. His focus will be to make sure there are good paying jobs that are accessible to people, to make sure there is affordable housing for all Roseville residents, and to address homelessness. Mr. Garrett does not want the city to corral citizens into a concentrated area intended for just the economically disadvantaged. Roseville has been hit hard by COVID-19 with big losses in tax revenues from their largest tax revenue businesses. The #1 tax revenue business is the Roseville Auto Mall and 2nd is the Roseville Westfield Galleria.

Garrett anticipates a seat on the council in November 2020. He is confident that once in office he wants to see projects that have not yet been considered. For example, he wants the city to think about creating a Downtown Core, as such, to add a cultural interest. He would like to see an expansion of Amtrak service and to bring Light Rail to Roseville. He envisions a true Downtown where people from all over can come for evening entertainment, museums, and performing arts.

Garrett is the first African American to ever run for council in Roseville. He said it, will be easy to remain non-biased from party politics. “I focus on the issues, I come with a perspective I think that most council members haven’t. Working with the council members is an easy thing to do, I think the most important thing is me being transparent, honest and driving the values that I bring to the table,” said Garrett.

LaMills Garrett will incorporate his love for his family when taking on the city of Roseville. He shares custody three children younger, ages 10, 11, and 14. He has three grown children outside the home including one of his former basketball players he took custody of from Louisiana. LaMills has been humbled in all that he learned from his older children and is enjoying leveraging some of that wisdom with his younger kids.

Mr. Garrett is now excited to bring the perspective from his childhood, discipline from the military, and business savvy from 20 years in the corporate world to the Roseville City Council. n