WINNER OF FIVE SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS D.C. AWARDS Show Your Appreciation to Our Elders during Older Americans Month Vol. 56, No. 31 • May 20 -26, 2021
Parents Want the Decision to Have Children Vaccinated Remain in their Own Hands Many Opposed to Health Departments Mandating COVID-19 Vaccine for Minors Sam P.K. Collins WI Contributing Writer
5 Jasmine Jennings, 17, a junior in high school was the first teenager to receive a COVID-19 vaccination at the vaccine-a-thon held at the William Curry Sports And Learning Center in Largo, Maryland. (Anthony Tilghman/The Washington Informer)
With the U.S. federal government’s approval and recommendation of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children between the ages of 12 and 15 comes the opportunity for “tweens” and teens to join others already inoculated amidst a pandemic that has already claimed over half a million lives nationwide. And while it remains unclear if the DC Department of Health [DOH]
Reading Partners DC Joins Forces with Howard to Curb Student Learning Loss Sam P.K. Collins WI Contributing Writer Over the last decade, local nonprofit Reading Partners DC has connected youths at nearly two dozen elementary schools with volunteers who have helped children strengthen their reading skills. Undergraduates from American University and The George Washington University often counted among those who served in this capacity. In its latest attempt to battle learning loss and boost reading comprehension among D.C.’s
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Kelly Diane Galloway: On a Walk to Derail Human Trafficking
Activist Traveling Route of Underground Railroad, Now through Juneteenth
youngest students, Reading Partners DC has established an alliance with Howard University [HU]. Through this partnership, HU students will be able to gain experience and work-study dollars as tutors for one or more of the nearly 1,000 children under the nonprofit’s purview. “To get children back on track and further along than they’ve ever been, it will take every resident in D.C. to join together and help young people,” said Shukurat Adamoh-Faniyan, executive direc-
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will mandate the vaccine for students returning to school in the fall, some parents have been proactive and had their children vaccinated. Meanwhile, others like Gaby L. Fraser, said they don’t want the government impeding on parents’ rights to make the decision on their own. “I just don’t think it’s something that should be mandated. That’s a decision for parents and families to make – just like whether we want to send
D. Kevin McNeir WI Senior Editor Kelly Diane Galloway says she’s on a mission to bring greater awareness to the problem, or perhaps the continuing crisis, of human trafficking. And while some may believe that human trafficking exists only in places far away from our hallowed shores here in America, evidence suggests otherwise. However, the nuanced and unique perspective which Galloway brings to the conversation points to her contention that just as children in Taiwan or women in South Africa 5 Kelly Diane Galloway with fellow walkers. (Courtesy photo)
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Celebrating 56 Years of Service / Serving More Than 50,000 Readers Throughout The Metropolitan Area