Post-Katrina/Rita Victims Granted Relief in Housing Discrimination Case
Posted on 25. Aug, 2010 by admin in Uncategorized
by Lisette Livingston
A federal court in Washington, DC, has prevented Louisiana from continuing to utilize a discriminatory formula as part of the federally-funded “Road Home” Program, which was designed by the Louisiana Recovery Authority and approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) to aid homeowners in their efforts to rebuild in the wake of devastating damage resulting from Hurricanes Rita and Katrina.
With $11 billion in federal funds, the Road Home Program awards grants to Louisiana homeowners whose homes were damaged by the storms in 2005 using one of two formulas: either the pre-storm value of the home in question, or the cost of repairs, whichever is lower. In the Court’s recent ruling, it determined that using the pre-storm value of the home to calculate grant awards likely creates a discriminatory impact on African-American homeowners, as black homeowners’ grants are far more likely to be based on the lower, pre-storm value of their homes rather than the cost of repairing the damage to their homes – even when the damage sustained and the cost of repair is the same.
This disparity means that African-American homeowners are likely to have bigger gaps in the resources necessary to rebuild their homes. In its order, the Court granted the plaintiffs’ request to prevent Louisiana officials from using pre-storm value to calculate any future Road Home grant awards.
“It is our hope that this is the first step in truly getting folks on the road home. Today’s ruling is an indictment of HUD and Louisiana. The flawed Road Home Program is part of the reason why the pace of recovery has been so slow five years after the storms ravaged the Gulf Coast,” said John Payton, Legal Defense Fund President and Director- Counsel.
Last month the plaintiffs filed a separate motion for preliminary injunction asking for a freeze in spending surplus Road Home funds until the conclusion of the pending lawsuit, so that the surplus funds could be used to make up the difference to those families who suffered discrimination. The Court denied that motion but found a “strong inference” of discrimination. The decision does not address those who already received funding under the program, but prevents the discriminatory formula from being applied to future grants.
The plaintiffs in the case are the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center, the National Fair Housing Alliance, and individual homeowners representing others who suffered discrimination. Lawyers from the law firms of Cohen, Milstein Sellers & Toll and WilmerHale are co-counsel.
Reclaiming The Streets
Posted on 25. Aug, 2010 by admin in Uncategorized
Safe Summer Basketball League Championships Honor Victims of Violence
by Shanita Bigelow
Last Tuesday marked the third annual West Haven Safe Summer Basketball League championship tournament. Before a full crowd, the elementary school, high school and adult division teams—Crane Future, Bogan High School and the Village (representing Roosevelt Square)—claimed victory on the Malcolm X College court.
Commemorating the lives victimized by gun violence, players at the event from each division received a “Sportsmanship” award in honor of slain Chicago police officers Thomas Wortham IV and Thor Soderberg, as well as 16-year-old Blair Holt, who was killed in 2007.
In the past the awards have honored slain youth, said Ernest Gates, Director of the Near West Side Community Development Corporation (NWSCDC), which started the league in 2008. This year, in an effort to bridge the divide between the neighborhood and the police, NWSCDC honored Holt and the two police officers, Gates said. “We saw it as a way to say to the police department, we feel your pain and we respect what you do,” he continued.
Marlon Jones of Dett Elementary School received the elementary school division’s Sportsmanship award in honor of Blair Holt. Holt was shot on a CTA bus while protecting a friend. Ron Holt, Blair’s father and director of the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS), presented Jones with the award. “Blair loved basketball so this event is very comforting. Basketball is a positive, motivating force. Like I always say, ‘Team work makes the dream work’,” Holt said.
Jones has been participating in the league since it began and while the competition is tough, he says, it’s helped with his skills and “it helps the kids get off the streets.”
Stanley Martin of the Bogan team was awarded for his sportsmanship in honor of Officer Wortham, also an Iraq war veteran. Wortham’s father, Thomas Wortham III, presented the award. “We need more young men doing the right thing,” he said. Wortham’s mother and sister were also in attendance. Wortham was shot outside of his family’s South Side home in an attempted robbery on May 20.
Tony Bennett of the Village received the award in honor of Soderberg who was killed in the line of duty on July 7. Soderberg was part of Operation Project Youth, a CPD crime-fighting initiative, CBS News reports. He was approached in a police parking lot after his shift and was shot in what police believe was an attempted robbery.
Since the league’s start in 2008, public violence in the West Haven community has decreased by 64.4 percent, according to a NWSCDC press release. Homicide and aggravated battery have decreased 100 percent, the release reports. Created by NWSCDC to provide a safe alternative for youth and fun, free entertainment for members of the Near West Side community, this year the league hosted 240 basketball players and over 250 onlookers per game.
People of all ages could be seen in the crowd. A lot of kids and families attend, said Gates, who believes that if you give people clean, free entertainment, they’ll come.
The basketball league—one of the West Haven Sports Club—is one of many programs NWSCDC offers. The programs occur year round and include music, dance, baseball and softball, boxing, math and science, and the Young Entrepreneur Program—each includes a mentoring component with peer discussions.
The basketball league, a part of NWSCDC’s implementation of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation’s (LISC/Chicago) New Communities Program. The West Haven tournament was a precursor to Hoops in the Hood, a citywide tournament facilitated by LISC/ Chicago. The Hoops in the Hood championship games were held Saturday. Teams from West Haven, Englewood, Auburn Gresham, the Near North Side, Pilsen, East Garfield Park, Back of the Yards, Humboldt Park, North Lawndale, and Little Village came together as examples of how they, through their efforts on the court, have reduced violence in their neighborhoods.
The Weathers Group Selected to Lead Post-Katrina Efforts
Posted on 25. Aug, 2010 by admin in Uncategorized
Charles Weathers
COLUMBIA, S.C. (NNPA) – The Weathers Group, a consulting firm based in Columbia, S.C., has been selected to lead post- Katrina capacity-building efforts in the Gulf Coast, including areas in and surrounding the cities of New Orleans, Lake Charles, and Baton Rouge in Louisiana. With more than 20 years of community engagement and related experience, The Weathers Group will work with collaborating foundations to improve the performance, accountability, and outcomes of nonprofits in the region. Initially, the project will focus on five organizations in Louisiana, and will expand to include 11 nonprofits in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.
“Nearly five years after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the work of rebuilding and developing the Gulf Coast region is still underway. The economic and environmental impact of the recent British Petroleum (BP) oil spill on this area placed additional demands on an already economically challenged region of our country,” said Gulf Coast Funders for Equity Coordinator Samantha Bickham. “That’s why the Gulf Coast Funders for Equity was formed. As part of our holistic approach to philanthropy, we focus on engaging low and moderate-income communities in projects that promote economic development and self-sufficiency.”
Gladys Washington, program director for the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation, said she likes the group’s track record.
“We selected The Weathers Group for this project because of their success with other grassroots organizations based in the South,” Washington said. “When we began our search, The Weathers Group was referred to us by several organizations that realized tangible results from partnering with them. With their extensive knowledge and expertise, they understand our goals and how to build capacity so that participants can improve their performance and fulfill the missions of their organizations more effectively.”
Weathers Group President Charles Weathers has set his vision for the project.
“Collaborating with Gulf Coast Funders for Equity gives us a chance to make a difference in a region that has been faced with economic, social, and political challenges unlike anywhere else in the United States,” he said. “We appreciate the trust that has been placed in us, and we embrace this opportunity to be a part of a solution that will have a positive impact on so many lives.”
City to Provide Housing for 125 Homeless
Posted on 25. Aug, 2010 by admin in Uncategorized
by Wendell A. LaGrand
The city of Chicago plans to provide housing for over one-hundred homeless people by the end of the year.
The initiative is part of a three-year national effort to house 100,000 vulnerable individuals and families by 2013.
As a part of the program, the city of Chicago plans to move 125 homeless individuals and families into permanent housing by December 31, 2010, said Mayor Richard M. Daley at a news conference held last week at Deborah’s Place on 2822 W. Jackson Blvd. Deborah’s Place is an organization that provides long term housing with on-site services.
The Chicago Department of Family and Support Services, the Chicago Alliance to End Homelessness, the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) and the Emergency Fund, will partner during the campaign to coordinate Registry Week, August 23 to 27, when more than 100 volunteers will take to the city’s streets and homeless shelters to survey and identify vulnerable individuals and families.
The information collected will be used to create a registry that will serve to prioritize those who have been living on the streets the longest and quickly move them into permanent housing.
The surveys will be conducted in various locations through out the city called “hot spots”, according to Chicago Department of Family and Support Services, public information coordinator, Lara Cheresco.
Cheresco said the city could not give specific locations as to where the homeless people who will be surveyed reside based on privacy concerns, but all other partners working with the city came together based on their knowledge and selected certain locations to conduct the surveys.
Prayers for Peace
Posted on 25. Aug, 2010 by admin in Uncategorized
by Wendell A. LaGrand
As violence grips Chicago, particularly teenagers and more recently law enforcement officers, the search for solutions continues. The recent killing of another Chicago youth, 19- year old Damian Turner, while listening to his iPod near 63rd Street and Cottage Grove Avenue, has
galvanized and outraged neighborhoods across the city even more. To combat the ill, last weekend Black Catholic Deacons of Chicago hosted simultaneous back to school sunrise prayer services on beaches in five different locations. Hours later, in the Chatham neighborhood, elected officials and community groups came together at a hearing addressing violence in the city’s schools.
Clouds overcast Lake Michigan and the early morning crowd of parishioners that gathered at 6.am, last Saturday on 63rd Street Beach and Lake Shore Drive for a series of early morning prayer services.
Across the city, people prayed for an end to the violence gripping the city’s streets.
As groups assembled to pray, sing and to “become beacons of light,” in what the Black Catholic Deacons of the Archdiocese of Chicago described as a “dark age of violence that presently inhabits the land,” people prayed for the violence to end and asked for protection of the children heading back to school this year.
During the same services, a special prayer was rendered for the Chicago Police Department at 8a.m., and although the event was organized by the Black Deacons, it was a multi-racial and interfaith prayer service.
Services were held simultaneously at beaches across the city including Oakwood Beach, on 4100 S. Lake Shore Drive; 31st Street Beach and at 12th Street Beach.
Further south, State Representative Constance A. Howard and State Senator Donne Trotter in conjunction with the Chesterfield Community Council, the Blackstar Project, Park Manor Neighbors, Greater Chatham Alliance and nine other organizations convened a community hearing on violence in Illinois Schools to explore solutions for prevention of violence among children between the ages of 7 and 17.
During the two hour event, the discussion focused on the roles parents, schools and communities play in teaching youth to respect each other. “We need to put the brakes on and strengthen the family system. Teach them (the children) social and emotional skills,” said Dr. Carl C. Bell, University of Illinois at Chicago, professor of psychiatry and public health and director of the Institute for Juvenile Research. Phillip Jackson, of the Blackstar Project echoed Bell adding, “Rebuilding the family is what we have found works.” Jackson said. “We have a problem, not just in the schools. The solution is not in schools and not with police. We have found that men have got to step up. Men must get involved,” he said.
“Most of my friends are at home without a male,” said 15-year old Michael Harris. “I came here to say we need help…part of the solution to combating violence in Chicago and in schools, is for people, especially men to get involved,” he said “It may sound outrageous,” said Jivon Murray, a 17-year old Mount Carmel High School student who attended the event. “But students, if you see someone doing something wrong, it’s time to take a stand,” he said.
Law to End Pre-Employment Credit Checks
Posted on 18. Aug, 2010 by admin in Uncategorized
by Lisette Livingston
www.thechicagocitizen.com
45 years of serving the Black community
In tough economic times, a new law, which takes effect on Jan. 1, 2011 and that prohibits Illinois employers from discriminating based on a job seeker or employee’s credit history, is a step in the right direction as we face one of the nation’s deepest recessions in history.
The law, entitled the Employee Credit Privacy Act, removes a significant barrier to employment for people whose credit history has been affected by the economy. It was signed by Governor Quinn recently.
Under the law, Illinois’ employers may not use a person’s credit history to determine employment, recruiting, discharge or compensation, unless one of the limited circumstances apply.
Sponsored by Rep. Jack Franks (DWoodstock) and Sen. Don Harmon (D-Oak Park), it forbids employers from inquiring about an applicant or employee’s credit history and precludes the employer from obtaining a copy of an applicant’s credit report. The law, however, does not affect an employer’s ability to conduct a thorough background investigation that does not contain a credit history or report. Employers who violate the new law can be subject to civil liability for damages or injunctive relief.
Under the Act, there are certain situations where employers may access credit checks including:
Positions that involve bonding or security per state or federal law
Unsupervised access to more than $2,500
Signatory power over businesses assets of more than $100
Management and control of the business and in situations where there is access to personal, financial or confidential information, trade secrets, or state or national security information.
According to the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), pre-employment credit screenings are on the rise where recent statistics indicate that 60 percent of employers run a credit check on at least some applicants. That ‘s an increase from the 42 percent in 2006 and 25 percent in 1998, SHRM reports.
“A job seeker’s ability to earn a decent living should not depend on how well they are weathering the greatest economic recession since the 1930s,” Quinn said recently in a release.
“This law will stop employers from denying a job or promotion based on information that is not an indicator of a person’s character or ability to do a job well,” he said.
Quinn also discussed the new law online at www.illinois.gov, where raw audio tape of his statements can be found.
PayPal hopes to make micropayments easier online
Posted on 18. Aug, 2010 by admin in Uncategorized
Rachel Metz
SAN FRANCISCO – PayPal wants to make it easier to buy low-cost digital goods online, whether it’s a single article on a news website or virtual items in a video game.
Scott Thompson, the online payment service’s president, said Thursday that PayPal plans to roll out a payment product by the end of the year that helps businesses collect “micropayments’’ on the Web.
Generally, if you want to buy, say, a virtual sword in an online game, you need to first purchase a chunk of credit perhaps $5 or $10 that you can then spend on a 49-cent virtual sword on a game on Facebook or other websites. That’s because the costs associated with credit card transactions quickly eat away at the profit a merchant would make on something that costs a few dollars or less.
Thompson thinks consumers want to be able to buy items one at a time, though. And with this in mind, he said PayPal intends to allow purchases in small increments.
PayPal, which is owned by eBay Inc., plans to make that work by compiling consumers’ transactions. Someone might buy $10 worth of news articles, or goods in an online game, before getting billed by PayPal. PayPal thinks this will appeal more to consumers while benefiting merchants and PayPal, too.
Online micropayments are not new. They emerged in the 1990s but never really caught on, in part because early attempts often had people spend tiny amounts of money a dime here, a quarter there instead of the currently popular model where you buy a bunch of credits up front and use them a little at a time.
But consumers are now much more used to the idea of buying virtual goods in online games and downloading content like songs and videos, and this change in behavior could benefit PayPal.
PayPal is already involved in the digital payment space. Last year, $2 billion of its total $71 billion in payment volume came from digital goods such as downloads of music, videos and software people bought online. And it seems to be growing: In the first half of this year, the company processed $1.3 billion in digital goods payments, Thompson said.
The company has gotten its feet wet in the world of micropayments, too, offering merchants a micropayment option that websites can use, charging a fee of 5 percent plus 5 cents for small transactions, which it sees as generally less than $10 apiece. This way, a $3 micropayment for a news article would cost the merchant 20 cents in transaction fees; under PayPal’s normal fee schedule for items that cost up to $3,000, it would cost about 39 cents.
Still, Thompson thinks the upcoming payment product will be better, and hopefully more convenient, too. Right now, if you use PayPal to buy items in an online game such as Zynga’s popular FarmVille, you’re still prompted to leave the game mid-session to make the actual payment. Thompson wants to change this with PayPal’s upcoming offering.
“The whole intent is to keep you in the experience, don’t force you to do anything else … and keep it economical for all parties,’’ he said.
$1.6 Billion in 2010 Census Savings Returned
Posted on 18. Aug, 2010 by admin in Uncategorized
William Garth, Sr, CEO of the CItizen Newspaper Group, INC
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that it is returning $1.6 billion in 2010 Census operational savings. The savings occurred because the American people stepped up — 72 percent of households returned the questionnaire by mail so there were lower costs in following up on households; because contingency funding set aside for disasters or major operational breakdowns was not tapped; and a more productive workforce completed assignments more efficiently.
“This is a significant accomplishment, and I would like to thank the American public for responding to the census and the more than 255,000 private and public sector partners who joined with us in making the 2010 Census a success,” Census Bureau Director Robert Groves said.
“The 2010 Census was a massive undertaking with great risk for operational problems and cost overruns,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said. “But with the leadership of Dr. Groves and his team at the Census Bureau we had an incredibly successful count that came in on time and well under budget.”
Approximately $800 million in savings are realized in the contingency funding set aside in case of natural disasters or operational breakdowns. No significant events disrupted major census operations that took place earlier this year.
Another $650 million in savings were realized in the labor intensive, door-to-door, follow-up operation because 72 percent of households returned the questionnaire by mail, meaning fewer homes had to be visited to obtain census answers. Furthermore, the 565,000 census workers used in this operation were more productive than in the previous census, resulting in lower labor costs.
An additional $150 million in savings were realized because a number of other census operations, such as counting the population in Alaska and on tribal lands, came in at a lower cost.
The savings represent 22 percent of 2010 Census costs this fiscal year.
Census operations continue throughout the summer with a number of planned, rigorous quality assurance checks to ensure an accurate and complete count.
“The Census management team, along with a dedicated census workforce, worked diligently to ensure we keep the census on track and on schedule while being vigilant with taxpayer dollars,” Groves said. “Early data are showing improvements in the quality of the field work even as we achieved these savings. We will remain focused until all 2010 Census operations are completed.”
The Census Bureau is required by law to report by the end of the year the nation’s population and apportionment of seats to each state in the U.S. House of Representatives.
PLANS Topic: 366 The Church Plan and Business
Posted on 18. Aug, 2010 by admin in Uncategorized
Vincent C. Ragland is President PLANS.
PLANS can be reached at
(312) 286-6886 and by
E-mail at vncnt599@sbcglobal.net
Each week individuals visit their local churches for spiritual strength, greater understanding of their faith and renewal of the spirit. The church has long been the sanctuary away from the problems of the world and a safe haven for believers. In these dangerous and difficult times, the church has taken on the role of being both counselor and provider. With our youth being killed in the streets in record numbers, the church has become the death counselor. Helping grief stricken families deal with loss due to senseless violence in our streets. With so many out of work and homeless living in the streets the church has become the provider. Feeding individuals and families through food pantries and providing resources for the homeless. Often individuals begging for change and holding signs asking for assistance on city streets, at the end of the day, find themselves in church operated centers and homeless shelters.
So the role of the church continues to expand, meaning churches have to be prepared to take on the larger challenges of our communities and thus need to develop their Church Plan to meet these responsibilities.
Churches are needed to provide community social services as well as spiritual services. Many churches have community outreach programs, senior assisted living services, daycare and head start programs, family living centers and youth center facilities. The ability to acquire the necessary funds and resources to establish and run these programs requires the church to have a financially stable Church Plan. A Church Plan is the equivalent of a small business having a Business Plan. The church must show fiscal responsibility and manage its operations like a business to be successful. The following represents items to be maintained in the Church Plan:
1. A Mission Statement detailing the churches spiritual and business goals, objectives and strategies.
2. Past three years to current financial statements of the church.
3. Programs and an outline of the churches financial plan and structure.
4. Operational church budget and three to five year projections.
5. New programs and initiatives that will assist the community and help existing membership.
6. A history of the church, from it’s origin to current including any national affiliations.
7. Breakdown of funding contributions, special offerings, pledge drives, special programs (food pantry, prison ministry etc.)
8. Biography of church minister, director’s deacons, elder and major financial leaders of the church.
9. Explanation of the Financial Controls and Fiscal Policy of the church.
10. Church incorporation documents, bylaws and resolutions. The aforementioned information should be a part of the Church Plan. Churches have to prepare to address the needs of their communities, and to do this effectively they must have a plan. The Church that fails to plan, is planning to fail.
Mayor Announces Donation Of Wyatt Papers To CPL
Posted on 18. Aug, 2010 by admin in Uncategorized
Documents representing the legacy of service and activism exemplified by the lives of Reverend Addie and the late Rev. Claude Wyatt are now available to the public for reference and research.
Mayor Richard M. Daley and Chicago Public Library (CPL) Commissioner Mary A. Dempsey recently announced the city’s acquisition of the documents, which span 65 years of service toward civil and labor rights, African American and women’s rights, at the Harold Washington Library.
“I am proud to be here today to honor the lives and accomplishments of two esteemed Chicagoans, the Reverend Addie Wyatt and her late husband the Reverend Claude Wyatt of the Vernon Park Church of God. Both Claude and Addie Wyatt were devoted to increasing the quality of life of all Chicagoans specifically members of the African American community,” Mayor Daley said in a press release.
The collection, in addition to chronicling important facets of Black life in Chicago and throughout the world, also follows significant movements of the mid-20th century—movements dedicated to gender, racial, economic and political equality.
Addie Wyatt was born in Brookhaven, Mississippi in 1924. She moved to Chicago as a child with her parents and seven siblings. She married Claude Wyatt, Jr. and soon after, started working in the city’s meat packing industry. The first female local union president for the United Packinghouse Food and Allied Workers and the first female international vice president of Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America, Rev. Addie Wyatt is known as “one of the nation’s foremost labor leaders,” according to The HistoryMakers’ website.
Claude Wyatt, founding pastor of Vernon Park Church of God, was ordained in 1955, eleven years after he and his wife started the Wyatt Choral Ensemble, according to The HistoryMakers. After that, he and his wife worked with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., helped to found Operation Breadbasket and served on the board of Operation PUSH.
“Their commitment has established a positive legacy for civil rights, worker’s rights
and women’s rights that has transcended race, gender, income and educational levels and has made our city, our country and our world a better place to live,” Mayor Daley continued.
Rev. Addie Wyatt donated the papers to the Vivian G. Harsh Research Collection of African American History and Literature located at the Carter G. Woodson Regional Library (9525 S. Halsted). She wrote to Mayor Daley for assistance with the collection’s processing and placement, according to a press release from the Mayor’s Office.
CPL in conjunction with “Mapping the Stacks,” a program of the University of Chicago’s English and History Department and the university’s library went through the vast collection and categorized the documents.
The collection is comprised of 345 containers filled with documents, audiovisuals and manuscripts, including records and texts from the multitude of organizations the Wyatts were a part of from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Operation Breadbasket and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change to the National Organization for Women (NOW), the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists and the Coalition of Labor Union Women.
“I would like to thank the staff and students from the “Mapping the Stacks” program at the University of Chicago along with the supporting members of Harsh Collection staff for their diligence and hard work in putting this collection together. The Reverend Addie Wyatt and Reverend Claude Wyatt Papers are now the largest single archival collection at Vivian G. Harsh collection of African American History,” Dempsey said in a released statement.
The Harsh Collection houses 70,000 books (many rare), 75 microfilm collections, and 500 periodical titles, but according to CPL’s website, it’s most significant and sought after materials are manuscripts. Among them, original manuscripts by writers Arna Bontemps, Richard Wright, and Langston Hughes, and archives from the Heritage Press.
The acquisition of the Wyatt Papers will add to the city and state’s rich and widely prolific African American history.
