Focusing on the Positive

“All children are capable and good at something and we need to acknowledge what that something is.” Wednesday, Monique Brinson, Principal of Sankofa Academy (formally Washington Elementary) hosted a “Celebrating and Cultivating Student Achievement” assembly where every student in the school received a certificate for Academic Excellence;

Yes for BART-to-Oakland Airport

After hearing a spirited three-hour long discussion Wednesday from residents, labor organizations, clergy and business representatives, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC)voted 11 to 5 to keep $70 million in Stimulus funds with the Oakland Airport Connector (OAC) Project..

Berkeley Public Housing Tenants Demand Resignations

Public housing and Section 8 tenants appeared at the January 19, Berkeley City Council meeting to protest and speak out against alleged illegal activities of the Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA), and it’s policies to privatize and sell their 75 public housing units to an unnamed non profit housing developer.

5,000 Youth Jam Black College Expo

Over 5,000 students and parents from the Oakland Bay Area to Portland, Oregon attended the 7th Annual Black College Expo held last week at the Marriott Oakland City Center. Wells Fargo, US Navy and Metro PCS combined their resources to sponsor the Expo. These companies joined the Expo’s mission to share resources with students to help them get into college and learn about scholarships and internship opportunities.

One Toyota of Oakland Opens New Store

One Toyota of Oakland’s co-owners Brad Barnett and Brian McCafferty have bravely branded Toyota’s reputation by opening their new dealership in the middle of the largest recall in the automaker’s history. Even though most dealers would wait, Bennett says they see their last Monday ribbon-cutting opening as “an opportunity.”

Census Counting on Clergy

OThe importance of responding to the 2010 United States Census was the main goal of a faith based prayer breakfast sponsored last week by OCCUR (Oakland Citizens Committee for urban Renewal). Reverend Arnold Townsend of the Rhema Word-Moriah Christian Fellowship church in San Francisco and Berkeley said that ministers are uniquely suited to do outreach for the upcoming census count because “Preachers take their own census every Sunday morning and they always know who’s there and who’s missing.

Students March for Peace

Over 400 children from Lincoln, Nystrom, Leadership, and Richmond College Prep Schools will march down Harbour Way, in the heart of Richmond, CA, and meet at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Park to promote peace in their neighborhood and to celebrate the birthday of Dr. King. This march is the third annual Peace March the children have developed in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The children will begin marching at Harbour Way and Florida Street.

Venezuelan Flutist Marco Granados Impresses Students

Internationally acclaimed flutist, Marco Granados stopped by Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School in Berkeley last week, while in town for his bay area appearance. Granados met with all of the flutists (about 25) and gave a masterclass to attentive students.

Black History Month Celebration on Temple Hill

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ annual celebration of Black History Month will feature local choirs. “We are very excited about our program this year which will emphasize the Negro Spiritual,” said Church spokesperson, Ronald McClain. The events will be held at the Church’s Temple Hill complex at 4710 Lincoln Avenue in Oakland. They are free and the public is invited.

A Day in the Life of Marcus Books

Mayor Dellums, Writers and Community Rally to Help By Post Staff It’s 10:00 a.m. on Friday, January 15th at the Oakland Marcus Book Store on Martin Luther King, Jr. Way. The owner, Dr. Raye Richardson is not in the store today, but the three generations of the Richardson family are all there and working. The first three customers of the day include Dr. Jeanne Revoire and her husband. She’s a well-known Bay Area psychologist. They say they began to patronize Marcus as children and now they regularly bring their own children to the bookstore.

AMAZING GRACE

Avoiding the Katrina response mistakes of the Bush Administration, Obama announced a $100 million commitment and 5,500 military support contingent to mount “the largest relief effort in our recent history”.

“Peace in the City” Prayer Vigil

Violence was renounced this past weekend in a prayer vigil led by the Reverend Staci Current at the “Peace in the City” rally at Jones Memorial United Methodist Church, located at 1975 Post Street in San Francisco. The Pastor, The Rev. Staci Current who led the vigil said, “We wanted to start the year in prayer, support the community and build upon relationships, in an effort to change the outcome of violence.” The vigil was an interdenominational vigil representing various churches and community groups remembering the victims of violence in San Francisco.

 

King Remembered by Post Publisher

Marcus Books Celebrates 50th Year By Paul Cobb The Post News Group has selected Dr. Raye G.Richardson as “Person of the Decade” for her ownership of Marcus Bookstores which was chosen as “Business of the Decade”. She was born in 1920 in Arkansas and grew up in Waukegan, Illinois. She loved books, and at 16, became an honor student at Tuskegee Institute where she met Julian Richardson who would become her husband and partner in business, political activism for the next 58 years.

E.C. Scott Brings Blues to Cable TV

Oakland-born blues singer E.C. Scott traveled all the way to Lincoln, Nebraska, six years ago to have a video made of “These Ain’t Yo Daddy’s Kind of Blues,” an original song from her fourth CD. She paid for the production out of her own pocket. The idea was not to sell the video but to use it as a promotional tool to boost sales of the CD and attendance at her shows.

 

Wells Fargo Pledges $100,000 to Aid Disaster Relief Efforts in Haiti

To help victims of the earthquake in Haiti, Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) said today it is contributing $100,000 to the American Red Cross disaster relief fund to assist with recovery efforts. “On behalf of all our 280,000 team members I want to express our sympathy for the victims and their families of this major earthquake,” said Wells Fargo’s Chairman and CEO John Stumpf. “We have a substantial number of team members and customers in Florida and throughout the East Coast with families in Haiti.

 

“Open Your Heart To Haiti”

“Open Your Heart To Haiti” was established in March 1986 to provide educational opportunities and health care to the people of Port-de-Paix, Haiti. Port-de-Paix includes a city and surrounding communities of over 97,000 people. It is geographically and politically isolated from the rest of the country of Haiti. Without an adequate seaport, it remains stagnant in abject poverty. Pastor Constantino Donatien, a Haitian boat person who came to the United States to become educated and employed in the California Court System, founded nine schools serving approximately 5,000 students per year.

 

Oakland Attorney and Family Found Safe in Haiti

Walter Riley, Esq. and his wife Barbara Rhine and daughter Selena Rhine (from left to right), were in Haiti when the earthquake struck. For nearly 24 hours no one heard from them, and they were considered “missing”. Sister Maureen Duigman reported on Wednesday evening, from the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, where volunteers were planning emergency efforts, “We have received word that Walter Rile and his wife are ok.” Riley, a civil rights attorney from Oakland, was on a trip to Haiti, working for the East Bay Humanitarian Group.

 

Dr. Raye Richardson Person of the Decade Marcus Books Celebrates 50th Year

Marcus Books Celebrates 50th Year By Paul Cobb The Post News Group has selected Dr. Raye G.Richardson as “Person of the Decade” for her ownership of Marcus Bookstores which was chosen as “Business of the Decade”. She was born in 1920 in Arkansas and grew up in Waukegan, Illinois. She loved books, and at 16, became an honor student at Tuskegee Institute where she met Julian Richardson who would become her husband and partner in business, political activism for the next 58 years.

 

Equipping Diverse Youth For Legal Careers

Legal Outreach, a New York City program working to inspire students from diverse socioeconomic, ethnic and racial backgrounds to careers in the law, and infusing them with support and resources starting in the eighth grade, has been selected to receive the 2010 Alexander Award for Excellence in Pipeline Diversity from the American Bar Association Council on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Educational Pipeline.

 

Oakland Unity High Has High Graduation Rate

Oakland Unity High School (OU) is an independent charter school founded in 2003. O.U. serves 230 students in grades 9th-12th with a mission “to provide a college preparatory education for students of diverse or disadvantaged backgrounds through a culturally relevant curriculum in an environment that is academically demanding”.

 

Berkeley’s Public Housing Residents Oppose Privatization

Mayor Ron Dellums delivered a truckload of $8 million dollars to avert a strike of more than 1,000 independent truckers at the Port of Oakland On Monday January 4, Dellums called the truckers, Port Officials and the State to meet in his offices to fashion an agreement to help the truckers comply with clean-air retrofit regulations.

 

Mayor Dellums Helps Truckers, Averts Strike at the Port of Oakland

Mayor Ron Dellums delivered a truckload of $8 million dollars to avert a strike of more than 1,000 independent truckers at the Port of Oakland On Monday January 4, Dellums called the truckers, Port Officials and the State to meet in his offices to fashion an agreement to help the truckers comply with clean-air retrofit regulations.

 

“The Way It Is” for Adoption Kids Keyshia Cole Brings Christmas Cheer

Nationally-acclaimed R&B singer Keyshia Cole had a special holiday gift for her hometown this month when the Oakland native provided Christmas presents to 15 East Oakland children currently awaiting adoption. Cole, with the assistance of a volunteer Santa Claus, gave the presents to the previously selected children at a special December 24th ceremony. The gift presentations took place at Healthy Oakland’s Alameda County Faith Initiative office in East Oakland.

Geoffrey Pete Reversing Trend of Selfishness

The line reached around the corner on Christmas Day, as residents of Oakland descended upon Word Assembly Church to participate in the Oakland Black Caucus holiday feeding. Geoffrey Pete, Community Activist and Event coordinator, said, “This is the kind of infectious behavior we need to push forward in this city, so we can reverse this trend of selfishness.” Selfishness was not on the menu on Christmas Day.

 

Links Debutantes’ Evening of Splendor

The Oakland Bay Area Chapter of The Links Incorporated hosted its 54th Cotillion at the San Francisco Hilton on Saturday, December 19. The magical night, “An Evening of Splendor”, honored 20 debutantes, their Escorts and their families for their commitment to leadership, community service and academic success. The Links Incorporated – an international volunteer organization – was founded in 1946 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with the commitment to service and sisterhood and a mission to improve the quality of life for African American children; the Oakland Bay Area Chapter of Links was established in 1950. Michele Davenport, Publicity...

 

OSA’s WIZ “Pleased” on Down the Road to the FOX

 

By Tasion Kwamilele On December 10th and 11th, family members, friends and supporters, gathered to see students of Oakland School for the Arts (OSA) in their first performance on the Fox Theatre’s stage. The students gave an exceptional performance of the hit musical, ‘The Wiz,’ that surpassed expectations for high school aged students. Regardless, on both nights the eighteen hundred seats were accounted for and the venue was filled to its capacity. Adrian Hutton, class of 2007, played the role of the scarecrow when the school first produced the musical in 2003. “Just like before, the cast of ‘The Wiz’...