#NNPA BlackPress

EXCLUSIVE — RNC: ‘President Understands Importance of the Black Vote,’ Hires Paris Dennard to Engage Black Community

NNPA NEWSWIRE — Dennard, a longtime GOP political commentator, writer, consultant, and strategist, will work to ensure that African Americans and other minorities are aware of President Trump’s efforts to support their communities.

Published

6 years ago

March 11, 2020

Oakland Post

Paris Dennard is the Republican National Committee’s Senior Communications Advisor of Black Media Affairs.

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel has appointed Paris Dennard as the organization’s new Senior Communications Advisor of Black Media Affairs.

“We are thrilled for Paris to officially join our team! A fierce advocate for our President and our Party, he will be a great leading voice as we continue to grow our all-encompassing approach to expand our presence in black communities,” said McDaniel. “He will help us connect with voters on the issues they care about and work to re-elect President Trump and secure Republican victories up and down the ballot on November 3rd.”

Dennard, a longtime GOP political commentator, writer, consultant, and strategist, will work to ensure that African Americans and other minorities are aware of President Trump’s efforts to support their communities.

In an exclusive interview with NNPA Newswire, Dennard said Trump has been “pained” by unflattering and unfair characterizations that do not reflect his work as president.

He said the president also understands the importance of the Black vote, and the GOP is committed to demonstrating its value to all communities.

“I won’t sugarcoat it. It is a challenge to get the Republican Party’s and the Trump Administration’s campaign message to the Black community,” Dennard stated.

“But it’s a challenge that’s worth fighting for because I believe, at the end of the day, President Trump and the Republican Party want to earn the vote of the Black community.”

Dennard added that the RNC and Trump have platforms and policies that would resonate more soundly and positively in the Black community.

Those policies include the First Step Act, a law that reduced sentences for some drug offenses; Criminal Justice Reform, The Future Act, which assures funding for historically Black colleges and universities; and new Black Voices for Trump Community Centers.

“As long as they have an open heart and open mind to receive the factual information of all the good things that the GOP under President Trump’s leadership has been doing over the past three years,” he said.

“What I hope to do is work with Black media, specifically the National Newspaper Publishers Association, which is Black-owned newspapers and media companies. I want to show my community that, as a proud Black American, this is what the administration is doing to celebrate the successes of Black people,” Dennard continued.

A native of Phoenix, Arizona, where he grew up reading the Arizona Informant newspaper, Dennard earned two degrees in Public Relations and Political Science from Pepperdine University in California.

From 2005 to 2009, he worked in The White House under President George W. Bush, serving in the offices of Political Affairs, Legislative Affairs, and Public Liaison.

He also served as The White House Director of Black Outreach, where his primary role was liaison to the Black community at large.

Dennard, a member of the Black Voices for Trump Advisory Board, also provided commentary on BET, BBC, CBN, MSNBC, Fox News, TVONE, OAN, and CNN.

“There is a lot of misinformation out there. In order for my community to be more educated, the GOP and the Trump campaign have to engage the Black community more directly. I know RNC Chairwoman McDaniel understands that the president understands we have to take the information and get it directly to the people, where they are, what they listen to, and what they read,” Dennard said.

“That’s why the Black Press is important because it’s still what many of us value and trust.”

Despite only receiving 8 percent of the Black vote during the 2016 election, Dennard said Trump hasn’t given up hope that African Americans will eventually support him.

“There’s no question that the divisiveness we see in the country has always been there, but it is greater now,” Dennard noted.

“At the end of the day, the president is a threat to all traditional Democrats and liberals. He threatens the narrative because he does things that traditional Republican presidents didn’t do. He consistently campaigned for the Black vote, and he didn’t stop.

“Every single year he’s worked for a group that only gave him 8 percent of the vote. Most people would tell him to focus on someone else. I’ve heard him tell the story about his concern for Black America and how it really upset him when he saw the state of Urban America that had been neglected under the leadership of Democrats.

“Housing and the economy were so bad, so he said, what the hell do you have to lose. From that moment, he wanted to ensure that Black communities knew they had a champion in him.”

Dennard believes what Trump has accomplished – from Criminal Justice Reform to the Future Act– is unprecedented.

“What he’s been able to do with Criminal Justice Reform is remarkable,” Dennard said.

“President Obama, for whatever reason, wasn’t able to get meaningful reform done. President Bush, for whatever reason, didn’t. President Clinton didn’t.”

Though the president has annoyed many with his penchant for tweeting, Dennard noted that one of those infamous tweets was what helped to push Criminal Justice Reform through the Senate.

“Mitch McConnell wasn’t going to bring it the floor because he didn’t think he had the votes for it to pass,” Dennard recalled. “The president worked behind the scenes with Republicans and some Democrats to get it done, and he tweeted at McConnell to bring it up for a vote.”

Dennard added that the president has continued efforts of engaging African Americans, which includes more outreach to the Black Press and the new Black Voices for Trump Community Centers.

The centers are located in Tallahassee, Fla., Jacksonville, Fla., Miami, Orlando, Tampa, Atlanta, Detroit, Columbus, Ohio, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and Charlotte, Raleigh, and Greensboro, N.C.

They are stocked with campaign items, including videos of African American Trump supporters expressing their support for the president’s re-election, and pamphlets detailing Trump’s record in the Black community.

“These centers have rolled out in predominately Black neighborhoods,” Dennard noted.

“We are going to be hiring at these facilities, and they will be fully staffed, which means lots of jobs. One of the things we wanted when Black Voices for Trump organized was ways to communicate. We took out ads in Black-owned newspapers in Florida and on the radio.

“We wanted to get the word out. The RNC gets it. I know the White House gets it. They understand the important role that Black media plays, and I hope that in my position, I can continue to expand what the White House and the Campaign has been doing in terms of engagement.”

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

PRESS ROOM: The DCCC, DSCC, Democratic Party of Georgia Announce Victory Against Unlawful Georgia Ballot Procedures

Don't Miss

Car Reviews – Why Buy This Car or Not? – Auto Talk Show – AutoNetwork Reports #253

Oakland Post

13 Comments

#NNPA BlackPress

Poll Shows Support for Policies That Help Families Afford Child Care

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

Published

2 days ago

March 2, 2026

Oakland Post

By First Five Years Fund

New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

The national survey was conducted by UpOne Insight on behalf of the First Five Years Fund from January 13–18, 2026.

Key findings include:

• Parents need help: 80% of voters say the ability of working parents to find and afford child care is either in a state of crisis or a major problem.

• This is an affordability issue: 82% believe federal child care funding will help lower costs for working families — including 69% of Republicans, 84% of Independents, and 94% of Democrats.

• And there continues to be strong support (62%) for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), a federal program that makes it possible for hundreds of thousands of families to afford safe, quality care for their children while parents work or go to school, including a majority of Republicans, 63% of Independents and 72% of Democrats.

• Support for funding child care programs remains strong: 75% believe child care funding should be increased or kept at current levels — including 75% of Republicans, 85% of Independents, and 97% of Democrats.

• 74% say funding for child care is an important and good use of tax dollars, including a majority of Republicans, three-quarters of Independents, and nine in ten Democrats.

FFYF Executive Director Sarah Rittling said, “Voters across the country are sending a clear message: federal child care and early learning programs work. These investments help parents stay in the workforce, strengthen families, and support healthy child development. They have also long had strong bipartisan support in Congress. At a time when affordability is top of mind for families, continued federal funding is essential to ensure child care remains accessible and within reach.”

First Five Years Fund works to protect, prioritize, and build bipartisan support for quality child care and early learning programs at the federal level. Reliable, affordable, and high-quality early learning and child care can be transformative, not only enhancing a child’s prospects for a brighter future but also bolstering working parents and fostering economic stability nationwide.

We work with Congress and the Administration to identify federal solutions that work for families with young children, as well as states and communities. We work with policymakers to identify ways to increase access to affordable, high-quality child care and early learning programs for children. And we collaborate with advocacy groups to help align best practices with the best possible policies. http://www.ffyf.org

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

#NNPA BlackPress

Trump’s MAGA Allies are Creating Executive Order Plan to Steal the 2026 Midterms

NNPA NEWSWIRE — The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

Published

5 days ago

February 27, 2026

Oakland Post

By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire Correspondent

A group of MAGA pro-Trump activists, who say they are working in coordination with the White House, are circulating a 17-page draft executive order that would claim without evidence that China interfered with the 2020 presidential election. Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential to President Joe Biden by over 7 million votes. Since Trump lost to Biden in 2020, he has repeatedly claimed that the election was “stolen” without evidence. The report of a group of “Trump allies” preparing an executive order to give Trump power over elections was first reported by The Washington Post.

The lies around the right-wing campaign that pushed falsehoods that the 2020 election was stolen was trafficked through right-wing media, particularly Fox News. Fox News was then sued for defamation for the claims by Dominion Voting Systems. Fox lost the case and had to settle for the largest defamation amount on record of $787.5 million in April 2023.

The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

The story in The Washington Post arrives as Trump increasingly signals that he may take actions that would alter the result of the 2026 midterms. The Republicans are widely expected to lose as their approval ratings plummet as a result of a failing economy under Trump. Over 50 members of Congress have announced they will retire this year and not return in 2027.

The Trump Department of Justice, which now has a large image of Trump on the side of it, “sued five new states Thursday [Feb. 26, 2026] demanding access to their unredacted voter rolls — escalating a campaign that has been rejected by multiple federal courts and faces resistance from Republican-led states as well,” according to Democracy Docket, a group that works to protect voting rights.

Trump claimed back in late 2020, the last year of his first term, that he had the authority to issue an executive order related to mail-in voting for the 2020 elections — which he would then lose. But the Constitution states that control of elections lies with the states. As the GOP works to place hurdles in front of voting, Democrats worked to make voting easier.

In March 2021, President Biden signed an executive order calling on federal agencies to expand voting access as part of the Biden Administration’s effort “to promote and defend the right to vote for all Americans who are legally entitled to participate in elections.”

Trump’s focus is clearly on altering the November 2026 midterm elections. Trump’s polling numbers and the elections and special elections that have taken place around the U.S. over the last year clearly indicate that Republicans are about to be hit by a blue wave of Democratic victories.

Lauren Victoria Burke is an independent investigative journalist and the founder of Black Virginia News. She is a political analyst who appears on #RolandMartinUnfiltered and hosts the show LAUREN LIVE on YouTube @LaurenVictoriaBurke. She can be contacted at LBurke007@gmail.com and on twitter at @LVBurke

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

#NNPA BlackPress

PRESS ROOM: NBA Hall of Fame Nominee Terry Cummings Joins 100 Black Men of DeKalb County to Launch Victory & Values Initiative

NNPA NEWSWIRE — NBA Hall of Fame nominee and Basketball Legend Terry Cummings was administered the official member’s oath and ceremonially pinned during a special induction ceremony held on Friday, February 20th.

Published

5 days ago

February 27, 2026

admin

Cummings becomes an honorary member, joining other role model sports stars

NBA Hall of Fame nominee and Basketball Legend Terry Cummings has officially become an honorary member of the 100 Black Men of DeKalb County, marking a powerful new chapter for the 100 Black Men and youth development across the region.

Cummings was administered the official member’s oath and ceremonially pinned during a special induction ceremony held on Friday, February 20th. The moment signified more than membership — it marked the launch of the organization’s transformative new platform, the Victory & Values Initiative.

The Victory & Values Initiative is a groundbreaking youth development program designed to empower elementary and middle school students through a dynamic blend of sports, mentorship, and STEM exposure. The initiative focuses on building health, discipline, character, leadership, and access to opportunity — creating pathways for long-term academic and personal success.

“This is about more than sports,” said Cummings during the ceremony. “It’s about using the platform of athletics to teach life lessons, create access, and build the next generation of leaders.”

The induction ceremony also featured notable guests including NASCAR’s newest Star Driver, Lavar Scott and NASCAR Director of Athletic Performance, Phil Horton, who joined Cummings for a powerful Victory & Values Town Hall discussion. The Town Hall was moderated by renowned Sports Emcee John Hollins and focused on leadership, resilience, discipline, and the importance of mentorship in shaping young lives.

A “Day at NASCAR” for 75+ Youth

Cummings wasted no time getting to work. On his first full day as an honorary member, he joined his new brothers of the 100 Black Men of DeKalb County to host a “Day at NASCAR,” escorting more than 75 youth to a once-in-a-lifetime experience at EchoPark Motor Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway).

The youth participants received behind-the-scenes access including: an exclusive tour of Pit Row, access to the Garage Area and exploration of the interactive Fan Zone.

The experience culminated with a surprise meet-and-greet and Q&A session with NASCAR Superstar Bubba Wallace, who shared insights on perseverance, preparation, and breaking barriers in professional sports.

The day served as a living example of the ‘Victory & Values’ Initiative in action — exposing youth to new industries, expanding their vision for the future, and connecting them directly with high- level mentors and role models.

Building Leaders Through Access and Mentorship

The 100 Black Men of DeKalb County – a chapter of the largest, national mentoring organization in the county – continues to expand its footprint with programs focused on academic excellence, economic empowerment, leadership development, and health & wellness.

The launch of ‘Victory & Values’ represents a strategic expansion of the organization’s impact

intentionally integrating athletics and STEM to engage youth at an early age while reinforcing core principles such as integrity, accountability, teamwork, and perseverance.

“Our mission has always been to mentor the next generation,” said Vaughn Irons, President-Elect of the 100 Black Men of DeKalb County. “With Terry Cummings joining the brotherhood, along with partners in NASCAR and professional sports, we are creating unprecedented access and exposure for our youth. Victory & Values is about turning inspiration into structured opportunity.”

By connecting elementary and middle school students to professional athletes, executives, STEM professionals, and community leaders, the initiative aims to:

Increase youth exposure to careers in sports business, engineering, and performance science
Strengthen mentorship pipelines
Promote physical wellness and mental resilience
Build character-driven leadership at an early age

Open Invitation to Youth and Families

All youth are invited to participate in the Victory & Values Initiative, along with the other countless, impactful programs offered by the 100 Black Men of DeKalb County.

Parents and guardians seeking mentorship, leadership development, academic enrichment, and transformative exposure opportunities for their children are encouraged to connect with the organization.

As NBA Legend Terry Cummings’ induction demonstrates, Victory & Values is more than a program — it is a movement designed to build champions in life, not just in sports.

For more information about the Victory & Values Initiative or to enroll a student, contact: 100 Black Men of DeKalb County at Phone at 404.241.1338, info@100bmod.org or Tee Foxx at 404.791.6525,