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NFL Scores Win with National Response to COVID-19

NNPA NEWSWIRE — In an interview with NNPA Newswire, Troy Vincent, the NFL’s executive vice president of football operations, said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and others at league headquarters are conscious and respectful of how the virus has affected the nation and the entire globe.

Published

6 years ago

April 19, 2020

Oakland Post

The commissioner and all of us remain completely aware of the reality of what's going on." Commissioner Roger Goodell, and others at league headquarters, are conscious and respectful of how the virus is affecting our nation and the entire globe. (Photo: NFL)

In the wake of the unprecedented novel coronavirus pandemic, the National Football League (NFL) — perhaps more than any other sports league and many other major corporations — has strived to rapidly respond to needs in local communities throughout the nation.

In an interview with NNPA Newswire, Troy Vincent, the NFL’s executive vice president of football operations, said, “The commissioner and all of us remain completely aware of the reality of what’s going on.” Commissioner Roger Goodell, and others at league headquarters, are conscious and respectful of how the virus is affecting our nation and the entire globe.

The NFL’s Draft-A-Thon, a fundraising effort that takes place simultaneously with the NFL Draft on April 23, will allocate funds to six national charities and their local chapters. The charities include: The American Red Cross, the CDC Foundation, Feeding America, Meals on Wheels, the Salvation Army and United Way.

In addition to the Draft-A-Thon, the NFL, along with its teams and players, have come together to support communities throughout the nation as everyone attempts to tackle the issues arising from the COVID-19 disaster.

“The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) encourages all professional sports to follow the extraordinary lead of the NFL in their national response to the devastating impact of COVID-19 across America.,” emphasized Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., President and CEO of the NNPA. “In particular, African Americans have the highest number of fatalities from COVID-19. The NNPA appreciates the responsive leadership of the NFL as this pandemic continues to spread and disproportionately impact our families and communities.”

Here’s a snapshot of what the NFL and its teams and players have done thus far:

More than 70 Philadelphia Eagles employees and their families, including coach Doug Pederson and his wife Jeannie, participated in a community blood drive at Lincoln Financial Field in response to the dip in blood donations across the country amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Minnesota Vikings defensive end Danielle Hunter recently gave about $20,000 to help coronavirus patients. Hunter’s grandmother, Joy Gayle, works as a nurse at a hospital in New York. He has been getting regular reports from her about how “crazy” things are at the hospital, including a shortage of supplies.

Cleveland Browns team seamstress Becky Zielinski has led a service effort in collaboration with Mask Making Miracles, who are a local group of volunteer seamstresses who wanted to help during this crisis. Together, Becky and Mask Making Miracles have helped produce 2,678 masks. Browns’ staff also provided support from their homes by cutting fabric for the Mask Making Miracles group. The masks were recently donated to University Hospitals (UH) medical professionals. UH is currently collecting masks from several community groups, and after collecting 100,000 masks, they will donate all remaining masks to local nursing homes and others in need.

Don Shula and three former Miami Dolphins players who, like their coach, went into the restaurant business, are teaming up to provide free meals during the coronavirus crisis to first responders, healthcare workers, and needy families in South Florida. The food relief program, funded by a $250,000 grant from Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross through the Miami Dolphins Foundation, will also keep restaurant workers employed.

Dairy MAX and the New Orleans Saints in partnership with GENYOUth, will contribute $50,000 to the COVID-19 Emergency School Nutrition Fund to support local schools with the purchase of resources needed for meal distribution and delivery, as well as protective gear for sanitation and safety. Each school can receive up to $3,000 in grant funds, administered by GENYOUth. The application and additional information can be found at www.dairymax.org.

The Jacksonville Jaguars are purchasing 45,000 Jaguars-branded protective masks for distribution later this month throughout the Jacksonville area. Sourced through a Jacksonville company, the masks will be distributed by the Jaguars to local companies still operating and interacting with the public. Also, masks will be distributed to not-for-profit groups whose mission is currently focused on local COVID-19 efforts.

NFL team doctors joined the frontlines in fighting COVID-19. For health professionals, fighting this surging pandemic has become an all-hands-on-deck call. This is why, in March, a few days after free agency opened, the NFL Physicians Society decided to suspend all football-related medical visits, including physicals for free agents and draft prospects. Instead, they are volunteering their time and expertise to support the fight at their local area hospitals.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ wide receiver Mike Evans and his Mike Evans Family Foundation have pledged a total of $100,000 for COVID-19 relief efforts, with $50,000 going to the United Way Suncoast in support of efforts in the Tampa Bay region. The Foundation will also donate another $50,000 to Evans’ hometown of Galveston, Texas, to further aid in COVID-19 relief efforts there.

In response to hunger relief needs related to the COVOID-19 health emergency, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay issued a million-dollar challenge to Colts Nation: as soon as $200,000 was raised locally for relief boxes from Gleaners Food Bank, Irsay would unlock a $1 million gift on top of that for his fellow Hoosier neighbors.

“I am so proud of our community and so proud to call Indianapolis home because Hoosiers come together, whether in times of celebration or in times of great need. Today is no different,” Irsay said. “Everyone is being affected in some way by these challenging times, but many of our friends and neighbors are being hit particularly hard. But in our usual Indianapolis way, people are coming together and reaching out to help.

“That’s why I challenged those who could afford to give to help make a difference in these upcoming days and weeks,” Irsay continued. “I send my deepest thanks to everyone who helped push us past $200,000 in donations to Gleaners to help feed those in immediate need, and I am pleased to add more than $1 million to that total.”

Click here to see the many other ways the NFL family is responding to COVID-19.

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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

1 week 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

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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

2 weeks 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

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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

2 weeks ago

February 27, 2026

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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,