Monday, December 29, 2014

Help National Cares Mentoring Movement Transform Lives of BlackChildren; Celebrate Kwanzaa at DuSable Museum; Earn $90,000 to SupportBlack Male Achievement; National Save Our Sons Night


Making Progress; Moving Forward!
Help National Cares Mentoring Movement Transform Lives of Black Children
Celebrate Kwanzaa with DuSable Museum
Earn $90,000 for Black Male Achievement
Save Our Sons Night
Lasting Campaign for Black Male Achievement
"Watch Night or Freedom's Eve"
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Investing $10.00 with Susan Taylor and the National Cares Mentoring Movement will help transform
lives of Black children!

Click Here to Donate to National Cares Mentoring Movement
Click Here to Learn More About National Cares Mentoring Movement
Click Here to see Oprah, Danny Glover, Harry Belafonte, Spike Lee, Diddy, Mariah Carey, Terrence Howard and more. They are all in! Are you?
Celebrate Kwanzaa at DuSable Museum
Could you use up to $90,000 to start an organization that supports Black Male Achievement?
If you or someone you know is working on an innovative project seeking to solve some of the world's biggest problems, Echoing Green wants to hear from you.
Echoing Green Fellowship Programs identify promising social leaders and entrepreneurs with bold ideas and provides them with up to $90,000 in seed funding, strategic support, and a powerful network.
Mark your calendar: applications open on December 2, 2014 and applications are due by January 5, 2015.
Be Bold. Think Big. Drive Change.
Fathers Incorporated Announces Multiple Events Leading Up To National "Save Our Sons" Night
- Leading national nonprofit for the promotion of Responsible Fatherhood and Director of the National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse, Fathers Incorporated, announces "don't miss' events encouraging fathers to spend time with their children - building up to the first National Save Our Sons Night on February 6, 2015! -
Nationwide - On Friday, February 6, 2015, the first annual NATIONAL SAVE OUR SONS NIGHT will take place across the country.
According to Kenneth Braswell, Executive Director of Fathers Incorporated and Director for the National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse, "We've come to learn that quality time with our children is more valuable to their well-being than our money. If you would like to join this national movement, visit www.saveoursonsnight.com for further information.
EVENTS LEADING UP TO SAVE OUR SONS NIGHT:
1. Los Angeles, CA, January 16, 2015 - The National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse will partner with the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) and the 18th Annual Collegiate Bowl, along with Fathers Incorporated and community agencies and barbershops to kick-off Fatherhood Buzz: Men's Health Matters in Los Angeles, California.
For more information email info@fatherhood.gov or call 1-877-4DAD411 [1-877-432-2411].
2. Carson, CA, January 17, 2015- The NFL Players Association presents the NFLPA 18th Annual Collegiate Bowl on January 17, 2015 at 1 p.m. at the Stubhub Center in Carson, CA. The game features some of College Football's best players from across the Country. The NFLPA will support National Save Our Sons Night by giving away 2500 free tickets to fathers and their families to attend the Collegiate Bowl. Visit www.saveoursonsnight.com to get your free tickets or call 1-877-4DAD411 [1-877-432-2411].
3. Nationwide, January 18, 2015 - In conjunction with MLK Black Male Achievement Weekend, the Black Star Project announces national Take a Young Black Man to Worship Sunday on January 18, 2015, when thousands of young Black males across America will worship with Black men. For more information, to find a place of worship near you, or to register your faith organization for this event, please call 773-285-9600 or visit www.blackstarproject.org.
4. Nationwide, January 24, 2015 - To wrap-up the January 2015 Fatherhood Buzz: Men's Health Matters events, the National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse will partner with the Million Hearts Initiative, Affordable Care Act Health Care navigators, community agencies, and barbershops across the country to engage fathers in critical conversations on the importance of being healthy. For more information email info@fatherhood.gov or call 1-877-4DAD411 [1-877-432-2411].
For more information on National Save Ours Sons Night and other affiliated events, visit www.saveoursonsnight.com or email fathersincorporated@gmail.com
To learn more about Fathers Incorporated, please visit www.fathersincorporated.com
PRESS CONTACT:
Kenneth Braswell
770-804-9800
fathersincorporated@gmail.com
The Lasting Campaign for Black Male Achievement
Campaign for Black Male Achievement Leaders - Shawn Dove (right) and Rashid Shabazz (left)
By Kenneth H. Zimmerman
U.S. Programs
Open Society Foundations
December 17, 2014
For a society to be truly open, it must ensure that all of its members have full and equal access to economic, social, and political opportunities. A core element of our work at the Open Society Foundations is to challenge and confront those barriers that undermine such opportunities-particularly for communities that are historically marginalized and vulnerable.
Over six years ago, the Open Society Foundations expanded its historic support for racial justice in the United States by initiating an effort specifically targeted at the challenges confronting black men and boys: the Campaign for Black Male Achievement (CBMA). The reason was simple: the United States cannot realize its aspirations as a society without tackling head-on its legacy that limits the potential of African American males.
Over the intervening years, CBMA has led us forward, and we are excited to announce that the campaign will now spin off to continue its work as an independent organization in a new and enhanced form.
When CBMA first launched, there was precious little philanthropy dedicated specifically to addressing the special racial and gender barriers preventing boys and men of color from achieving their economic, political, educational, and social potential. In recent years, a number of foundations have become joint leaders through efforts, such as the California Endowment's Sons and Brothers campaign, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Forward Promise initiative, and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation's Black Male Engagement work, among others.
Today, in part due to CBMA's efforts, there is an unprecedented number of organizations dedicated to carrying this banner-including the recently formed Executives' Alliance to Expand Opportunities for Boys and Men of Color, a coalition of more than 40 foundations (including the Open Society Foundations, which continues to play a leadership role on the steering committee). And earlier this year, President Obama announced the My Brother's Keeper initiative, putting black male achievement on an even more prominent platform for the remainder of this administration and beyond.
The work done by CBMA's leaders, Shawn Dove and Rashid Shabazz, has helped start to change the narrative-and create a black male achievement movement in this country. This has involved identifying and lifting up innovators and building and expanding a network of leaders and organizations dedicated to this cause. By spinning off as a standalone organization this January-a step first suggested by Shawn several years ago-CBMA is poised to move to the next level.
The new entity will keep the same name, and the same focus: to help foster the growth, sustainability, and impact of organizations working to improve the lives of black boys and men. And it will incorporate the work of the Institute for Black Male Achievement, which was created in late 2012 with a grant of $4 million from Open Society and eight funding partners.
Tonya Allen, CEO of the Skillman Foundation, will serve as CBMA's founding board chair, and will be joined on the board by Geoffrey Canada, founder of the Harlem Children's Zone and board member of Open Society's U.S. Programs; William C. Bell, CEO of the Casey Family Programs; and Wendell Pritchett, interim dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School. The Silicon Valley Community Foundation will serve as CBMA's fiscal sponsor.
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On The Day Before MLK Mentor Day, Thousands of Young Black Males Across America Will Worship with Black men in
Take A Young Black Man
to Worship Day
Sunday, January 18, 2015
at a place of worship near you

Please call 773.285.9600 for more information or to register your place of worship.
For Immediate Release
AFRICAN AMERICAN LEARNING DIFFERENCES ORGANIZATION CHANGES COURSE AS A RESULT OF INSUFFICIENT FUNDING
COLUMBUS, OH, DECEMBER 22, 2014 - Effective January 1, 2015, the National Association for the Education of African American Children with Learning Differences (AACLD), which has for many years been the only organizational voice and advocate of its kind, will no longer provide the majority of its programs and services due to insufficient funding. However, lower cost functions, such as the AACLD website, will remain in place throughout the next year (2015) with periodic updates.
The AACLD Founder as well as the members of the Board of Trustees are disappointed by the need to take this action, which dramatically reduces the organization's activities, but will continue to look for funding sources for the future.
"Not since Brown vs. the Board of Education (1954) has there been any other time in history that our children have suffered more than they do today in a broken public school system. The need for advocacy is still as strong as ever," stated Nancy Tidwell, AACLD Founder and President.
"The proper education of African American children continues to be a challenge for the best of parents. When we factor in cultural differences in a society that is dominated by one cultural perspective, we must encourage parents to not only continue to support their children in the schools they currently attend but also fight for their right to attend a school that is not failing," stated Linda James Myers, Ph.D., Chair of the Board of Trustees.
"We can no longer expect that others will do this for us. We can and must advocate for our children and demand the allocation of resources necessary to make it happen," Myers further stated.
While this action ends 15 years of resource and referral service and training provided by the AACLD to African American families and community leaders nationwide, the decision will be revisited if new opportunities for supporting the organization are identified in the next 12 months.
In the meantime, parents are encouraged to watch for further updates, helpful resources, and a new website beginning early next year. Potential funders interested in helping to further the organization's mission and the provision of its services to a population often ignored, are encouraged to reach out to the organization in the coming year.
The AACLD (www.aacld.org) was organized in 2000. It is the only national organization that focuses solely on the education of African American children with learning disabilities and learning differences.
For more information, contact Nancy Tidwell at (614) 237-6021 or ntidwell@aacld.org.

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Whether It Is "Watch Night" or "Freedom's Eve", the Black Community
in America Celebrated
Freedom from Slavery as of
11:59 pm, December 31, 1862
"On that night, Blacks came together in churches and private homes all across the nation, anxiously awaiting news that the Emancipation Proclamation had actually become law."
Slaves wait for 12:00 am, January 1, 1863, the first day of freedom for many Black slaves in America.
Written by Charyn D. Sutton
If you live or grew up in a Black community in the United States, you have probably heard of "Watch Night Services," the gathering of the faithful in church on New Year's Eve. The service usually begins anywhere from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. and ends at midnight with the entrance of the New Year.
There are two essential reasons for the importance of New Year's Eve services in African American congregations. Many of the Watch Night Services in Black communities that we celebrate today can be traced back to gatherings on December 31, 1862, also known as "Freedom's Eve."
On that night, Americans of African descent came together in churches, gathering places and private homes throughout the nation, anxiously awaiting news that the Emancipation Proclamation had become law. Then, at the stroke of midnight, it was January 1, 1863, and according to Lincoln's promise, all slaves in the Confederate States were legally free.
People remained in churches and other gathering places, eagerly awaiting word that Emancipation had been declared. When the actual news of freedom was received later that day, there were prayers, shouts and songs of joy as people fell to their knees and thanked God.
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