S P E CI A L CO M M E M O R AT IV E I S S U E
President Barack H. Obama First Lady Michelle R.Obama
S P E CI A L CO M M E M O R AT IV E I S S U E
Publisher’s Message Earl “Skip” Cooper, II
Why a Barack Obama Commemorative Issue?
A
s Barack Hussein Obama was the 44th President of the United States, it is important for us as Black people to ensure that his contributions and legacy don’t end up a quagmire of partisan political wrangling and misinterpretation. Hence, the Black Business News presents here our commemorative tribute to this historic icon. The presidency of Barack Obama will be viewed – no, scrutinized – through the lens of history m o r e closely than we can probably imagine in
history should properly adjudge “44” to have been a fair, smart, decent, honest, shrewd and highly competent Chief Executive – everything that his successor isn’t. There are countless reports and interviews that were produced during President Obama’s time in office that document his successes and his pitfalls; many of those can even be found in first person. One interview worth looking back upon was published in the August 2012 issue of Black Enterprise, wherein Obama makes clear that, while he had in fact brought the nation from the very brink of financial ruin, he had much more to accomplish during what he hoped would be a second term. He got that second opportunity and, despite unrelenting streams of vitriol and refused collaboration, still he rose. It would only be speculation, but it would not be hard to make a case that the election of Donald J. Trump resulted in direct response to destroy the accomplishments of Barak Obama. Hate is a powerful thing. Nevertheless, keeping with our innate cultural inclination to support one other, most Black Barack Husein Obama famousface.us Americans keep true present day. No other “first” will have to loving their own, greater impact; no other “first” will and adopted Barack likely ever endure stronger criticism, Obama as the native cynicism or downright contempt; no son he actually was. other “first” will have had to stand Michell R. Obama thefamouspeople.com Sadly, for some, he was up to the personal insults and racist never going to be “Black derogatory remarks than President Obama and see Publisher's Message on page 6 his First Family did. That said, the kaleidoscope of 3 February 2018 Black Business News Special Issue www.blackbbusinessnews.net
S P E CI A L CO M M E M O R AT IV E I S S U E About the Black Business News… The mission of The Black Business News is to inspire and inform public and private sector industry representatives on the importance of smart small business growth. As a versatile source of socioeconomic development activity, the Black Business News imparts current local, national and international industry trends related to small businesses across the United States of America (USA), detailing greater access to financial capital, management efficiencies, business education, mentors and networks. The goals of the Black Business News include: •
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increasing the use of business enterprises owned by USA-based blacks, by advocating for greater access to leading finance lenders and successful business managers. working to merge resources, values, profits, technology throughout the public and private sectors.
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balancing major public and private sector contracting methods with positive outcomes of black-owned and operated enterprises.
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providing an affirmative influence for emerging entrepreneurs sharing innovative design and creative cultural content that exposes them to the history of black enterprises and excite them to participate in the USA’s future.
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advocating and promoting on behalf of black-owned businesses by promoting the need for expanding an economic foundation that supports an unfettered and selfsustained urban society with USA job creation and economic opportunity, where blacks work, live and operate viable business enterprises.
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Black Business News P.O. Box 43159, Los Angeles, CA 90043 323-291-7819 Fax: 323-298-5064
PUBLISHER/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Earl “Skip” Cooper, II
ASSOCIATE EDITOR Sarah Harris
ENTREPRENEUR EDITOR Kim Anthony
ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Belinda Foster
PRODUCTION MANAGER Narishima Osei
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS LaSandra Stratton • Dean Jones • Linda Ware
GRAPHIC DESIGN Sarah Harris • Phallu Morgan
STORY EDITORS Wanda Flagg ▪ Jennifer Marie Hamilton
PHOTOGRAPHY Ian Foxx ▪ Sabir • Narishima Osei
CONTENT ADMINISTRATOR La Sandra Stratton
LAYOUT/TYPESETTING Lion Communications Copyright © 2012 by Black Business News All Rights Reserved. The posting of stories, commentaries, reports, documents and links (embedded or otherwise) on this site does not in any way, shape or form, implied or otherwise, necessarily express or suggest endorsement or support of any of such posted material or parts therein.
S P E CI A L CO M M E M O R AT IV E I S S U E FEATURES… February 2018
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Publisher’s Message
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My Daughters Didn't Ask for Fame Obama Lifts Lid on Post-Presidency Career with Civic Engagement Forum at U. of C. Obama Gets Rock-star Welcome in Berlin, Praises Chancellor Angela Merkel Obama Warns Against an 'Aggressive Kind of Nationalism' Barack Obama Drops in to Surprise Kids at DC High School Former President Barack Obama Gets a Holiday Reflections: Your Thoughts on the Obama Years Thank You Mr. Obama: Eight Years as Leader of the Free World
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36 38 38
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Precision Medicine Patient Protecction and Affordable Care Act Children's Health insurance Reauthorization Act American Tax Payer Relief Act of 2012 Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act Home Affordable Modification Program FDA Food Safety Modernazation Act Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act My Brother's Keeper FAFSA Completion Initiative
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Reach Higher Initiative
39 39 40 40 41
48 50 51 52 54 56 62 66 70 72 73 74 77 78 80
Joining Forces Initiative Let's Move Initiative Turnaround Arts White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans The Obama Administration Digital Transition: Moving Forward 5 Times Michelle Obama Was Peak Black Girl Magic What’s Next President and Mrs. Obama Announce Conceptual Vision for Design of Obama Presidential Center Obama-Holder Announce National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC) The Obama White House - Social Media Archive Obama Letters from 1980s Available at Emory Books to Consider... Barack and Michelle Obama Sign Record Book Deals The Obama's Portraits hang in the American President's Exhibit About the BBA…
5 February 2018 Black Business News Special Issue www.blackbbusinessnews.net
S P E CI A L CO M M E M O R AT IV E I S S U E Publisher's Message from page 6
enough”, no matter how much he did or how well he succeeded. But whether you agreed with his politics or his policies during his eight years in office, the Obama presidency struck a nerve in the heartbeat of America. As a nation, nine years ago, we collectively took a bold step, elected and supported Barack Obama – a president of color, and one who indisputably passed historic legislation during his tenure. He
and his wife, Michelle, have been and continue to be sources of inspiration across lines of color, gender, economic levels and nationalities. By and large, we chose to judge him not by his skin color, but the content of his character, in keeping with Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream and keeping hope alive for an inclusive America, and opposite of the nightmare facing America presentday. In the end, hope is and will be what makes freedom ring! www.bbala.org
LINKS TO PICTURES, ARTICLES and SITES Black Business News Obama Commemorative Publications January 2009: https://issuu.com/blackbusinessnews/ docs/bba_news_jan__09 January 2013: https://issuu.com/ blackbusinessnews/ docs/13-jan
Photo Libraries http://www.zimbio.com/ photos/Barack+Obama/ Chicago+Hosts+Mayor s+North+American+Cli mate/Uie63W8UwH7
The First Family - Sasha, Barack, Malia and Michelle - 2013
www.msn.com/en-us/ news/photos-featured/ best-photos-from-theobama-white-houseyears/ss-AAlXjBQ?ocid= spartandhp#image=95
6 February 2018 Black Business News Special Issue www.blackbbusinessnews.net
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From The Hill: Off to college Chef Marcus Sammuelson
9 February 2018 Black Business News Special Issue www.blackbbusinessnews.net
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Beyonce & First Lady Michelle Obama
10 February 2018 Black Business News Special Issue www.blackbbusinessnews.net
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Prince Harry and President Obama at the Invictus Games (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
President Barack Obama meets with inmates. clutchmagonline.com
First Lady Michelle Obama Glamour Photoshoot.
Bill Nye "The Science Guy', Barack Obama, Neil de Grasse Tyson. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
President Obama shows up for Jury Duty in Chicago
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Crossing the Edmond Pettis Bridge. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
President Barack Obama greets a young visitor in the Oval Office, Feb. 5, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) 12 February 2018 Black Business News Special Issue www.blackbbusinessnews.net
S P E CI A L CO M M E M O R AT IV E I S S U E
Nobel Peace Prize. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
13 February 2018 Black Business News Special Issue www.blackbbusinessnews.net
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STAY IN TOUCH www.instagram.com/barackobama www.instagram.com/michelleobama See page xx for more contact information 14 February 2018 Black Business News Special Issue www.blackbbusinessnews.net
S P E CI A L CO M M E M O R AT IV E I S S U E
© Jason Bahr/Getty Images for The Women's Foundation of Colorado
Obama received the German Media Prize 2016 in Baden-Baden, Germany, on May 25, 2017 Obama met Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a restaurant during Obama's visit to address the Montreal Chamber of Commerce in Montreal, Quebec on June 6, 2017. The Obama foundation later tweeted that the two leaders discussed “their shared commitment to developing the next generation of leaders.” © Prime Minister's Office/Handout/Reuters
© Michael Probst/AP Photo
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Caroline Kennedy (L) presents the 2017 Profile in Courage Award to Obama as Michelle looks on during a ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., on May 7. © Brian Snyder/Reuters
Barack Obama visits a Boys & Girls Club in Washington, DC, December 2017
16 February 2018 Black Business News Special Issue www.blackbbusinessnews.net
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My Daughters Didn't Ask for Fame By Tierney McAfee
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ormer First Lady Michelle Obama says “fame is a monster” that many people want — but her daughters are not among them. During a question-andanswer session with author Roxane Gay at the marketing conference Inbound, Obama said that as a grown woman, she’s learned how to handle fame and criticism in a healthy way. But for her daughters, Malia, 19, and Sasha, 16, it can be more challenging, Obama said, according to two sources who attended the event, which was closed to press coverage. The former first lady pointed out that her daughters — who were just 10 and 7 when their father, Barack Obama, took office — didn’t ask to be famous and sometimes have trouble coping
with all of the attention they receive from fans, critics and the media. Obama said she tries to model reacting with generosity, but she acknowledged that it’s particularly difficult for Malia — who just started her freshman year at Harvard — to deal with 20 to 30 people each day coming up to her and saying, “Do I know you?” or “Can I get a picture with you?” Obama asked for patience and privacy for Malia. Obama added that she’s proud of her daughters for interacting with people with empathy and grace — even if they say no when people ask for their time or a photo. The former first lady also took aim at President Trump and his supporters during her talk, saying that “any woman who voted
against Hillary Clinton voted against their own voice.” “Anyone who looked at those two candidates and said, ‘That man is closer to my voice’ doesn’t like their own voice,” Obama said. She added, however, that she and her husband still support Trump and want him to succeed for the sake of the country. Obama also confessed that she doesn’t miss life in the White House, describing her experience as first lady as similar to “being shot out of a cannon … with a blindfold and the spotlight on you.” She added that she does miss the “people and the work,” telling the audience that being first lady taught her that there’s nothing she can’t do. http://people.com/politics/michelleobama-daughters-malia-sasha-fame/
17 February 2018 Black Business News Special Issue www.blackbbusinessnews.net
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Former President Barack Obama leads a discussion on civic engagement at the University of Chicago's Logan Center for the Arts on April 24, 2017. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)
Obama Lis Lid on PostPresidency Career with Civic Engagement Forum at U. of C. By Rick Pearson, Chicago Tribune
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resident Barack Obama lifted the veil on his retirement Monday, April 24, 2017 at a University of Chicago forum, engaging students with a message calling on them to use empathy and listen to those with whom they disagree. "I have to say that there's a reason why I'm always optimistic when things look like they're sometimes not going the way I want. And that is because of young people like this," Obama said in wrapping up the 80-minute forum on civic engagement, the closest he came to addressing his successor, President Donald
Trump. Instead, the former president returned to the school where he was once a senior lecturer in constitutional law and opened the session by asking an audience filled with students, "What's been going on since I've been gone?" The forum, a discussion with six young adults, including four students, featured Obama largely delivering bromides from a historical perspective of his years as an organizer, state senator, U.S. senator and president. "I am the first to acknowledge I did not set the world on fire, nor did I transform these communities
in any significant way," he said of his days as a community organizer on the South Side. "But it did change me. This community gave me more than I was able to give in return. This community taught me that ordinary people, when working together, can do extraordinary things," he said. Of his organizing days, Obama said it was important to spend time "listening and finding out what they're interested in and connecting their immediate needs to policies that have influence on their immediate concerns." "Listen to understand rather
18 February 2018 Black Business News Special Issue www.blackbbusinessnews.net
CITIZEN OBAMA than listen to respond. That will save you a lot of heartache and grief," said Obama, who added that it was a lesson he learned in marriage. Obama also counseled students who have an interest in politics to be careful about their use of social media, but encouraged them to "own" any mistakes the unforgiving medium may show from their past. "If you had pictures of everything I did in high school, I probably wouldn't be president of the United States," he said. It was Obama's first public visit to Chicago, his adopted hometown, since he delivered a presidential farewell address at McCormick Place in January, just days before his two terms in the White House ended. And it was Obama's first public event since leaving office Jan. 20, ending a three-month vacation that included jaunts to foreign lands and launching a series of talks and paid speeches and appearances both in the U.S. and internationally. The former president's event, dubbed a "Conversation on Civic Engagement," was held at the university's Logan Center for the Arts. Calls to encourage civic involvement and to end bipartisan gridlock had been hallmarks of Obama's speeches during his final months in office. "Although there are all kinds of issues that I care about and all kinds of issues that I intend to work on, the single most important thing I can do is to help in any way I can prepare the next generation of leadership to take up the baton and to take their own crack at changing the world," Obama said. "Because the one thing that I'm absolutely convinced of is that, yes, we confront a whole range of challenges from economic inequality and lack of opportunity
to a criminal justice system that is too often skewed in ways that are unproductive to climate change, to issues related to violence. All those problems are serious, they're daunting but they're not insolvable. What is preventing us from tackling them and making more progress really has to do with our politics and our civic life," he said. Obama lamented that in today's culture, institutions where Americans often found common ground to work together on issues — such as churches, unions and rotary clubs — have declined in membership. "People don't have some of the same habits of being together on a common project that they used to. We've become a more individualistic society," he said. And with individuals searching the internet for facts that back up their views, it has "people having entirely separate conversations" and "you really don't have to confront people who have a different experience," he said. Obama said he effectively "lucked out" in his 2004 run for the U.S. Senate in Illinois because in addition to a base of support in Chicago, he spent time traveling around the rest of the state "under the radar so political ads didn't characterize me and so people would meet me." As a result, even in rural, heavily Republican Downstate counties, "People got a frame of reference that my values were not much different from theirs," he said. "Your ability to create trust and relationships makes all the difference," said Obama, who added that it's "hard to do in this current environment, but it's not impossible." "Immigration is a good example of an issue that stirs up so much passion, and in some cases
misinformation, that it's hard for us to have a good healthy conversation about it," he said. One of the forum participants, Harish Patel, who lost a Democratic primary for Illinois House last year, asked Obama how to deal with failure. Obama's lone ballot loss came in 2000, when he lost by a 2-to-1 margin in a failed primary challenge of U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush. "When I thought about that race, what I was reminded of was the degree of which it was probably the sole time in my whole career I ran because it was the next thing rather than on the theory on what I wanted to do," Obama said. Acknowledging it may be cliché, Obama said, "Worry less about what you want to be and worry more about what you want to do." In addition to Patel, a graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago, Obama also spoke with Tiffany Brown, a doctoral graduate of Chicago State University and graduate of Kenwood Academy High School; Ramuel Figueroa, an undergraduate at Roosevelt University; Max Freedman, an undergraduate at U. of C.; Kelsey McClear, an undergraduate at Loyola University; and Ayanna Watkins, a senior at Kenwood. www.latimes.com/nation/ctbarack-obama-university-chicagoyouth-met-0425-20170424-story. html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_ medium=feed&utm_campaign=Fee d%3A+latimes%2Fnews%2Fnation world%2Fnation+%28L.A.+Times++National+News%29 Chicago Tribune's Katherine Skiba contributed from Washington, D.C. ED. BLACK BUSINESS NEWS Video: Obama "WHATS BEEN GOING ON SINCE IVE BEEN GONE" University of Chicago 4/24/2017 www.youtube.com/watch?time_ continue=175&v=FScapV-TQJE
19 February 2018 Black Business News Special Issue www.blackbbusinessnews.net
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Former U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel appear together in Berlin, Germany, on Thursday. The Associated Press
Obama Gets Rock-star Welcome in Berlin, Praises Chancellor Angela Merkel By Kirsten Grieshaber and Frank Jordans, Associated Press
B
arack Obama received a rock-star welcome in Berlin as he appeared at a public debate on Thursday with Chancellor Angela Merkel, whom he praised as one of his "favorite partners" during his presidency. Security was tight in front of the German capital's iconic Brandenburg Gate, where Obama and Merkel appeared on a podium before thousands of people attending a gathering
marking the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Police helicopters patrolled the skies and snipers with balaclavas watched the scene from nearby rooftops. After lauding Merkel as someone who had done "outstanding work," Obama launched a defense of his own presidency and the values of liberal democracy championed by both leaders. Citing the rise of nationalism and
xenophobia in parts of the world, Obama told the crowd that "we have to push back against those trends that would violate human rights or suppress democracy or restrict individual freedoms." In a veiled reference to his successor, Donald Trump, Obama also spoke of the need to see development aid and diplomacy as essential aspects of national security policy. "We can't isolate ourselves. We
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500th Anniversary of Protestant Reformation event at Brandenburg Gate featuring Barack Obama can't hide behind a wall," he said, to cheers from the audience. Merkel, who hosted Obama at the same spot four years ago, was due to travel to Brussels later Thursday for a meeting with leaders of fellow NATO member states, including President Trump. Thursday's appearance with Obama was criticized by some German opposition politicians as a publicity stunt ahead of September's general election, in which Merkel aims to win a fourth term. www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ obama-gets-rock-star-welcome-inberlin-praises-merkel/ar-BBBvDLf?li =BBmkt5R&ocid=spartanntp
500th Anniversary of Protestant Reformation event at Brandenburg Gate in Berline featuring Barack Obama and Chancellor Merkel
21 February 2018 Black Business News Special Issue www.blackbbusinessnews.net
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© Photograph by Jefri Tarigan—Anadolu Agency/Getty Former US President Barack Obama attends a panel during the 4th Congress of the Indonesian Diaspora in Jakarta, Indonesia on July 01, 2017. Obama and his family are currently on a vacation
Obama Warns Against an 'Aggressive Kind of Nationalism' By Lisa Marie Segarra
F
ormer President Barack Obama has spoken on the dangers of nationalism and President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris Agreement, without actually mentioning him by name. Obama spoke to the Fourth Congress of the Indonesian
Diaspora while visiting Jakarta Saturday, according to the Hill. "We start seeing a rise in sectarian politics," Obama said. "We start seeing a rise in an aggressive kind of nationalism. We start seeing both in developed and developing countries an increased resentment about minority groups
and the bad treatment of people who don’t look like us or practice the same faith as us." He also spoke about the importance of the Paris Climate Agreement (http://time. com/4814501/paris-agreement-g7environment-pledge).
"In Paris, we came together
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around the most ambitious agreement in history to fi ght climate change," Obama said. The former president also spoke on preserving religious freedom and freedom of the press in America saying, "If we don’t stand up for tolerance and moderation and respect for others, if we begin to doubt ourselves and all that we have accomplished, then much of the progress that we have made will not continue."
http://time.com/4843080/obama-warns-against-aggressivenationalism/
23 February 2018 Black Business News Special Issue www.blackbbusinessnews.net
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Barack Obama Drops in to Surprise Kids at DC High School By Miranda Green, CNN
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tudents at a Washington, D.C., high school had a surprise career counselor welcome them back to school on Friday -- former President Barack Obama. Obama visited McKinley Tech High School with DC Public Schools Chancellor Antwan Wilson to talk to a group of
students about "their life goals, pursuing higher education, and giving back to their communities," according to a statement from his spokesman, Kevin Lewis. A short video of the talk was posted on Instagram. "You don't mind me crashing, right?" Obama said walking through the classroom doors to a
roomful of stunned and giggling students. "One of the things that I did throughout my presidency was I'd meet with groups of young people everywhere I went, whether it was here in the United States or when I was traveling overseas, just to kind of hear from them, find out what they are interested
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Former President Barack Obama Gets a Holiday
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tarting in 2018, the state of Illinois will annually observe “Barack Obama Day.” That’s right, Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner signed “Barack Obama Day” into law giving former President Barack Obama, his own state holiday, NBC Chicago reports. The holiday will be observed on August 4th throughout the State as a day set apart to honor the 44th President of the United States of America who began his career serving the community of Illinois in both the Illinois State Senate and the United States Senate, and has dedicated his life to protecting the rights of Americans and building bridges across communities,” the bill notes. The news station notes, that although several lawmakers abstained from voting on the measure, it passed both houses without a single vote against it.
So now Barack Obama Day will join the other commemorative days, including Ronald Reagan Day, for which workplaces do not close.
in, because I do believe that most of the problems that we have are going to be solved by you," he said, sitting with the students in a circle of chairs. The purpose of the visit was to encourage "the next generation of leaders" and is part of an ongoing series of conversations Obama is having with young people, Lewis' statement said. The former President also held
a discussion with young leaders at the University of Chicago in April in what was his first public appearance since leaving office. McKinley Tech participates in D.C.'s Empowering Males of Color program, which the district's public school system launched in 2015 to provide academic and personal support for African-American and Latino students in response to Obama's
Well deserved honor. www.thechocolatevoice.com/ former-president-barack-obamagets-a-holiday/
My Brother's Keeper initiative, the statement said. Obama launched that effort to encourage cities, towns and tribal nations to develop action plans to address gaps in opportunities for boys and young men of color and ensure all youth can reach their full potential, it said. www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/barackobama-drops-in-to-surprise-kids-at-dchigh-school/ar-AAryyXp?ocid=spartanntp
25 February 2018 Black Business News Special Issue www.blackbbusinessnews.net
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Reflections: Your Thoughts on the
Obama Years
A Remarkable Man "I just hope that the asterisk in history that is attached to my name when they talk about this presidency, I can say that I was part of the journey of a remarkable man who did remarkable things for this country". January 12, 2017. Vice President Joseph Biden www.youtube.com/watch?v=U54qP_GKoF0
President Obama – 8 Years of Grace, Pride and Hope.
President Obama did an outstanding job as president as the 44th President of the United States. He represented our country with class and dignity. The Obama family is a true example of the American family and the American dream. The reasons that millions of immigrants risk their lives and leave everything behind to have a piece of the American dream. He governed with class and dignity and should be an example to us all regardless of our race or gender. President B a r a c k Obama faced the deeply entrenched
racism of the nation that elected him, and the Republicans determined to oppose his every move. If Obama was for sunshine, the Republicans were for rain. All the while, he had to face his real work digging our nation out of the hole into which his predecessor had dragged us. We were in the worst financial crisis in 80 years, fighting two wars simultaneously, the U.S. economy was losing 800,000 jobs a month. Barack Obama turned our country around for the better. During his 8 years in office, he ended the wars, gave us a thriving economy, reduced Unemployment to an all-time low and we had record levels of job growth. During his eight years in office, the President advocated on behalf of the environment, he advocated for marriage equality, supported women’s rights, including equal pay and the right for a woman to choose; He has fought for workers and for a living wage. In fact, the very first bill the President signed into law was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009, which restored the protection against pay discrimination that was stripped away by the Supreme Court. He fought for the rights of immigrants. With the Affordable Care Act, he has given all Americans access to healthcare for the first time in our nation’s history. Because of his accomplishments he was named the most admired man in the world for the seventh straight year. He also won the 2009 Nobel Prize. now we can look at our children and tell them, like Obama, “yes you can”. You can be whatever you set out to be, with the right planning and the right strategy as well as the right people, you will achieve your goal. Yes, we can, yes we did and yes we will…… Bianca Vobecky. Vobecky Enterprises Inc.
Transformational Leadership President Barack Obama has been our titan and
26 February 2018 Black Business News Special Issue www.blackbbusinessnews.net
S P E CI A L CO M M E M O R AT IV E I S S U E most long awaited leader of our time. His leadership has been transformational and will forever impact all generations, today and through the ages. His life and leadership exemplifies all black lives in ways that has never been told or written. President Obama's life further confirms all the greatness of hearts and minds of those that lived before his time such as those during the Civil Rights Movement right to the beginning of slavery. We are grateful to have lived in these times for it is during this life that the spirits of the ancestors in Africa and in the Americas went to lay in peace knowing full well their son has done it for them. It is with great humility and gratitude that we bow to Michelle Obama for without whom all this could never have been possible. She above all had the spirit to discern that call of the ancestors to keep the dream alive and never to letup. May the lives of these generations protect and jealously guard these experiences for the ages. Ricky Muloweni, CEO Kanzam International
Forever Forward Tuesday November 4, 2008 represents a benchmark event in the life and history of the USA!!! This is also the case for President Obama's second presidential election as President and Commander
in Chief of the USA in 2012!!! Regardless of how any of us voted our entire nation can celebrate the historical milestone of electing our first African American President!!!! We all are given the opportunity for deeper racial reconciliation and social justice. We have our time to change and whether the present climate ignores it or, not a new dispensation has begun for America. However, this present moment demands continued visionary and prophetic leadership and the power of a faith inspired movement. From the abolition of slavery, through the Jim Crow Laws, the discrimination based on skin color, a long history of lynching, the women's sufferage to the Civil Rights Movement we have marched, demonstrated prayed and hoped for this transformative historical moment to come!!! We will not go backward but forever forward!!! History shows us that change happens when social movements push hard on and open doors of political leadership as we did in the 1950s and 1960s. President Obama's election twice is proof of this movement's momentum!!! We must keep the momentum going even in this present political climate, never stop pushing and speaking truth to power!!!! We must never give up imagining and working for change and being the change we want to see in our nation and world!!! That change begins within each one of us!!! Peace and Power!!!
Kenyans 27 February 2018 Black Business News Special Issue www.blackbbusinessnews.net
Rev. Dr. B. Herbert Martin, Sr., President, The Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago
S P E CI A L CO M M E M O R AT IV E I S S U E/ A c h i e vem e n t s
Thank You Mr. Obama: Eight Years as Leader of the Free World
L
ike a cool breeze on a warm summer night, a tall thin Black man, Barack Obama became the 44th President of the United States of America. His use of a radical approach to social media woke up the American people with a message of HOPE. It all began at the Democratic National Convention in 2004. The young candidate for the Illinois State Senate was asked to be the keynote speaker. The speech Mr. Obama, a young black man from
Chicago’s south side, delivered that night, set the platform for his campaign to become the Democratic nominee for President of the United States in 2008. The speech was laced with the idea of HOPE for the future of our country. A promise for a better America where everyone had the ability to be whatever they aspired to be. “Yes We Can” became the battle cry for a nation ready for a change. After 16 years of BUSH Republican rule, America was eager for
something fresh, something new, a radical change from the status quo. The stage was set, the time was right and Barack Obama was the man. On January 20, 2009 in the middle of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression Mr. Obama became the first Black man to be named President of The United States of America. Below are the Top 50 Accomplishments by President Obama reported by Washington Monthly.
President-elect Barack Obama delivers his Acceptance Speech at election night rally in McCormick Place, Chicago, Illinois
S P E CI A L CO M M E M O R AT IV E I S S U E/ A c h i e vem e n t s
Signing the Affordable Care Act
1. Passed Health Care Reform After five presidents over the course of a century failed to create universal health insurance, signed the Affordable Care Act in 2010. More than twenty million Americans have gained coverage since the passage of the law, which provides subsidies for Americans to buy coverage, expands Medicaid eligibility, and prohibits insurers from denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions. The uninsured rate has dropped from 16% in 2010 to 9% in 2015. The law also mandates free preventive care, allows young people to stay on their parents’ policies up to age twenty-six, and imposes a ban on annual and lifetime caps on benefits.
2. Rescued the Economy see Eight Years of Leadership on page 30
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Signed the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009 to spur economic growth amid the most severe downturn since the Great Depression. As of October 2016, the economy had added 15.5 million new jobs since early 2010 and set a record with seventy-three straight months of private-sector job growth. The unemployment rate, which hit a sustained peak of about 10% in 2009, has dropped to 4.6% as of November 2016.
Agency inspections regime in exchange for lifting global sanctions. The deal—which resulted from first toughening sanctions against Iran—also blocked Iran’s pathways to building a bomb, slowing down the development time for a weapon from three months to one year if Iran were to break its commitments.
5. Secured U.S. Commitment to a Global Agreement on Climate Change Provided key leadership to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which produced the 2015 Paris
3. Passed Wall Street Reform Signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in 2010 to re-regulate the financial sector after its practices caused the Great Recession. The law tightens capital requirements on large banks and other financial institutions, allows the government to take them into receivership if they pose a threat to the economy, and limits their ability to trade with customers’ money for their own profit. Dodd-Frank also created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to crack down on abusive lending and financial services. By the end of fiscal year 2016, the CFPB had handled nearly one million consumer complaints and taken actions that resulted in $11.7 billion in relief for more than twenty-seven million consumers.
4. Negotiated a Deal to Block A Nuclear Iran Led six nations in reaching an agreement with Iran that requires the country to end its nuclear weapons program and submit to a rigorous International Atomic Energy
Agreement, a commitment by 197 nations to reduce global carbon emissions and limit the global rise in temperatures to below 2 degrees Celsius.
6. Eliminated Osama bin Laden In 2011, ordered the Special Forces raid of the secret compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in which the terrorist leader was killed and a trove of al-Qaeda documents was retained.
7. Ended U.S. Combat Missions in Iraq and Afghanistan After an initial troop surge in Afghanistan, brought home 90% of
the nearly 180,000 troops who were deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan when he took office, leaving only a small contingent of forces to assist the Iraqi and Afghani militaries against insurgents and the Taliban. The withdrawal from Iraq created the vacuum that ISIS has filled. But, recently, without redeploying ground troops, the U.S. has helped the Iraqi military in reversing ISIS’s gains.
8. Turned Around the U.S. Auto Industry In 2009, injected $62 billion (on top of the $13.4 billion in loans from the George W. Bush administration) into ailing GM and Chrysler in return for equity stakes and agreements for massive restructuring. By December 2014, the car companies had repaid $70.4 billion of the funds, and the Center for Automotive Research estimated that 2.5 million jobs were saved.
9. Repealed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’’ Ended the 1990s-era restriction and formalized a new policy allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military for the first time.
10. Supported Federal Recognition of Same-Sex Marriages Decided in 2011 that the federal government would no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act, which restricted federal marriage recognition to opposite-sex couples. In June 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down key portions
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S P E CI A L CO M M E M O R AT IV E I S S U E/ Re - E l e c t i o n of the law as unconstitutional, allowing married same-sex couples to finally receive federal protections like Social Security and veteran benefits.
11. Reversed Bush Torture Policies
diplomatic and commercial ties with Cuba, ending the failed Cold War policy of isolation. In March 2016, direct mail flights to Cuba resumed for the first time in fifty years. American tourists may also now freely visit the country.
Two days after taking office, signed an executive order banning the socalled “enhanced interrogation” techniques used by the CIA under President Bush and considered inhumane under the Geneva Conventions. Also released the secret Bush administration legal opinions supporting the use of these techniques.
14. Put Medicare on Sounder Financial Footing
12. Established Rules to Limit Carbon Emissions from Power Plants
Took executive action in June 2012 to protect undocumented young people brought to the U.S. as children (so-called DREAMers) from deportation and allow them to apply for work permits.
Finalized a “Clean Power Plan” in 2015 through new EPA regulations, setting the first-ever carbon pollution standards for existing power plants. When fully implemented in 2030, the new rules will result in a 32% reduction in carbon emissions compared to 2005.
13. Normalized Relations with Cuba In 2014, took steps to open
Slowed the growth of health care spending through cost-saving measures enacted as part of the ACA, ensuring the solvency of Medicare’s principal trust fund through 2028.
15. Protected DREAMers from Deportation
16. Established Net Neutrality Directed the Federal Communications Commission to issue a rule classifying internet service providers as a public utility and forcing them to treat all web traffic the same, regardless of source. After years of litigation, a federal court upheld the FCC’s
rule, meaning providers can’t favor certain websites or block others.
17. Protected Two Liberal Seats on the U.S. Supreme Court Nominated and obtained confirmation for Sonia Sotomayor (the first Hispanic person and third woman to serve on the Court) in 2009 and Elena Kagan (the fourth woman) in 2010. They replaced David Souter and John Paul Stevens, respectively.
18. Boosted Fuel Efficiency Standards Released new fuel efficiency standards in 2011 that will increase fuel economy to the equivalent of 54.5 miles per gallon for cars and light-duty trucks by model year 2025.
19. Kicked Banks Out of Federal Student Loan Program, Expanded Pell Grant Funding As part of the 2010 health care reform bill, signed a measure ending the decades-old practice of subsidizing banks to provide college loans. As a result, all students began getting their federal student loans directly from the federal government. More than half of the savings ($36 billion over ten years) is dedicated to expanding Pell Grants to lower-income students.
20. Improved America’s Image Abroad
President Raul Castro and President Barack Obama
With new policies, diplomacy, and rhetoric, reversed a sharp decline in world opinion toward the U.S. (and the corresponding loss of “soft power”) during the Bush years. Favorable opinion toward the United States rose during Obama’s first term in ten of fifteen countries surveyed by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, with an average see Eight Years of Leadership on page 32
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increase of 26%, and have stayed high ever since.
21. Left His Mark on the Federal Judiciary Appointed more than 300 judges to federal district and appeals courts, in line with other two-term presidents, tipping the balance to majority Democrat appointed. A majority of judges on nine of the thirteen appeals courts are now Democratic appointees—compared to just one when Obama took office. Appointed a record number of female (138) and minority (120) judges to the federal bench, as well as eleven openly gay or lesbian judges.
Division in 2009 to bring back federal civil rights enforcement, which had atrophied under President Bush. Among other priorities, the division stepped up its efforts against housing and employment discrimination, strengthened enforcement of the Voting Rights Act, and put renewed focus on cracking down on discriminatory policing practices.
25. Expanded Wilderness and Watershed Protection Signed the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009, which designates more than two million acres as wilderness, creates thousands of miles of recreational and historic trails, and protects over 1,000 miles of rivers. By designating new national monuments and other
22. Diversified the Federal Bureaucracy Appointed women and people of color to fill more than half of appointments to policy positions requiring Senate confirmation, including seventeen of thirty-one Cabinet positions.
23. Passed Fair Sentencing Act Signed 2010 legislation that reduced the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine possession from 100 to 1 to 18 to 1. Successfully lobbied the United States Sentencing Commission to apply those measures retroactively, which contributed to the largest decrease in the federal prison population in over thirty years.
24. Revived the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division Through then Attorney General Eric Holder, announced a major overhaul of the DOJ’s Civil Rights
measures, permanently protects over 548 million acres, more than any other president.
26. Gave the FDA the Power to Regulate Tobacco Signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act in 2009. Nine years in the making and long resisted by the tobacco industry, the law mandates that tobacco manufacturers disclose all ingredients, obtain FDA approval for new products, and expand the size and prominence of cigarette
warning labels. It also bans the sale of “light” cigarettes and tobacco sponsorship of entertainment events.
27. Trimmed and Reoriented Missile Defense Cut the Reagan-era “Star Wars” missile defense budget, saving $1.4 billion in 2010, and canceled plans to station antiballistic missile systems in Poland and the Czech Republic in favor of a sea-based defense plan focused on Iran and North Korea.
28. Kick-started Clean Energy Investment As part of the 2009 stimulus, invested $90 billion in research on smart grids, energy-efficient electric cars, renewable electricity ge ne rat io n, cleaner coal, and biofuels. Launched a clean energy incubator within the Argonne National Laboratory a n d encouraged $4 billion in commitments b y foundations, institutional investors, and other privatesector stakeholders to boost their investments in clean energy technology.
29. Reduced the Threat from Nuclear Weapons Initiated the biannual Nuclear Security Summit to address the global threat posed by nuclear terrorism and advance a common approach to strengthening nuclear security. As a result, weaponsusable highly enriched uranium has been removed from sixteen countries. Signed and won
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S P E CI A L CO M M E M O R AT IV E I S S U E/ Re - E l e c t i o n ratification of a 2011 treaty with Russia to limit each country to 1,550 strategic warheads (down from 2,200) and 700 launchers (down from more than 1,400). The treaty also reestablished a monitory and transparency program that had lapsed in 2009.
30. Passed Credit Card Reforms Signed the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009, which prohibits credit card companies from raising rates without advance notification, mandates a grace period on interest rate increases, and strictly limits overdraft and other fees.
31. Cut Veteran Homelessness by Half In 2010, launched the nation’s first comprehensive strategy to prevent and end homelessness, Opening Doors, which has led to a 47% decline in the number of homeless veterans since 2010 and aims to end youth homelessness by 2020.
to 4.2 million workers. The new rules were set to go into effect in December 2016, but were blocked in November by a federal judge in Texas.
that allows prospective college students to compare potential schools based on costs, graduation rates, debt, and post-college earnings.
34. Cracked Down on Bad For-Profit Colleges
37. Improved School Nutrition
Through the Department of Education, issued “gainful employment” regulations in 2011, cutting off commercially focused schools from federal student aid funding if more than 25% of former students aren’t paying off their loans or if former students spend more than 12% of their average total earnings servicing student loans. In June 2016, regulators voted to shut down the nation’s largest accreditor of for-profit colleges, cutting off federal aid to hundreds of for-profits.
35. Cut the Deficit Reduced the federal deficit from 9.8% of GDP in 2009 to 3.2% in 2016, one benefit of a strengthening economy.
Signed the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act in 2010, championed by Michelle Obama, mandating a $4.5 billion spending boost and higher nutritional standards for school lunches. New rules double the amount of fruits and vegetables, and require only whole grains, in foods served to students.
38. Expanded the Definition of Hate Crimes Signed the Hate Crimes Prevention Act in 2009, applying existing hate crime laws to crimes based on a victim’s sexual orientation, gender, or disability, in addition to race, religion, or national origin.
39. Recognized the Dangers of Carbon Dioxide Through 2009 EPA regulations,
32. Enacted Government Surveillance Reform Signed the 2015 USA Freedom Act, which bans the governmental collection of bulk data, creates a special panel to provide technical and legal advice to the court administering the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), and provides greater transparency for FISA court opinions. The ACLU noted that the legislation marked the first time since 1978 that Congress has “taken steps to restrict, rather than expand, its government surveillance authority.”
33. Expanded Overtime Pay Updated a provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act to ensure overtime pay for employees making up to $47,476 a year, thereby expanding overtime protections
36. Created the College Scorecard Through the Department of Education, developed a comprehensive database in 2015
declared carbon dioxide a pollutant, allowing the agency to regulate its production.
40. Strengthened Women’s see Eight Years of Leadership on page 34
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from page 33
Right to Fair Pay Signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009, giving women who are paid less than men for the same work the right to sue their employers after they find out about the discrimination, even if it happened years ago. Under previous law, as interpreted by the
Supreme Court in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., the statute of limitations on such suits ran out 180 days after the alleged discrimination occurred, even if the victims never knew about it.
41. Secured the Removal of Chemical Weapons from Syria Forced an agreement by Syrian leader Bashar Assad in 2013 to destroy the country’s stockpile of chemical weapons in accordance with the United Nations Chemical Weapons Convention. In 2016, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons confirmed the destruction of thousands of tons of mustard gas and other toxic
chemicals. (There is evidence, however, that Assad has recently continued to use chlorine gas against rebels and civilians in Aleppo.)
42. Protected LGBTQ Americans From Employment Discrimination Signed an executive order in 2014 prohibiting federal contractors and subcontractors from discriminating against their workers on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
43. Reduced Discrimination Against Former Prisoners in Federal Hiring Signed an executive order to “ban the box” in federal hiring and contracting. Government employers can’t ask about criminal records at the beginning of the application process, giving applicants with a criminal history a fairer shot.
44. Won Major Victories Against Housing and Mortgage Discrimination Through the Justice Department, reached a record $335 million settlement a g a i n s t Countrywide Financial Corporation and a $175 m i l l i o n settlement against Wells Fargo for their practices of charging higher interest and fees to African A m e r i c a n and Latino borrowers prior
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S P E CI A L CO M M E M O R AT IV E I S S U E/ Re - E l e c t i o n to the financial crisis, in addition to numerous other suits pursued on behalf of borrowers. In 2015, the administration successfully argued before the Supreme Court that victims of housing discrimination suing for bias only need to show “disparate impact,” not an intent to discriminate, to win their case.
2011. Cut off funding for the even more bloated and problem-plagued Bush-era Constellation program to build a moon base in favor of
that made it their point, not to allow anything he instituted to be a success. A family man who showed the
support for private-sector lowearth orbit ventures, research on new rocket technologies for longdistance manned flight missions, and unmanned space exploration, including the largest interplanetary rover ever launched, designed to investigate Mars’s potential to support life.
world what it means to love your wife and put your family first. He made the Black community proud. With the poise and grace, never seen by a president before him, Mr. Obama put America on the road to be great again.
45. Expanded Broadband Coverage Obtained approval from the FCC to shift $8 billion in subsidies away from landlines and toward broadband internet access for lower-income rural families. By 2016, 98% of Americans had access to fast 4G/LTE broadband.
46. Expanded Health Coverage for Children Signed the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act in 2009, expanding the Children’s Health
Insurance
Program
(CHIP)
to cover an additional four million children, paid for by a tax increase on tobacco products.
47. Improved Food Safety Signed the 2011 FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, which increased the Food and Drug Administration’s budget by $1.4 billion and expanded its regulatory responsibilities to include increasing the number of food inspections, issuing direct food recalls, and reviewing the safety practices of countries exporting food products to the U.S.
48. Let the Space Shuttle Die and Killed the Planned Moon Mission Allowed the expensive ($1 billion per launch), badly designed, and dangerous shuttle program to make its final launch on July 8,
Thank you Mr. Obama!
49. Rebuilt and Fortified the Gulf Coast post-Katrina Completed a $14.5 billion system in 2011 to rebuild the levees in New Orleans and protect it from a 100year storm.
50. Avoided Scandal Became the first president since Dwight Eisenhower to serve two terms with no serious personal or political scandal. These are only a few of his many accomplishments. President Obama did this all with major opposition from the republican controlled house of representatives
Edwin A. Lombard III
35 February 2018 Black Business News Special Issue www.blackbbusinessnews.net
S P E C I A L C O M M E M O R A T I V E I S S U E / I N I T I AT I V E S
Precision Medicine
I
n his 2015 State of the Union address, President Obama announced that he had launched the Precision Medicine Initiative — a bold new research effort to revolutionize how we improve health and treat disease. Until now, most medical treatments have been designed for the “average patient.” As a result of this “one-size-fits-all” approach, treatments can be very successful for some patients but not for others. Precision Medicine, on the other hand, is an innovative approach that takes into account individual differences in people’s genes, environments, and lifestyles. It gives medical professionals the resources they need to target the specific treatments of the illnesses we encounter, further develops our scientific and medical research, and keeps our families healthier. Advances in Precision Medicine have already led to powerful new discoveries and several new treatments that are tailored to specific characteristics, such as a person’s genetic makeup, or the genetic profile of an individual’s tumor. This is helping transform the way we can treat diseases such as cancer: Patients with breast, lung, and colorectal cancers, as well as melanomas and leukemias, for instance, routinely undergo molecular testing as part of patient care, enabling physicians to select treatments that improve chances of survival and reduce exposure to adverse effects. And we’re committed to protecting your privacy every step of the way. The White House is working with the Department of Health and Human Services and other federal agencies to solicit input from patient groups, bioethicists, privacy and civil liberties advocates, technologists, and other experts, to help identify and address any legal and technical issues related to the privacy and security of data in the context of Precision Medicine.
What The future of precision medicine will enable health care providers to tailor treatment and prevention strategies to people’s unique characteristics, including their genome sequence, microbiome composition, health history, lifestyle, and diet. To get there, we need to incorporate many different
types of data, from metabolomics (the chemicals in the body at a certain point in time), the microbiome (the collection of microorganisms in or on the body), and data about the patient collected by health care providers and the patients themselves. Success will require that health data is portable, that it can be easily shared between
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President Barack Obama announces the Precision Medicine Initiative
providers, researchers, and most importantly, patients and research participants. Agencies across the Federal government are doing important work to support the President’s vision. This is an “all of government” effort, leveraging the unique expertise and history of each agency to carry forward the President’s vision of individualized treatments for every American.
Building Trust/Privacy Protections The White House is unveiling final Privacy and Trust Principles for the Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI). The principles provide broad guidance for future PMI activities regarding: governance; transparency; participant empowerment; respect for participant preferences; data sharing, access, and use; and data quality and integrity. The principles articulate a set of core values and responsible strategies for sustaining
public trust and maximizing the benefits of precision medicine. Participant-contributed data is the foundational asset of PMI, and participants deserve assurance that it is being protected. This requires not only clear privacy protections but strong and adaptable security policies and practices. Building from the existing PMI Privacy and Trust Principles, the Data Security Policy Principles and Framework offers security policy principles and a framework to guide decision-making by organizations conducting or participating in precision medicine activities. Recognizing that there is no “one size fits all” approach to managing data security, this document provides a framework for protecting participants’ data and resources in an appropriate and ethical manner that can be tailored to meet organization-specific requirements.
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S P E C I A L C O M M E M O R A T I V E I S S U E / I N I T I AT I V E S
Patient Protecction and Affordable Care Act
P
erhaps more commonly known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the PPACA was enacted on March 23, 2010. When combined with the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, the PPACA comprises one of the most signifi cant overhauls to the healthcare system in the United States since 1965 when Medicare and Medicaid were passed. The act was designed to help provide affordable insurance and healthcare to Americans while simultaneously improving the level of care and adaptation of technology seen in hospitals. Now broadly referred to as Obamacare, the PPACA faced many challenges from the start. There was a lot of opposition against the act and it has, unfortunately, seen many revisions and compromises. Its effectivity, however, cannot be questioned. Since the act went into effect, the number of uninsured individuals in the United States has dropped significantly. The overall cost of medical care has also been shown to be reduced, allowing more people to seek help without going into masive amounts of debt.
Children's Health insurance Reauthorization Act
T
h e CHIPRA is an expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance P r o g r a m (SCHIP). SCIP was originally introducd by Edward Kennedy in 1997. It was created in order to expand healthcare coverage to children in order to help ensure that the nation's youth grow up as healthy as possible and has access to medical care regardless of family income. CHIPRA, signed in 2009 by President Obama, is an expansion of the program introducd by Kennedy. It further expans children's coverage as well as providing new incentives and programmatic options. Not only that, but the act also attempts to measure the kind of care that the children in question receive in order to ensure that they're experiencing the best care possible. It also aims to register children who qualify and need the coverage, but are currently unregistered. Children come first, and CHIPRA is one way to ensure that they remain insured and receive the care they need to stay healthy, even when their families go through hard times.
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American Tax Payer Relief Act of 2012
E
nacted January 2 of 2013, the American Tax Payer Relief Act of 2012 seeks to close the vast income gap in the United States. One way to go about bridging the gap is by ensuring that individuals are taxed according to their income levels and overall wealth. A "one size fits all" approach doesn't help equalize the income gap in the slightest, and i makes sense that those who have more to spare should be asked to give more than a family or individual with nother to spare whatsoever. It is with accordance to that belief that the Ameerican Tax Payer Relief Act of 2012 was signed and enacted. The act makes permanent many tax breaks which were temporarily put in place by former president George W. Bush to help Americans recover after the first wave of the recession and real estate crash. In addition, the act ensures that higer tax rates stay in place for families and individuals in high income brackes rather than those in the very lowest brakets.
Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act
C
reated as a direct reaction from the murders of James Byrd Jr. and Matthew Shepard. James Byrd Jr. was murdered in Texas in 1998 because of his race. Matthew Shepard was also murdered in 1998 in Wyoming because of his exuals orientation. Both men were tortured and suffered greatly throughout whan can only be called hate crimes. As a result, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act was created in order to expaned the 1969 federal hate-crime law of the United States yo remove certain prerequisites to classify a crime as a "hate crime" as well as to add sexual orientation, gender, disability and gender identity as recognized motivators for hate crimes. Additionally, the act provided millions of dollars in funding to local and state agencies all over the United States to help pay for the investigation and prosecution of hate crimes. The act was signed into law on October 22, 2009 by President Obama.
* From: 44 The Legacy of President Obama the 44th President of the United States of America
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Home Affordable Modification Program
T
owards the end of the early 2000s, the real estate market threw the United States into a tailspin with a subprime mortgage crisis. As a result, many Americans found themselves unable to pay for their homes and faced significant financial crisis. The Home Affordable Modification Program works to provide financial assistance to those homewoners who were hardest hit by the crisis. It was signed by Obama in 2009 and expired on December 2016.
* From: 44 The Legacy of President Obama the 44th President of the United States of America
FDA Food Safety Modernazation Act
T
he idea that it's easier to play defense than it is offense is one that seems to reign true in a number of different industries. It was certainly true in the United States food industry, at the very least, where various agencies would frantically react to news of contaminated or otherwise unsafe food. The food industry played defense, in other words, and focused on damange control rather than working to ensure that no safety regulations were broken in
the first place. The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, signed in 2011 by President Obama, seeks to change this. Instead of waiting for a problem to occur, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act seeks to shift the focus on prevention rather than reaction. This means that the FDA has new authority when it comes to regulating the way foods are processed, harvested, and grown. As a result, the number of contaminated food incidents has been reduced and the food industry has, in turn, reduced the expense of responding to these issues.
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Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
M
ost commonly known as simply "DoddFrank", the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was a response to the Great Recession, the financial crisis that hit the United States during 2007 to 2010 as a result of irresponsible financial regulatory practices. The act sought to overhaul financial regulation in the United States, and in fact introduced the most significant changes in the industry since the reform that directly followed the Great Depression. It should be noted that the Dodd-Frank act was so extensive in its reform to regulations that it affected almost all
parts of the United States' financial services industry as well as affecting all financial regulatory agencies on the federal level. The act is named after two members of Congress who champoined the cause and worked hard to see it approved and signed into law. President Obama signed the act on July 21, 2010.
Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
T
he Civil Rights Act of 1964 remains one of the most important pieces of legislature ever enacted in the United States of America. It was the act that first put into law the idea that discrimination based on color, race, sex, national origin, or relition is unacceptable and illegal. It outlawed such behavior, in fact and worked to end the unequal application of the requirements needed to register to vote as well as racial segregation in the workplace, in schools, and in public accomodations.
While the act took a bit of time to fully enforce, its importance in the history of the United States is unquestionable. One thing that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 didn't ensure, however, was discriminatory pay. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act works to rectify that oversight by ensuring that workers are gien a fair amount of time to file a lawsuit for discriminatory pay. Previous law only gave 180 days from the date of the first paycheck affected by the discrimination to file suit, but the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act dictates that that period resets with every new paycheck that is affected. This was the very first bill that President Obama signed into law during the course of his presidency.
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My Brother's Keeper
P
resident Obama signed a Presidential Memorandum in 2014 establishing the My Brother's Keeper (MBK) Task Force (the Task Force), a coordinated Federal effort to address persistent opportunity gaps faced by boys and young men of color and ensure that all young people can reach their full potential. In response to the President’s call to action, nearly 250 communities in all 50 states have accepted the President’s My Brother’s Keeper Community Challenge; more than $600 million in private sector and philanthropic grants and in-kind resources and $1 billion in low-interest financing have been committed in alignment with MBK; and new federal policy initiatives, grant programs, and guidance are being implemented to ensure that every child has a clear pathway to success from cradle to college and career. Since MBK’s first anniversary report more than 50 additional communities have accepted the My Brother’s Keeper Community Challenge, including those in seven new states, independent private sector support for grants and in-kind resources has more than doubled to more than $600 million, and more than 80% of the recommendations the MBK Task Force sent to the President two years ago are complete or on track.
Highlights of collective progress include: • The MBK School Success Mentor Initiative, a partnership between the Department of Education and Johns Hopkins University, will pair 250,000 6th and 9th graders with trained mentors in 30 communities that accepted the MBK Community Challenge. At full scale, when operating in grades K-12 across districts, the model aims to reach over one million students within the next 3-5 years. • As part of the Administration’s Summer Opportunity Project, in February 2016 Department of Labor launched a new $20 million grant competition that will be awarded to approximately 10 communities for innovative approaches that provide young people with summer and year-round jobs and connect them to career pathways. CNCS has committed $15 million in existing Segal AmeriCorps Education Awards over the next three years to launch Summer Opportunity AmeriCorps that will enable up to 20,000 youth to gain new skills and earn money for college.
• In July 2015, Department of Education and Department of Justice announced the “Second Chance Pell” pilot program that will enable incarcerated Americans to receive Pell Grants to finance the postsecondary education and training that may be instrumental in securing employment, stability, and self-sufficiency. • Compton – the “Compton Empowered” Gang Violence Intervention program resulted in a decrease in homicides of nearly 50% from 2014 to 2015. • Detroit – City leaders have outlined a plan over the next five years to employ 5,000 additional men of color in high growth industries and enroll 90% of four-year-olds in preschool.
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S P E CI A L CO M M E M O R AT IV E I S S U E/ 2013
• Equal Opportunity Schools’ “Lead Higher” has invested more than $30 million towards it $100 million commitment to identify and enroll 100,000 low-income students and students of color in AP and IB courses. • In May 2015, a group of private sector leaders joined together to launch the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance (MBKA), a nonprofit that supports boys and young men of color. The founding Board of Directors collectively committed $80 million in in-kind and financial donations to support the organization’s mission. • MBK STEM + Entrepreneurship: In February 2016, the White House announced a new STEM + Entrepreneurship track for the My Brother’s Keeper
I N I T I AT I V E S
initiative. The MBK Task Force is committing to creating and strengthening pathways to enable more young people, particularly those facing persistent opportunity gaps, to tap into the power of Federal and non-government STEM and entrepreneurship initiatives. This initiative builds on the ongoing work of the Council on Women and Girls to ensure opportunities in STEM education throughout the workforce pipeline. • In April at the White House Science Fair, the Task Force announced more than $50 million in new STEM + Entrepreneurship commitments to expand opportunity for our students. Recently, another group of organizations is stepping up with their own independent commitments, totaling more than $30 million, to help expand STEM opportunities, including for traditionally underrepresented minorities. • Enza Academy in partnership with the Expanded Success Initiative (ESI) launched the Men of Color in Technology & Entrepreneurship (MOCITE) program in April 2016 to introduce students of color to computer science, entrepreneurship and design thinking concepts. Partnering with Google, Facebook, General Assembly and other stakeholders, Enza Academy commits to creating a sustainable STEM-to-Entrepreneurship pipeline for 500 students of color in 2016 and expanding to 10,000 students of color by 2020. Through its initiatives such as MOCITE, Summer Innovation School and Design Your Revolution Hack Camp, Enza Academy aims to invest over $11 million in the next 4 years. These initiatives will empower students to discover, design and develop, bold, STEM-based and entrepreneurial solutions to big challenges in their own communities using the force of their own imaginations. • Student Dream will provide training, mentorship and capital resources to collegiate founders of color and support Historically Black Colleges and Universities in their efforts to create over 500 new collegian led startups over the next five years. MBK continues to inspire a movement of citizens, community leaders, policy makers, corporate executives, and elected officials who are acting with intention to ensure that all youth know they matter and have every opportunity to achieve their dreams. This report and announcements are a testament to the progress and achievements that have resulted from the President’s leadership in creating MBK. The Task Force and leaders across the country remain hard at work to drive progress and ambition on behalf of our youth.
43 February 2018 Black Business News Special Issue www.blackbbusinessnews.net
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FAFSA Completion Initiative
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resident Obama and the First Lady Michelle Obama visited Coral Reef High School in Miami to discuss the President's plan to equip all Americans with the education they need to compete in the 21st century economy. “By working hard every single day, every single night, you are making the best investment there is in your future,” President Obama told the students. “And we want to make sure you’ve got everything, all the tools you need to succeed.” President Obama talked about one tool that’s helping give more students the opportunity to afford, attend, and graduate from college: the Free Application for Student Aid or FAFSA (https://fafsa.ed.gov). It is a simple form. It used to be complicated; we made it simple. It doesn’t cost anything -- that’s why the word “free” is right there in the name. It does not take a long time to fill out. Once you do, you’re putting yourself in the running for all kinds of financial support for college -- scholarships, grants, loans, work-study jobs. Over the last five years, the Obama administration has been working to make college more affordable for more students. And today, more young people are earning college degrees than ever before. But we have to do more, President Obama said. “Unfortunately, there are still a lot of young people all across the country who say the cost of college is holding them back,” he said. “Some of you may have sat around the kitchen table with your parents wondering about whether you’ll be able to afford it.” “FAFSA is by far the easiest way to answer that question,” President Obama told the students at Coral Reef. Last year, almost half of high school graduates in Florida didn’t fill out a FAFSA. Together, they left a combined $100 million on the table that could have helped pay for college. So, President Obama issued a challenge to every high school student in America: Fill out the FAFSA, even if you think you might not qualify for financial aid. “We’re making it easier that ever,” President Obama said. The form is now available online, and shorter than earlier versions – it takes about half an hour to fill out. Filing the FAFSA is required in order for students to receive access to Title IV student aid programs, like the Federal Pell Grant and Federal student loans. It also is used by states, colleges, and universities in
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Ob the crowd after the President spoke at Coral Reef Se Fla., March 7, 2014. (Official White House Photo by P
awarding other state-based or institution-based aid. Nonetheless, millions do not file a FAFSA each year, and many who do not may be eligible for federal student aid. School administrators can confidentially find out which students have already filled out their FAFSA, and which students haven’t and might need help completing their forms. And anyone can go online and find out the number of students who have filled out the form at each high school – setting the stage for a new kind of rivalry. The President has set a goal for the country that, by the end of this decade, America will once again lead the world in college graduation. The President’s budget includes critical investments to strengthen educational opportunity from early childhood and preschool, all the way through college and career placement. Beyond the investments in the base budget described below, the fully paid-for Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative included in the President’s budget would
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bama acknowledge enior High School, Pete Souza)
provide additional funding for Race to the Top, High School Redesign, and ConnectEDucators. And if you keep reaching for success -- and I know you will, just based on the small sampling we saw of students here -- if you keep working as hard as you can and learning as much as you can, and if you’ve got big ambitions and big dreams, if you don’t let anybody tell you something is out of your reach, if you are convinced that you can do something and apply effort and energy and determination and persistence to that vision, then not only will you be great but this country will be great. Our schools will be great.
45 February 2018 Black Business News Special Issue www.blackbbusinessnews.net
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Reach Higher Initiative The Reach Higher initiative is First Lady Michelle Obama's effort to inspire every student in America to take charge of their future by completing their education past high school, whether at a professional training program, a community college, or a four-year college or university. In today's economy, a high school diploma just isn't enough. Students have to reach higher, which is why the First Lady is working to rally the country around the President's "North Star" goal — that by 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.
Expanding Opportunity The Reach Higher initiative will help make sure all students understand what they need to complete their education, including: • Exposing students to college and career opportunities • Understanding financial aid eligibility that can make college affordability a reality • Encouraging academic planning and summer learning opportunities • Supporting high school counselors who can help
more kids college
get
into
Resources College Scorecard https://collegescorecard. ed.gov/ The College Scorecard makes it easier for students and families to search for a college that provides a good value. It includes essential information about a particular college’s cost, its graduation rates and the average amount its students borrow, all in an easy-to-read format. It is designed to help you compare colleges and choose one that is well-suited to your individual needs.
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net price of any given college- that is, the price after subtracting the scholarships and grants a student are likely to receive. College Navigator - http://nces. ed.gov/collegenavigator/ College Navigator is an interactive website that provides detailed information about different institutions, including programs and majors, admissions considerations and more. Financial Aid Shopping Sheet - http://blog.ed.gov/2012/09/ institutions-commit-to-providingmillions-of-students-with-easyto-understand-information-aboutcollege-costs/ Many colleges and universities have adapted a shopping sheet that provides personalized information on financial aid and net costs as well as general information on institutional outcomes — all in a standardized format. This tool provides an easy way to make clear comparisons among financial aid offers from different schools. Studentaid.gov - https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/ Navigate the financial aid process and make informed decisions about paying for college. This website provides straightforward and easyto-understand information about planning and paying for college. The site combines content and interactive tools from several Department of Education websites. StudentAid.gov/FAFSA - https://studentaid. ed.gov/sa/FAFSA Completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is the first step in accessing the more than $150 billion available in federal student aid. Net Price Calculator Center - http://collegecost. ed.gov/netpricecenter.aspx The Net Price Calculator Center provides an easy tool to allow students and families to enter information about themselves and find out the
47 February 2018 Black Business News Special Issue www.blackbbusinessnews.net
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Joining Forces Initiative
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n 2011, First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden came together to launch Joining Forces, a nationwide initiative calling all Americans to rally around service members, veterans, and their families and support them through wellness, education, and employment opportunities. Joining Forces works hand in hand with the public and private sector to ensure that service members, veterans, and their families have the tools they need to succeed throughout their lives.
faith-based institutions, philanthropic organizations, and government -- to ensure service members, veterans, and their families have the opportunities, resources, and support they have earned. • Showcase the skills, experience, and dedication of America’s service members, veterans and their
Primary Objectives of Joining Forces • Bring attention to the unique experiences and strengths of America’s service members, veterans, and their families. • Inspire, educate, and spark action from all sectors of society -- citizens, communities, businesses, nonprofits,
48 February 2018 Black Business News Special Issue www.blackbbusinessnews.net
S P E C I A L C O M M E M O R A T I V E I S S U E / I N I T I AT I V E S Joining Forces is committed to raising awareness about the service, sacrifice, and needs of military families. In particular, with the input of military families, Joining Forces identified three priority areas for national initiatives: employment, education, and wellness. Employment • Expand employment and career development opportunities for veterans and military spouses. • Highlight the workforce potential of veterans and military spouses. • Educate employers about the need to create military family-friendly workplaces. • Work to reduce or eliminate licensing and credentialing barriers. • Learn more: www.whitehouse.gov/ joiningforces/issues/employment. Education • Promote expanded education opportunities that: • Ease transferability for military-connected students. • Increase job training opportunities for military spouses and veterans. • Support the academic achievement of military children by enhancing awareness of the unique needs of military children and families. • Learn more: www.whitehouse.gov/ joiningforces/issues/ education.
families to strengthen our nation’s communities. • Create greater connections between the American public and the military. Joining Forces Commitments: Employment, Education, Wellness
Wellness • Call attention to the critical issues facing veterans and military families. • Expand access to wellness programs, and resources for military spouses and families. • Learn more: www.whitehouse.gov/joiningforces. https://www.whitehouse.gov/joiningforces issues/ wellness
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Let's Move Initiative
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t the launch of Let’s Move! in 2010, President Obama established a Task Force on Childhood Obesity clearly stating his goal to solve the problem of childhood obesity within a generation and announcing the First Lady’s role in leading a national public awareness effort to improve the health of our children. He stated: "To meet our goal, we must accelerate implementation of successful strategies that will prevent and combat obesity. Such strategies include updating child nutrition policies in a way that addresses the best available scientific information,
ensuring access to healthy, affordable food in schools and communities, as well as increasing physical activity and empowering parents and caregivers with the information and tools they need to make good choices for themselves and their families. They will help our children develop lifelong healthy habits, ensuring they reach their greatest potential toward building a healthier and more prosperous America." This was our north star. And after nearly seven years, with your help, we have made incredible progress on behalf of the health of future generations. Together, we secured healthier school meals and snacks for 50 million kids. We modernized the Nutrition Facts label on 800,000 products. And we leveraged the power of marketing to encourage all Americans to eat more fruits and vegetables and drink more water.
Due to our collective efforts, we have momentum like never before and have seen a cultural shift in the way we live and eat. Many fast food chains now serve apples and skim milk in their kids’ meals. Hundreds of convenience stores added fresh fruit to their shelves. And taken together, these changes are having a lasting impact. Childhood obesity rates have stopped rising, and have fallen among our youngest children. We are enthusiastic about the progress across the country, but we continue to face a challenge that threatens the health of our families. That’s why we hope you all continue to find innovative ways to get moving and create new programs and policies that support healthy eating. We must keep working together to put this generation of kids on a healthier, more prosperous path. As the First Lady said at the dedication ceremony of the White House Kitchen Garden, "I didn’t just take this issue on as First Lady, I took it on because I’m a mother who cares deeply about the health and well-being of my daughters. I took it on because I’m a citizen who loves this country and cares deeply about the future of all of our kids. So I intend to keep working on this issue for the rest of my life." For your steadfast dedication to building a brighter future for our Nation’s children; for your partnership; and for being an integral part of America’s move to raise a healthier generation: we thank you. Posted by Debra Eschmeyer, Executive Director of Let’s Move! and Senior Policy Advisor for Nutrition
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Turnaround Arts
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urnaround Arts is a program of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities in partnership with the U.S. Department of Education, the National Endowment for the Arts, local partners and several private foundations. It is based on the premise that high-quality and integrated arts education can strengthen school reform efforts, boost academic achievement, and increase student engagement in schools facing some of the toughest educational challenges in the country. Turnaround Arts transforms Priority and Focus schools through the strategic use of the arts. We envision a world in which all students engage in a well-rounded education “Arts education isn’t something we add on after we’ve and exude confidence, critical thinking, and achieved other priorities like raising test scores and getting creativity as a result. kids into college. It’s actually critical for achieving those Turnaround Arts currently works in 73 priorities in the first place. That’s what the Turnaround Arts schools, 38 districts, and 17 states and program is all about.” the District of Columbia. Turnaround — Michelle Obama, First Lady (2008-2016) Arts is announcing a new expansion for the 2017-2018 school year, reaching two new communities and seven new schools the Turnaround Arts pilot schools, released in (http://turnaroundarts.kennedy-center.org/wp-content/ 2015, found significant improvement in academic u p lo ad s / 2 0 1 7 / 0 5 / N a t io na l -Tu rn a ro u nd -A rts -2 0 17 - achievement, reduction in disciplinary referrals and Expansion-PR.pdf). increases in attendance, among other findings. In Turnaround Arts works in a cohort of the lowest addition, the study found that Turnaround Arts schools performing 5%-10% of America’s elementary and outperformed comparable schools in their city or state middle schools. A 3-year program evaluation of that received federal funds for school improvement (“SIG schools”). Half of the Turnaround Arts schools improved their attendance rates significantly between 2011 and 2014. More than half of Turnaround Arts schools dramatically reduced in-school and out-of-school suspensions, some by as much as 89%. http://turnaroundarts. kennedy-center.org/
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White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans
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n July 26, 2012, President Barack Obama signed an Executive Order to establish the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans to restore the United States as a global leader in education. President Obama, through his vision and use of his Presidential authority, sought to strengthen the nation by improving educational outcomes for African Americans of all ages and to help ensure that this population would receive an education that prepares them for college and productive careers to contribute to the wellbeing of society. The White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans (Initiative) works with individuals and organizations throughout the country to highlight and share effective national and local programs, policies, and practices that support the development and success of African American students. Specifi cally, the Initiative highlights and mobilizes youth voice by providing platforms for African American youths to make recommendations for actions that can be taken to ensure all students feel and are safe, supported and engaged in schools, in communities, and in life. Additionally, the Initiative leverages relationships with media partners, new and traditional, to shape positive and affirming narratives of African American students, highlight and disseminate promising and proven
practices, as well as provide recommendations to accelerate African American Educational excellence essential to the success of African American students, from birth through college completion and career entry. To date, the Initiative has focused on the following three
Nearly 60 years since the Brown v Board of Education decisions, African American students continue to lack equal access to a high quality education and still lag far behind their white peers in reading and math proficiency, high school rates, and college completion. That’s why President Obama
guiding principles: • To provide platforms for youth (and other impacted populations) to make recommendations regarding the policies, practices and programs designed to accelerate learning and development; • To highlight people, programs and practices facilitating the learning and development of African Americans students; and • To serve as a liaison between and among communities supporting African American students of all ages. About Us
created the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans. The Initiative is a crossagency effort aimed at identifying evidence-based practices that improve student achievement, and developing a national network that shares these best practices. The Initiative will support the President’s desire to “restore the country to its role as the global leader in education, to strengthen the nation by improving educational outcomes for African Americans of all ages, and to help ensure that all African Americans receive an education that properly prepares them for college, productive careers,
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President Barack Obama signs the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans Executive Order in the Oval Office, July 26, 2012. Standing behind the President, from left, are: Patricia Coulter, CEO National Urban League of Philadelphia; Rep. Danny Davis, D- Ill.; Reverend Al Sharpton; Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, President of University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Secretary of Education Arne Duncan; Benjamin Jealous, President of the NAACP; Ingrid Saunders- Jones, Chair of the National Council of Negro Women; Rep. Chaka Fattah, D-Pa.; Kaya Henderson, Chancellor of DC Public Schools; and Michael Lomax, President of the United Negro College Fund. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
and satisfying lives” including in the the following ways: • Highlighting the role of educators and administrators in increasing and improving access to high quality learning opportunities while also finding ways to support them in their work; • Supporting efforts to increase the number of African American teachers and administrators, specifically the number of African American males in the profession; • Enhancing investments in high quality early care and education programs, specifically increasing the number of African American children enrolled in quality childcare and preschool programs;
• Reinforcing connections to rigorous K-12 courses and increasing access to critical supports, including by strengthening relationships between schools and communities and local businesses, social service agencies, health care providers, and parent and volunteer organizations; and by • Helping to increase the number of African American students applying to, persisting in and successfully completing college to ensure that we meet the President’s 2020 goal of becoming the world leader in college graduates
Become a Mentor
the Iniative into the future become a Mentor. Sign up at www. mentoring.org. Mentoring, at its core, guarantees young people that there is someone who cares about them, assures them they are not alone in dealing with day-to-day challenges, and makes them feel like they matter. Research confirms that quality mentoring relationships have powerful positive effects on young people in a variety of personal, academic, and professional situations. Ultimately, mentoring connects a young person to personal growth and development, and social and economic opportunity. Yet one in three young people will grow up without this critical asset.
To maintain the momentum of
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The Obama Administration Digital Transition: Moving Forward Summary: Here's the latest on how you can continue to follow and engage with President Obama, the First Lady, and other Obama White House officials moving forward. by Kori Schulman
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ver the past eight years, the President, the First Lady, and the Obama White House have used social media and technology to engage with people around the country and the world on the most important issues of our time. From the very beginning, our mission has been to reach people on the channels and platforms where they already spend their time. This work began before President Obama took office in 2009, and, now, this work will continue. As this Administration draws to a close, we wanted to share how you can continue to follow and engage with President Obama, the First Lady, and other Obama White House officials, as well as how you can find content posted over the past eight years after January 20, 2017. Moving forward, the President and First Lady can be followed on familiar handles: @BarackObama and @MichelleObama. In October, we laid out plans to preserve and pass on the digital legacy of the Obama administration and have been working to ensure this unprecedented digital transition meets three key goals. First, we are preserving the material we’ve created with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Second, we are working to ensure these materials continue to be accessible on the platforms
where they were created, allowing for continued access to the content posted over the past eight years. Finally, we are working to ensure that the next White House and future administrations can continue to use and develop the digital channels we have created to connect directly with the people they serve. We are grateful to the people around the country and the world who have engaged with us online over the past eight years. We listened to you, we learned from you, and we strove to create opportunities for you to play an active role in your government by fulfilling the most important role in our government: the role of citizen.
The Obama White House website – which includes press articles, blog posts, videos, and photos – will be available at ObamaWhiteHouse.gov, a site maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration
Where You Can Access Archival Obama White House Content After January 20, 2017, materials will continue to be accessible on the platforms where they were created, allowing the public continued access to the content posted over the past eight years. WhiteHouse.gov becomes ObamaWhiteHouse.gov
(NARA), beginning on January 20, 2017. If you are looking for a post or page on the Obama administration’s WhiteHouse.gov from 2009 through 2017, you can find it by changing the URL to ObamaWhiteHouse.gov.
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S P E CI A L CO M M E M O R AT IV E I S S U E/ 2017 For example, after the transition, this blog post will be available at ObamaWhiteHouse.gov/obamaadministration-digital-transitionmoving-forward. Archived content posted to these social media accounts during the Obama administration will be maintained by NARA at the following handles: President Obama: @POTUS on Twitter will be archived at @POTUS44; Facebook.com/ POTUS will be archived at Facebook.com/POTUS44; Medium.com/@PresidentObama
will be archived at Medium.com/@ POTUS44. First Lady Michelle Obama: @ FLOTUS on Twitter will be archived at @FLOTUS44; @MichelleObama on Instagram will be archived at @MichelleObama44; Medium. com/@FLOTUS will be archived at medium.com/@FLOTUS44.
How You can Keep Following the President and First Lady: After January 20, 2017, the following accounts will be used by President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama:
President Obama: @ BarackObama on Twitter; Facebook.com/BarackObama; Instagram.com/BarackObama. Obama Presidential Center: you can follow @ObamaFoundation on Twitter. First Lady Michelle Obama: @MichelleObama on Twitter; Instagram.com/MichelleObama; Facebook.com/MichelleObama; Snapchat: MichelleObama. https://obamawhitehouse.archives. gov/blog/2017/01/17/obamaadministration-digital-transitionmoving-forward
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5 Times Michelle Obama Was Peak Black Girl Magic by Jenae Holloway
one day, call the White House their home too. She’s fierce, she’s fly, and she’s grounded in a strong sense of identity. So if you’ve ever wondered what people are talking about when they say “black girl magic”, it’s FLOTUS. Here’s why:
She raps about turnips and turning up.
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n Tuesday, date here, President Obama addressed the nation for the last time, highlighting the American ideals of tolerance and prosperity for everyone and giving us some much needed hope after a tumultuous 2016. The whole speech was incredibly moving, but if you’re anything like me, the tears really started streaming when he turned to thank his favorite person, Michelle LaVaughn Robinson, "girl of the South Side,” which sparked a worldwide “yaasss queen!” from audiences everywhere (https://giphy.com/
and privilege of being the first black First Lady of the United States. She's been living proof to women and girls of color all over the world, that they are intelligent, poised, and beautiful enough to,
Let’s face it, we’ll probably never have another First Lady spit 8 bars about veggies (www. msnb c.c om / pol iti csn a tion / watc h/ first-lady-unleashes-a-veggierap-170451011767) in the East
Room again. And that’s not the only time she’s shown skills as an
gifs/obama-michelle-obama-flotus3oz8xYkzrxzmW9Vayk).
For the last eight years, Michelle LaVaughn (can I call her that from now on?) has been a wife and a mother, while carrying the burden
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emcee. Michelle held her own with Missy Elliot and James Corden, rapping about the importance of girls’ education and kids going to college (www.youtube.com/ watch?v=ln3wAdRAim4) . I think it’s safe to say that she’s got a backup plan after January 20th.
She told them to "bring our girls back" When 276 girls were taken from their school in the middle of the night by Islamist militant group Boko Haram—nobody was talking about it. For two weeks, the issue of the lost girls was not even a major news story; an oversight that seems almost unimaginable had the kidnapping happened to a group of young women in the
United States. But when Michelle Obama called on world leaders to #BringBackOurGirls (www. gla mour.co m/st ory/ ne w- pro of-o flife-video-shows-kidnapped-chibokschoolgirls) , the story finally gained
traction with the media and concerned citizens, and eventually compelling the Nigerian president to pledge to help safely bring the girls back home. Michelle Obama's leadership helped to shed light on the glaring disparity between the coverage of crimes against minority and disadvantaged women versus their more privileged counterparts. Her advocacy has galvanized others to respond to this issue with urgency and is an encouraging step forward.
She’s mastered the art of the “side-eye” I’ve spent many a night wondering what lame dad joke former Speaker of the House, John Boehner (https:// g ip h y. c o m / g if s / m ic h e l l e - o b a m a 12KrlAX1GmXbIA), said to poor
Michelle that triggered the sideeye of the year. This was so much more than a tiny, beautiful eye-roll. It was a statement to all the black girls who have awkwardly smiled through boring dinners with bland food and even bland-er guests -- that sometimes you just don't have to pretend. Thanks for making it okay, Michelle. And never stop serving
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see page 58
S P E CI A L CO M M E M O R AT IV E I S S U E/ F i r s t L a dy people would eventually just forget that I look different. Even today, I'm more comfortable in my skin, but the voices still linger in my head telling me, “Don’t talk too loudly. Don’t discuss black issues. Don’t speak with an assertive tone” all in an attempt to avoid being characterized as the “angry black woman”. Even Michelle Obama fell victim to this unfair criticism,
Official portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama. 2009 from page 57
world class side-eyes. After eight years, I'm sure the shade is welldeserved and long overdue.
She owned the DNC Michelle keeps it real. During her speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, she reminded us, “I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves. And I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent black young women, playing with their dogs on the White House lawn.” Arguably one of the most powerful quotes from her speech, Michelle gave her audience a jolt of energy and a breath of fresh air in the same sentence – forcing us all to confront the reality and horrors of our American history while also encouraging us to be relentless in our pursuit of social progress.
She “pencils in” Beyonce I’m pretty sure Michelle Obama is Beyonce’s Beyonce. If Beyonce had to choose someone to be her idol, who else could it possibly
Official portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama. 2013 be? I have so many questions. Did Beyonce teach her dance to "Who Run the World"? Do they talk about vegan diets and yoga? We’ll probably never know. But what we do know is that they are the ultimate #squadgoals. They’ve teamed up for everything from the First Lady’s Let’s Move campaign to the 62 Million Girls campaign led by the White House Let Girls Learn initiative. Beyonce has performed at inaugurations, brought Blue to the Easter Egg Roll, and even spent some time at Camp David over Labor Day weekend! These are two busy women, but even Beyonce can make her schedule flexible for Ms. O.
She knows that Black Girls Rock! When I was younger, I felt like I had the responsibility to make the people around me as comfortable as possible. I was determined to blend into my surroundings, with the vain hope that if I could disguise my blackness enough,
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S P E CI A L CO M M E M O R AT IV E I S S U E/ F i r s t L a dy but she vehemently rejected the stereotype and encourages other black women to do the same. In a speech (www.youtube. com/watch?v=WSaf3-U9FmY) at the Black Girls Rock Awards (https://giphy.com/gifs/black-girlsrock-kclxoRdCys3Mk), she spoke
to these universal challenges that black women face every day. “… There are voices that tell you that you’re not good enough. That you have to look a certain way, act a certain way. If you speak up, you’re
too loud, if you step up to lead, you’re being bossy. But I decided I wasn’t bossy. I was strong. I wasn’t loud. I was a young woman with something important to say.” Michelle Obama has been an amazing First Lady for everyone, but to some of us, she’s so much more. She's the woman who reinforced the idea that what makes us diverse isn't something to diminish, but to celebrate. She’s the leader for women who couldn’t imagine a black woman in power.
She’s the paragon of beauty for women who have been told that their skin is too dark and features are too masculine to be attractive. And she’s the voice for many women who have been told that they're too loud and their opinions are invaluable. She's everything. Thanks, Michelle LaVaughn. You'll be missed. www.glamour.com/story/5-timesmichelle-obama-was-peak-blackgirl-magic?mbid=synd_msnlife
Official portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama. 2013 59 February 2018 Black Business News Special Issue www.blackbbusinessnews.net
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Attorney General Eric Holder
US Trade Representative Ron Kirk
National Security Advisor Susan Rice Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett
Home Land Security Secretary Jeh Johnson
The Torch is being passed on to the next generation of leaders.
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Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx
Attorney General Loretta Lynch
EPA Administeator Lisa Jackson
Chief Usher Angela Reid
Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden Secretary of Education John King, Jr.
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What’s Next “I won’t stop; in fact, I will be right there with you, as a citizen, for all my days that remain.” —President Barack Obama, January 10, 2017
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The Obama Foundation will focus on developing the next generation of citizens — and what it means to be a good citizen in the 21st century. It will draw strength from the rich diversity and vitality of Chicago, where the President and First Lady met and raised their daughters, and it will have nonprofit programs across the city, the United States, and the world. Whether you are looking for a role in your community or have been active on the field of democracy for years, we look forward to working with you and for you. Together, we will build programs to inspire us all to be better citizens and to help young leaders develop their ideas. This will be a design year for us, and we hope you’ll join in. https://www.obama.org https://go.obama.org/page/contribute/build 63 February 2018 Black Business News Special Issue www.blackbbusinessnews.net
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Obama Foundation
S P E CI A L CO M M E M O R AT IV E I S S U E/ C EN T E R
President and Mrs. Obama Announce Conceptual Vision for Design of Obama Presidential Center May 3, 2017 12:00 PM
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oday, at a community event hosted by President and Mrs. Obama, the Obama Foundation released the conceptual vision and site map for the Obama Presidential Center. More than a building or museum, the Obama Presidential Center will be a living, working center for engagement — an ongoing project for the community and world to shape what it means to be an active citizen in the 21st century. The Center will include a state of the art museum, classrooms, labs, and outdoor spaces, and it will conduct programs that will give visitors not just memories, but real tools to create change in their own communities. It will be based on the South Side of Chicago but, via partnerships, programs, and digital initiatives, have projects all over the city, the country, and the world. The Center will be integrated into Jackson Park, a historic park in the heart of the South Side
of Chicago, the community the Obamas call home. The Center will strengthen the economic climate of the community by bringing hundreds of thousands of visitors to the South Side every year, creating new jobs and opportunities on the South Side, and revitalizing historic Jackson Park. The design concept released today envisions three buildings – the Museum, Forum, and Library – forming a campus surrounding a public plaza. Honoring the legacy of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, the Center is designed as a campus in historic Jackson Park to help unlock the full potential of the park as a recreational destination and center for gathering on the South Side for families, community members and visitors alike and to re-establish the South Side’s connection to the Lagoon and Lake Michigan. The campus will be open to the public and the Center will include indoor
and outdoor spaces to gather, learn, create and collaborate. The Museum, the tallest of the three buildings, will hold exhibition space, public spaces, offices, and education and meeting rooms. The Forum and Library buildings will be community resources for study and Foundation programming. The Foundation is currently exploring the possibility of locating a Chicago Public Library branch on the site, but as always will continue to solicit input from the community as to how the Library building can best be used to meet community needs. The Forum will contain Foundation offices, an auditorium, restaurant, and public garden. The Forum and Library will be single story structures with planted roof terraces. The buildings will be connected below grade and clad in a lively, warm and variegated stone while glass openings are deliberately placed to form courtyards, mark entries, frame views, and bring in natural light.
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LAWN FORUM WATER BASIN
MUSEUM PLAZA
The Center will be a real-life symbol of President and Mrs. Obama’s commitment to sustainability; the project will be certified at a minimum LEED v4 Platinum. The total size of the Center will range between 200-225,000 gross square feet, but the concept site plan imagines a reshaping of the Park that will result in a total net increase in green space for Jackson Park. “The Obamas want to create a safe, warm, inviting place that brings people in, teaches them something new, and inspires them to create change in their own communities. The Center will be a place for doing, not just looking or listening, “said Marty Nesbitt, Chair of the Obama Foundation. “The place we are developing will be integrally a part of Jackson Park. Our team’s approach is to weave the project into the park and use the Center to unlock the full potential of the park and engage the community in the Foundation’s work.”
LIBRARY GARDEN
CHILDREN'S PLAY AREA
David Simas, Chief Executive Officer of the Obama Foundation, “The Obamas charged the Foundation with developing an engaging and welcoming Center that will inspire people globally to ‘show up’ for the most important office: citizen. The Center is designed as a campus to integrate into historic Jackson Park and to encourage local residents and visitors alike to explore the community and bring people together for events, recreation, and programming. We are pleased to be working with community leaders, local institutions including the Museum of Science and Industry and DuSable Museum, the University of Chicago, and City of Chicago on the vision for the Center and Jackson Park, and look forward to receiving feedback from the community in the coming weeks and months.” “I am thrilled to join President Obama and Mrs. Obama as we
outline the vision for both the Obama Presidential Center and Jackson Park as a whole,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “This vision will enhance the historic landscape of Jackson Park as originally envisioned by Frederick Olmsted, and we all look forward to engaging with residents as we begin the community process to turn this vision into reality in a way that maximizes economic development and opportunity in Woodlawn, South Shore and Washington Park.” “The design for the Obama Presidential Center promises to bring a beautiful new addition to Jackson Park and the South Side community,” said Robert J. Zimmer, President of the University of Chicago. “The Center will benefit the entire Chicago region as a catalyst for economic development, cultural enrichment and community programming.” The design team for the OPC
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see page 68
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is led by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects | Partners and Interactive Design Architects. The landscape design team is comprised of Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Site Design Group, and Living Habitats. Ralph Appelbaum Associates will lead the exhibition design team for the OPC, in partnership with Civic Projects and Normal, and artists and educators Amanda Williams, Andres Hernandez, and Norman Teague. The Center Consortium, a triventure comprised of Jones Lang LaSalle, McKissack & McKissack
and Ardmore Associates, is leading the project management of the design and construction of the OPC. To ensure that the work of the Foundation is informed by a diverse set of viewpoints and is in line with its values of diversity and inclusion, the Obama Foundation announced the formation of an Inclusion Council in October 2016. “The design approach for the Center is guided by the goal of creating a true community asset that seeks to inspire and empower the public to take on the greatest challenges of our time. The Obamas were clear that they wanted the
Center to seamlessly integrate into the Park and the community, and include diverse public spaces. Our hope is that this design for the Center interspersed with Jackson Park honors the legacy of Olmsted and Vaux and unlocks potential and opportunity for Jackson Park, the South Side, and the City of Chicago,” said Tod Williams, Billie Tsien and Dina Griffin of Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects | Partners and Interactive Design Architects. www.obama.org/updates/president-mrsobama-announce-conceptual-visiondesign-obama-presidential-center/
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Obama-Holder Announce National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC) By Jeff Stein
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ecently, Barack Obama attended his first political event since leaving the White House — a private fundraiser at a house in Washington, DC, to raise money for a redistricting project spearheaded by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. Obama has teamed up with his former attorney general to take on gerrymandering. The redistricting group will aim to help states redraw congressional maps in 2021 so they don’t produce extraordinarily safe Republican seats, potentially
creating a more level playing field for Democrats to compete in the House of Representatives. When Obama left office this January, he wanted to both cede the national stage to new progressive voices, while also using his unique position as a popular former president to quietly advance their causes. “President Obama doesn't want to suck up all the oxygen in the room, so Democrats have the space to determine the best path forward,” an adviser close to the president told
me. “But he also wants to provide support and guidance behind the scenes to help that next generation of leadership." Since leaving office, Obama has largely stayed out of the news, only occasionally issuing statements about Republicans’ attempts to dismantle his legacy. Privately, he’s been regularly providing guidance to Tom Perez, the new chair of the Democratic National Committee (www.democrats.org), according to an aide. While relatively low-profile,
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S P E CI A L CO M M E M O R AT IV E I S S U E/ C IT I Z E N the redistricting fundraiser won’t look like the former president is launching a direct attack against Donald Trump. Still, to Obama, the redistricting effort is a crucial step toward unrigging the political system he found so difficult to work within during his presidency, according to sources close to the president. “He cares deeply about this initiative and supports [Holder’s] efforts to create a fairer voting process, but it is in no one’s interest for him to be out front as the face of the Democratic Party,” an adviser close to the president said. “Participating in events like this is a way for President Obama to support efforts that are a priority to him without getting caught up in the political fray."
Why Holder’s Redistricting Project is a Perfect Fit for Obama’s Post-presidential Project The National Redistricting
Democratic Committee
(https://democraticredistricting. com), which now has several full-
time paid staffers, has four main operations devoted to combating gerrymandering. Some political scientists have argued that gerrymandering — the drawing of wildly unnatural congressional districts to maximize partisan gain — partially accounts for America’s political polarization and the rise of the far-right House Freedom Caucus. “This is the first time in Democratic Party history we’ve had a comprehensive plan — especially this early — to tackle redistricting,” said Jared Leopold, a spokesperson for NDRC. The most important prong may be its legal work. A senior adviser to the group, Mark Elias, is involved in multiple ongoing lawsuits against states over their gerrymandered
districts. This work can yield real results: The Supreme Court recently struck down two congressional districts in North Carolina, citing racial bias, and moved similarly against other gerrymandering in Alabama and Virginia. It will soon hear another case in Wisconsin. In addition to more money to launch lawsuits, the NDRC is also hoping to target the state legislatures and governor’s mansions that will draw the congressional district maps in 2020. Part of their mission ensures that Democrats are vying for little-noticed state seats, like a state auditor position in Ohio, that may prove crucial to drawing the congressional lines. Beyond the legal and political work, the NDRC will also try to pass ballot initiatives where it may be possible for bipartisan or independent commissions — rather than partisan legislators — to draw the maps. Lastly, the group is seeking to set up a watchdog and tech arm to call attention to gerrymandering, like a recent plot by Georgia Republicans to redraw several legislative districts to help sitting lawmakers. “There’s been such a deep challenge we have here that we need a comprehensive approach. It can’t just be electoral; it can’t just be legal,” Leopold said. “We’ve needed a single strategic hub to be the nexus of redistricting strategy. That’s what we’re building this organization to be.”
Beyond Redistricting, Obama will Continue to Lead from Behind The redistricting project is not the only Democratic initiative President Obama will be — to steal one of his choice phrases — choosing to lead from behind. The biggest push of Obama’s post-presidency will almost certainly be through the Obama
Foundation (www.obama.org), which is also in charge of creating Obama’s presidential library. It fits the president’s model of being scrupulously apolitical — but would likely also have repercussions that quite clearly are. “It will be a living, working center for citizenship,” said Amy Brundage, former White House deputy communications director and now an Obama Foundation official. Added Mitch Stewart, the battleground states director for President Obama's 2012 reelection campaign and the first director of Organizing for America, about the foundation: “He wants to try to provide an environment similar to the one he had when he did community organizing, because it provided him the tools to be a success in public life.” This move to “foster citizenship” and encourage progressive leaders may look, to Obama’s critics, inherently and inescapably political. “Obama’s trying to have it both ways — to appear presidential and nonpartisan, and at the same time agitating the grassroots level,” says Roger Stone, a former adviser to Trump, in an interview. But the reality is that Obama views this strategy as the best way for him to solve America’s longterm political crisis. Obama isn’t out there parrying every Trump tweet or demanding that current Democratic leaders embrace his preferred policy ideas. Instead, the president will be giving behind-the-scenes support to efforts devoted to ending America’s extreme polarization — with the hope that this will in turn allow progressive leaders to rise, long after he’s exited stage left. www.vox.com/policy-andpolitics/2017/7/13/15959074/ barack-obama-gerrymanderingfundraiser Edited by BBN
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The Obama White House Social Media Archive http://obamawhitehouse.gov.archivesocial.com
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resident Obama and his White House have used social media to engage with people around the country and the world. This open archive provides public access to social media content created during the Obama White House years. It contains over 250,000 posts, photos, and videos shared by more than 100 official Obama White House social media profiles. The content in this archive is being made available in the interest of historical preservation and transparency.
Using the Archive Enter a keyword to search across the entire archive, or use the Advanced Search for more options.
Other Digital Links Read about the White House Digital Transition - www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/10/31/ digital-transition-how-presidential-transition-works-social-media-age Learn more about ArchiveSocial and the creation of this archive - http://archivesocial. com/whitehouse
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Obama Letters from 1980s Available at Emory www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/obama-letters-from-1980s-to-be-made-available-at-emory/arAAtJxJD?li=AA4ZnC&ocid=spartandhp
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f you've ever wondered what former President Barack Obama was like when he was younger, Emory University has obtained letters to his thengirlfriend that could reveal more about his youth -- and they will be available to the public later this week. The nine letters written and sent by Obama to his then-girlfriend Alexandra McNear were obtained by Emory's Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library, where students or visitors can read them in person by appointment when they become available Friday. Rosemary Magee, the director of the Rose Library, described them to CNN as "very lyrical letters." "They reflect the search of meaning of a young man trying to find his place in the world and a sense of identity," she said in a phone interview. "He has aspirations but he also has deep longings in trying to understand the world and himself. They are particularly appropriate for a college campus." Obama wrote the letters during 1982 to 1984 after transferring during college from California's Occidental College to Columbia University in New York City. He continued to send letters to McNear even after their relationship appeared turned into more of a friendship, when he took a job at Business International. The letters, written in cursive on lined or blank paper in black ink, detail his dayto-day of maturing and transitioning, Magee said. He often crossed words out within the text. In one letter, he writes, according to Emory: "School. What intelligent
observations can I glean from the first two weeks? I pass through the labyrinths, corridors, see familiar faces, select and discard classes and activities, fluctuate between unquenchable curiosity and heavy, inert boredom." Later, he writes: "I trust you know that I miss you, that my concern for you is as wide as the air, my confidence in you as deep as the sea, my love rich and plentiful." He signed that particular letter, "Love, Barack." Magee described them as "intimate letters, but in a very philosophical way." "(He was experiencing) a search for meaning and purpose," she said. "He was sharing what people go through different moments in their lives." She added that the letters are particularly great for their university because much of what Obama writes in the letter are what students go through themselves and can relate. "He was the age of our college students" when he started writing the letters, she said. "When you're that age, you don't know how your life is going to unfold for you. And he didn't."
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© Emory University
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Books to Consider... Books By Barack Obama Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
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n this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a black African father and a white American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a black American. It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father—a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man—has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death inspires an emotional odyssey— first to a small town in Kansas, from which he retraces the migration of his mother’s family to Hawaii, and then to Kenya, where he meets the African side of his family, confronts the bitter truth of his father’s life, and at last reconciles his divided inheritance. Pictured in lefthand photograph on cover: Habiba Akumu Hussein and Barack Obama, Sr. (President Obama's paternal grandmother and his father as a young boy). Pictured in righthand photograph on cover: Stanley Dunham and Ann Dunham (President Obama's maternal grandfather and his mother as a young girl).
The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
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n July 2004, Barack Obama electrified the Democratic National Convention with an address that spoke to Americans across the political spectrum. One phrase in particular anchored itself in listeners’ minds, a reminder that for all the discord and struggle to be found in our history as a nation, we have always been guided by a dogged optimism in the future, or what Obama called “the audacity of hope.” The Audacity of Hope is Barack Obama’s call for a different brand of politics—a politics for those weary of
bitter partisanship and alienated by the “endless clash of armies” we see in congress and on the campaign trail; a politics rooted in the faith, inclusiveness, and nobility of spirit at the heart of “our improbable experiment in democracy.” He explores those forces—from the fear of losing to the perpetual need to raise money to the power of the media—that can stifle even the best-intentioned politician. He also writes, with surprising intimacy and self-deprecating humor, about settling in as a senator, seeking to balance the demands of public service and family life, and his own deepening religious commitment. At the heart of this book is Barack Obama’s vision of how we can move beyond our divisions to tackle concrete problems. He examines the growing economic insecurity of American families, the racial and religious tensions within the body politic, and the transnational threats—from terrorism to pandemic—that gather beyond our shores. And he grapples with the role that faith plays in a democracy—where it is vital and where it must never intrude. Underlying his stories about family, friends, and members of the Senate is a vigorous search for connection: the foundation for a radically hopeful political consensus. A public servant and a lawyer, a professor and a father, a Christian and a skeptic, and above all a student of history and human nature, Barack Obama has written a book of transforming power. Only by returning to the principles that gave birth to our Constitution, he says, can Americans repair a political process that is broken, and restore to working order a government that has fallen dangerously out of touch with millions of ordinary Americans. Those Americans are out there, he writes—“waiting for Republicans and Democrats to catch up with them.”
Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters
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n this tender, beautiful letter to his daughters, President Barack Obama has written a moving tribute to thirteen groundbreaking Americans and the ideals that have shaped our nation. From the artistry of Georgia O'Keeffe, to the courage of Jackie Robinson, to the patriotism of George Washington, President Obama sees the traits of these heroes within his own children, and within all of America’s children. Breathtaking, evocative illustrations by award-winning artist Loren Long at once capture the personalities and achievements of these great Americans and the innocence and promise of childhood. This beautiful book celebrates the characteristics that unite all Americans, from our nation’s founders to generations to come. It is about the potential within each of us to pursue our dreams and forge our own paths. It is a treasure to cherish with your family forever.
Change We Can Believe In: Barack Obama's Plan to Renew America's Promise
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t this defining moment in our history, Americans are hungry for change. After years of failed policies and failed politics from Washington, this is our chance to reclaim the American dream. Barack Obama has proven to be a new kind of leaderone who can bring people together, be honest about the challenges we face, and move this nation forward. Change We Can Believe
In outlines his vision for America. In these pages you will find bold and specific ideas about how to fix our ailing economy and strengthen the middle class, make health care affordable for all, achieve energy independence, and keep America safe in a dangerous world. Change We Can Believe In asks you not just to believe in Barack Obama's ability to bring change to Washington, it asks you to believe in yours.
Books By Michelle Obama American Grown: The Story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Gardens Across America
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n April 2009, First Lady Michelle Obama planted a kitchen garden on the White House’s South Lawn. As fresh vegetables, fruit, and herbs sprouted from the ground, this White House Kitchen Garden inspired a new conversation all across the country about the food we feed our families and the impact it has on the health and well-being of our children. Now, in her firstever book, American Grown, Mrs. Obama invites you inside the White House Kitchen Garden and shares its inspiring story, from the first planting to the latest harvest. Hear about her worries as a novice gardener – would the new plants even grow? Learn about her struggles and her joys as lettuce, corn, tomatoes, collards and kale, sweet potatoes and rhubarb flourished in the freshly tilled soil. Get an unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at every season of the garden’s growth, with striking original photographs that bring its story to life. Try the unique recipes created by White House chefs and made with ingredients just picked from the White House garden. And learn from the White House Garden team about see Books to Consider on page 76
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S P E CI A L CO M M E M O R AT IV E I S S U E and at the University of Chicago, up through the election Books to Consider of November 5th, 2008. Rogak locates and organizes from page 75
how you can help plant your own backyard, school or community garden. Mrs. Obama’s journey continues across the nation as she shares the stories of other gardens that have moved and inspired her: Houston office workers who make the sidewalk bloom; a New York City School that created a scented garden for the visually impaired; a North Carolina garden that devotes its entire harvest to those in need; and other stories of communities that are transforming the lives and health of their citizens. In American Grown, Mrs. Obama tells the story of the White House Kitchen Garden, celebrates the bounty of gardens across our nation, and reminds us all of what we can grow together.
Michelle Obama in her Own Words
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he election of Barack Obama has brought worldwide attention not only to what his policies will be, but to what kind of First Lady Michelle Obama will be. Throughout the long campaign season, Michelle Robinson Obama garnered a good amount of attention, kudos and criticism about her words, actions, even her appearance, but few people know what kind of role she will play once she settles into the White House. One clue is to examine her words and statements of the past, and the proposed book Michelle Obama In Her Own Words will show readers who are eager to learn more about America’s new history-making First Lady. Michelle Obama In Her Own Words will be a book that contains 200-250 quotations arranged in approximately 75 different categories. A short introduction and biography of the new First Lady will precede the quotes. Drawing on quotations from a variety of newspaper and magazine articles, transcripts, speeches, and TV interviews and profiles, the quotations date from Michelle’s career as a highpowered corporate lawyer in Chicago and her highpowered executive jobs in the Chicago Mayor’s office
the funny, fascinating, inspiring (and occasionally controversial) words of our future First Lady, on topics such as: • Abortion • Affirmative Action • Balancing career and family • Barack’s safety • Being compared to Jackie Onassis • Her childhood • Her critics • Her fashion sense • Hillary Clinton • Iraq • Racism • Rev. Jeremiah Wright • Sarah Palin • Terrorism • The “elitist” tag • The Presidential campaign • The role of the First Lady • Women who have influenced her
Michelle Obama: Speeches on Life, Love, and American Values
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ichelle Obama has quickly become one of the most influential and respected women in America. This book is a collection of her most personal and inspirational speeches, given over the course of a year and a half, on the Obama's historic journey to the White House. In her own words, Michelle Obama talks about her beliefs, her upbringing, and her values.
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S P E CI A L CO M M E M O R AT IV E I S S U E Michelle Obama: Our First Lady
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ichelle Obama: Our First Lady is the REVISED AND EXTENDED EDITION of "In my Own Words". This new 2009 edition includes her biography, her campaign speeches and quotes. Michelle LaVaughn Obama (born January 17,
1964) is an American attorney and the wife of our new President Barack Obama. Michelle became the first African-American First Lady of the United States. She was born and grew up on the South Side of Chicago and graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Law School. Compiled with and editied with Susan Jones.
Barack and Michelle Obama Sign Record Book Deals
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arack and Michelle Obama have signed book deals with Penguin Random House. Financial terms were not disclosed for the books, for which several publishers had competed. “We are absolutely thrilled to continue our publishing partnership with president and Mrs Obama,” the publisher’s CEO Markus Dohle said in a statement. “With their words and their leadership, they changed the world, and every day, with the books we publish at Penguin Random House, we strive to do the same. Now, we are very much looking forward to working together with President and Mrs Obama to make each of their books global publishing events of unprecedented scope and signifi cance.” The Obamas plan to donate a “significant portion” of their author proceeds to charity, including to the Obama Foundation. The unique dual arrangement announced on Tuesday is for books that are among the most anticipated in memory from a former president and first lady. Barack Obama is widely regarded as one of the
finest prose stylists among modern presidents, and his million-selling Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of Hope are considered essential to his rise to the White House. Titles and release dates were not immediately available. The books will reflect on the Obamas’ White House years, although Penguin Random House declined to give further details. A publishing official with knowledge of the negotiations told Associated Press that Barack Obama’s book will be a straightforward memoir about his presidency, while Michelle Obama plans to write an inspirational work for young people that will draw on her life story. Presidential memoirs have contributed little to the literary canon, a tradition many believe Barack Obama will change. But recent books have found large audiences with Bill Clinton’s George W Bush’s becoming million-sellers. Books by first ladies, including Hillary Clinton’s Living History, have been dependable best-sellers. www.theguardian.com/books/2017/mar/01/barackmichelle-obama-book-deals-penguin-random-house
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The Obamas’ Portraits are not What You’d Expect, and that’s why They’re Great By Philip Kennicott
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he National Portrait Gallery has unveiled the official portraits of former president Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, both
traditional representation with elements that underscore the complexity of their subjects, and the historic fact of their political rise. And both painters have
sumptuous background that recalls his interest in historical portraiture. Sherald, who won the National Portrait Gallery’s Outwin
painted by African American artists, and both striking additions to the museum’s “America’s Presidents” exhibition. The 44th president is seen sitting on a wooden armchair that seems to be floating amid a scrim of dense foliage and flowers in an image by Kehinde Wiley. The first lady, painted against a robin’s egg blue background, rests her chin on one hand and stares at the viewer with a curious mix of confidence and vulnerability in a canvas by Amy Sherald. The artists, chosen by the Obamas, have combined
managed to create compelling likenesses without sacrificing key aspects of their signature styles. The Obamas took a significant chance on both artists and were rewarded with powerful images that will shake up the expectations and assumptions of visitors to the traditionally button-down presidential galleries. Wiley, an established artist whose work is held by prominent museums worldwide, has produced a characteristically flat, almost polished surface, with intensely rich colors and a busy,
Boochever prize in 2016, has painted Michelle Obama’s face in the gray tones of an old black-andwhite photograph, set against a preternaturally bright background, a technique she has used to introduce a heightened sense of the surreal in many of her works. But both artists also have tempered aspects of their usual styles to create works that emphasize the dignity of the subject over the irony of the artist. https://flipboard.com/@flipboard/-theobamas-portraits-are-not-what-youd-/fb950fe6b0e%2Fwashingtonpost.com
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BBA
Congratulations on Your Outstanding Presidency
BBA
S P E CI A L CO M M E M O R AT IV E I S S U E •
Being a conduit for the merging of resources, values, profits, technology and people;
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Promoting development and support of minority business enterprises within the domestic and international economies by encouraging and generating greater access to market opportunities and capital;
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Providing training for entrepreneurial professional development;
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Supporting and contributing to the economic base and progress of the African-American community; and
•
Developing coalitions that support our political endeavors to effectively achieve public recognition and political influence for African-American business owners.
Over 40 years of service Founded 1970
About the BBA…
Since 1970, the Black Business Association (BBA), a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization, headquartered in Los Angeles, has been instrumental in the incubation and development of more than 15,000 African-American businesses. Nationally, we have access and influence with more than 85,000 African-American-owned and women/minority-owned firms via strategic alliances with more than 100 women/minority trade associations in more than 42 states nationwide.
___ Our Mission ___
The Black Business Association’s mission is to advocate and promote the development of African-American owned businesses with the goal of creating a firm economic base that support the self-determination and survival of the African-American and urban community by: •
Identifying and creating financial opportunities for the growth and stability of African-American owned businesses;
•
Being a community voice that advocates for the success of small businesses;
___ Advocacy ___
The Black Business Association maintains very effective working relationships with elected and appointed officials for the support of African-American business development. Locally, statewide and in Washington, DC, we are constantly aware of pending legislation that might affect our member’s businesses, their growth and even their ability to conduct business. When legislation is being considered that affects our mission, the BBA quickly mobilizes to work with key policy makers to support, defeat or modify the bill and pursue the BBA position. As an organization, we are constantly at the helm, securing innovative means and policies that protect our constituency and their business interests.
Coming Events 2018 March 24th Salute to Black Women June 19th Salute to Black Music Awards Dinner Black Business Association P.O. Box 43159, Los Angeles, CA 90043 USA Tel: 323-291-9334 Fax: 323-857-4610
• Call 323-291-9334 for information on sponsorship and participation •
mail@bbala.org www.bbala.org www.facebook.com 80 February 2018 Black Business News Special Issue www.blackbbusinessnews.net
S P E CI A L CO M M E M O R AT IV E I S S U E
S P E CI A L CO M M E M O R AT IV E I S S U E
Reach Thousands of the Nation’s Most Influential African Americans YOUR LINK TO AFRICAN AMERICAN BUSINESS ENTERPRISE
• Outreach to Black Businesses • Advertorial/Feature Story Advertising • Profiles and Business Listings • Classified Ads and Bid Opportunities
Reserve Your Ad Space Today! Call (323) 291-9334 Deadline: Advertising Opportunities Full Page Color w/Feature Story Full Page Color Half Page Color w/Feature Story Half Page Color Quarter Page Color Eighth Page Color Business Card Ad/Listing
1x $2,500 $2,000 $1,250 $1,000 $ 500 $ 350 $ 125
3x $2,250 $1,800 $1,200 $ 875 $ 450 $ 300 $ 100
Website Advertising Opportunity Webpage, Link & Marketing Message
1x $ 125
3x 6x 12x $ 100 $ 80 $ 60
E-Blast Advertising Opportunity Issue Dedicated Marketing Message
1x $2,200
Custom Reprint Issue a specific article
1x $500
RATES SUBJECT TO CHANGE
6x
12x
$1,600 $1,150 $ 825 $ 400 $ 250 $ 80
$1,400 $1,100 $ 775 $ 350 $ 200 $ 60 Ad Type Measurements Full Page 10.25”x12.75” Half Page 10.25”x 6.75” Half Page 5.00”x12.75” Quarter Page 5.00”x 6.75” Eighth Page 5.00”x 3.00”
For more information contact: Earl “Skip” Cooper, II at 323-291-9334 E-mail: mail@bbala.org