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EGACY Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow.

WEDNESDAYS • July 26, 2017

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INSIDE

Henrico educators tackle race bias - 2 Transgender vs. culture candidate - 3 Alliance to increase homeownership - 5 GRTC signs new paratransit contract - 17

Richmond & Hampton Roads

LEGACYNEWSPAPER.COM • FREE

Legal leaders discuss challenges of Trump presidency at NAACP panel

President Trump’s election integrity commission is what keeps Kristen Clarke up at night.

For Thomas Saenz, the issue on the front-burner is immigration enforcement.

Fatima Goss Graves and Sarah Warbelow say it’s impossible to pick just one issue from the first six months of the Trump administration that worries them most.

These four panelists, all leaders of legal organizations, discussed their strategies for dealing with Trump’s presidency as part of the NAACP’s Continuing Legal Education seminar Sunday. The nation’s oldest civil rights organization is holding its national convention in Baltimore through Wednesday.

Breaking with tradition, Trump declined an invitation to speak at the 108th annual convention.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that though he declined the invitation, “certainly the invitation for dialogue with that group would happily take place and we’d certainly like to continue to do that.”

NAACP General Counsel Bradford Berry began the panel by discussing recent incidents of police brutality and the spike in hate crimes. He decried efforts that he views as trying to suppress voters and limit civil rights.

“But there is some good news,” Berry said. “Some of that good news is what happens when we stand and fight.”

Clarke, president of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, said her organization has filed multiple complaints against Kansas Secretary

People attending the NAACP Annual Convention packed a meeting room for a panel discussion. of State Kris Kobach, who is cochair of Trump’s commission to investigate voter fraud. Trump has alleged without evidence that millions of people voted illegally in the 2016 election, causing him to lose the popular vote to his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights encourages people to call into their election protection hotline to report instances of intimidation or other voter suppression tactics. A White House statement announcing the commission said it would also study concerns about voter suppression.

“This is an unprecedented effort to roll out and push voter suppression policies and laws on a national scale.

It is one of the most dangerous threats to democracy that we’ve seen in modern times,” Clarke said. “We’re going to fight tooth and nail until we

shut this commission down.”

Graves, president of the National Women’s Law Center, said her organization is pushing to educate people about the impact of Republican plans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Once people know what the healthcare plan would actually do, Graves said, it is deeply unpopular.

“For black women in particular, this heath care repeal plan is just devastating,” she said.

On Saturday, Trump tweeted that “ObamaCare is dead” and it’s up to Senate Republicans to reform health care. He has long argued that the 2010 healthcare bill is a “disaster.”

Within the Latino community, Trump’s rhetoric has sowed “unprecedented levels of fear and confusion,” said Saenz, president and general counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and

Educational Fund. Trump ran on the promise to beef up national security by building a wall along the United State’s Southern border.

And for those who identify as LGBT, there is concern about “excessive amounts of discrimination,” said Warbelow, the Human Rights Campaign’s legal director.

After an hour of criticizing Trump’s policies, Berry challenged the panelists to name one bright spot from the administration’s first six months.

“I hesitate to call it bright spot, but the bright spot in my mind is the incompetency of the administration, which has limited what bad things they’ve been able to accomplish,” Saenz said to applause. “There’s a daily battle of which will get more attention: the inhumanity or the incompetence. ... I’m happy when the incompetence wins.”

The LEGACY

2 • July 26, 2017

News

Workshop teaches educators to be race inclusive A group of educators from Henrico County Public Schools participated in a workshop meant to help participants develop more inclusive learning communities. The retreat gave the educators a chance to focus on eliminating disparities based on race and socioeconomic status in all areas of school life and academic achievement.

Called the Henrico Educational Equity Initiative, the workshop included faculty from four HCPS schools: Donahoe and Fair Oaks elementary schools; Elko Middle School; and Varina High School.

The nonprofit Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities organized the retreat held at Sweet Briar College July 17-20.

HCPS educators learned about how bias and prejudice can affect learning and teaching. Participants designed different approaches to creating a supportive learning environment.

At the conclusion of the retreat, educators designed action plans for schools, focusing on closing gaps in opportunity and achievement, and on creating an inclusive school atmosphere. “[This] initiative develops educational stakeholders who

are passionate, committed, and prepared to lead efforts to eliminate disparities based on race and class in all areas of school life and academic achievement,” noted The Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities.

“Through interactive and engaging workshops, participating educators learn about how bias and prejudice affect schools, learning, and teaching, while developing strategies for creating more supportive learning environments. Such programming

Affordable housing not located near available jobs in the Richmond region, study finds Affordable housing is not located near available jobs in the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area, according to a new report issued by the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University.

The report, “Understanding the Jobs–Affordable Housing Balance in the Richmond Region,” documents

the geographic location of jobs generally available for households requiring low-cost housing.

“This is the first time this pattern has been analyzed, and it documents a metropolitan problem. Affordable housing and available jobs are not located in close proximity,” said Tom Jacobson, the lead researcher of the Wilder School’s Center for Urban and

is built off of the premise that the process of institutional transformation of our educational system must begin with a process of personal transformation on the part of the individual stakeholders within that system.”

Henrico County schools have had their share of race-related issues.

Some 60 years after Brown v. Board of Education, UCLA conducted a national study in which Henrico County was singled out for its racial

segregation.

The Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities notes that it works with businesses, communities and school divisions to achieve success by eliminating prejudice through workshops and retreats. The program is funded by the Robins Foundation. The workshop’s goals align with Henrico Schools’ current areas of focus, which include cultural competency and equity, as well as family engagement.

Regional Analysis, which conducted the report.

Low-cost housing units, which includes homes and apartments, are assessed at $109,000 or less, while modest-wage jobs are those with annual salaries of $27,664 or less.

There are 67,000 more modestwage jobs than low-cost housing units in a suburban donut around the city, according to the report. Retail and service jobs are heavily located in Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico counties. Yet affordable housing is concentrated in the Southside and east end of the city, close-in suburban

neighborhoods, and rural and small town areas on the fringe of the metropolitan area.

“A well-planned metro area is a community of short distances,” said Jacobson, an adjunct instructor at the Wilder School and a former Chesterfield County planning director. “Households should have the ability to choose to live close to their job. This is especially critical for lower income households with no or one car.”

The area’s public bus system

(continued on page 9)

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July 26, 2017 • 3

Transgender candidate takes on culture warrior SARAH RANKIN MANASSAS — She's a transgender woman and an experienced journalist who sings in a metal band in her spare time.

He has sponsored some of the most socially conservative legislation in Virginia in the past 25 years, including a measure this year that would have restricted the bathrooms transgender people can use.

Democrat Danica Roem is challenging Republican Bob Marshall for his northern Virginia seat in the state House of Delegates. With such stark differences between the candidates, the race is expected to draw in big money and is being seen by some as a referendum on rights for gay and transgender people.

Roem would be the first openly transgender candidate to win and serve in a state legislature, according to the Victory Fund, a political action committee that supports her and calls Marshall “the most antiLGBTQ member of the Virginia state legislature.”

“Danica Roem is a leader in a national movement of trans candidates who are determined to become a voice for their community in the halls of power,” said Aisha Moodie-Mills, president and CEO of the organization.

In an interview and through emails, Marshall defended his record

Danica Roem and said he respects every person “because we are all made in our Creator's image.”

"I'm not trying to tell people like Danica, formally Dan, how to live their life, and likewise they should not be forcing their views and behaviors on the rest of us,” Marshall, 73, wrote in one message.

Roem handily won a four-way primary in June and is part of a surge of young, first-time candidates Democrats hope will help it retake control of the GOP-led chamber for the first time in nearly two decades.

Campaign finance reports show she’s off to a strong fundraising

start. Roem raised around $66,000 in the first six months of the year, compared with Marshall's nearly $4,600, leaving her with about $9,000 less than Marshall in cash on hand.

During a recent interview, Roem, 32, energetically rattled off stats about issues like zoning and land use, topics she covered while reporting for two Virginia newspapers. She quit to campaign full time and said it's hard now to find time with her band, Cab Ride Home, which has played shows in the Midwest, along the East Coast and in Europe.

Roem started pursuing therapy to begin her gender transition when she was 28. While she talks openly about it — saying transitioning “fundamentally altered my life for the better” — she’d rather focus on local issues: jobs, schools and improving one of the area’s most congested thoroughfares.

Marshall has spent too much time on social policy, she argues.

He authored a now-void constitutional amendment that defined marriage as between one man and one woman. He sponsored a bill banning gay people from openly serving in the Virginia National Guard. This year, he unsuccessfully pushed a bill that would have generally prohibited people from using a bathroom of the opposite sex in government-owned buildings.

But Marshall pointed out he’s authored 60-plus bills and studies

that have become law. Among them: prohibiting warrantless searches of cellphones and computers and streamlining the paperwork for doing business in Virginia.

He’s also tangled with his own party, often over government transparency.

“So many times in Richmond, it’s maintain the status quo, ‘Don’t do this, don’t bring this up,'" Marshall said.

Recently, the two candidates took opposing positions before the Prince William County School Board as it weighed whether to expand its nondiscrimination policy to include gender identity and sexual orientation. The board approved the expansion last month after extensive debate.

Jeannie and Darin Lowder, whose children attend Prince William County Public Schools, said before the board's vote that they plan to vote for Marshall, largely because of his unwavering support for parents like them, who didn't want to see the nondiscrimination policy expanded.

That kind of constituent connection could help Marshall, who is an "institution" in the district, said Quentin Kidd, a political science professor at Christopher Newport University.

But Manassas resident Hope Vella, who is gay, said Roem has her vote, in part because she was inspired to see someone being unapologetically herself and running on an inclusive platform.

“If you’re not like me, you’re disposable” seems to be the prevailing attitude in politics, said Vella, who was moved to tears when she met Roem.

Since Marshall was first elected in 1991, the district, which covers Manassas and Prince William County, has become more populous, diverse and left-leaning politically.

In November, it was one of 17 Republican-controlled House districts Hillary Clinton won over Donald Trump in the presidential race.

“The district is changing ... and at some point he’s likely to be defeated,” University of Mary Washington political science professor Stephen Farnsworth said. “We’ll see depending on the campaign whether this year is that year.”

The LEGACY

4 • July 26, 2017

“King of Death” pleads guilty to heroin, fentanyl distribution Erskine Dawson Jr. and his crew marketed their drugs, according to court documents. They knew they were selling a particularly potent – and even lethal – mixture of heroin and fentanyl and wanted to make sure their customers knew what to ask for.

Among the names printed on the small wax paper envelopes: “King of Death,” “Black Dynamite” and “Steph Curry” – an apparent homage to the Golden State Warriors’ star .

Dawson, who last month backed out of a more lenient plea agreement, pleaded guilty last week to three felonies, including one count of distribution resulting in death. He faces a minimum of 25 years in prison when sentenced Nov. 1 in U.S. District Court in Norfolk.

Defense attorney Eric Leckie said his client has expressed “profound remorse” for his actions.

According to court documents, Dawson, 33, of Norfolk, was the leader of a drug ring that dealt at least three kilograms of heroin last year out of two hotels in Virginia Beach and Chesapeake. Prosecutors have blamed the ring for at least 10 overdoses, including three deaths.

The documents allege that Kenneth “Bones” Stuart was Dawson’s source and that Stuart’s girlfriend, Carolyn

Freeman, helped smuggle the drugs from New York and New Jersey to Virginia.

The drugs were typically transported inside stuffed animals and on commercial buses, court documents said.

Documents filed with Dawson’s guilty plea claim he was aware that at least two of his customers died after using his product. One of the deaths happened on Sept. 7, the other on Nov. 14.

Prosecutors said Dawson contacted Stuart after the November death to talk about what had happened.

Stuart directed him to keep selling the drugs, court documents said.

Federal agents raided two hotels Dec. 8 as part of their investigation into Dawson. They recovered 134 wax baggies containing heroin and fentanyl from a room in a Virginia Beach Studios 4 Less and 1,307 wax

baggies from a room in a Chesapeake Studios 4 Less. They contained about 144 grams of heroin and fentanyl.

Investigators also found two loaded firearms, a .22-caliber Colt handgun and a .38-caliber Taurus revolver, in Dawson’s Virginia Beach hotel room.

Thomas E. Jennings, 33, pleaded guilty last month to one count of conspiracy to distribute heroin and fentanyl. He is set to be sentenced Sept. 13.

Dawson was also set to enter into his own plea agreement last month but changed his mind at the last minute.

Nine days later, a federal grand jury returned a new indictment against Dawson and four of his associates. Unlike the original indictment, the new one charged Dawson and Stuart each with five felonies that each carried a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years. - WIRE

Woman, husband in fatal Norfolk shooting were both in Navy A police officer fatally shot a woman after she shot and wounded her husband at the scene of a car crash, authorities in Virginia said.

Virginia State Police said that 25-year-old India N. Nelson had been in a domestic dispute with her husband in Norfolk. About 7 p.m. that evening, she and her husband were driving separate cars when they crashed into each other near a gate at Norfolk Naval Station, where both were active duty sailors.

After Norfolk police responded and began to investigate, Nelson shot and wounded her husband, state police said. Authorities said a Norfolk police officer then “engaged the woman and returned fire.”

Nelson was pronounced dead at the scene. Her husband, who was treated at a hospital and released, has not been identified.

Navy spokesman Matthew Allen said last week that the husband is assigned to a unit on Naval Station

Norfolk. He said Nelson was a nuclear technician assigned to the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier.

The officers involved have been placed on administrative duty, pending the outcome of the investigation by Virginia State Police. Norfolk police continue to investigate Nelson’s alleged shooting of her husband.

Officials haven’t released the names of the officers involved. Norfolk police spokeswoman Jo Ann Hughes said the department doesn’t release the races of officers or victims.

Hughes added that Norfolk patrol officers typically wear body cameras, although it's unknown if they captured this incident. She said such footage would be turned over to state police for their investigation.

Kelly Wirfel, a Navy spokeswoman, said gate cameras at one of the main gates into the naval base did not capture the shooting.

Aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford commissioned The aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford came to life Saturday in a commissioning ceremony at Naval Station Norfolk, a time-honored tradition that ushered in a new generation of naval sea power.

Ship sponsor Susan Ford Bales made the call that sent dozens of sailors in crisp white uniforms running onto the first-in-class ship that bears her father's name.

The grand ceremony designated the Ford as a United States ship and places it in active service. It won’t be ready to deploy until 2021, but Saturday will still go down in naval history. The Navy last commissioned a first-in-class aircraft carrier in 1975, a ceremony in Norfolk presided over

by President Ford himself.

The commissioning marked the end of a challenging odyssey for the Navy and Newport News Shipbuilding, which dealt with a host of technical problems and delays in building the complex, $12.9-billion ship.

Its original completion target date was 2015, and challenges of integrating new technology pushed the price well beyond original estimates.

July 26, 2017 • 5

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HOME, Wells Fargo create $4m partnership to increase housing opportunities for blacks Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia, Inc. (“HOME”) and Wells Fargo Bank (“Wells Fargo”) last week announced a partnership agreement to increase homeownership opportunities and expand mortgage lending to blacks and majority black neighborhoods in the Richmond region. The partnership provides for over $4 million in financial support to HOME in the form of program support and down payment assistance. It is reported as one of the largest agreements ever reached involving a financial institution and an individual fair housing organization.

“Differences in homeownership between African Americans and white Americans are the foundation of wealth inequality in Richmond and across the country, and HOME is committed to rooting out these differences in opportunity to reduce racial gaps and inequities and build a strong middle class,” said Heather Crislip, president and CEO of HOME. The partnership agreement invests in the community by providing HOME with $3,000,000 over four years to enhance and support its

homebuyer education and counseling, foreclosure prevention, and financial literacy programs. These investments will allow HOME to expand access to credit in Richmond’s underserved communities and make the dream of homeownership real to qualified first time homebuyers throughout the region. Wells Fargo will also provide $1,000,000 over four years in down payment assistance to lowand moderate-income first-time homebuyers in the region. As part of the partnership, HOME will work with Wells Fargo to conduct fair housing compliance testing at Wells Fargo branches and provide other monitoring and training assistance.

“Earlier this year, Wells Fargo announced a nationwide $60 billion lending commitment to create at least 250,000 African American homeowners by 2027,” said Brad Blackwell, Wells Fargo executive vice president and head of housing policy and homeownership growth strategies. “Our efforts with HOME in the Richmond area will be a perfect complement to the broader national commitment, and establish the foundation for what we expect

will be a long and substantive relationship with one of the country’s preeminent fair housing organizations.”

HOME investigated regional mortgage lending activity and brought concerns it had about under service in minority communities in the Richmond region to government regulators and to Wells Fargo directly.

“The amount of support and the substance of Wells Fargo’s response to our concerns speaks volumes about the seriousness of purpose and the level of commitment Wells has brought to bear in addressing our concerns,” said Crislip. “As the largest lender in our region, we believe this initiative by Wells will set the standard for other lenders to follow. We look forward to working with Wells Fargo in the coming years to bring credit opportunities to qualified borrowers in neighborhoods throughout our city who have been left behind for too long.”

Jon Campbell, Wells Fargo executive vice president and head of corporate responsibility and community relations, said the company believes in the financial and

social benefits of owning a home.

“We recognize that – both as a lender and as a servicer – we can do more to address the homeownership rates within the African American community,” he said. “We want to make every community in which we do business better through our products and services, culture and operations, philanthropy, and by working closely with strong local partners like HOME.” Meanwhile, Wells Fargo continues to be hit with fallout from its shamaccounts scandal, the bank is facing allegations that it put the screws to customers in yet another way: by slapping them with fees for delays in processing mortgage applications.

A former Wells Fargo mortgage banker who worked in Beverly Hills alleged in a lawsuit last week that the bank falsified records so it could blame holdups on borrowers — and that it fired him for trying to report the practice.

The legal action follows a monthslong internal investigation into the alleged abusive practices, one that contributed to an executive shake-up in the bank’s mortgage business.

6 • July 26, 2017

Op/Ed & Letters

The LEGACY

To fight the HIV epidemic, we need the Black Church DR. MARJORIE INNOCENT Black Churches are more than places of worship. They are the vibrant hearts of the black community that bring the Gospel into our lives, inspire faith, grace, love and mercy and foster a deep commitment to service. For centuries, Black Churches and faith leaders have been at the forefront of the struggle for civil rights, including voting rights and the right to a quality education. And we need the Black Church’s leadership for another adversary: HIV. Make no mistake: Our nation is facing an epidemic that is ravaging our community from coast to coast. Today, HIV affects African Americans more than any other racial or ethnic group in the country.

While we represent just 12 percent of the population, we account for 41 percent of people living with HIV in the United States. This is truly unacceptable.

As part of The Black Church & HIV: The Social Justice Imperative initiative, the NAACP asked churches across the nation to observe Day of Unity on Sunday, July 23 and preach from the pulpit about HIV as a social justice issue. Blacks must fully acknowledge the scope of this epidemic and recognize the hundreds of thousands of brothers and sisters it has taken from us. In fact, we The LEGACY NEWSPAPER Vol. 3 No. 30 Mailing Address 409 E. Main Street 4 Office Address 105 1/2 E. Clay St. Richmond, VA 23219 Call 804-644-1550 Online www.legacynewspaper.com

account for more than half of deaths attributed to HIV/AIDS according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Like many who grew up in the Black Church, I look to my pastor for guidance in my faith and all paths of life. It is vital that faith leaders take the lead in this fight, committing to educate, engage and motivate their congregations to take positive action to end the HIV epidemic, especially in our communities.

Overall, about one in 20 AfricanAmerican men and one in 48 black women will be diagnosed with HIV during their lifetimes; and 44 percent of all new HIV infections are among African Americans. This crisis is not just about public and community health: It’s about social justice and institutionalized racism.

The LEGACY welcomes all signed letters and all respectful opinions.

Letter writers and columnists opinions are their own and endorsements of their views by The LEGACY should be inferred. The LEGACY assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material.

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The numbers are deeply disturbing but not surprising. Such is the scale of the epidemic that nearly all black Americans have a friend, family member, colleague or acquaintance that is impacted by HIV. I am no exception.

That’s why in 2011 the NAACP partnered with Gilead Sciences to create The Black Church & HIV initiative to develop a national network of black faith leaders who will address the disproportionate impact of HIV on black Americans.

The NAACP is committed to helping enlist faith leaders from around the country to break the stigma surrounding this disease, engage in meaningful conversation and education with their congregants, provide compassionate support and spiritual guidance to those living with HIV, and encourage churches to take action through a social justice lens.

In 2013, we took an additional step to further the impact and reach of our efforts by making a Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) “Commitment to Action.” By 2018, our goal is to conduct 45 faith leader trainings in the 30 cities most highly-impacted

by HIV, obtain proactive resolutions from historically black mainline denominations and integrate HIV as a social justice issue into required curricula in predominantly black theological seminaries.

Thus far, we’ve reached more than 1,500 pastors. But we need hundreds more before we can have the kind of transformative impact necessary to save us from continued, but avoidable, devastation and advance us closer to better health and true justice for our community.

As the NAACP gathered in Baltimore from July 22 - 26 for its 108th National Convention, the importance of joining us in the fight against HIV was a message that participants organized around in their own communities and churches.

As someone whose faith is central to her life, I ask our shepherds-our faith leaders-in the black community to grasp this unique opportunity to have a significant, positive impact in the fight against HIV. We must break the silence about the dangers of HIV and the scope of the epidemic, educate our communities about prevention and advocacy and stop the growth of this disease once and for all. With the commitment of our faith leaders, I believe this is a fight we can win.

Innocent serves as the senior director of Health Programs at the NAACP and is responsible for the management of the NAACP's policy and programmatic agenda to reduce health disparities and improve health outcomes for African Americans and other communities of color.

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July 26, 2017 • 7

P.T. Hoffsteader, Esq.

No time for complacency

The only thing that moves a politician more than a $1,000 check is a group of 100 committed constituents in a room. Because despite the very real and very dangerous influence of money in politics, votes remain the coin of our troubled civic realm.

Make no mistake – the primary reason Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell indefinitely delayed the effort (known at the “Better Care Reconciliation Act”) to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act was the organized and vocal opposition to the bill from across the country.

Even in deeply Republican Kansas, Sen. Jerry Moran (the only senator to hold an unscreened town hall during the recent July 4 recess) faced tough questions and strong opposition to the BCRA. Moran’s publicly declared opposition was key to the demise of the bill.

As people of faith who believe that concern for the health of our fellow children of God is mandated by our Savior Jesus (“I was sick and you took care of me” – Matthew 25:36) this is a time to give thanks to God. We are grateful that wisdom and compassion have, at least temporarily, triumphed over cynicism and greed.

The faith community played a key role in this victory. We have come with stories. Stories from our churches. Stories from the food banks and shelters that our parishes run. Stories of the people in our congregations struggling to get by. We have asked those decision-

makers — particularly those who identify as Christian — to think long and hard about how their faith could shape their views and votes. We have prayed with them and for them. And today we know that those prayers have been heard and answered.

But complacency is not an option.

Opposition to the Affordable Care Act has been a core principal for the Republican Party for years. It’s unlikely they would simply walk away forever. Some conservatives will continue to push for a straight repeal of the ACA – something that would be popular with their conservative base but staunchly opposed by moderates in the party.

Simply repealing the foundations of the ACA (expanded Medicaid coverage for poor Americans, federal subsidies for premiums, basic consumer protections for the insured) would devastate millions of people.

And the threats to poor and vulnerable people extend well beyond health care. The House Budget Committee will vote on their budget blueprint for 2018. That proposal calls for massive cuts — $200 billion worth — to everything from Social Security and Medicare to financial industry regulations to nutrition programs.

The House Appropriations Committee is trying to add $1.6 billion for a border wall along the southern border and to increase the reach of the Trump administration’s “deportation force” that is separating families and spreading fear throughout immigrant communities.

Sojourners was proud to sign on to a letter to Congress from faith leaders

opposing this unwise idea. We note: “As people of faith, our concern stems from shared values rooted in our sacred texts that remind us to love our neighbor and welcome the sojourner among us. As Leviticus 19:33-34 reminds us: ‘Any immigrant who lives with you must be treated as if they were one of your citizens.

You must love them as yourself, because you were immigrants in the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God.’ The sacred responsibility of our government is the well-being of the human person, and we recognize the dignity and humanity of all of our immigrant community members.”

The House is also proposing a $528 million cut to the Environmental Protection Agency next year, jeopardizing EPA’s work to ensure clean air and clean water and to protect our public lands. In addition, it would propose delaying a rule to reduce smog and undercut proposed ban on several highly toxic chemicals.

Under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the Justice Department is trying to threaten voting rights, return to deeply unfair mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent offenders, and increase the federal government’s use of private prisons.

So while we can and should take a moment to acknowledge – even to celebrate – this health care news, the work of kingdom-building is far from over.

Michael Mershon

Saving grace?

I pray that politics do not blind you to dismiss the ONLY saving

grace of the past administration that protected the interest of the taxpayers of Richmond, Va. His integrity and character can not be compared with any of the retained heads of agencies that failed to comply with the internal control structures adopted by City Council.

Umesh, loyality to the citizens of Richmond have exposed the fraudulent procedures that has been adopted to place Richmond in financial jeopardy and the Mayor’s Performance Review Team confirmed his findings and yet the heads of those agencies are retained by the Mayor. This will be a travesty if you allow this retaliation to influence your decisions on a MAN that your campaign was utilizing for some to get re elected and some elected even the mayor.

The audit on Public Utilities and impact of TMI Consulting again shows that Mr. Umesh Dalal priority is that the taxpayers dollars not being wasted and according to the report TMI Consulting have received $1.8 million of the $2 million dollar contract awarded. This company being led by a Tiffany Jana, an ally of Mayor Stoney is a flash back to Mayor Dwight Jones.

Please consider the impact on his dismissal while this mayor retains the CAO that signed off on all the financial woes under Dwight Jones and we are to believe TRANSPARENCY is your PRIORITY. Earl Bradley

8 • July 26, 2017

Faith & Religion

The LEGACY

Black minister leaves Southern Baptist Convention to shed light on racism HOLLY MEYER WIRE - A black Oklahoma State University lecturer recently said he is renouncing his ordination as a Southern Baptist minister because of the racism he sees within the country’s largest Protestant denomination.

Other black Southern Baptist leaders acknowledged the sentiment Lawrence Ware expressed in his New York Times column, published last week. But they said staying a part of the Nashville, Tenn.-based Southern Baptist Convention allows them to help the network of churches continue to move toward racial reconciliation, a high-profile issue it has dealt with in recent decades.

The Bible calls for unity, said the Rev. Byron Day, president of the National African American Fellowship of the Southern Baptist Convention.

“The SBC has some racist people in it, but so does other denominations as well,” Day said. “I am one that believes that it’s better not to leave, but rather to stay and help educate other brothers and sisters about problems, whether it be racism or some other issue.”

A controversial photo of five Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary professors posing as rappers. Screenshot from Twitter Ware, who is not a well-known minister but serves at Prospect Church in Oklahoma City, told a reporter that he didn’t make his decision lightly or quickly.

In addition to the denomination’s pro-slavery roots, he pointed to a series of recent incidents that led to his departure, including a controversy at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary that involved white professors dressing up as rappers.

The Rev. Dwight McKissic, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, speaks with reporters after a resolution similar to one he submitted on racism was unanimously approved in June.

Messengers adopted a resolution “on the anti-Gospel of alt-right white supremacy.” PHOTO: Baptist Press/Van Payne “I understand the logic behind wanting to stay inside an institution and make changes from the inside. … That motivation is noble in some instances, but it’s also enabling in others,” Ware said. “I just came to a place where I couldn’t stay in.”

Ware’s tipping point came last month when the Southern Baptist Convention did not immediately disavow white supremacy during its annual meeting in Phoenix. He did not attend the two-day event, and Day pointed out that Ware may not have the full picture of what happened as a result.

The resolutions committee initially rejected a resolution opposing the alt-right movement, a term often applied to those whose political views embrace white nationalism, racism and anti-Semitism.

Committee members raised

concerns about the resolution’s language, and the full convention voted not to overrule the committee.

Tense discussions and national media attention ensued; leaders crafted a new resolution and it passed.

Day thinks the resolutions committee made a mistake by not amending the first resolution and bringing it to the floor for a vote initially.

But he called the resolution that eventually passed the strongest effort the Southern Baptist Convention has made concerning racism to date.

He pointed to other efforts, including an increase in black Southern Baptist leaders as well as the convention’s apology in 1995 to African-Americans and its repentance for the role slavery and racism played in its history.

“We can only keep talking about it. Keep preaching about it. Keep encouraging all of our churches to speak out against it. That’s all we can really do,” said Day, who also is the pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Maryland. “By the grace of God, we hope to see our convention get better at it.”

The Rev. Dwight McKissic, the Texas pastor who wrote the original anti-white-supremacy resolution, said he respects Ware’s decision to go, but he stays because of all the good the convention accomplishes, such as church planting and financial support.

But he wants more black Southern Baptists in denominational leadership roles and for the convention to denounce the “curse of Ham,” a religious theory that justified the basis for slavery and segregation. It was in his resolution, but not the one the convention passed.

“I think the Southern Baptist Convention is worth trying to bring healing and hope,” said McKissic, who is the pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church. “The majority of the people’s hearts are in the right place, but there is still some work to be done.”

Ware, who also is co-director of his university’s Center for Africana Studies and the diversity coordinator for its philosophy department, will continue to be a minister at Prospect Church.

The church is aligned with the Southern Baptist Convention as well as the Progressive National Baptist Convention. Ware will continue to associate with the latter but told his pastor he would no longer be involved with the church’s Southern Baptist Convention-related work. (In

(continued on page 9)

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(from page 8) the Southern Baptist Convention, ordination is a local church matter.

The denomination doesn’t ordain or license ministers.)

Ware wrote that he knows of five others who have quietly left the denomination over the past year.

He purposely made his departure public and announced it in a national publication as a way to push the Southern Baptist Convention to confront it.

“Me doing that quietly will not force them to come to terms with the lived experience of people of color in that denomination,” Ware said. “I think that more needs to be done to substantively change the culture of SBC, and I wish them the best.”

McKissic said he does think Ware’s column shed a public light on concerns raised privately by some Southern Baptists, and the mishandling of the alt-right resolution forced many black Southern Baptists to question whether they should stay. He said he knows about five people who quietly walked away, and he convinced about seven others to remain.

The Rev. Kevin L. Smith, executive

Sex Offender Helpline The helpline provides support to communities on issues related to accessing sex offender registration information; responsible use of information; sexual abuse prevention resources; and accessing crime victim support services.

The tips program provides the public an opportunity to report registrants who are failing to comply with registration requirements.

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This program is not intended to be used to report police emergencies.

July 26, 2017 • 9 director of the Baptist Convention of Maryland and Delaware, said he is not aware of anyone closely connected to Southern Baptist life who has left.

Lawrence Ware While moved by the painful story Ware shared of being called a racial slur at a Southern Baptist camp, Smith took issue with the conclusions Ware drew in the column.

But Smith does think the resolutions committee should have worked through the wording of McKissic’s initial resolution, recognizing it was an important issue for some Southern Baptists.

Not doing so illustrates the challenge faced by a denomination with millions of people in it.

“That was something that was burdensome to a portion of the convention and there were other parts of the convention that just didn’t seem to realize how burdensome that was to some other brothers and sisters,” Smith said.

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(from page 2) provides only partial connections between employment and housing locations. An analysis of modestwage jobs and low-cost dwelling units revealed that the GRTC Transit System provides access to 52 percent of the region’s low-cost housing and 45 percent of modestwage jobs within one-quarter mile of a bus stop.

The study also documents the impact of higher density, lower cost townhouse and apartment projects on surrounding single-family neighborhoods. Six projects in the metropolitan area were analyzed before and after construction and no notable long-term impact resulted on crime rates, property values and

property sales.

“Residents in the city and suburbs alike fear that higher density, lower cost housing will increase crime and negatively impact their home property values. This study and others document that this fear is usually unfounded,” Jacobson said.

The study provides a guide for future affordable housing and business locations, expansion of the public transit system, and sidewalk construction. The Broad Street corridor, the Chesterfield Towne Center area and a wide span of Chesterfield County are priority areas for affordable housing development. The study recommends that affordable housing units be located within mixed income projects.

10 • July 26, 2017

The LEGACY

Meet, Shyheim Hinnant, the dynamic singer creating his own space in classical music BRAD KUTNER Imagine sitting center stage as the curtains slowly draw back revealing a packed audience at your first opera production. Opera is a space that traditionally appeals to the wealthy white elite so imaging the current rolling back and you know, before anyone has heard your voice, they have already taken note of your dark skin. Feeling anxious in this moment would be completely understandable, but for Shyheim Selvan Hinnant, a 19-year-old VCU Performance student, being successful in this space is his dream.

Hinnant has in just two years proved he’s able to overcome racial concerns as he wows audiences with his operatic singing talent, and it seems to be leading to a lucrative career in classical music.

Hinnant found his love for music growing in singing in his church’s choir and a musical household. He was first exposed to his mother’s favorite R&B artists like Sade, Lauryn Hill, and Jaheim. He knew, especially after coming out as gay, that singing and songwriting is what he wanted to do.

In high school, he wrote and recorded his first song called “Cloud Nine,” that began his venture into music making. Upon coming to VCU, he discovered Richmond’s DIY art scene and home venue circuit.

There he got his start in the culture with local rapper and friend Alfred, performing his own music outside of his scholastic requirements.

He began making R&B music and performing using the name Shy Lennox, taking the name from the Shakespeare’s Lennox from MacBeth. He launched a Soundcloud account and quickly made a name for himself performing at venues like The Camel, Soul. Eil, and Witch Mountain. Hinnant shares many of the same musical tastes as his mother, however he favors a wide range of tunes depending on his mood and the moment.

“My mother introduced me to a lot

of stuff, but I listened to other stuff too. I had an Avril Lavigne phase for a while,” he joked. “It was more [about] sounds, if it was a good sound to me, I’d f** with it.”

His diverse ear for music combined with his love of performing – this lead to him exploring other opportunities to perform different types to music. This curiosity lead Hinnant to be a featured vocalist in the VCU jazz orchestra as well as joining the VCU Choir with whom he sang Beethoven’s Ninth with the Richmond Symphony.

His first dive into classical music came when he participated in a scene production put on by VCU Music in 2016. Hinnant portrayed Porgy alongside VCU Music student Jailyn Brown in the 1935 classic Porgy and Bess, the first opera to feature an entirely black cast. That, for many of his friends and loved one, was the first time they’ve heard him perform classical music.

“It was the first time people heard me and say “Shy you could be an opera singer,” said Hinnant. “That to me was like “whoa” because, like, you don’t hear about too many black boys going into opera. So when I realized that I had the potential to really do I switched my major to performance.”

With that affirmation, Hinnant decided to fully immerse himself in the classical music world.

He changed his major from music education to performance concentrating in opera studies. He began studying the classics opera and developed a love for composers like Giacomo Puccini and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, even playing the role Figaro in scenes of the famous production, “The Marriage of Figaro”.

Through his studies of operatic singing Hinnant identified with black opera singers like Leontyne Price, Jessye Norman, and Lawrence Brownlee, all of whom found success singing music that previously were saved for white vocalists. Leontyne Price is credited as being one of the first African American’s to be featured at the Metropolitan Opera.

Price, particularly is someone Hinnant counts as one of his greatest role models.

“I look up to singers like [that],” said Hinnant. “I want to be as world changing as her. Leontyne could sing anything regardless of her skin color and she was given roles that weren’t

given to people of her skin color before.”

Hinnant, after hearing Leontyne’s rendition of Puccini’s Chi il bel sogno (di Doretta), knew that he could go beyond what was expected of black vocalist. He continued to work and perform within the classical music world despite often being the only black person in these spaces.

“It’s f***** up, the whiteness that comes in classical music spaces, that’s why The Spiritual is so important,” said Hinnant. “The Spiritual, which we used to call “Negro Spirituals” were made for Black singers and they are our time to share [stories] with the world.

That’s our classical music.”

But outside of that, Hinnant wants to show people that classical roles aren’t just for white people.

“I feel like the way to break down that white-black binary is showing that black people can do anything

(continued on page 11)

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July 26, 2017 • 11

Rapper Master P gives back to help the elderly Rapper, businessman and entrepreneur Percy Miller aka Master P recently recently took time to visit Guste Homes, a residency complex for elderly and low-income people in the city of New Orleans.

He commented, “I don’t want to forget about the elderly. These are the people that helped raise and guide us. If we make it, we are supposed to come back, help preserve them, take care of them, cherish and love them. They are our wisdom.”

He continued, “I noticed that many times the elderly are lonely and barely being visited. My organization, Team Hope NOLA, is focusing on celebrating, thanking and appreciating the elderly by helping beautify their property and most importantly spending time with them.”

After Master P himself, helped with some of the indoor painting efforts, he ushered the Guste Homes residents for a special surprise, where he and his partners fed meals to over 2,000 elderly men and women. They also gifted the facility with a new flat screen TV, laptops, chairs, tables and furniture for their community center.

Guste Homes CEO Cynthia Wiggins summed up the morning best with her words of gratitude for Master P: “Thank you for being an example to the community of what success really means by giving back to the community that helped raise you and held you down.”

Master P and his Team Hope NOLA Foundation partnered with ESSENCE and Walmart to beautify the local Guste Senior Residences in New Orleans. Together with over 50 volunteers and his Team Hope NOLA partner/New Orleans Pelicans coach Robert Pack, Master P gave the facility a mini makeover that included painting, landscaping and serving meals to the Guste residents. Addressing the residents briefly as they enjoyed breakfast, P was humbled to be able to express his gratitude for some of the many community members whom he says played an integral role in his success.

Master P gave the Guste Home residents an extra surprise when he revealed that he had teamed up with Walmart to gift the facility with a new flatscreen TV, laptops, chairs, tables and a sofa -- all for their community room.

"We're so happy to be here to hopefully make a difference," Walmart Senior Corporate Manager Titlayo Ogunmakinwa said. "Our main goal is to leave this place different than when we came."

Guste Homes CEO Cynthia

(from page 10) haven’t been told my whole life that that white people can do,” he said.

Shy’s fearlessness in entertaining and performing in these spaces comes from his tenacious work ethic and the enormous amount of self-confidence instilled by his mother from a very young age.

But as he works to break down barriers in the Opera world, he continues to realize the struggles black queer people face and he’s had a difficult time reconciling the two.

His family would use the “F” slur.

It wouldn’t be directed at him, but that didn’t make it any less painful to hear. That created an aversion to coming out, though thankfully, when he did come out to his mother, she embrace him unconditionally.

“When you’re black and queer, like, that’s just the worst thing to be in the world,” he said. “Even though I

it’s okay to be queer, I have been told that it’s okay to be me. After I got affirmation from my mom and I knew that she was okay [with me] being gay, I didn’t need anything else… I could conquer the world now.”

And conquered he has. Through his hard work and the backing of VCU Music, Hinnant has succeeded with opera singing as his R&B alter ego, Shy, racks up thousands of listens on his soundcloud account.

This upcoming summer Hinnant will study opera in Atlanta and at the end of June he’ll participate in a production of Carmen by composer George Bizet, making it his first production outside of VCU Music.

The support Hinnant has garnered is an acknowledgement of his passion and drive to succeed, and it burns so bright that no one can deny it or hold him. He feels no animosity being in

Wiggins summed up the morning best with her words of gratitude for Master P. “Thank you for being an example to the community of what success really means by giving back to the community that held you down.” spaces where he stands out because of his skin color because when he sings he proves that he has earned his place.

“As soon as people see me, they see my color and that’s fine. I can’t change that. But when people hear my voice, they see the color of my voice. So rather than, ‘that is a black boy singing opera’ I become ‘that is a person who is singing opera well,’” said Hinnant. “Some days I practice til two in the morning and pass out when I get home because I really just want to get better. When it’s finally time to enter those spaces, I’m showing people the work that I’ve done and I want them to appreciate that.”

In an industry and in a society that so often doesn’t allow queer black people visibility; Hinnant and Shy both shine. © Gay RVA

12 • July 26, 2017

The LEGACY

Alliance works to support early childhood education Several child care centers serving at-risk young children in Richmond will be able to put their focus on educating kids instead of timeconsuming administrative and business operational tasks thanks to a recently launched collaborative initiative.

The Richmond Area Service Alliance (RASA), under the leadership of the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation (VECF), aims to strengthen the quality of the early childhood education system by providing back-office functions and a more stable, efficient business environment for a cluster of child care centers recruited for the pilot program, according to insiders.

Pictured from left to right are: Stephen Weir from CHAT; Debbie Lickey from St. James’s Children’s Center; Rich Schultz from Smart Beginnings Greater Richmond; Jessica Philips and John Toscano from Commonwealth Autism; Kathy Glazer from the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation; and David Young from FRIENDS Association for Children.

The Alliance has selected Commonwealth Autism as the central hub entity providing the back-office services for the Alliance, and Smart Beginnings Greater Richmond convenes partners to learn more about participating in

the Alliance.RAS.'s initial cohort of child care centers includes FRIENDS Association for Children, St. James’s Children’s Center and Church Hill Activities and Tutoring (CHAT).

VECF by the Robins Foundation and The Community Foundation serving Richmond and Central Virginia provided start-up funding.

“We anticipate that RASA will have a positive impact on hundreds of area children and their families,” said Kathy Glazer, president of the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation.

“This effort has been an exciting, community-driven partnership to bolster early learning services for young children in the Richmond region.”

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SOL testing procedures were violated at A.P. Hill Elementary Petersburg City Public Schools has recently determined that Standards of Learning testing procedures were violated this spring at A.P. Hill Elementary School, according to a statement last week.

While the school division noted that it does not comment on specific personnel disciplinary actions, several employees are no longer employed as a result of the investigation.

On June 12, representatives from the Virginia Department of Education notified Petersburg City Public Schools officials that they had received an allegation of testing irregularities at A.P. Hill Elementary. The school system notes that it began a “comprehensive investigation” that included interviews with students, teachers and administrators.

Superintendent Marcus Newsome has said since arriving in Petersburg a year ago that cheating will not be tolerated.

“We must ensure the integrity of the testing environment, and violators of state procedures will face consequences,” he said. “The vast majority of our teachers, staff

members and administrators are doing the right thing to improve instruction and academic achievement throughout the school system.

Petersburg students can and will succeed when we provide engaging and relevant learning opportunities.”

Virginia Standards of Learning tests are given in reading and math for grades 3-5 and in history and science for grade 5. A.P. Hill Elementary students will not be asked to re-take the tests, and the school system expects that students will not receive score reports for any spring 2017 SOL tests, Virginia Grade Level Alternative assessments or Virginia Alternate Assessment Program assessments because the integrity of the test results cannot be determined. Because of the testing violations, A.P. Hill Elementary’s accreditation will likely be withheld by the state.

In an effort to ensure the validity of all of the school system’s accountability data, Petersburg City Public Schools administrators will review practices and processes. “I encourage all staff members to report concerns about any irregularities to my office,” said Newsome.

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July 26, 2017 • 13

Scholar crosses privilege line through community service When students from a Northside Richmond public middle school visited the University of Richmond last spring, a boy asked the four admissions panelists—all Richmond Public Schools graduates attending UR—to describe their most interesting college experience.

One panelist talked about his experience studying abroad in Morocco. Another mentioned a class trip she took to Vancouver, British Columbia.

“Volunteering as a reading assistant at Overby-Sheppard Elementary School,” said Ciana Young, (pictured) a class of 2017 graduate.

Young could have named many other experiences, such as several class trips to New York City or a spring-break service trip to Detroit with the SEEDS Project. Instead, she pointed to a one-semester servicelearning experience as a reading assistant at a Northside Richmond elementary school located only a few miles from her home in the city’s Church Hill neighborhood.

This experience stood out, she later explained, not because of what the children learned from her, but for what she learned about herself.

“I realized that although I grew up in poverty, I came from a background of privilege,” Young said. “Even when we were homeless, school was never secondary. My privilege was to have access to a quality learning environment early on, to have been taught to love learning for the sake of learning, and to have my education remain a priority for my mother.

“Although I did not change a child’s life forever by volunteering at Overby-Sheppard, I gained a new understanding of my story and my passion for education.”

Young grew up in a low-income, single-parent household. After arriving in Richmond in 2007, Young and her family lived in a homeless shelter for a year-and-a-half before eventually moving to Church Hill.

The Bonner Scholars Program drew

her to the University of Richmond, because she saw it as an opportunity to give back to her community, she said. Shortly after arriving on campus, Young and other Bonner Scholars participated in a city tour led by the Rev. Ben Campbell, one of Richmond’s preeminent historians and social-justice advocates.

“That tour shaped how I engaged in the city during my first year,” Young said. “I realized there was power in the meeting of my lives.

I wasn’t leaving my community simply by not occupying the space [in my neighborhood] anymore. My education at UR complemented my lived experience and didn’t erase it.”

In her first year, Young, who said she cares deeply about preventing child sexual abuse, chose Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) as her Bonner Scholars service site. Although SCAN’s mission resonated with her, Young described her office work as feeling “abstract” at times. She enjoyed days when she volunteered directly with the children.

Young experienced her first

community-based-learning class when she enrolled in Dr. Olivier Delers’ Reading to Live course through the Sophomore Scholars in Residence Program. She and her classmates studied how literature both reflects and informs the lived experience.

To fulfill the course’s servicelearning requirement, Young researched best practices for teaching reading to emerging readers before volunteering as a reading assistant at Overby-Sheppard, a public elementary school serving many lowincome students.

“I thought it would be simple and that I could make a difference,” Young said. “I was quickly proven wrong. The students were very dismissive of their capabilities. They would say, ‘I’m so stupid.’

“I brought a unique perspective to my volunteering because I came from the same community as many of these kids. I faced many of the same barriers and thought I could inspire them to overcome these barriers.”

By her senior year, Young, who

majored in American studies and history and minored in women, gender, and sexuality studies (WGSS), was serving as a student leader of the Bonner Scholars Program. In March, UR’s Westhampton College honored her with the 2017 Jane Stockman Award in recognition of her contributions to the Richmond community both on and off campus.

As she prepared for her May graduation and pondered a possible career in the nonprofit sector, Young reflected on her years of service as a Bonner Scholar.

“I’ve spent four years trying to reconcile what it means to cross the privilege line—going from someone who needs a lot of services to someone who provides a lot of the services,” she said.

“The Bonner Scholars Program taught me to question. And it taught me that civic duty means making investments in the communities around you, through your money, time, passion, and uncomfortableness.”

14 • July 26, 2017

The LEGACY

Pay for Success seeks to improve pediatric asthma outcomes in Richmond community In a 2015 study, the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America ranked Richmond as the secondmost challenging city in America in which to live with asthma. This year, the Richmond City Health District (RCHD) applied for, and received, a grant from the Sorenson Impact Center at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business to explore utilizing outcomes-based contracting, also known as Pay for Success, to improve the region’s capacity to address pediatric asthma.

The grant award includes up to $100,000 in cash to cover project expenses and another $250,000 in technical assistance from the Sorenson Impact Center. The grant will involve a feasibility study, stakeholder outreach, and other activities over next year.

The Sorenson Impact Center is a think-and-do-tank that marshals capital for social good, empowers

data-driven programs, breaks down silos across sectors, and equips the next generation of leaders with social purpose. “This Pay for Success feasibility program has been a cornerstone to many advantageous Pay for Success projects across the country,” said Jeremy Keele, president & CEO of the Sorenson Impact Center. “We’re delighted to offer technical assistance and capacity-building to yet another cohort of government jurisdictions and non-profits that are dedicating themselves to making a measurable difference in people’s lives,” he said.

During the year-long Richmond Pediatric Asthma Pay for Success Project, the Richmond City Health District notes that it looks forward to working with local hospitals and other medical practitioners, health insurance companies, asthma service providers, local school systems, university researchers, state and

Colds/flus are a trigger for asthma to flare into an asthma attack. local government officials, and the affected families and children to better understand the problem and develop an effective plan to address it.

Joshua Ogburn, firector of the University of Virginia Pay for Success Lab, will lead this project for the Richmond City Health District.

“The University of Virginia Pay for Success Lab is excited to partner with the Richmond City Health

District, the Sorenson Impact Center, and many other community partners on this exciting initiative. Pay for Success is a means to expand the most effective solutions to critical problems in localities across the nation,” said Ogburn. “Given the widespread nature of pediatric asthma in the Greater Richmond Region, this initiative has the potential to improve the livelihoods of thousands of children and families.”

Va. official: Time to treat opioid epidemic as a health issue WASHINGTON (WTOP) — There have been endless stories about the opioid epidemic and what needs to be done to stop it. But what if the focus has been on the wrong problem?

Phyllis Randall is a mental health substance abuse therapist, the chair of the Virginia State Board of Corrections and the Chair-at-Large on the board of supervisors for Loudoun County. She says we should be focusing on the broader picture of substance dependence.

“Twenty five (Pictured) Phyllis Randall years ago we were discussing crack cocaine.

Fifteen years ago we were discussing PCP. Ten years ago we were discussing methamphetamine, and today we’re discussing opioids,” she said.

“Although opioids is definitely the significant substance right now, if we keep talking about separate substances in a vacuum, we miss the point. We should be talking about the disease of substance dependence overall.”

She said detox programs to get people off opioids won’t stop the problem.

“Unless we have long-term treatment programs that have follow up after someone is released from the hospital or released from an incarcerated setting, we probably will not start to stem this crisis.”

Randall admits the treatment programs will not be cheap, but points out neither is incarceration.

“None of it is cheap, but it depends on where you want to put your money and when,” she said. “If you put your money in treatment and prevention, you’re going to spend a lot less money than if you put your money in jails after the fact.

“Again, this is a disease and with any disease you want to put your money and efforts in the front end and not the back end. It will be both costsaving, but it will also save lives.”

She said that you cannot jail your way out of a disease and just like heart disease or diabetes, she believes the opioid epidemic is a medical issue and we have to treat it as such.

July 26, 2017 • 15

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16 • July 26, 2017

Calendar 7.27, 6:30 p.m.

Local residents and community leaders will gather for Flood of Voices: A People’s Hearing on Climate Action. The event at Mary Pretlow Library, 111 Ocean View Ave., Norfolk, will educate the public on the Trump administration's attacks on the environment, how Virginians can fight back, and what is happening on the state and local level to fill the void left by federal inaction.

Since taking office, the Trump administration has been attacking climate policy and clearing the way for fossil fuel companies to fully control our democracy and our economy. During the last six months, the administration has delivered a constant barrage of attempts via executive orders and regulatory rollbacks aimed at destroying protections for clean air, clean water, and public health.

Cities and states across the country are standing up, speaking out, and setting goals for reducing carbon emissions. At the People’s Hearing, community members will have the opportunity to hear from experts and ask questions about how to take action in their communities.

There will also be a designated space for people to share public testimony of how they have been impacted by climate change or helped by Environmental Protection Agency safeguards, as well as why they think it is important to speak up and take action.

For more information, visit the website www.sierraclub.org/virginia

Submit your calendar events by email to: editor@legacynewspaper.com.

Include who, what, where, when & contact information that can be printed.

Submission deadline is Friday.

The LEGACY

COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES & EVENTS

8.3, 6:30 p.m.

The Henrico County Planning Department will hold a community workshop for residents and other members of the public to provide input for a study of the Route 5 corridor and Marion Hill areas.

The workshop will be held at John Rolfe Middle School, 6901 Messer Rd. Community members are invited to share their ideas for strategies, goals and objectives to enhance and protect the character of the Route 5 corridor and Marion Hill areas.

The workshop will begin with a presentation on the draft Route 5 Corridor/Marion Hill Study document and be followed by breakout discussions on the areas’ challenges and opportunities.

Route 5 is a state-maintained road that extends about 14 miles through the Varina District. Development along the road has historically been rural in character, but it also has included suburban-style singlefamily developments mixed among small farms and homes built on large lots. Marion Hill is a neighborhood along Route 5 that features singlefamily homes built around World War II in a variety of architectural styles and arranged in a grid pattern.

The Route 5 Corridor/Marion Hill study will evaluate the character of both areas and make recommendations to guide the county’s review of development proposals while also respecting the agricultural, residential and commercial development present along the corridor.

For more information on the study, contact Rosemary Deemer at 804501-4488 or dee12@henrico.us.

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8.4, 8 a.m.

The 2nd Annual RVA Breastfeeding Symposium will take place at the Virginia Historical Society, 428 N. Boulevard, Richmond. The focus of this year’s symposium is “First Food: The Intersection of Health, Race, Policy and Practice”.

The morning session of this daylong event will bring together citizens, policymakers, health care and social service providers, and community advocates to examine the structural and cultural barriers that undermine women’s ability to reach their breastfeeding goals, and explore the connection between infant feeding and food access issues. The afternoon session is a workgroup reserved for area health and social service providers who come into contact with pregnant and postpartum families.

The keynote speaker will be Kimberly Seals Allers, an awardwinning journalist, author and nationally recognized advocate for breastfeeding and infant health who is the project director for The First Food Friendly Community Initiative (3FCI), a W.K. Kellogg-funded pilot project in Detroit and Philadelphia to create a national accreditation process for breastfeeding-friendly communities. Elizabeth Gray Bayne, who holds a Masters of Public Health from Yale University and an MFA in film from the Art Center College of Design, will present excerpts from Chocolate Milk, her documentary exploring African-American women’s experiences with breastfeeding.

This event is free and open to the public; however pre-registration is required and is online registration at http://bit.ly/2sRIFix.

8.5, 1;30 p.m.

GRTC is nearing the end of the route refinement process, continuing to make adjustments in response to public input on bus routes and stop locations.

Public information meetings will be held to update the community on new bus routes. Meeting content is identical, so please attend the meeting most convenient for your schedule. · Saturday, Aug. 5: Noon-1:30PM, Richmond Public Library Main, Gellman Room, 101 E Franklin St, Richmond, VA 23219 · Tuesday, Aug. 8: 6:00PM-7:30PM, Powhatan Community Center, 5051 Northampton St, Richmond, VA 23231 · Wednesday, Aug. 9: 6:00PM7:30PM, Southside Community Services Center, 4100 Hull Street Rd, Richmond, VA 23224 · Thursday, Aug. 10: 6:00PM7:30PM, DMV W Broad St., 2300 W Broad St, Richmond, VA 23269 · Friday, Aug. 11: 12:30PM-2PM, Sarah Garland Jones Center, 1500 N 28th St, Richmond, VA 23223

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GRTC partners with a “pioneering mobility” paratransit company GRTC’s Board of Directors recently voted at their monthly business meeting to award a contract to UZURV to deliver CARE OnDemand service for one pilot year.

Beginning Aug. 1, 2017, CARE customers can benefit from this precedent-setting pilot program with greater flexibility in meeting their mobility needs.

All CARE customers are eligible for CARE On-Demand (C-VAN customers are not eligible). The benefits of this unique partnership to customers include: direct, non-stop service; requesting a trip for sameday service; flexibility to schedule a reservation up to 30 days in advance; freedom to ride solo; ability to bring guests, a Personal Care Assistant (PCA), or a service animal; ability to travel anywhere within the GRTC CARE service area; and the option to request favorite driver(s).

“We know this partnership with GRTC Transit System will help us both find solutions to make this pilot paratransit service work here in RVA and set the precedent for other transit agencies across the country.

UZURV knows the need for an ondemand travel reservation system,” said UZURV founder, Matt Donlon.

Initially during this pilot, a limited number of CARE On-Demand trips will be offered Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

More trips and potentially extended service hours will be offered over time as the pilot program grows.

The cost for a CARE On-Demand ride is $6. GRTC will pay for up to an additional $15 of the cost of the ride. Any additional cost will be the customer’s responsibility, and the customer will know in advance what the total cost will be of their trip.

CARE On-Demand customers may begin making reservations through UZURV on Aug.1 by calling the UZURV Call Center at 804-499-3400.

UZURV is currently developing an app update to also enable CARE On-Demand reservations on smart devices; this additional reservation option will be available at a later date during the pilot.

When making a reservation, the

customer receives a description of their assigned driver, vehicle, and the type of Transportation Network Company (TNC) picking them up. Customers may also request specific amenities or special accommodations, such as low-entry vehicles or trunk space for personal items. UZURV assigns a pick-up time for the customer – a “window” consisting of no earlier than 15 minutes before or 15 minutes after the scheduled pick-up time. It is UZURV’s standard practice to arrive on time for a scheduled pick-up. If a trip is scheduled more than a day in advance, customers will receive a reminder call the day before the reservation.

Customers requiring mobility device space or special assistance are accommodated to ADA guidelines.

CARE On-Demand is origin-todestination service, including curbto-curb and door-to-door. Drivers registered with UZURV meet GRTC’s training and customer service expectations.

“Both GRTC and UZURV share a mutual commitment to providing safe, effective, efficient and customerfriendly service,” said GRTC’s CEO David Green. “This partnership is

also a ‘smart-city’ solution propelling Greater RVA to the forefront of mobility solutions. We look forward to hearing from CARE customers about their experiences with the pilot program and welcome their input to help us improve it and respond to the needs of the communities we serve.”

The transit system’s board of directors voted last spring to end paratransit contract with MV Contract Transportation Inc. seven

months before expiration because of what spokeswoman Carrie Rose called an “unacceptable” lack of consistency, including late pickups and no-shows.

The company then named First Transit to temporarily provide specialized transportation from April 30 through Nov. 30, 2017 The new service cost GRTC about $975,000 for the one-year pilot.

The LEGACY

18 • July 26, 2017

Classifieds

LEGAL, EMPLOYMENT, ANNOUNCEMENTS, FOR SALE, SERVICES

Serving Richmond & Hampton Roads 409 E. Main St. #4 (mailing) • 105 1/2 E. Clay St. (office) Richmond, VA 23219 804-644-1550 (office) • 800-783-8062 (fax) ads@legacynewspaper.com

Ad Size: 4 inches (2 column(s) X 2 inches) 1 Issue (July 26) - $36

IFB#17-6810-7 Asphalt and Related Repair Services IFB#17-6811-7 Snow Removal Services IFB#17-6812-7 Janitorial/Lamps and Miscellaneous Supplies To obtain a copy of the solicitations, please visit: http://www.rvaschools.net/Domain/831

Rate: $9 per column inch

Includes Internet placement Please review the proof, make any needed changes and return by fax or e-mail.

If your response is not received by deadline, your ad may not be inserted.

Ok X_________________________________________ Ok with changes X _____________________________ REMINDER: Deadline is Fridays @ 5 p.m.

PRINT & DIGITAL AD SALES EXECUTIVE

The School Board of the City of Richmond, Virginia is seeking vendors to provide the following services:

The LEGACY is looking for a reliable, highly-motivated, goal-driven sales professional to join our team selling print and digital advertising in the Richmond and Hampton Roads areas.

Duties include: Building and maintaining relationships with new/existing clients Meeting and exceeding monthly sales goals Cold calling new prospects over the phone to promote print and online advertising space

Qualifications: Proven experience with print (newspaper) and/or digital (website) advertising sales; Phone and one-on-one sales experience; Effective verbal and written communication skills, professional image and; Familiarity with Richmond and/or Hampton Roads areas.

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Compensation depends on experience and includes a base pay as well as commission.

The LEGACY is an African-Americanoriented weekly newspaper, circulation 25,000, with a website featuring local and national news and advertising.

E-mail resume and letter of interest to ads@ legacynewspaper.com detailing your past sales experience. No phone calls please.

July 26, 2017 • 19

www.LEGACYnewspaper.com

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156-0721 HAMPTON SOLICITATION The Director of Finance or his designated representative will accept written responses in the Procurement Office 1 Franklin Street, 3rd floor, Suite 345, Hampton, VA on behalf of the Entity listed below until the date and local time specified.

CITY OF HAMPTON

HELP WANTED

TRACTOR TECHNICIAN REEFER TECHNICIAN Marten Transport, Ltd., is in search of experienced technicians at our Colonial Heights location. Competitive pay based on exp. & full benefits including: Medical/ Dental/Vision Ins. + 401(K) Paid Vacation & holidays Apply online today: www.marten.com EEOE functioning under an AAP

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HAMPTON CITY Tuesday, August 15, 2017 1:30 PM ET –ITB 18-7/CLP Industrial Fastener Annual Needs Contract For the Hampton/NASA Steam Plant Thursday, August 22, 2017 2:00 p.m. ET – ITB 2018-04TM Bait and Tackle.

Tuesday, September 12, 2017 3:00 p.m. ET ITB 18-5/CLP Mercury Boulevard Improvements – Segment II. City Project No: 14-011. VDOT Project No: 0258-114-R66, P101, R201, M501 (UPC 104368) This is a state funded project with an MBE goal of 4.34% and WBE goal of 3.82%.

A combined Mandatory Pre-Bid Meeting will be held for both ITB 18-5/ CLP and ITB 18-6/CLP on Tuesday, August 8, 2017 at 3:00 p.m. ET in the Public Works Conference Room, 22 Lincoln Street, 4th Floor, Hampton, VA 23669. For additional information, see our web page at http://www.hampton.gov/bids-contracts.

HAMPTON CITY Tuesday, September 12, 2017 East Pembroke Avenue 2:30 p.m. ETITB ITB 18-6/CLP Improvements Segment III. City Project No: 12-027. VDOT Project No: 0351-114-R35, P101, R201, M501 (UPC 102953).

This is a state funded project with an MBE goal of 4.34% and WBE goal of 3.82%.

A combined Mandatory Pre-Bid Meeting will be held for both ITB 18-6/ CLP and ITB 18-5/CLP on Tuesday, August 8, 2017 at 3:00 p.m. ET in the Public Works Conference Room, 22 Lincoln Street, 4th Floor, Hampton, VA 23669. For additional information, see our web page at http://www.hampton.gov/bids-contracts.

For additional information, see our web page at http://www.hampton.gov/bids-contracts

Place your “For sale”, “Wanted”, and “Service”... ads here.

A withdrawal of bid due to error shall be in accordance with Section 2.24330 of the Code of Virginia. All forms relating to these solicitations may be obtained from the above listed address or for further information call; (757) 727-2200. The right is reserved to reject any and all responses, to make awards in whole or in part, and to waive any informality in submittals.

Call 804-644-1550

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