12.7.22 NPC

by Rob Taylor Jr. Courier Staff Writer

In talking about the gun vio lence in Pittsburgh, there are some who counter with, “At least it’s not Chicago,” or, “At least it’s not Philadelphia,” where homi cide totals greatly outnumber those in Pittsburgh.

But try telling that to the fam ilies and friends of the 69 peo ple who have been killed inside Pittsburgh city limits this year, or the families of the additional 45 or so homicide victims in Al legheny County.

Tell that to the thousands and thousands of families whose lives have been forever altered, forever changed, forever marred by senseless gun violence in our region over the years.

The countless vigils, the bal loon releases, the calls for the violence to end; so what if this isn’t Chicago, or Philly, or De troit. Gun violence is gun vio lence, no matter the city, and every public official, every fami ly member ever affected by it in Pittsburgh is calling, pleading, screaming from the top of their lungs for it to stop.

The latest death, reported by KDKA-TV on Tuesday after noon, Dec. 6—the passing away

of Temani Lewis, the mother of 4-year-old Kaari Thompson.

On Thursday, Dec. 1, Lewis and Thompson were both shot as a hail of bullets rang out at the corner of Lincoln and Leming ton avenues around 6:40 p.m. Thompson, the 4-year-old, died that night. Lewis, fought for her life until her family announced she had passed a few days later.

As of Tuesday evening, Dec. 6, no one has been arrested in their murders.

On Sunday, Dec. 4, a bal loon release vigil was held for Thompson, at the same cor ner where she was shot. With a heavy police presence, about 100 people came out to honor the little girl’s life.

“She was like my second daughter,” said her aunt, Heath er Thompson. “She was born a year before I had my daughter, and ever since she was born it was like, I loved her to death. I would steal her from her mom all the time.”

Heather Thompson continued: “She was the sweetest little girl, she always came up to you, she tells you she misses you, she loves you...her and my daugh

by Rob Taylor Jr.

Courier Staff Writer

Pittsburgh’s mayor, Ed Gainey, has had enough with the gun violence.

He shed the dress shirt, tie and sportcoat for a hoodie, jacket, jeans and Steeler hat and spoke can didly to the crowd assem bled for Kaari Thompson’s vigil. Thompson, 4, was shot and killed at the cor ner of Lincoln and Lem ington avenues on Dec. 1. Her mother, Temani Lew is, died days later.

Since Gainey became mayor, there have been 69 homicides in the city. Some have made national headlines, like the shoot ing outside a North Side gas station that claimed the lives of three, includ ing two mothers who were innocent bystanders.

Mayor Gainey didn’t

come from Squirrel Hill, or Shadyside, or the sub urbs. He grew up in East Liberty, graduated from Peabody High School, served as a state repre sentative for Homewood, Lincoln-Lemington, East Liberty, Larimer and oth er majority-Black areas, and now is the first Black mayor of Pittsburgh. He said he doesn’t have to su garcoat anything, because, unlike other Pittsburgh mayors, “I’m from the oth er side of the tracks, so I can have this conversa tion. You can like it or love it, because it’s the truth.”

Mayor Gainey is angry at what some parents are showing their children, as far as how to act in society.

“We’re on Facebook, beefing with one another, talking noise on one anoth

4-YEAR-OLD KAARI THOMPSON was killed in a shooting near Lincoln and Lemington avenues, Dec. 1. Her mother, Temani Lewis, was also shot, and died a few days later.

This

by Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior Natio nal Correspondent

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Monday, Dec. 5, it would extend for two years the REAL ID full enforce ment, from May 3, 2023, to May 7, 2025.

Officials deemed it im portant to allow states additional time to en sure residents have driver’s licenses and identification cards that meet the security stan dards established by the REAL ID Act.

As required by the law, following the enforce ment deadline, federal agencies, including the Transportation Security Administration (TSA),

will be prohibited from accepting driver’s li censes and identifica tion cards that do not meet these federal stan dards.

“DHS continues to work closely with U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories to meet REAL ID requirements,” Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas, said in a news release.

“This extension will give states needed time to ensure their residents can obtain a REAL ID-compliant li cense or identification card,” Mayorkas, 63, continued.

“DHS will also use this time to implement in novations to make the

process more efficient and accessible. We will continue to ensure that the American public can travel safely.”

According to DHS, the extension is necessary, in part, to address the lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the ability to obtain a REAL ID driver’s li cense or identification card.

REAL ID progress over the past two years has been “significantly hin dered by state driver’s licensing agencies hav ing to work through the backlogs created by the pandemic,” DHS offi cials wrote in the news release.

For more information on REAL ID, visit www. dhs.gov/real-id.

DECEMBER 7

In Black History A

1931—Comer Cottrell is born. Cottrell founds the Pro-Line hair care products company. He also becomes the first Black to own part of a professional baseball team when he buys into the Texas Rangers in 1989.

1941—Dorie Miller shoots down three or four Japanese war planes during the surprise Jap anese attack on Pearl Harbor. Miller was a kitchen worker on the USS Arizona who had learned to operate the ship’s weapons. After his death he was awarded the Navy Cross.

DECEMBER 8

1850—Lucy Ann Stanton grad uates from Oberlin College in Ohio. She is believed to be the first Black female college gradu ate in America.

1936— The Gibbs v. Board of Education in Montgomery Coun ty, Md., decision is rendered. It was the first of a series of court rulings, which eliminated the practice of paying White teachers more than Black teachers.

DECEMBER 9

1872—P.B.S. Pinchback begins serving as the first Black gover nor of Louisiana. He served for a little more than a month. Pinch back, son of a White plantation owner and a former Macon, Ga., slave, was a major force in Lou isiana politics after the civil war and during Reconstruction. He was also instrumental in the 1879 establishment of Southern Univer sity.

1875—Carter G. Woodson is born in New Canton, Va. In 1926, Woodson started the first Negro History Week which grew to be come Black History Month.

DECEMBER 10

1846—Norbert Rillieux invents the “multiple effect pan evapo rator” which revolutionizes the sugar industry and makes the work much less hazardous for the workers. Rillieux was born “qua droon libre” in New Orleans, La. His father was a wealthy French plantation owner and his mother a former slave. He was sent to Paris, France, to be educated in engineering. He also researched Egyptian hieroglyphics. There is no record that he ever returned to the U.S. after the 1850s. He died in Paris in 1894.

1854—Edwin C. Berry is born in Oberlin, Ohio. In Athens, Ohio, he co-founds the City Restaurant and builds the Hotel Berry which was to become one of the most ele gant hotels in the entire state. By the time he retired in 1921, he was one of the most successful Black businessmen in America. He dies in 1931.

1950—Ralph Bunche becomes the first African American award ed the Nobel Peace Prize. Bunch was born in Detroit, Mich. But his family moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and then Los Ange les, Calif., where he showed ac ademic genius and won a schol arship to Harvard. His fame came when he worked out a temporary settlement between the Palestin ians and the Jews after the state of Israel was established in 1948 on Palestinian lands. It was that work which won him the Nobel Peace Prize.

DECEMBER 11

1917— Thirteen Black soldiers were hanged for their participa tion in the so-called Houston riot. The “riot” had occurred in August of 1917 when Whites objected to the presence of Black soldiers in the city. Racist insults and mis treatment began. Then a Black soldier intervenes in the arrest of a Black woman. A Black corporal inquires with the police about the arrest of the soldier. A fight breaks out between the corporal and the police. A rumor spreads that a White mob was marching on the Black camp. Roughly 100 Black soldiers grabbed rifles and marched onto downtown Hous ton. Within two hours they had killed 15 Whites including four police officers. They returned to camp but military officials pres sured seven soldiers to snitch on the others. Their snitching result ed in the convictions and hang

Staple

ings of 13 Black soldiers.

1917— The Great Jazz Migration begins when noted musician Joe “King” Oliver leaves New Orle ans, La., and settles in Chicago, Ill. He is soon joined by other early Jazz greats. Their presence in Chicago laid the foundation for the Southern Black music genre (with heavy sexual overtones) to become a national obsession. Actually, the “migration” may not have been quite so romantic. Instead of being forced by the closing of the New Orleans Sto ryville district, Jazz greats proba bly left New Orleans for Chicago for the same reason other Blacks left the South—failing crops forced the disappearance of jobs while Northern factories recruited Blacks for work to produce arms and other goods for World War I. Nevertheless, many historians view Oliver’s relocation to Chi cago as the start of New Orleans Jazz migrating to the rest of the nation.

DECEMBER 12

1911—Josh Gibson , legend of the Negro Baseball League, is born in Buena Vista, Ga. Standing 6’2” and weighing between 205 and 215, Gibson was a near per fect physical specimen who be came the league’s home run king. He is credited with up to 932 home runs and a lifetime batting average of more than .350. The only Negro League baseball play er better known than Gibson was the great pitcher Satchel Paige. The tremendous talent of the Ne gro League players was summed up by Washington Post sports writer Shirley Povich in a 1941 column, “The only thing keeping them out of the big leagues is the pigmentation of their skin.”

1941— Three-time Grammy win ning singer Dionne Warwick is born on this day. She is a wom an of many accomplishments including leading Hollywood’s anti-AIDS campaign and having her own skin care line. Her career was tainted a bit by her latter day association with the so-called Psychic Friends Network.

1963— The east African nation of Kenya is proclaimed inde pendent from colonial rule. The first president is the charismatic Jomo Kenyatta. Despite many of the same problems which beset most other African nations, Ken ya has remained one of the most politically stable countries on the continent. This is despite its beginnings which saw the brutal British repression of the Mau Mau movement–a secret insurgency of Kikuyu tribesmen, which had risen up to, drive out the White settlers.

DECEMBER 13

1903— Another one of the great unsung heroines of the Civil Rights Movement Ella Baker is born in Norfolk, Va. She direct ed the New York branch of the NAACP; became executive di rector of the Martin Luther King Jr. founded Southern Christian Leadership Conference during the turbulent 1960s; and played a key role in the founding of the “Black Power” oriented Student Nonviolent Coordinating Commit tee. In addition, she was a mentor to Rosa Parks and helped to lead the Mississippi voter registration drive. She frequently found her self as the only woman in the usu ally all male leadership structure of civil rights organizations and often had to battle sexism. Even more than Rosa Parks, Baker de serves to be called the “mother of the civil rights movement.” Baker, a teacher, mentor and organizer, died in 1986 on her 83rd birthday.

1913—Archie Moore is born Ar chibald Lee White in Benoit, Miss. He becomes light heavyweight champion in 1952.

1981— Old-style Black comedi an Dewey “Pigmeat” Markham dies. His standup comedy routine was a major attraction at many Black-oriented events and shows during the 1950s and 1960s. He also achieved some national fame among Whites with his “here comes the judge” routine on the 1970s TV series “Laugh In.”

IS NOTHING SACRED ANYMORE?

Community outraged over brazen killings

Heather Thompson’s father said at the vigil that Kaari Thompson “was the most beautiful, adorable 4-year-old that any grandparent could want, she was just the light for everyone. She always wanted to give out hugs. Her nickname was Baby Shark.”

He added: “In four years, she gave me more joy than most people can get in 40 years, and I’m going to miss her a lot.”

Reverend Cornell Jones, the City of Pitts burgh’s Group Violence Intervention coordina tor, spoke at the vig il. He said that there’s

less than three percent of the people who are committing the crimes. “They want you to think that the people that are terrorizing are the ones in power,” he said. “The power is with the peo ple, the power is with these young people, with these pastors. There’s a free-for-all (in the Black community) because we’re not unified. When we come together, when we use the gifts and tal ents that God has given us, the transformation happens. I’m tired of going to funerals, tired of seeing our babies dy ing...it’s time to rise up.” Kaari Thompson’s ho micide was the 67th in

FOREVER KAARI—Pictured are Kirsten Thompson, Heather Thompson, Tyler Thompson. (Photos by Courier photographer J.L. Martello)

THOMPSON FROM A1

SEE THOMPSON A5

ter, they were best friends, they were insep arable.”

Pittsburgh in 2022. An unidentified man who was shot multiple times in Spring Hill in the ear ly morning hours of Dec. 6 was Pittsburgh’s 68th homicide. Lewis marks the 69th homicide. The 69 homicides is by far the most Pittsburgh has seen since there were 70 in 2014.

And on Monday, Dec. 5, a 16-year-old girl was shot in front of the Frankstown Laun dromat, in Homewood,

allegedly because she had gotten into a fight with another girl. That girl’s brothers allegedly came to the laundromat around 3 p.m. and shot the girl, according to Pittsburgh Police. That 16-year-old girl is in critical condition, as of Tuesday, Dec. 6.

It seems as though no one is off limits these days when it comes to gun violence in Pitts burgh’s Black communi ties. At one time, there would almost never be a shooting of a child, or a

woman, or especially at a church, such as in the shooting outside Desti ny of Faith Ministries in Brighton Heights, Oct. 28, during a funeral ser vice.

Pittsburgh’s mayor, Ed Gainey, was asked about this shoot-em-up cul ture that’s permeating the Black community, during his news confer ence on Friday, Dec. 2.

“During the pandemic, a plethora of guns were purchased all through out America, but partic ularly in Pennsylvania,”

he responded. “We got a whole lot of guns in our streets and no one wants to talk about it, but that’s reality. Be cause if a kid can get a gun like they can get potato chips, then we understand what the end result is going to be. We also have a situation where we have to con tinue to stand up and speak out. Our children didn’t create this cul ture. They’re too young to create a culture of violence. The culture of violence had to be es tablished by the previ ous generation, mean ing ours. All they did was inherit what we left them.”

KWALIN BARBER mourns the loss of Kaari Thompson. (Photos by J.L. Martello)

CARLOS T. CARTER

Navigating loss and grief

The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately impacted our Black communities re sulting in the loss of many of our friends and family members. In response, this month’s health page focuses on ways to care for ourselves and one another as we navi gate loss and grief.

What is grief and how does impact us?

Grief is the sense of sorrow most profoundly caused by death. However, individuals can also experience grief from separation or any form of loss.

In the case of someone’s death, grief is particularly challenging as there is final ity to the separation.

Grief impacts us in many ways and, when it’s not ad dressed in a healthy way, it can lead to depression, sor row, and sickness.

Grief can be especially dif ficult around the holidays, as we are accustomed to our loved ones being a part of our traditions. When they’re no longer with us, it can be dev astating.

How have you personally managed grief?

This month’s health page provides seven ways to take care of yourself during grief. For me personally, taking care of my health, and leveraging my faith community are two things that stood out to me.

When I have experienced loss in my life, I find that ex ercising, prayer and relying on my faith and friends have been things that have helped me the most.

When I lost my job, my fa ther — and faced other dis appointments in my life — I found these things helped me to persevere. Losing someone is never easy, but you must find a way to put one foot in front of the other.

Finally, practicing gratitude has helped me immensely. Learning to count my bless ings and being thankful for the smallest things have brought me joy in difficult times.

What are ways in which you would like to see us coming together to support each other in healing and recovery?

In the Black community, there has been a lot of grief associated with the isola tion and the large number of COVID-19- related deaths. This underscores the need to support each other. We need to be intentional in our efforts, including reaching out to our family, friends, and neighbors any way we can. We need to provide support and let peo ple know they’re not alone.

Our “it’s-all-about-me” cul ture is dangerous. We must check on the well-being of others and be quick to listen to and support people in our community. There is nothing better than someone who pro vides a listening ear and per forms small acts of kindness to someone who’s experienc ing grief or loss in their lives.

I challenge everyone to be the change they want to see in the world. One person can always make a difference by showing love to someone in their community.

If you are the one experi encing loss, know that it’s ok to not be ok. Lean on your friends, family, and faith com munity. You are loved and we’ll help you get through this.

Carlos T. Carter is President and CEO of Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh

Grieving as a form of love

Pitt’s WELL Study hopes to find out if daily healthy behaviors and coaching can help grieving spouses avoid depression and oth er health risks

Christmas and Kwanzaa are almost here and most of us are feeling festive –but certainly not if we’ve lost our spouse or partner.

“It’s difficult to feel like celebrating when one of the most important people in your life – maybe the most important person — is gone,” says Dr. Sarah T. Stahl, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Clinical and Translational Science at the University of Pitts burgh.

Holidays, anniversaries, and birthdays are hard, especially during the first year of a spouse’s death.

During that time of ex treme adjustment and stress, the grieving part ner is at high risk for developing major depres sive disorder. This dis order may contribute to Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia (Source: PLOS Medicine). The stress can also lead to other chronic diseases and even an early death.

Why does this happen?

One answer may have to do with the fact that the stress of losing a spouse/ partner affects a person’s quality of sleep.

Using bloodwork and questionnaires completed by grieving spouses, re searchers have found that these individuals experi

ence serious sleep disrup tions. These disruptions are linked to higher levels of bodily inflammation, which is associated with cancer, diabetes, heart attack, stroke, and more (Source: Rice University).

The disruptions also im pact circadian rhythms, or your body’s internal biological clock. The clock consists of a 24-hour sleep/wake cycle. When it’s disrupted, you can suf fer from chronic health problems like diabetes, cognitive decline, and de pression.

“The difference is that people in the WELL group receive weekly motivational phone calls and feedback from health coaches. They’re also asked to record their daily sleep, movement, and eat ing behaviors on their own tablet or PC,” she adds.

That difference is what Dr. Stahl and her team hope will help partici pants deal with stress in a way that prevents clinical depression:

“Our thought is that weekly interactions with a trained healthcare provid er, as well as being mindful about daily routines, will make a positive difference in people’s grief journeys,” she states. “We’re predict ing that these additional tools will help a grieving person better adapt to the loss. It will hopefully make them more likely to live life on their own and to the fullest.”

DR. SARAH STAHL

A good way to deal with the intense loss of a spouse/partner is to estab lish new self-care routines quickly. That’s why WELL participants are encour aged to get regular sleep — including going to bed and getting up each day at roughly the same times. They’re also encouraged to eat healthy meals at standard times and do some physical activity, such as walking.

This daily regularity helps the body to establish a good circadian rhythm, which can lead to better health outcomes, especial ly for the immune system.

“In addition to captur ing some of the WELL participants’ behavioral information on activity watches, we ask them to enter that information into a daily online diary,” says Dr. Stahl. “We con vert what they enter into graphics that affirm their good habits visually.”

Also affirming for the WELL group are the weekly phone calls and feedback from health coaches. The coaches en courage participants to

choose their own health goals and come up with ways to meet them.

“We’re hopeful that if a participant sets a goal and takes steps to reach that goal — especially with someone who’s supportive — they’ll be more likely to fulfill the goal and set an other,” notes Dr. Stahl.

Though the WELL Study is ongoing, Dr. Stahl and her team are already — cautiously — noting ev idence of healthy behavior.

“We have participants who, after only two months, are saying that the recording of daily ac tivity is becoming mun dane,” she says laughingly.

“That’s a good sign! It says to us that they’re begin ning to go through the mo tions so well, the healthy behaviors of rest, food, and activity are becoming rou tine.”

Other things Dr. Stahl and her team are noting as they study spousal grieving are less measur able and more insightful.

“We continue to observe that grieving for a spouse is a highly personal jour ney,” Dr. Stahl explains.

“It’s different for everyone and there’s no right way to grieve. While many people want to know when they’ll be ‘better’ or ‘finished’ with their grief, that doesn’t seem to happen.”

Instead, what does hap pen is that as time passes, grief begins to look less like pain and stress and more like love. “Grieving

seems to be, for many of the surviving spouses we’re studying, the final way they express their deep love for the person they’ve lost.”

To try and lessen this stress, Dr. Stahl and her team of researchers are conducting the Widowed Elders Lifestyle after Loss (WELL) Study at Pitt. WELL’s purpose is to learn about older adults’ health behaviors and mood as they grieve during the first year of loss.

The ongoing study lasts 15 months for each par ticipant, but it’s most in tensive during the first 3 months.

“The study features sev en virtual visits on Zoom or by phone,” explains Dr. Stahl. “Participants must be over 60, bereaved with in the last year, have ac cess to a phone, and have a mild level of depres sive symptoms. If they meet these requirements, they’re randomly placed into one of two study groups: A WELL interven tion group or a usual care (control) group.”

According to Dr. Stahl, both groups receive writ ten information about healthy lifestyle practic es. They also occasional ly wear activity watches that monitor sleep and daytime activity, answer questionnaires, and com plete interviews.

7 ways to take good care of yourself while you grieve the death of a spouse

Many people who’ve ex perienced grief may sug gest that you “keep busy” to distract you from the devastation of losing your spouse/partner. Keeping busy can help, especially as you take care of details immediately after the death – and while family and friends are available to help you.

However, a day will come when you must face this life-changing event and be gin to create a new life for yourself — hopefully one that’s healthy and mean ingful.

As you grieve, please con sider these ideas from the University of Pittsburgh’s WELL Study group and the National Institute on Aging:

Take care of your health Grief can be hard on

your mental and physical health. To minimize grief’s impact, exercise regularly, eat healthy food, and get plenty of sleep. Bad hab its, such as smoking and drinking too much alcohol can put your health at risk, so avoid them. Consider going to grief counseling or seeing a therapist if you’re feeling hopeless or isolated by your grief.

Through its WELL Study, Pitt offers a Participant Resource Guide, which provides contact infor mation for mental health sources, grief and bereave ment support, activity re sources, and more. Down load a copy by logging on to pittwellstudy.com. At the top of the page, click first on “Resources” and then “Download full Participant Resource Guide.”

Eat right. Some widowed people lose interest in cooking and eating. To get good nutrition, have lunch with friends. If you’re eating at home alone and it’s too qui et, turn on the radio or TV during meals.

For information about nutrition and/or making meals for one person, visit your local library or search online. For example, log on to YouTube and search for “meals for one person” vid eos.

Spend time with caring family and friends.

Let family and friends know when you want to talk about your spouse/ partner. They may be grieving, too, and may welcome the chance to re member with you. When possible, accept their offers

of help and company. Spend time alone, too.

Don’t feel obligated to ac cept every invitation. It’s okay to spend time alone if it’s not isolating.

Visit with members of your religious community.

Many grieving people find comfort in their reli gion. Praying, talking with others of your faith, read ing religious or spiritual texts, or singing/listening to meaningful music may also be helpful. See your doctor.

Keep up with visits to your healthcare provider. If it’s been a while, schedule a physical. If you’re comfort able, tell your doctor about your spouse’s death. In form the doctor about any pre-existing and/or new health conditions. Let your

provider know if you’re having trouble taking care of your everyday activities, like getting dressed or fix ing meals.

Be mindful of special events.

Birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays can be diffi cult when you’re grieving, so prepare ahead of time. Decide which activities you’d like to attend and decline others. Be aware of what you can handle emo tionally.

Some people choose to create a new tradition, such as setting a place at the table for their spouse/ partner on Thanksgiving or asking their grand children to create a new Christmas ornament in their spouse/partner’s hon or.

UPMC offers resources to help spouses mourn in a healthy way

For more than 40 years, UPMC Family Hospice has provided compassion ate and expert end-of-life care to patients and their families.

The hospice team’s focus is to provide the highest possible quality of life as they honor the patient’s goals and values and support caregivers. Lan guage translation ser vices are part of the care along with a profound respect for cultural needs.

To help with the grief of losing a loved one, UPMC Hospice offers bereave ment resources for fami lies and caregivers of peo ple who have died while they were a UPMC Fami ly Hospice patient.

The resources include mailings, volunteer out reach, and individual counseling for 13 months after the loss.

Bereavement Sup port Groups UPMC also provides bereavement support groups that are free, open to everyone, and take place in locations in Pennsylvania and Cum berland, Maryland.

These support groups help people who’ve lost a loved one share their feel ings with others who’ve also experienced a loss. They’re led by counselors who have lived experi ence with loss and griev ing.

If you’re interested in

learning more about — or attending — a local group, please contact your local UPMC hospice provider. You can also call 1.800.513.2148.

Coping with Grief at the Holidays

The holiday season can be especially hard for peo ple who are grieving. The Coping with Grief at the Holidays video/podcast can help guide people through the process of managing their sadness during this difficult time of the year.

Growing Through Grief

Growing Through Grief is a six-week educational and support program led by bereavement counsel

ors with lived experience. These caring people cre ate a safe and support ive place where grieving people can explore their loss and deal with it in a healthy way.

The program is free and open to adults aged 18 and older. It’s designed for people who are in the first year of their grief journey, but others are welcome.

Sessions are offered throughout the year in several locations. Reg istration is required. Learn more by calling 412.572.8829.

Cooking for One The Cooking for One group focuses on the pro cess of adjusting to meals after the death of a loved

one. That includes the amount of food that’s pre pared and the mindset of getting used to cooking as a single person.

The program consists of four, 2-hour sessions that are typically held at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens.

In each session, partic ipants will prepare and share meals together under the guidance of a trained member of the Family Hospice bereave ment department. All materials are pro vided free of charge. Registration is required by calling 412.572.8829 — and will begin for the next session in Spring 2023.

It’s more than a comedy show— it’s about saving lives

by Rob Taylor Jr. Courier Staff Writer

Before anyone gets a chance to laugh their tail off at the “It’s the Show Before Christmas” comedy show on Dec. 16 and 17, they’ll find something in their seats that is no laughing mat ter.

A survey will be pro vided to each person who attends either 7:30 p.m. show, and the sur vey will give people a chance to be partnered with a mentor who can help them with their mental health struggles.

It’s a good chance that some attendees will seek the help. In the Af rican American commu nity, it’s becoming more acceptable for people to admit that they are going through mental pain and anguish, and to ask for help. But for decades, it wasn’t that

tion which provides mental health counsel ing services, and part of the proceeds from his shows will go towards

the cost for counseling services for those who may not have the money.

“There’s a popular saying, ‘What goes on

in my house stays in my house,’” Rocky more told the Courier. “Meanwhile, someone’s screaming for help and

no one is paying atten tion to it...We are turn ing this into an opportu nity to do some good.” (Editor’s note: For more

information on becoming a mental health mentor or questions about the comedy show, call 412-378-8271.)

way.

“I call it the silent scream,” said Leon Roc kymore, CEO of Roxam ore Records & Films Inc. His company is putting on the comedy show at Rocks Landing, 506 Chartiers Ave., McKees Rocks.

That’s why Rockymore said people will be able to fill out the survey and place it in a sealed box, with no one else in the audience knowing what was placed on the paper. Rockymore said he ex pects people will ask for help for themselves, or possibly a family mem ber. Others may want to become mentors.

Mental health hits home for Rockymore. His biological brother, Jamal Hardy, known as Molly, effectively com mitted suicide through an overdose, Rockymore said. And Rockymore’s brother in law, Rahiim Etheridge, also commit ted suicide.

“They were both strug gling mentally, lost their way and found their own exit on their terms,” Rockymore told the New Pittsburgh Courier.

But maybe, just maybe, comedy can be a way for people to find a sense of happiness, a diver sion from the everyday norm. The comedy show will feature A.G. White, who has been featured on Diddy’s Bad Boys of Comedy, along with BET’s Comicview.

“There’s only been two people that had my ribs sticking together be cause I was laughing that hard,” Rockymore said. “D.L. Hughley and A.G. White.”

Other comedians on stage will be host Izzy 4Real?, Lillie Anne, One-eye and Jerry Wil son, all Pittsburghers. White is from Brooklyn, N.Y.

Moving forward in 2023, Rockymore said his comedy shows will continue, but with a new campaign attached: #breakthementalstrug gle. Rockymore said he’s serious about this. His company is partnering with a local organiza

LEON ROCKYMORE

- St. John 1:1-3

Kingsley Association hosts Men’s

“In the beginning was the WORD, and the WORD was with GOD and the WORD was GOD. The same was in the beginning with GOD. All things were made by HIM; and without HIM was; not anything made that was made.”

REV. WALKER SAYS: I want to respond with who JESUS is the WORD GOD in the Flesh. St. John 1:14: And the WORD was made flesh. And dwelt among us, and we beheld HIS glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the FA THER, FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH.

ROBERT CODRINGTON GETS HIS BLOOD PRESSURE CHECKED BY BRANDI HAAS, AT THE KINGSLEY EVENT, HELD NOV. 13.

WILLIAM HAMBRICK, OF EAST LIBERTY, SPEAKS WITH DANAE AND ANGEL FROM A CHILD’S PLACE. (PHOTOS BY J.L. MARTELLO)

An emotional homecoming for the Heyward brothers

Visit father’s grave, then play critical role in Steelers win vs. Atlanta

by Diane Larche’ For New Pittsburgh Courier

ATLANTA—The Pitts burgh Steelers came to At lanta to play the Falcons at Mercedes-Benz Stadi um and Steeler Nation showed up to this away game in a big way. Waving black and yellow terrible towels and the jerseys of their favorite team mem bers current and past, this could very well have been a home game for them.

When the Steelers play on the road, there are of ten just as many, if not, more of their fans in the stands and tailgating around the stadium as the home team. Such was the case on Sunday, Dec. 4. The Steelers held off the Falcons, 19-16.

Picking up a second con secutive win, two brothers playing on the Steelers made a major impact.

Rookie TE/FB Connor Heyward scored on a 17yard touchdown in the second quarter, his first touchdown of his young career against a team his late father, Craig “Iron head” Heyward played for.

Connor Heyward’s older brother, Cameron, got the Steelers’ only sack against Falcons QB Marcus Mar iota.

It was an emotional trip back to where they were raised in Duluth, Ga., just north of Atlanta. They graduated and played ball at Pine Ridge High School in Suwanee, Gwinnett County . Their father, who starred on the Universi ty of Pittsburgh football team, died of a cancerous brain tumor in 2006. The brothers traveled to a suburb of Atlanta to vis it their dad’s grave just hours before playing in the game.

Talking about his broth er Connor’s first touch down against the team his father played on, Cam eron said: “I was pretty emotional when he got the touchdown.”

Cameron wore his dad’s number #34 Falcons jer sey at the postgame press conference, something he did as a little boy. Camer on himself had an impact on the game with the only sack of Falcons QB Mar cus Mariota.

Many of the Heyward boys’ friends and fam ily attended the game, including their mother, Charlotte Heyward-Wes ley, a Pittsburgh native who still lives in the met ro Atlanta area.

“I always want all of my children to have the opportunity to live their dreams,” Heyward-Wesley told the New Pittsburgh Courier. She has a third son, Corey, who played basketball at Georgia Tech. “To play in the NFL is a dream of many and a reality for few. To come home and get a win in their hometown and also play a major part in that win is amazing. As a fami ly we are basking with joy on this day and grateful for the opportunity that they earned,” she said, wearing Cameron’s #97 Steelers jersey.

Another Pitt alumnus, Steelers rookie QB Ken ny Pickett, called the day “special” for the Heyward brothers. “We were walk ing out to the tunnel, and I said, ‘we’re gonna get the win for his pops today.’ For Connor to go out there

and get his first touch down in this building, it’s incredibly special. It’s not a coincidence. I think ev erything happens for a reason. Incredibly proud of him and really happy we got the win for both those guys.”

Both Cameron and Con nor agree that living in Pittsburgh allows them to get more family time with each other and other family members, includ ing their maternal grand mother. Cameron is a fa ther now and said having his brother there to be with him and his family is very special. Connor said the biggest thing he miss es about living in Atlanta is the weather and being home with his mother and his dogs. The thing he likes the most about liv ing in Pittsburgh is, “It’s really cool being at work with him (Cameron) on and off the field.”

Connor also said he ful filled a “childhood dream playing for Steelers coach Mike Tomlin.”

Kenny Pickett should not be looked at as the ‘savior’ for the Steelers

These days, there is a sort of bipolar, schizo phrenic vibe that seems to be prevalent among a certain segment of the black and gold popula tion. Oftentimes they switch their allegiance at the drop of a hat, almost as if they are just changing shoes.

According to many, the current frontrunner being elevated to deity status for the Steelers in the “bible” of black and gold is the Steel ers’ rookie starting QB Kenny Pickett. Pickett was chosen in the first round of the 2022 NFL draft to be groomed to become the alternate “savior” or “saver,” to be sacrificed on the cross of

senior in 2021.

In 2018 during his sophomore season, he started for Pitt in the Sun Bowl against Stan ford. Stanford prevailed by a score of 14-13. Pickett had a less-thanstellar performance, completing just 11 of 29 passes for 136 yards at a 4.3 yards-per-comple tion rate. His quarter back rating was also a minuscule 25.8. As far as bowl games are con cerned, Pickett also had the opportunity to rep resent Pitt in the 2021 Peach Bowl.

However, he declined because the possibility of injury would lessen the value of his NFL “stock” even in light of the fact that one of the primary reasons he re turned to Pitt as a fifthyear senior was based on the fact that he need ed to sharpen his skills to become more NFLready.

victory, allowing the re cently acquired quarter back from the Chi-town Bears, Mitch Trubisky, to be removed from the sacrificial lamb posi tion that he was placed in after winning the job of replacing the irre placeable, retired Steel ers almost shoo-in NFL Hall-of-Famer Ben Ro ethlisberger.

However, if you com pare the performance of Trubisky to hygiene, he simply stunk the joint out. Enter Kenny Pick ett. Historically, there has been a learning curve that Pickett has been forced to overcome in order to achieve and sustain excellence. Pick ett entered the Pitt foot ball program in 2017 and exited as a five-year

Back to the present. Currently, although the Steelers’ won-loss record remains below .500 at 5-7, the team has markedly improved during the previous four weeks, especially con sidering the fact that Pickett has committed zero turnovers. Also, considering that one of their victories was over the now-statuesque ag ing “pocket-back” Tom Brady-led Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Their oth er wins came at the ex pense of the New Orle ans Saints, Indianapolis Colts and Atlanta Fal cons; teams that aren’t exactly setting the NFL on fire.

The Steelers are build ing, not rebuilding be cause until the recent past there were very few

leftovers in old mother Hubbard’s cupboard to rebuild with. The Steel ers, as well as head coach Mike Tomlin, for mer GM Kevin Colbert and current GM Omar Khan, have done a mas terful job at replacing key positions on offense and defense while si multaneously grooming players to provide qual ity depth at those posi tions.

However, while all this is transpiring, the pun dits continually seem to be determined to trans form Kenny Pickett into the imaginary knight in shining armor that

will be the alchemist of time who possesses the formula to recre ate the glory days of the storied and sacred past of the black and gold. They make a con certed postgame effort to back Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin into a corner of idealistic and imaginary analysis regarding the evolution of his rookie quarter back. During his post game Steelers/Falcons press conference, when he was asked for the umpteenth time about the development of his quarterback, he seemed to respond as if he was

slightly irritated.

“He’s growing and that’s a reasonable ex pectation,” Tomlin said.

“He’s a smart guy. He’s got talent, he works at it. He’s gaining experi ence with each and every play and each and every day. And so I think it’s a reasonable discussion to acknowledge that he’s going to get better at fundamental things, taking care of the ball.

He’s just growing in all areas. You know, you guys ask me that every week. You want me to come through it, (and explain) how he’s get ting better. He’s getting

better in all areas.”

Just because he is an adopted “Yinzer” as at tending and playing at Pitt, his name is Kenny Pickett, he is not Harry Houdini or David Cop perfield. He is also not a hero created by the late Stan Lee or Marvel com ics. At present, Kenny Pickett is a vital part of the vehicle that is being designed to transport the Pittsburgh Steel ers toward the destina tion of future greatness. However, make no mis take, he only represents one component of that machine.

Mayor Gainey challenges Black parents in Pittsburgh:

‘Our

er, as our children watch. What are we modeling? We are mod eling what we don’t want (the children) to become. I want you to go through your friend

list on Facebook, and you tell me how many are beefing with one another. Or when you go to the schools, say to the teacher, ‘What can I do for my child,’ not ar gue with the teacher. We gotta have a serious

conversation because the only ones that have ever saved us, is us.”

Mayor Gainey reit erated that if African Americans understood their history, of how much they’ve overcome from being slaves, to

kids need you’

Jim Crow laws, to not being able to vote, “we wouldn’t want to be gangsters and thugs. We would want to be kings and queens, because that’s who we are. When will we accept the role that our children’s re

sponsibility is up to us, and nobody else?”

Mayor Gainey stopped, and looked at the crowd, before he challenged the parents in the crowd, and the parents all across Black communi ties in the region. “They

said you are guaranteed to grow old, but are you guaranteed to grow up? A lot of us grow old, but didn’t grow up. Parents, I need you. Our kids need you.”

CHARLOTTE HEYWARD-WESLEY, Pittsburgh native and mother of Cameron and Connor Heyward, and widow of Craig “Ironhead” Heyward. (Photo by Diane Larche’)

Art is Active & Alive at Kelly Strayhorn Theater

5941 Penn Avenue

Pittsburgh, PA 15206 412.363.3000 kelly-strayhorn.org

“Culture is the soul of any community, and art is the expression of that soul. So, if we’re not valuing arts and culture in every neighborhood in Pittsburgh, then we’re not really feeding our soul,” said Kelly Strayhorn Theater Executive Director Joseph Hall.

Kelly Strayhorn Theatre states its mis sion is to be a home for creative exper imentation, community dialogue, and collective action rooted in the libera tion of Black and queer people. “So much of culture in America comes from Black people and from Black res idents, and the first devaluing of cul ture is really the devaluing of the Black home. When we see Black homes being displaced, we’re really seeing culture being displaced,” said Hall.

“When you come into Kelly Strayhorn Theater, you’re coming into a home that values those things, and our program ming reflects that.”

In order to support events, there are two venues: Alloy Studios, a cultural hub in the heart of East Liberty, and the historic Kelly Strayhorn Theater, locat ed in the thriving business district. “Our programming is really working with contemporary artists of today who are tackling sociopolitical issues and

issues of identity,” said Hall. He added, “Not all of our performances are going to be kind of the virtuosic beautiful performance, but it’s going to be grap pling with kind of the messiness of life of where we are currently as Black folks, as queer folks, as folks who are tapped into what is currently happening in our political climate and again just society in general.”

To make sure everyone can experience the Kelly Strayhorn Theater, they have introduced a “Pay What Moves You” system.

“It provides an opportunity for audienc es to choose the ticket level that best fits their budget…it’s kind of an honor sys tem. Select the level that works for you, understanding that art has tremendous value, culture has tremendous value.”

In their upcoming autumn lineup, they will be debuting new programming.

“We are launching our fall season, which is called The Soul of East Liberty, with a company made up of a husbandand-wife duo who are California and Brooklyn based. We’ve commissioned this new work which they will premiere at Kelly Strayhorn,” said Hall. “We have focused primarily on Pittsburgh-based artists, and we’ll continue to do that just as we have, but we’re also known for bringing in great visiting artists that resonate with our community.”

Tastebuds Travel to Tropical Paradise with 2 Sisters 2 Sons

1882 Main Street

Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania 15215 412-252-2864

2sisters2sons.com

If an island getaway is not already a part of your summer plans, there is no need to worry; 2 Sisters 2 Sons can provide a taste of the Ca ribbean. The family-owned and operated restaurant specializes in authentic Caribbean and Jamai can cuisine. Despite operating as a takeout-only business, the energy at 2 Sisters 2 Sons has been nonstop since it opened in July 2020. “Me and my sister were born in Jamaica,” said co-owner Denise Josephs. “We are true-blooded Ja maicans.”

The name, 2 Sisters 2 Sons, comes from Denise and her sister run ning the restaurant with their two sons. The family business is true to Denise’s cooking roots. “I actually started cooking at a young age. I think I started cook ing when I was 12 years old. It was fascinating to me, and I just tried it. I used to always watch my mom you know cook and stuff like that, and then I started doing it, and I really liked doing it. “

As for the food, Denise says 2 Sisters 2 Sons has become a local favorite, being named on sever

al best Jamaican restaurant lists. Customers keep coming back for a variety of signature menu items.

“Our top-selling item is oxtail. We sell lots and lots of oxtails here. That’s number one, and then our jerk chicken, curry chicken, curry goat, and some of our vegan op tions. We sell a lot of tofu too.”

Upcoming for 2 Sisters 2 Sons, they will be celebrating their sec ond anniversary in July and will be participating in the annual Jerk Fest in Highland Park next month as well.

Since becoming an entrepreneur, Denise has discovered more about herself than she knew previously.

“I’ve learned that I have a lot of patience, and that’s very import ant.”

IS POWER Five tips for firsttime homebuyers

According to the Na tional Association of Re altors the average age for first time homebuyers in the U.S. is 33, a relative ly young age for such a big life choice. That said, buying your first home at any age can be stressful and a time-consuming experience. Fortunate ly, there are few crucial pointers that will help make the journey to homeownership a less bumpy ride. Here are five tips to get you on your way:

Draw up a budget and stick to it.

Let’s say you’re inter ested in a home, but you’re not sure it’s in your price range. That’s a problem, before you start browsing; it is cru cial that you iron out im portant questions such as, what is the most you can afford? What is your ideal price range? To help you get started, contact a mortgage broker or use an online mortgage calculator to determine the maximum monthly payment you can afford based on the price of the home after your down payment. “Make sure

ANTHONY O. KELLUM

your monthly budget in cludes the total mortgage payment with taxes and insurance and all so con sider the maintenance cost of a property,” says Arlita Harvey, the broker owner at Arlita Realty.

If you fall in love with a house but the monthly payment is more than you can afford, when in cluding all your other fixed expense, it’s time to move on. You can also enlist the help of a mort gage broker to help you arrive at some figures. They will be able to tell

Mom and daughter

Innovation of the Year Award Winner

“Having my work rec ognized by my peers is a great honor and it en courages me to do more to positively impact the lives of our children,” says Bukola. Inspired by her daughter, she created the interactive Somi doll to bring change, serve a need, and excite children (especially Black girls) about learning Computer Science (CS).

As the founder/CEO of Innovant Technologies based in Phoenix, Arizona, Bukola believes that culti vating innovative think ing in early childhood is important to uplifting our Black community. She comments, “We live in a fast-paced digital age so we cannot afford to allow our children to be left be hind. Access to relevant, quality, easy-to-under stand, equitable CS edu cation that features Black characters can inspire a child to dream big and envision new possibilities. It’s a much-needed mind set shift! We need more inventors in our commu nity that are capable of telling our own stories, meeting our unique needs as a collective, and build ing a legacy of wealth that could be passed down for generations.”

Google’s 2020 Gallup findings show that edu cators, parents, and em ployers increasingly see access as a critical aspect

of educational equity. Computer Science skills not only make it possible for students to engage, create and innovate in an increasingly technol ogy-fueled society, but they also prepare them for a quickly evolving job market, where computing occupations now make up about two-thirds of pro jected new jobs in STEM fields. Girls are less likely than boys to see Comput er Science as something important for them to learn, and they are less likely to express interest

in pursuing careers in this area. Relatedly, parents and guardians of boys are more likely than parents and guardians of girls to encourage their child to pursue a computer sci ence career, which sug gests there are persistent gaps in perceptions and aspirations that present challenges to bridging diversity gaps in engage ment, learning and oppor tunities.

For over 17 years work ing in corporate Ameri ca, Bukola was often the only Black woman on the

Software Development/ IT team. “We need more Black women thriving in this field but it’s necessary to stimulate their interest from the time they are in elementary school. Somi is not just a talking doll, it’s a pertinent movement to shift the minds of our chil dren from simply being consumers of technology to becoming innovators of it,” Bukola states.

Bukola’s nonprofit orga nization, CompSci ABC, recently partnered with

Megan Thee Stallion first Black woman to cover Forbes’

Black Information Network

Megan Thee Stallion has made history as the first Black woman to cov er Forbes’ Under 30 Issue, according to the publica tion.

“It’s really hard to be the first something in 2022, so ahhhhh,” Megan, 27,

said as she learned of her historic feat during a sit down with Forbes’ Jabari Young.

Forbes estimates the rapper raked in $13 mil lion this year from royal ties, ticket sales, endorse ments, and merch.

“I can’t slow down right now,” she told Forbes. “I’ll

take a break when I’m dead.”

Meg first landed on Forbes’ annual 30 Under 30 list three years ago as she leaped from perform ing at $500 gigs in her hometown of Houston to collaborating with the likes of Beyoncé, Nicki Mi naj, BTS, Dua Lipa, Cardi

B and more.

“She’s so empowering and so sexy,” Cardi B said.

“She’s mega-million Me gan.”

The 27-year-old has grown her empire through her endorsement deals with billionaire dollar

Christmas is the only holiday where people go broke!

It’s been said that Christmas is the season where you buy this year’s gifts with next year’s money.

During a Sunday service, pastor Mi chael Smith of Destiny International Ministries made a comment, “Christ mas is the only holiday where people go broke!” As a financial columnist this peaked my interest—so much that I asked him a question. “How do we place Christ back into Christmas?”

He answered, “I believe that the world would be a lot better off if we could learn to place Christ back into the heart, soul, and mind of the people of this earth. Co lossians 1:27 says, ‘To them God has cho sen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery which is CHRIST IN YOU, the hope of glory.’ If we can learn how to get Christ back into our lives then we can learn how to live, act, walk, talk, think and be like Christ.”

His comment left me with a lot to reflect on. I began to wonder why peo ple purchase gifts for other people on Christmas. If it’s Christ’s birthday, shouldn’t Christ be the recipient of gifts? What can you give a person who owns everything and wants for nothing? My questions were quickly answered by recalling tidbits Pastor Mike has made during other sermons. It turns out that the greatest gift that we can give Christ is actually a gift to ourselves. Christ’s goal, mission and purpose in life is to get us, “the lost sheep,” in one accord with our father. That’s why we say the Lord is my shepherd. The very definition of a Christian is one who is crystallized into oneness with God. Wouldn’t it be nice if

you and I can say like Christ said, “I and my father are ONE?” David, the author of Psalms says, “You are all gods, Chil dren of the Most High God!”

Since I’m a financial columnist, you may be wondering what does any of this have to do with finances? It has every thing to do with finances.

I don’t know about you but I don’t serve a BROKE God. Furthermore, there are over 800 scriptures dealing with the sub ject of finance. A care ful study of the book of Proverbs will award you a doctorate degree in finance. The best financial scripture in my opinion was stated in Matthew 6:21, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” The late Lar ry Burkette, founder of Crown Financial Ministries, says that this scripture means that you spend your money based on your priorities. In other words, if I was to review your check registry, I can tell you what you value most and what you value least.

Personal finance is more about charac ter makeup behavior, and personal pref erences than it is mathematics. Debt is a symptom. Overspending is a character shortfall and the root of most problems associated with debt. Being broke is a combination of making too little, spend ing too much, or not properly managing your income and expenses—thus creat ing a shortfall. Jesus is about correcting

all of the shortfalls in all of us. Regard ing overspending, in the book of Luke 14:28-30, it reads, “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.”

Sounds like this scripture is talking about the impor tance of having a budget before you spend money on building a tower. It’s foolish to start and not be able to finish because you didn’t estimate the cost. So it is with Christmas.

We know Christ mas comes on December 25 every year. It’s important to sit down, estimate the cost so that you don’t end up BROKE or worse, DEEP IN DEBT buying Christ mas gifts. Last week I shared an arti cle titled, “How to avoid DEBT while Christmas shopping this year.” Be sure to read it.

To be more Christ-like is to take on the characteristics of Christ. I asked Pastor Mike to share some of the characteris tics that makes Jesus such a noble be ing. Here is what Pastor Mike had to say:

“I would like to take this opportunity to share with you some of the outstanding

qualities about Christ that made him a man worthy of following and emulating.

“Jesus Christ was known for His pas sion and zeal for life, for His Father, for the word of God, and for the people He was called to serve. The word zeal comes from the Greek word zelos and it means to be hot, fervent, strongly committed, to be passionate. Albert Einstein once said that I would rather be a failure doing something I love than to be a success do ing something I hate.

“I have good news for you. If you are passionate about anything in life and you have a zeal for that thing, you nev er have to worry about being a failure. When you are passionate, you’re focused, powerful, and determined without even having to try. Your body, mind, and spirit are working in unison towards the same goal.

“Christ was a man of passion and zeal. His goal was the Cross of Calvary which opened the possibility for Christ to come into you.

“Remember: The Perception of your Purpose Produces Passion, the Pursuit of your Purpose Produces Patience, the Possession of your Purpose Produces Peace and Prosperity.”

Damon here: Happy Holidays! In stead of breaking the bank this Christ mas, why don’t WE break the bad habits and character shortfalls that’s causing US to go broke and keeping US from OUR purpose in life.

(Damon Carr, Money Coach can be reached at 412-216-1013 or visit his website at www.da monmoneycoach.com)

SEE STEM SOMI DOLL

BUKOLA SOMIDE, and her 8-year-old daughter, Olusomi, the creators of the first-to-market African American interactive Somi, the Computer Scientist doll, are celebrating having won the 2022 ExCITE Innovation of the Year award presented by CodeCrew. The doll helps to increase a child’s knowledge and interest in STEM.

UPS head talks ‘Empowering Black Founders’

by Stacy M. Brown

For New Pittsburgh Courier

(NNPA)—Kevin War ren describes himself as a “proud son of the vibrant Black community of Wash ington, D.C.”

The executive vice pres ident and chief marketing officer at UPS said cus tomers in the District and beyond deserve to know where the company stands and what the delivery ser vice giant is doing “to be a trusted partner to Black founders.”

In a rare open letter ad dressed to “our communi ty,” Warren emphasized UPS’ dedication to Diver sity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and Black entrepre neurs.

“I speak for myself and the many African American leaders and allies through out our company when I say that this mission is per sonal to us. We were raised in these communities and know that Black found ers are the heartbeats of our hometowns. We want Black founders to win and win big, with UPS playing a small part in that story,” said Warren, who has been a leader in ensuring the company’s diversity efforts.

Warren has a unique re sponsibility. He heads U.S. and International Market ing, The UPS Store, Digital Access Program, Revenue Enablement, Business Planning, Forecasting & Pricing, Digital Marketing, Customer Experience, and

Brand Relevancy. Compa ny officials said his high ly developed perspective on data-centric business and non-traditional en gagement channels drives change at UPS and sets new standards in digitally enabled customer experi ence.

“Companies have the unique opportunity to re frame profit and purpose in our ever-changing world. You don’t have to give up one for the other,” Warren said.

With the end of the year approaching, he also not ed it is a season to “reflect on the year, what we’ve learned, where we have been, and where we are go ing.”

As UPS continues to eval uate their impact, Warren explained the company is working to “reframe profit,” by “Doing Good While Mov ing Goods.”

A major initiative in their effort to reach beyond the business is the UPS Ignite Program, which is geared at empowering Black founders with access to on-demand business edu cation, with the support of The Lonely Entrepreneur; executive education led by the Kellogg School of Man agement; CEO-to-CEO business coaching with Beyond CEO; and access to capital with participation of the Accion Opportunity Fund.

“We are so proud that outstanding founders such as Adrian Coulter of XL Feet and Charis Jones of

Sassy Jones are among the UPS customers that have received access to these re sources to help build their businesses.”

Warren said that UPS had earlier ventured into the metaverse with Com plexLand 3.0. As part of that virtual culture event, UPS built a small-business village in the metaverse featuring diverse-owned small businesses and pro vided $40,000 in grants, $10K each to Compton Cowboys, Brownstone, Col le and Circulate.

“We’re helping small busi nesses find new customers by showing up in the un expected places they nev er thought they’d be: the metaverse,” Warren said.

In June, UPS awarded $10,000 in grants to sever al Black-owned companies through UPS Ignite, and in observance of Juneteenth,

UPS brought together leaders, including National Urban League President and CEO Marc Morial.

UPS also partnered with multi-hyphenated artist Pharrell Williams June teenth weekend to offer opportunities for Black founders at the “Something in the Water” festival.

“We brought four amaz ing Black businesses to feature their products and awarded $50,000 in grants,” Warren said.

In October UPS an nounced a partnership with Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs (RICE), which he described as a “Black ecosystem of entrepreneurship to up lift Black founders,” and is based in UPS’ hometown of Atlanta. The company launched the UPS Logis tics Launchpad, which sup ports RICE entrepreneurs

through general shipping needs, Ware2Go—UPS’ on-demand warehousing and fulfillment services— and training.

“With the support of The UPS Foundation, we will educate a new generation of RICE business owners on the ins and outs of supply chain and logistics through their accelerator program,” Warren explained.

UPS teamed up with Williams again in Novem ber, for “Ignite the Mighty, awarding an additional $50,000 in grants to Black founders during the busi ness competition.”

In detailing the year’s DEI efforts in the commu nity, Warren also noted the work being done to diversi fy the company “from the top down.”

Spearheaded by Carol B. Tomé, one of the six percent of women CEOs represent

ed in S&P 500 companies, UPS also announced a new DEI officer, who will report to the company’s leader.

The UPS board is 31 per cent ethnically diverse and 46 percent are women.

UPS has also been in tentional about diversify ing their spending, having spent $1.1 billion with 900 diverse suppliers and investing in Black-owned media companies such as Black Enterprise.

“Our work to support Black business owners is a journey, not a destination. We will continue to learn with every project, every initiative, and every con versation,” Warren said.

“I want you to know that we are committed to this mission—there is more to come in 2023.

Report cites barriers to Black homeownership

WASHINGTON, D.C.—

As the nation struggles to dismantle the institution al racism that has under mined wealth generation in Black families, the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) today released its 2022 State of Housing in Black Amer ica (SHIBA) Report.  It provides a comprehensive analysis of Black home ownership and the historic barriers Blacks face when seeking to purchase a home and gaining wealth.

For the first time, the SHIBA report, which was released at NAREB’s annu al Black Wealth Summit in Washington, D.C., includes assessments of the impact that natural disasters, cli mate change, toxic facilities and inland flooding have had on Black families. The report notes the devasta tion caused to in places like New Orleans LA, Jackson MS and Flint MI.

“We often think of wealth in terms of cash, invest ments and even Bitcoin, but wealth is also found in the water we drink, the air we breathe and the land on which we live,” says NA REB President Lydia Pope. “It is the sacred duty of com munity leaders, policy mak ers and financial industry specialists to lift communi ties so that all children can thrive and grow up with op portunities for good health, wealth and happiness in their lives.”

Moreover, the report states: “Race has histori cally been the main deter minant of the placement of toxic facilities in the Unit ed States. And decades of redlining and segregation has ensured that Black in ner-city communities are home to some of the most deteriorated infrastructure in the nation. Black com munities are on the front lines of climate change as a lack of resources and outdated housing stock and infrastructure…make them more vulnerable to the adverse effects of ex treme weather and climate change.”

The 2022 SHIBA re port outlines the status of Black homeownership and the broad challenges that Black families and individ uals face when they seek to purchase a home, as well as the impact of new banking trends on their family fi nancial security.

In the first quarter of 2022, the Black homeownership rate was 44.7 percent, down from 45.3 percent in 2020.

The Black/White home ownership disparity was 23.8 percent in 1970 and climbed to over 31 percent age points by 2019. In 2022 the homeownership gap is still “an astounding” 30 per cent, the report states, con tinuing a two-decades trend of an expanding homeown ership gap between Blacks and Whites. Equally im portant, the current Black

homeownership rate re mains far below its peak re corded in 2004, when Black homeownership exceeded 49 percent.

The report also analyzes the recent trend of non-de posit lenders, such as Fin tech companies, increas ing their market share of mortgages, and the impact on other bank related func tions.

“Higher profit, more lu crative investment strate gies for banks has come at the expense of supporting homeownership and wealth building in low-income communities and commu nities of color,” the report states. “Federal Reserve data indicate that in the third quarter of 2021, res idential real-estate loans hit a historic low as a per centage of total assets (10 percent) at U.S. banks, whereas the share of safe assets—investments such as cash, Treasuries, and government-guaranteed securities – increased from the prior year. The closing of branches by larger banks in low-income areas and prof it-maximizing strategies such as high overdraft fees, debit card swipe fees, ATM withdrawal fees, and wire transfer fees, among other charges, have particularly impacted low-income cus tomers and customers of color.”

The report finds that 72 percent of Black applicants and 63 percent White ap

plicants applied for loans at independent mortgage companies in 2021. The re port notes that traditional banks continued to dispro portionately attract White applicants: 33 percent of Whites sought loans from banks in 2021 compared to 20 percent of Blacks. Fur ther, the report notes orig ination rates were higher at independent mortgage companies than at banks for both Blacks and Whites.   “In 2021, denial rates continued to be lower at independent mortgage companies than at banks,” the report notes. “Dispari ties in denials mirror those in loan origination rates as Black applicants fared much worse than White applicants across all lend er types. Black applicants had a 20 percent denial rate at banks compared to 8 percent among White applicants. At independent mortgage companies, deni al rates were 13 percent for Blacks versus 5 percent for Whites.”

This year’s SHIBA report includes six recommenda tions outlining what Con gress, regulators and the private sector must enact to improve access to the Amer ican Dream of homeowner ship:

• Eliminate loan level price adjusters

•  Eliminate penalty fees for borrowers to access down payment assistance

•     Recalculate the impact

of student loan debt

• Leverage special pur pose credit programs

•   End discriminatory and abusive appraisal practices •  Fix the broken and outof-date housing finance sys tem

The report cites a study by the National Association of Realtors identifying millen nials as the largest segment of Black homebuyers in the wake of the COVID-19 pan demic. The trend continued in 2021, but declining af fordability likely contribut ed to a slower growth rate of Black millennial homebuy ers since Spring 2021. The report cites another issue that may be a drag on Black homeownership:

“Black college graduate millennials have less than one tenth the wealth of their White counterparts. Further, student loan debt represents a major chal lenge for Black millennia homebuyers, as it can limit the amount of savings that can be used for a down pay ment. Black millennials owe more in student loans and carry that debt longer than other groups. And because Black households have less wealth and few er savings on average than the general population, Black millennials rely less on their families’ financial resources when purchasing a home than White millen nials.”

Mom and daughter

another non-profit, Info sys Foundation USA, to deliver the Somi doll and books into the classrooms.

The online program “Com puter Science Learning Reimagined with Somi” is free for K-4 Title-I teach ers - just create an account on Pathfinders Online In stitute and register while supplies last. The impact in the classroom setting is already yielding good re sults. Teachers are saying the Somi Computer Sci ence kit has been a great resource for their students to learn CS and notice ably, their girls have since shown increased interest

in this topic.

The “Somi, the Computer Scientist®” brand of prod ucts (Somi Doll, “Princess Can Code” storybook, and “Computer Science Activi ty Book for Girls & Boys”) are helping underrepre sented children learn the basics of Computer Science in a fun and relatable way at home and in the class room.

Would you like to give a gift of inspiration today? To learn more and get a free “Princess Can Code” storybook, use coupon code

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you how much you qual ify for and at what inter est rate this will give you an idea of the most you are able to pay.

Make a shortlist of your non-negotiables.

Before you start seri ously shopping, consider your lifestyle and values. What features would en hance your well being?

From there make a list of non-negotiables, says Arlita from location, to square footage, to ameni ties that you must have in your future home. This will also help guide your realtor. “There is nothing better than knowing ex actly what you want, but it’s hard to find every thing in one property, Ar lita says. “The best way to

gauge your options is to visit open houses in the area and get acquainted with the local market. Use an experienced realtor who knows the area and the market. Your realtor can make or break your home buy ing experience. If you know where you want to live, try and get a re altor referral. 54 percent or buyers found their agent from a personal referral or had used an agent they’d worked with before, according to 2019 figures from the National association of Realtors. Start by asking friends, and family who live in your area of interest for recommendations, in ad dition Trulia, and Zillow will have ratings of local real estate agents. Arlita

says, “A good realtor will be in your corner until the closing. An experi enced realtor will also have contacts for loan officers that can pre-ap prove you to show sellers you’re a serious buyer.

Check out compara ble houses to get an idea of pricing.

First time homebuyers should look at compa rable homes in the area they want to live, accord ing to Bankrate. Thanks to real estate sites such as Trulia, Zillow, Redfin and Realtor.com, there’s no excuse not to research what homes in the area you’re looking at have sold for recently.

Ask the realtor about expected closing costs. What are closing costs? When you purchase a

home, you will need to budget for closing costs too, not just the down payment. Mortgage clos ing costs are fees you pay when you secure a loan for your home, beyond the down payment. Mort gage closing costs are fees you pay when you secure a loan for your home, be yond the down payment. Closing costs and prepaids can vary widely. Here is a quick look at some of the main closing costs: Loan origination fees, Appraisal and Sur vey fees, Title insurance, Homeowner’s insurance, Mortgage points, Prop erty taxes, Closing or escrow fee. As for the re altor’s commission, that’s paid by the seller, not the buyer. Happy house hunting!

30 UNDER 30 FROM B1

brands such as Nike, Revlon, Cash App, and Popeyes.

“The cultural influence that hip-hop and artists like Megan now have is unmatched,” says Stacy Taffet, a marketing ex ecu?tive of Frito-Lay, who partnered with Megan to promote its Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. “Our Su per Bowl campaign with her outperformed a lot of what we’ve done in the past and exceeded all our expectations.”

On the horizon for Me gan is her 2023 world tour, another studio al bum, and a Netflix deal

to create and produce several shows, includ ing a comedy based on her childhood, Forbes reports. Time Inc. is also paying the rapper $3 million to produce a doc umentary on her life. Through all of her suc cess, Megan said one of the biggest lessons she’s learned is to “save your money.”

“I still haven’t made a stupid, crazy purchase,” Meg said. “My jewelry is expensive, and my house was expensive, outside of that, I’m not buying 100 cars. Learn how to make your money work for you.”

IN A RARE OPEN LETTER, UPS’ Kevin Warren reflected on empowering Black

founders. (Courtesy of UPS)

HOMEBUYERS

STEM SOMI DOLL FROM B1

Guest Editorial

Unchecked co-existence

(TriceEdneyWire.com)—Note worthy indicators demonstrate our “shrinking” world.  The rapid spread of COVID-19 is a clear example.  Plant and animal invad ers without natural enemies also proliferate exponentially and cause significant damage to our ecosys tem.

Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq.

Commentary

There is a growing, but invisible, problem in Amer ica. Essentially, a lot of White people are unaware of the race problem, or so they say. Black people, on the other hand, are all too familiar with race issues. The denial among many Whites to acknowledge racial tension is probably partially due to a certain amount of latent guilt.

As we observe the move to ban books that high light the race problems in America, it is clear that this strategy might lend itself to the creation of a cloak of invisibility around the maltreatment of Black people in America.

One of the avenues for the revelation of this prob lem is the unfortunate incarceration in Russia of the WNBA star Brittney Griner. She has been convicted to serve nine years in what is basically a Russian la bor camp for having a small amount of marijuana in her luggage when she arrived in Russia. From most accounts, these camps are horrible and consign people to intense labor.

The hatred and vitriol that has come from White ob servers about her sentencing is astounding. Most of the antagonists are convinced that she is anti-Amer ican. They accuse her of a lack of patriotism, and think that she got what she deserved; many of the commenters have expressed a type of glee that she will be locked up for a long time!!!

In contrast, a White woman, Audrey Lorber, was caught not too long ago with a much larger amount of marijuana than Brittney had, but only served three months in a Russian jail and was then released. When this was pointed out to those who said that Brittney “got what she deserved,” there was a deaf ening silence.

Another situation that brought out the raging igno rance of many White people is connected with Elon Musk’s activities regarding his acquisition of Twitter.

Most people by now know that Musk is in the pro cess of making far-reaching changes, especially those relating to personnel. Someone on Facebook posted a picture of Twitter employees in a certain department before layoffs. That photo had one visi bly Black person in it, a woman.

The photo that showed the personnel in that de partment after layoffs was very revealing; the crowd was much smaller and there was not a single Black face in the group! It has been said that Musk’s mo tivation for acquiring Twitter was to ensure “free speech” and to guarantee “inclusion.” When some one said that the absence of Blacks in the depart ment challenged the notion of inclusion, a firestorm of White rage resulted!

One of the things that some White people always say when issues of race are raised by Black people is that they are “tired of hearing about it.” They insist that slavery is over and say that Black people are “whiners” and need to “get over it!” They say that they didn’t own slaves and that there are no Black people alive today who experienced slavery. They are also puzzled as to why some Blacks are not su per enthusiastic American patriots.

Essentially, many White people really do not believe that there is a race problem in America. It is invisible to them, even though the George Floyd situation was an example for all to see! They are convinced that the only reason the Black Lives Matter (BLM) move ment exists is to ensure that a small group of Black people, funded by a White supporter, are able to fleece people; the inference is that the group exists to address a fictitious problem!

Interestingly, when the idea of race issues is raised, many White observers never talk about Jim Crow, or the fact that there are corporations today that played a huge role in the slave trade.

And when it is pointed out that Blacks have been discriminated against when it comes to employment, the not-so-subtle response is that they must not be qualified or that they are lazy! They harbor the belief that Black people are inferior, and that anyone who attains employment is only there because of affirma tive action.

In conclusion, the movement among a certain group of right-wing Whites to ban the teaching of race matters is creating a “blackout” of a White (racial) problem. They are trying to render the race problem invisible, which is seemingly very effective among a population that is already dumbed down. Black people should resist this trend by keeping the issue of White oppression visible and reject the notion that the act of advocacy for equity is “whin ing.” A Luta Continua.

(Reprinted

from the Chicago Crusader)

Wikipedia describes the spot ted lanternfly as: a planthopper indigenous to parts of China. It has spread invasively to Japan, South Korea, and the United States. Its host plants include grapes, stone fruits, and …Chinese sumac tree.  In its native habitat, their populations are kept in check by parasitic wasps…The piercing wounds caused by their mouth parts and the honeydew waste they excrete have been found to be significantly detrimental to the health of host plants. In 2014, it was recorded in the US and is now invasive throughout the Northeast. Contrary to what may be sug gested, this is not an entomology essay.  It provides background to a story about a psychological assault on a 9-year-old Black child.

Nine-9-year-old Bobbi Wilson learned about the harm posed by the spotted lanternfly.  In October, with homemade insecticide inhand, Bobbi explored her Cald well, NJ, neighborhood for the winged-invaders.  She enthusias tically pursued her mission until it was interrupted by the police who had been called with a report that: “There’s a little Black wom an walking, spraying stuff on the sidewalks and trees on Elizabeth and Florence.  I don’t know what

the hell she’s doing.  Scares me, though.”  The complaint also noted that she wore a “hood.”

Gordon Lawshe, a former Repub lican Councilman in Caldwell and a neighbor of Bobbi’s family made the complaint.  The police respond ed, but upon arrival determined that Bobbi was a child.  The re sponding officer waited with Bobbi until her mother came to see what was happening.  After she arrived, Bobbi’s mother, Monique Joseph, recalls Bobbi asking, “Am I in trou ble?”  Joseph pulled her close while she and the officer reassured her that nothing was wrong.

The excuse offered by Lawshe was that he thought she was a “lost little girl” or “little old lady with dementia.”  The apology Lawshe offered was not accepted because Joseph could not understand why he called the police before his own investigation, especially since their families had been neighbors for years and there was only one Black family on the block.

This incident has forced the Caldwell community to deal with perceptions of race and racism, the weaponization of police, and the ability of people of color to occupy and move in space interpreted by Whites as “THEIR OWN.”  This incident asks the question, “What

circumstances define the ability of Blacks of any age to coexist in any community?”

Apparently, many Whites perceive Blacks of any age, gender, or size as a threat.  Reasonable adults who watch videos of Bobbi can discern that she is a child and I am sure the same is true in-person.  We are blessed that the responding officer demonstrated more restraint than Timothy Loehmann, the Cleveland, Ohio, officer who murdered 12-YO Tamir Rice within thirteen seconds of exiting his police cruiser.

Lawshe’s complaint is another example of Whites using the fear of stereotypical Black behaviors, inherent in many White officers, to intensify officer’s desire to control the coming and going of Blacks.  Like any “nuisance spe cies,” age, gender, size, and intent are irrelevant.

Ms. Joseph says that the encoun ter has changed her daughter.  Bob bi remains confused and still tries to process the event.  Testifying before the Caldwell City Council, Hayden, Bobbi’s 13-YO sister said, “She was not only doing something amazing for our environment, she was doing something that made her feel like a hero.  What Mr. Gor don Lawshe did to my sister was extremely offensive, traumatic, and scarring towards my family.  I can confidently assure you guys that she will never forget this.”

We won’t either!

(Dr. E. Faye Williams is President of The Dick Gregory Society (thedickgregoryso ciety.org; drefayewilliams@gmail.com) and President Emeritus of the National Congress of Black Women)

Tis the season for food justice

(TriceEdneyWire.com)—Since early November, you’ve been barraged with appeals to donate to food banks, food baskets, and community food events. The hook, of course, is the holidays. We are treated to photos of hungry-looking children or told how many hungry people might have nothing to eat for the holidays. The appeals can be heart-wrenching and sad, designed to get us to give.   The requests come by mail, through the Internet, and also from our church pulpits and street corners. While holiday spirits are high, this is the time for food-serving organizations to fatten their coffers.

Food-serving organizations are doing what they always do, and their work is commendable. It’s a shame, though, that it is not yearround work. People need food as much on February 21, April 30, or June 16 as they need during the end-year holidays. But appeals before the end of the year are not as moving as they are this time of the year. Tapping on holiday senti ments, some charities raise most of their money during November and December.

Give a person a fish, and you teach them to eat. Teach them to fish, and you teach them to live. While our food-serving organi zations help people eat, focusing on food justice will teach them to live. What is food justice? It is a movement to ensure access to nutritious, affordable, and cultur ally appropriate food for everyone and to advocate for the health and safety of those involved in food production. The food justice move ment focuses on disparities in food access, especially for marginalized communities, and examines the structural roots of our food system. (bu.edu.cac/ederef-2/what-is-foodjustice/).   The movement looks

Julianne Malveaux Commentary

at questions of land ownership (almost 98 percent of all farms are White-owned), agricultural practic es, worker rights, and other issues. Dynamic organizations like Food Tank (www.foodtank.com) seek to reform the food system globally. In Washington, DC, Christopher Bradshaw founded Dreaming Out Loud, farms two acres of formerly vacant land, and, in his words, “uses the food system as a lens to examine and dismantle systems of oppression.” A justice-oriented social entrepreneur, Chris leads a group of farmers and food hub assistants. He seeks to connect small farmers and engage in food production. (dreamingoutloud.org). Around the country, food justice ad vocates are claiming unused urban land to grow food. Some sponsor local farmers’ markets and provide residents with healthy food.

The hunger issue is real, and so is the search for healthy, fresh food. Some call inner cities “food desserts,” but others describe them as “food swamps” because plenty of unhealthy food is available. What kind of system makes it easier to find grease and sugar than fresh produce? What makes the grease more profitable than the greens? Food justice advocates are ask ing these questions and looking at them through micro-lens and macro-lens. How are people taught to make better food choices at the micro level? At the macro level, who profits from the availability of unhealthy food?

As with everything in this coun try, there are two food systems, one for the “haves” and one for the “have-nots.” The haves have access to gourmet food, fifty kinds of cheeses, healthy precooked meals, and 24-hour delivery service. The marginalized have none of that. Indeed, many of the marginalized work in stores where a pound of specialty cheese costs more than they make in an hour. The food justice movement focuses on more availability for those at the bottom, advocating more affordable fresh food and better access to it.

Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor, a culinary griot who wrote and talk ed about food and made healthy, culturally-relevant food her mission, once wrote, “Food changes into blood, blood into cells, cells change into energy which chang es up into life. . .food is life.” The quality of our lives is connected to the quality of our food. The food industrial complex is designed to extort surplus value from those who need food—all of us. At the top, exploitation comes from pricy, “gourmet,” organic food, but most who indulge in it can afford it. At the bottom, exploitation comes from cheap grease and unhealthy, overprocessed foods.

What must you do? Keep mak ing contributions to food banks, especially this time of year. Also, rethink what food justice means to you. Contribute to the organiza tions that are advocating for food justice. These holidays are not only the season to be jolly, to eat and drink together. It should also be the season to consider our food system and how it promotes exploitation and inequality.

(Dr. Julianne Malveaux is an economist, author, and Dean of the College of Ethnic Studies at Cal State LA. juliannemal veaux.com)

Economic guidance from Professor James Clingman

Founded

Allison Palm Office Manager

1910

Rod Doss Editor & Publisher

Stephan A. Broadus Assistant to the Publisher

Ashley Johnson Sales Director Rob Taylor Jr. Managing Editor

(TriceEdneyWire.com)—It is not an exaggeration to say that day by day, week by week, month by month and year by year most Black news paper columnists, Black television and radio commentators, Black civil rights leaders and especially Black politicians read, write and talk about Black politics from every pos sible angle. Unfortunately for Black folks they don’t do the same with the critical subject of economics. What they and the rest of us need to do is to take time to read a March 20, 2013 column by the gifted Pro fessor James Clingman. The column entitled “Putting Economics Before Politics” if we want to know the real deal about that important subject.

Professor Clingman’s first para graph states the following: “It is always been intriguing to me that we have elected thousands of Black politicians since Reconstruction, especially since 1970, while the

A. Peter Bailey Commentary

number of Black economic advo cates pales in comparison. While understanding that Black economic advocates are not elected per se, it is obvious to me that if economics is at the bottom of everything in this country, Black people should have at least as many Black economists, economic advocates and economic literary instructors as we do politi cians.”

Professor Clingman’s closing para graph in the same column states

that “Economics is about empower ment and our dollars should be used more wisely to that end. Politics is about self-interest and our votes should reflect that truth….The best help is self-help. We must organize and rally around basic economic principles. And until we are real ly serious in playing the political game, we must wean ourselves of the milk and pabulum of political dependence and get on a steady diet of competitive economics and mutual respect.”

What Professor Clingman is really telling us is that there is no politi cal power without economic power. There may be a limited degree of political influence but to have politi cal power a group must first possess economic power.

Fortunately, there is a growing number of young Black folks fol lowing the guidance suggested by Professor Clingman.

LBJ’s Howard address: a cross-examination Slavery in America remains legal through prison populations

(TriceEdneyWire.com)—“Involuntary servi tude or involuntary slavery is a legal and consti tutional term for a person laboring against that person’s will to benefit another, under some form of coercion, to which it may constitute slavery.” We’re taught that the 13th Amendment to the Constitution formally ended slavery in the Unit ed States, and we automatically think of slave labor as something back in the time of the ante bellum South. Truthfully, slavery has never tru ly ended, only chattel slavery—slavery in which one individual is considered the personal prop erty of another. “The 13th Amendment didn’t actually abolish slavery—what it did was make it invisible.” Bianca Tylek, the founder and ex ecutive director of the criminal justice advocacy group Worth Rises, told the AP in an interview.

Section 1 of the 13th amendment reads, “Nei ther slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their ju risdiction.” The exception clause for slavery as “punishment for crime” means the 1.2 million people who are convicted of a crime and incar cerated in state and federal prisons can still be legally enslaved.

During the Civil War, the big question was: What will White society do with the Black slaves once they were freed? White Americans feared ex-slaves would not be able to take care of them selves and wondered how they were going to manage “the Negro problem.”

Former slave and abolitionist Freder ick Douglass had a simple solution.

Douglass told White America: Don’t meddle, nor trouble yourselves with questions as to what is to be done with the ex-slaves. White meddling has been the Negro’s greatest misfortune. The Negro is not asking for benevolence, pity, or sympathy. Negroes only ask Whites not to build gates against them nor pass laws that degrade them. Outside of that, Negroes want to be left alone, subjected only to the same great laws that apply to all citizens. If Negroes were born in need of crutches, then Negroes would require outside assistance, but this is not the case. The Negro must make his own way in the world. The Negro wants the chance to stand on his own legs. But if the Negro can’t stand alone, then Whites must allow the Negro to fall on his own.

J.

Pharoah Doss

Check It Out

states rejoined the Union, White south erners answered the question—What to do with former slaves?—by creating a segregated society.

This was a major setback that pro duced a mass exodus from the south.

answer for their own redemption. Presi dent Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1965 Howard University address filled in the blank.

Johnson said, “You do not take a person who has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of the race, and then say, ‘You are free to compete with all the oth ers’ and still believe that you have been completely fair.”

In other words, White America can redeem itself from its racist past by pro viding Black people with a “head start.” Johnson emphasized that other ethnic minorities felt intolerance but made val iant efforts to emerge from poverty and prejudice, but Black Americans have a cultural tradition that has been twisted and battered by endless years of hatred and hopelessness. Johnson said, “Like these other ethnic minorities, Black Americans will have to rely on their own efforts, but Black Americans cannot do it alone.”

Frederick Douglass wasn’t opposed to government aid or White philanthropy. He was opposed to White paternalism predicated on Black inferiority.

After the Civil War, Congress es tablished the Freedmen’s Bureau to help former slaves with food, clothing, medical supplies, housing, and schooling. Booker T. Washington pointed out in his autobiography, Up from Slavery, that during the reconstruction period, former slaves looked to the federal government for everything, very much like a child looks to its mother, but the mission of the Freedmen’s Bureau wasn’t to provide paternalistic relief, it was to help the ex-slaves become self-sufficient.

Once the Federal reconstruction period ended and the former Confederate

David W. Marshall

Commentary

According to an ACLU and GHRC Research report, Captive Labor, two out of every three incarcerated people are also workers of some type. They work as cooks, dishwashers, janitors, groundskeepers, barbers, painters, or plumbers. They provide vital public services such as re pairing roads, maintaining parks and cemeter ies, fighting wildfires, or cleaning debris after hurricanes. They washed hospital laundry and worked in mortuary services at the height of the pandemic. They manufacture products like office furniture, mattresses, license plates, dentures, glasses, traffic signs, athletic equipment, and uniforms. They cultivate and harvest crops, work as welders and carpenters, and work in meat and poultry processing plants. Unfortunately, a dehumanization factor is often attached to the prison population.

Therefore, prison labor is easily exploited and has become another means of cheap labor in America. Incarcerated workers are stripped of the most basic protections against labor abuse. They are denied workplace safety guarantees and are not covered by minimum wage laws or overtime protection. While workers are assigned hazardous work in unsafe conditions, they usual ly are not afforded the benefit of formal training or protective gear. Sixty-four percent of incarcer ated workers surveyed said they felt concerned about their safety while working. The principal U.S. federal statute that sets standards and safe guards for health and safety in the workplace, the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), excludes most incarcerated workers from cover age.

Prison labor is hugely profitable, but not for the individuals providing the labor. Typical ly, incarcerated workers earn just pennies an hour. While it is rare that a job pays more than a dollar an hour, those are the fortunate ones. In seven states, incarcerated individuals are forced to work while receiving no pay for most jobs they perform. The average minimum hourly wage paid to workers for non-industry jobs is 13 cents, and the average maximum hourly wage is 52 cents. Yet, incarcerated workers produce more than $2 billion in goods and commodities and over $9 billion annually in services for main taining the prisons where they are housed. Most prison labor comes from Black Americans incar cerated in state prisons at nearly five times the rate of White Americans. It has become a captive labor force where most of the work is performed not by choice, despite those who say prison labor is technically voluntary. According to the report, “more than 76 percent of incarcerated workers report that they are required to work or face additional punishment such as solitary confine ment, denial of opportunities to reduce their sen tence, loss of family visitation, or lose the ability to pay for basic necessities like soap.”

While incarcerated workers are often invisible to the public, their primary labor beneficiaries are federal, state, and local governments. In fis cal year 2021, the federal government’s UNICOR prison industries program reported $404 million in net sales of goods and services produced by the 16,315 federally incarcerated workers in the program.

America’s history of slavery and enslaved people has always been a sensitive subject for schoolteachers. Particularly when having open and honest conversations about the atrocities of slavery in mixed-race classrooms. Slavery educa tion has often been mischaracterized and some times downplayed, leaving students and parents misinformed about the harsh realities while not fully respecting the fight for freedom waged by enslaved people or understanding the econom ics behind slavery. As a result, many people are often unable to connect the modern-day issues of prison labor and how they relate to America’s slave-based economy from the past.

During the recent midterm elections, voters in four states (Alabama, Oregon, Vermont, and Tennessee) approved ballot measures that will change their state constitutions to prohibit slav ery and involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime. A fifth state (Louisiana) rejected a flawed version of the question. The measures represent an important step. The change in the legal status of incarcerated workers may make it easier in the future for prison workers to achieve some degree of worker protection and rights through legal challenges.

(David W. Marshall is the founder of the faith-based or ganization, TRB: The Reconciled Body, and author of the book God Bless Our Divided America. He can be reached at www.davidwmarshallauthor.com.)

Blacks sought better lives in the north and west but faced discrimination in these areas that was just as sinister. Un der these circumstances, resilience and self-sufficiency were the only options, and between 1900 and the Great De pression, Black Americans built thriving communities like the Hayti District in Durham, North Carolina (known as the Black Capitol of the South), Har lem in New York City (known as the Black Mecca), U Street in Washington, DC (known as Black Broadway), the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma (known as Black Wall Street), and Jack son Ward in Richmond, Virginia (known as the Harlem of the South).

Self-sufficiency was the blueprint for Black Americans from emancipation until the Supreme Court struck down segregation in 1954. The Civil Rights Movement made White America see its moral failure by not abiding by the “true nature” of America’s creed, but to make a “more perfect union,” White America once again asked: What will White soci ety do with the Black population? This time the question was asked with remorse, and White America sought an

Johnson ended his speech by telling the crowd that he planned to call a conference of scholars and experts at the White House. The goal of the conference would be to help Black Americans move from opportunity to achievement.

Johnson believed the United States could end poverty and abolish inequality, but the policies created by Johnson and his successors were counterproductive. Jason Riley explained in his book Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Harder for Blacks to Succeed that the intentions behind these policies were noble, but in practice they slowed the self-development that proved necessary for other groups to advance.

Frederick Douglass wouldn’t have found any nobility behind Johnson’s intentions. Douglass would have accused Johnson of breaking legs in order to hand out crutches.

Historic election of L.A. Mayor Karen Bass

(TriceEdneyWire.com)—“Karen Bass has a long history of always being on the side of the people, fighting for the people, fighting for the people whose voices aren’t in the room but must be present.  That’s who Karen Bass has always been.  It’s who she will always be.”

The National Urban League and the civil rights community have had few champions in Congress as tenacious and effective as Rep. Karen Bass of California.

Earlier this year, the National Urban League worked closely with Chair woman Bass and the Congressional Black Caucus on negotiations that led to President Biden’s Executive Order on Advancing Effective, Accountable Policing and Criminal Justice Practic es to Enhance Public Trust and Public Safety. She and I partnered last year to highlight racial equity in COVID vaccines, and she advocated fiercely for the National Urban League’s priorities in the federal COVID relief respons es.  She has been a mainstay of our annual Legislative Policy Conference.

Now, the House of Representatives’ loss is the City of Los Angeles’ gain. We are proud to congratulate Rep. Bass as she prepares to be sworn in as the first woman to hold the office of Mayor of Los Angeles.

Her inauguration on Dec. 12 also will mark the first time in history that the nation’s four largest cities, will be led by Black mayors. She joins Eric Adams of New York, Lori Lightfoot of Chicago, and Sylvester Turner of Houston.

As a former big-city mayor my self, and a past president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, I am perhaps a

Those of us who share the blessing of ancestors from the African conti nent must educate our children to understand our ancestral roots were nourished by common waters. The miseducation and undereducation of our children have lessened the value of human life and given a sickening and consistent sanction to Black chil dren killing Black children.

Centuries ago, 40,000 slave ships, propelled by trade winds, sailed the oceans to capture and deliver human cargo. European nations competed, often viciously, to monetize African people. Millions of people were treated as animals, caged inhumanely, and stripped of language and religion as they sailed toward ruthless exploita tion.

Slavery was the lifeblood of the Southern economy. A century and a half later, unrelenting efforts are being made to restore the system of brutal oppression. Calls for voter suppression, the removal of race as a consideration for college entry and allowing urban school systems to implode are evidence of the intention ality of those who control the levers of power.

Those of us who trace our lineage to the stolen peoples of Africa, still bear the scars of yesterday’s tragedy. The evidence of past brutality is omnipres ent.

Our children must be educated to understand the laws of genetics were not altered by the slave trade. From

Marc H. Morial

To Be Equal

little biased but I am convinced that mayors are the most important elected officials in the country.  Cities are the economic engines of the nation. They are laboratories of innovation.  When a failure of leadership at the federal lev el crippled the nation’s response to the COVID pandemic, our mayors stepped into the breach.

The election of Rep. Bass, a longtime social justice advocate and coali tion-builder, can be seen as a rejection of racially-divisive policies such as the “tough-on-crime” agenda advocated by her opponent, and the underhanded scheming revealed by a leaked record ing of city council members making crude, racist remarks.

Mayor-Elect Bass is the ideal leader to bring together a city struggling to confront rising crime and a home lessness crisis.   Her experience as an emergency room physician assistant treating individuals who were home less, in the grip of substance abuse, and victims of crime and violence inspired her in 1990 to found the Com munity Coalition to address the root causes of injustice.

Her breakthrough as the first woman and second Black mayor of L.A. is just the latest in her long history of blazing

Ron Porter

Commentary

ship to shore, rape was common. The children of rape were slaves. African women did not willingly elect to have sexual intercourse with Massa. The proof of rape remains evident today.

People who trace their origins to the African continent have skin colored from melanin soaked black to bright white. Hair texture spans thick wire to spider web thin. Lips, big and small, highlight wonderful faces. No matter our skin color our ancestral roots were nourished by common waters.

Children who identify as originating from the African continent must be educated to understand key historical realities:

• The “one drop” rule was rooted in property rights. For many centuries on the North American continent, any ancestry traced back to the African continent was disqualifying for full human rights.

• Although Africans spoke differ ent tongues and were from different tribes, their blood from shackled an kles pooled collectively in the bowels of European slave ships.

• The mythology that equated

trails for Black women. In 2004, she entered office as the only Black woman serving in the California state legisla ture. She was the first to lead a state legislative body when she was sworn in as Speaker of the California State Assembly in 2008.  She earned the 2010 John F. Kennedy Profile in Cour age Award for her leadership during the state’s budget crisis, which “put an end to years of government inac tion and sidestepping of the difficult decisions.”

When the election of the most ethni cally and culturally diverse Congress in United States history swelled the ranks of the Congressional Black Cau cus to a historically large membership in 2018, it was Karen Bass they turned to for leadership. With members serv ing as five full committee chairs, and 28 subcommittee chairs, the CBC un der her watch advanced major racial justice priorities including establishing a record of continued voter suppres sion efforts around the country, laying the foundation for passage of the John Lewis Voting Advancement Act.

She was the primary sponsor of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, the most transformative legislation on policing to ever pass in a chamber of Congress. As a member of the House Judiciary Committee, she was instru mental in includes passing the First Step Act, the most significant criminal justice reform in decades.

While Karen Bass might have won the mayoral election, the real winners are the people of Los Angeles, who have an opportunity to usher in a new era of inclusive, more equitable civic leadership.

whiteness with human superiority became ingrained in the guidelines of governance; law enforcement became the primary tool for keeping people of African descent “in their place”

• Our humanness and humaneness were flailed by whips and charred by the relentless sun as the economic engine of slavery harvested millions of tons of cotton for sale around the world,

• Consistent hate spewed over centuries has been corrosive, stripping off the protective familial shell, far too often fostering a willingness to kill and maim “brothers and sisters” who share a common heritage.

Across our nation, there is great energy focused on asserting any of the current traumas experienced within our urban African American commu nities are unrelated to the past. The political machinations of Trump, De Santis, Mastriano, and their apostles are targeting a reversal of irrefutable history. Black folks are grievously in jured by purging the reality of slavery/ racism from our educational history.

Education is a key tool to dissuade Black youth from actively participat ing in their demise. Math, science and historical awareness must be valued above guns and twerking.

Our children must be guided toward honoring and celebrating their shared history. There is unadulterated histor ical evidence that our ancestral roots were nurtured by common waters. Each one, teach one. What will you do?

Our ancestral roots were nourished by common waters

QUANTITATIVE ANALYTICS AND MODEL DEVELOPMENT

CONSULTANT

The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc., headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, seeks a Quantitative Analytics and Model Development Consultant for a work-from-home position with the ability to telecommute with appropriate telecommuting systems. Specific duties include: (i) performing complex quantitative analyses and model development to support decision-making by running quantitative strategies; (ii) developing new model frameworks by supporting the line of business; refining, monitoring, and validating existing models; conducting ongoing communication with model owners and model developers during the course of the review; and working with large data to create models; (iii) performing advanced qualitative and quantitative assessments on all aspects of models including theoretical aspects, model design and implementation, and data quality and integrity; reviewing reports and associated quantitative analysis; and validating existing models and assessing model risks; (iv) evaluating identified model risks and reaching conclusions regarding strengths and limitations of the model; and (v) preparing and analyzing detailed documents for validation and regulatory compliance, using applicable templates. Master’s degree in Mathematics, Statistics, Quantitative Finance, Financial Engineering, Economics, or Data Analytics plus 3 years of experience in financial modeling and quantitative validation in a financial analyst or statistical analyst role at a bank or financial service company is required. Must have experience with: (i) developing credit scoring models to be used in credit lending decisions; (ii) validating and monitoring credit scoring models to assess the model related risk in credit lending decisions; (iii) designing loss forecasting models to project cash flows consistent with macroeconomic conditions; (iv) performing portfolio analysis to assess default risk in the retail credit portfolio; (v) analyzing extensive credit bureau attributes and behavioral variables to evaluate default probabilities of retail loan customers; (vi) performing quantitative analyses on the banking retail lending products including personal loans, credit cards, overdraft, auto loans, and mortgage; (vii) using traditional algorithms including logistic regression, decision tree, and machine learning algorithms to estimate likelihood of default of customers and forecast credit loss; (viii) performing data analysis with SQL, SAS EGP, and SAS Miner; and (ix) documenting, communicating, and monitoring the model risks to manage the model risk across bank decisions including credit lending decisions, loss forecasting, account management, and collection. 40 hours/week, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Interested individuals apply online at www.pnc.com using keyword R122891. PNC provides equal employment opportunity to qualified persons regardless of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, veteran status, or other categories protected by law.

SR SOFTWARE ENGINEER (Seegrid Corporation/ Pittsburgh, PA). Be part of the team charged w/ creating the next gen of warehouse automation robots & control sys; & conceive, dsgn, & implmnt new embedded s/w features, maintain existing code, & debug cmplx, multi-factored issues that arise when robots, humans, & the unconstrained real-world interact.

Reqs: Master’s in Comp Sci, Soft Eng’g, or rltd tech field; 2 yrs’ exp in job offered or rltd occup; hands-on program’g exp in Python; & exp working w/ the following: distributed sys, non-relational d/b’s, relational d/b’s, asynchronous program’g paradigms, real-time messaging sys (AMQP, MQTT, WSS), REST web svcs, & Slack apps. Pos allows for up to 100% work from home in any U.S. state. Visit https://seegrid.com/careers/ open-positions/5413382003/ to apply.

SOUTH FAYETTE TWP.

SCHOOL DISTRICT is seeking a: CLASSROOM PARAEDUCATOR

Applications must be received by 4:00 PM December 12, 2022

Complete job descriptions and directions on how to apply are available at: www.southfayette.org

SOUTH FAYETTE TWP.

SCHOOL DISTRICT is seeking a: PERSONAL CARE PARAEDUCATOR

Applications must be received by 4:00 PM December 12, 2022

Complete job descriptions and directions on how to apply are available at: www.southfayette.org

CONTENT CREATION SPECIALIST Pittsburgh Regional Transit is seeking a Content Creation Specialist to support the agency’s Communications Division by delivering engaging rider-centric content that drives brand awareness and educates and converts the public into transit riders and advocates.

A portfolio of work samples is required when applying. Please ensure a link to your portfolio is listed in your resume or is sent directly to Danielle Jacobson at djacobson@rideprt.org.

Essential Functions:

• This position will help lead Pittsburgh Regional Transit creative storytelling on social, communicating our services, projects, culture, impact on the community through an engaging, social-first lens.

• Conceptualizes, plans, produces, and edits a variety of compelling and original content, including photographs, videos, animations, and other graphics designs for organic and paid media campaigns that extends the reach and amplifies our brand across all digital platforms while aligning with brand guidelines, goals, and objectives.

• Create content that pairs brand voice, tone, and values with trends, campaign strategy, and analytics to make informed strategic decisions.

Job requirements include:

• High School diploma / GED required.

• Three or more years of relevant experience required.

• At least two years’ experience growing a brand’s TikTok, Instagram, and other social media channels.

• Solid project management skills.

• Ability to manage multiple projects, multi-task and effectively prioritize conflicting assignments with minimal supervision.

• Must be a fresh thinker and an excellent storyteller who can write creative copy for scripts, ads, social, blogs, and more.

• A portfolio of work samples/examples is required.

• Two years of photo and video editing experience.

• Strong attention to detail is necessary, as is the ability to juggle a variety of projects at once.

• Proven ability to organize/manage multiple priorities/projects coupled with the flexibility to quickly adapt to ever changing business needs.

Preferred attributes:

• Bachelor’s degree in visual arts, communications, or marketing.

We offer a comprehensive compensation and benefits package. Interested candidates should forward a cover letter (with salary requirements) and resume to:

Danielle Jacobson Employment Department 345 Sixth Avenue, 3rd Floor Pittsburgh, PA 15222-2527

SCHOOL DISTRICT is seeking a: BUILDING CUSTODIAN

Applications must be received by 4:00 PM December 12, 2022

Complete job descriptions and directions on how to apply are available at: www.southfayette.org

ANNOUNCEMENTS Meetings

HACP BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

DECEMBER MEETING

The Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh’s Board of Commissioners will hold its monthly Board Meeting on December 15, 2022 at 10:30 a.m.

Due to the COVID-19 protective guidelines set forth by federal, state, and local government, the meeting will be held remotely, with public access to be provided online. The HACP will provide a direct link to a livestream of the meeting, and instruction on how to make a public comment. Details will be made available on http://www.hacp.org, in advance of the meeting.

HACP conducts business in accordance with all federal, state, and local civil rights laws, including but not limited to Title VII, the Fair Housing Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act, The PA Human Relations Act, etc. and does not discriminate against any individuals protected by these statutes.

LEGAL ADVERTISING Bids/Proposals

ADVERTISEMENT

Bids are hereby solicited for the Community College of Allegheny County, 800 Allegheny Avenue, Pittsburgh PA 15233 on the following:

Bid 1111 – VAC Ground Level Renovations – General and Plumbing

A MANDATORY pre-bid meeting and site-visitation will be held at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, December 9, 2022. The assembly point will be the corner of North Lincoln and Galveston (behind Graybar Electric), Pittsburgh, PA 15212.

Due date: 2:00 P.M. Prevailing Time on Monday, December 19, 2022

Any bid or proposals received after this deadline will be considered as a “late bid” and will be returned unopened to the offerer.

Proposals may require Bid Bonds, Performance Bonds, Payment Bonds, and Surety as dictated by the specifications.

No bidder may withdraw his bid or proposal for a period of ninety (90) days after the scheduled closing time for receipt of bids. The Board of Trustees reserves the right to reject any and all bids.

The Community College of Allegheny County is an Affirmative Action/Equal Employment Opportunity Employer and encourages bids from Minority/Disadvantaged owned businesses.

For more information, contact Michael Cvetic at mcvetic@ccac.edu.

LEGAL ADVERTISEMENT INVITATION FOR BIDS: The Allegheny County Housing Authority (ACHA) is requesting bids from qualified contractors for TRACTION ELEVATOR MODERNIZATION at GENERAL BRADDOCK TOWER CONTRACT: ACHA-1688 TRACTION ELEVATOR MODERNIZATION at GENERAL BRADDOCK TOWER, 620 Sixth Street, North Braddock, PA 15104

DOCUMENTS: Bid documents & specifications for consideration, will be available on/after December 5, 2022 on the Pittsburgh Builder’s Ex change, or the McGraw-Hill web sites. Complete IFB Documents with Bid Package may be requested by contacting Dean Allen, Modernization Manager by email: dallen@achsng.com or by calling 412-402-2469.

FEE: No Charge for Emailed / Electronic Transfer documents.

NON-MANDATORY PRE-BID CONFERENCE SITE WALK THRU: Thursday, December 14, 2022, at 10:00AM EST at General Braddock Tower, 620 Sixth Street, North Braddock, PA 15104

JAMES

QUESTION SUBMITTAL DEADLINE: Friday, December 21, 2022, at 3:00PM EST BIDS DUE: January 11, 2023, at 2:00 PM EST at the ACHA Central Office, 301 Chartiers Avenue, McKees Rocks, PA 15136 Section 3 Businesses, MWDBE, VOSB are encouraged to respond.

Frank Aggazio Executive Director

LEGAL ADVERTISING Bids/Proposals

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

The Allegheny County Department of Human Services recently issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for Staff Augmentation Services for Information Technology, Data Management and Data Analysis. Due date is 3 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, February 1, 2023 For more details and submission information, visit: www.alleghenycounty.us/ Human-Services/Resources\ /Doing-Business/Solicitations-(RFP/ RFQ/RFI).aspx.

Erin Dalton Director

HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF PITTSBURGH REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) FOR GROUP TERM LIFE, AD&D AND LTD BENEFITS RFP# 650-28-22

The Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh (HACP) hereby request proposals from qualified Firms or Individuals capable of providing the following service(s):

Group Term Life, AD&D and LTD Benefits

The documents will be available no later than December 5, 2022 and signed, sealed proposals will be accepted until: 10:00 AM on December 27, 2022. The Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh will only be accepting physical proposals dropped off in person from 8:00 AM until the closing time of 10:00 AM on December 27, 2022 in the lobby of 100 Ross St. Pittsburgh, PA 15219. Proposals may be uploaded to the Authority’s online submission site, the link is accessible via the HACP website and within the RFP. Sealed proposals may still be mailed via USPS at which time they will be Time and Date Stamped at 100 Ross Street 2nd Floor, Suite 200, Pittsburgh, PA 15219.

Parties or individuals interested in responding may download a copy of the Solicitation from the Business Opportunities page of www.HACP.org.

Questions or inquiries should be directed to:

Mr. James Harris

Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh Legal Department 100 Ross Street 2nd Floor, Suite 200 Pittsburgh, PA 15219 412-643-2915

A pre-submission meeting will be held via Zoom meeting; on December 15, 2022. Please see meeting information below:

Join Zoom Meeting Meeting ID: 826 1953 4709 Passcode: 266652 +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington D.C)

The Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh strongly encourages certified minority business enterprises and women business enterprises to respond to this solicitation.

HACP has revised their website. As part of those revisions, vendors must now register and log-in, in order to view and download IFB/ RFPs documentation.

Caster D. Binion, Executive Director Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh

LEGAL ADVERTISING Bids/Proposals

HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF PITTSBURGH REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) FOR CELL TOWER CONSULTANT REBID RFP# 700-27-22-Rebid

The Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh (HACP) hereby request proposals from qualified Firms or Individuals capable of providing the following service(s):

Cellular Tower Consultant Services

The documents will be available no later than December 5, 2022 and signed, sealed proposals will be accepted until: 9:00 AM on December 27, 2022. The Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh will only be accepting physical proposals dropped off in person from 8:00 AM until the closing time of 9:00 AM on December 27, 2022 in the lobby of 100 Ross St. Pittsburgh, PA 15219. Proposals may be uploaded to the Authority’s online submission site, the link is accessible via the HACP website and within the RFP. Sealed proposals may still be mailed via USPS at which time they will be Time and Date Stamped at 100 Ross Street 2nd Floor, Suite 200, Pittsburgh, PA 15219.

Parties or individuals interested in responding may download a copy of the Solicitation from the Business Opportunities page of www.HACP.org.

Questions or inquiries should be directed to:

Mr. James Harris

Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh Legal Department 100 Ross Street 2nd Floor, Suite 200 Pittsburgh, PA 15219 412-643-2915

A pre-submission meeting will be held via Zoom meeting; on December 15, 2022. Please see meeting information below:

Join Zoom Meeting Meeting ID: 814 0956 1653 Passcode: 185715 +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington D.C)

The Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh strongly encourages certified minority business enterprises and women business enterprises to respond to this solicitation.

HACP has revised their website. As part of those revisions, vendors must now register and log-in, in order to view and download IFB/ RFPs documentation.

Caster D. Binion, Executive Director Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh

HACP conducts business in accordance with all federal, state, and local civil rights laws, including but not limited to Title VII, the Fair Housing Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act, The PA Human Relations Act, etc. and does not discriminate against any individuals protected by these statutes.

SOUTH FAYETTE TWP.

LEGAL ADVERTISING Legal Notices

DOROTHY CHEATOM, deceased, of Pittsburgh, No. 7345 of 2022. Beverly Cheatom, Petitioner, has filed a Petition to Determine Title to Real Estate at 610 Montooth Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15210, pursuant to 20 PA § 3546, Peter B. Lewis, Neighborhood Legal Services, 928 Penn Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15222, Counsel.

V. GILLESPIE, deceased, of Homestead, Whitaker, No. 04727 of 2022. Mary Beth Ritz, Extrx. 151 Lincoln Avenue, Homestead, PA 15120 or to c/o Jacqueline H. Brangard, Esquire Scolieri Law Group, P.C. Attys. 1207 Fifth Avenue, Suite 200, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15219

Allegheny County Housing Authority

ALLEGHENY COUNTY

SANITARY AUTHORITY

LEGAL NOTICE

CONTRACT NO. 1778

The Allegheny County Sanitary Authority is soliciting Bids for CONTRACT NO. 1778 – Furnish and Deliver Caustic Soda for Demineralization Unit Regeneration.

Proposals will be received un til 11:00 A.M., Prevailing Time, Tuesday, January 10, 2023 at the office of the Authority and then shall be publicly opened and read via Microsoft Teams Meeting.

Contact Kathleen P. Uniatowski for Invitation to Bid Opening Teams Meeting at Kathleen.Uniatowski@alcosan.org .

ALCOSAN encourages businesses owned and operated by minorities and women to submit bids on Authority Proposals or to participate as subcontractors or suppliers to the successful bidders. Successful Bidders are to use minority or women’s businesses to the fullest extent possible.

Bid Security is required and shall be furnished by providing with the Bid a Certified Check or Bid Bond in the amount of $1,000.00.

To Obtain Contract Bidding Documents, send request to Kathleen P. Uniatowski via email at contract.clerks@alcosan.org

Any questions regarding the Technical Aspects of the Project should be directed to Benjamin J. Heilman, Contract Supervisor at Benjamin.Heilman@alcosan.org or 412-734-6204.

The Authority reserves the right to reject any or all Proposals, to waive any informality in any Proposal and to accept any Proposal should it be deemed in the interest of the Authority to do so.

ALLEGHENY COUNTY

SANITARY AUTHORITY

Benjamin J. Heilman

Contract Supervisor

ALLEGHENY COUNTY

SANITARY AUTHORITY

LEGAL NOTICE

CONTRACT NO. 1773

SHERADEN PARK ECOSYSTEM

MAINTENANCE CONTRACT

Sealed Bids for CONTRACT NO. 1773 – Sheraden Park Ecosystem

Maintenance Contract shall be received at the Engineering Department office of the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority, 3300 Preble Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15233, until 11:00 A.M., Prevailing Time, Wednesday, January 11, 2023 and then shall be publicly opened and read. A Pre-Bid Meeting will be held via a video conference call on Wednesday, December 14, 2023 at 10:00 A.M., Prevailing Time.

ALCOSAN encourages businesses owned and operated by minorities and women to submit bids on Authority Contracts or to participate as subcontractors or suppliers to successful Bidders. Successful Bidders are to use minority and women’s businesses to the fullest extent possible.

Contract Documents may be examined and obtained at the Engineering office of the Authority. A non-refundable fee of One hundred dollars ($100) (no cash or credit cards will be accepted) will be charged for each set of Contract Documents received. Bid Security shall be furnished by providing with the Bid a Certified Check or Bid Bond in the amount of 10% of the Bid Price. Contract documents must be purchased directly from ALCOSAN to qualify as an eligible bidder.

Any questions regarding the Technical Aspects of the Project should be directed to Joseph Fedor, Environmental Scientist II, ALCOSAN via email to joseph. Fedor@alcosan.org .

Any questions regarding the Purchase of Contract Bidding Documents should be directed to Kathleen P. Uniatowski, ALCOSAN, via email to contract.clerks@alcosan.org .

The Authority reserves the right to reject any or all bids, to waive any informality in any bid and to accept any bid should it be deemed in the interest of the Authority to do so.

ALLEGHENY COUNTY

SANITARY AUTHORITY

Michael Lichte, P.E. Director of Regional

Conveyance

ALLEGHENY COUNTY SANITARY AUTHORITY

LEGAL NOTICE

CONTRACT NO. 1781 FURNISH & DELIVER FIBERGLASS FLIGHTS FOR THE PRIMARY

SEDIMENTATION TANKS

Sealed Bids for CONTRACT NO. 1781–Furnish & Deliver Fiberglass flights for the Primary Sedimentation Tanks shall be received at the Engineering Department office of the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority, 3300 Preble Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15233, until 11:00 A.M., Prevailing Time, Thursday, January 12, 2023 and then shall be publicly opened and read. A link will be required to access The Microsoft Teams Video Conference for the Bid Opening. If interested in obtaining a link to the Bid Opening, contact Kathleen P. Uniatowski via email at kathleen.uniatowski@alcosan.org .

ALCOSAN encourages businesses owned and operated by minorities and women to submit bids on Authority Contracts or to participate as subcontractors or suppliers to successful Bidders. Successful Bidders are to use minority and women’s businesses to the fullest extent possible.

Contract Documents will be available via email or may be examined at the Engineering office of the Authority. Contract documents must be obtained directly from ALCOSAN to qualify as an eligible bidder. Bid Security shall be furnished by providing with the Bid a Certified Check in the amount of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00)

Any questions regarding the Technical Specifications should be directed to Benjamin Heilman, Contract Supervisor, via email Benjamin.heilman@alcosan.org.

Any questions regarding the Purchase of Contract Bidding Documents should be directed to Kathleen P. Uniatowski, ALCOSAN, via email at contract.clerks@alcosan.org.

The Authority reserves the right to reject any or all bids, to waive any informality in any bid and to accept any bid should it be deemed in the interest of the Authority to do so.

ALLEGHENY COUNTY SANITARY AUTHORITY

Benjamin J. Heilman Contract Supervisor

REQUEST

ALLEGHENY COUNTY SANITARY AUTHORITY PUBLIC NOTICE

The Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN) is accepting Letters of Interest and Statements of Qualifications from Professional Companies who wish to be considered for the following:

PROFESSIONAL CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT SERVICES

CONTRACT 1763:

ACCESS SHAFTS

NEAR A-40 AND THE M-49 INTERCEPTOR JUNCTION CAPITAL PROJECT S-474

One electronic copy must be received via email no later than 2:00 PM on January 6, 2023, by the ALCOSAN Procurement officer.

Allegheny County Sanitary Authority Attention: Suzanne Thomas, Procurement Officer suzanne.thomas@alcosan.org

All questions shall be submitted, in writing , to Ms. Thomas at suzanne.thomas@alcosan.org

ALCOSAN intends to award the services to one team to perform all services. All submittals must be received no later than 2:00 p.m. (EST) January 6, 2023 . It is Consultant’s responsibility to ensure the documents have been received. Late submittals will not be considered. Additional information and instructions may be obtained by visiting: https://www.alcosan.org/workwith-us/planned-and-active-bids

ALCOSAN encourages businesses owned and operated by minorities, disadvantaged and women’s business enterprises to submit qualification statements or to participate as subcontractors or suppliers to the selected Consultant/ Firm. The Party selected shall be required to utilize minority, disadvantaged, and women’s business enterprises to the fullest extent possible. The goals of the ALCOSAN’s Minority and Women Business Policy are listed on the ALCOSAN website at www.alcosan.org.

Lichte, PE Director, Regional Conveyance

SONNY BOY

Steelers not giving up on the season; looking for three wins in a row, Dec. 11

:10—Well, well, well. I guess the sinking ship ain't exactly the Titanic after all, is it? At 3-7 you all, and you know who you are, were set to cast aside your Pittsburgh Steelers season and get ready for a high draft pick. "They can't win with Pickett yet, he's just a rookie who throws too many interceptions." 1) As a work in progress, Kenny Pickett has won 3 of his last 4 games, thrown 0, yes, zero intercep tions, and, with a less-than-stel lar coordinator, taken some seri ous steps forward. Watching on Sunday, Dec. 4, he is now going through his receiver progres sions instead of concentrating on just one receiver. He is less likely to try and force a pass into coverage. He's finally figured out a pass out of bounds is OK, as is taking a sack instead of trying to force something to happen. He had a few errant passes on Sun day, especially on open receiv ers 25-plus yards downfield but that will come with more game action. Relax, he will be terrif ic next season, and remember where you heard it first. 2) The Falcons aren't good, and neither is their QB Marcus Mariota. The Steelers should have beat en them and they did. Instead of folding as many teams would have, Coach Mike Tomlin has his group of men focused and playing 100 percent every play.

Connor Heyward caught Pick ett's TD pass as if he's caught 50 in his career. Connor Heyward... are you kidding me?!?! Kudos to Coach Tomlin for keeping the team together which ain't easy when the W's aren't stacking.

:09—Minkah Fitzpatrick is worth every dime they're paying him. Not only did he make the game-ending interception, he also, again, led the team in tack les. He is money and he should be First Team All-Pro again. I'm just saying.

:08—Najee Harris rushed for a team-high 86 yards on 17 carries for a 5.1 yard-per-carry aver age. He seems to finally be over whatever was ailing him earli er in the season and his brute force, bludgeoning running style is really paying dividends. The better you run the ball the more it opens up the passing game goes the old adage, and from the looks of Najee throwing de

fenders to the ground, it's only a matter of time.

:07—Which brings us to George Pickens, one catch for two yards. We all saw George coming off the field after what we first thought was a fumble by Diontae Johnson but turned out to be just another routine drop by him, yelling for the ball...aaah, shall we say loudly to anyone listening. And I agree, far too many times on Sunday it

seemed the play-calling was fa vored to Diontae in order to pla cate his ego. Hey, Diontae, catch the ball!!! George Pickens is a singular talent able to stretch the field and make the tough, in double coverage catch. Throw him the ball! Design more plays that focus on him! Throw him the ball!!! Throw him the ball!!! Throw him the ball!!!

:06—Big shoutout to Pat Frei ermuth and the tremendous effort on his 57-yard catch and run. Well done, sir. He seems to be developing into a very, very, very good tight end with added strength this year and a heart beating pure black and gold. He may never put up the eye-pop ping stats of Travis Kelce but his value will be measured like our great TE Heath Miller, in clutch receptions, in spot-on blocking and pass protection and in the intangibles that made Heath the consummate teammate.

:05—With Lamar Jackson injured and definitely out for this upcoming Sunday, Dec. 11, there is no reason the Steelers can't continue the "stacking" and beat the Ravens at Acrisure Stadium. It may take another four-field goal performance like Matthew Wright had against Atlanta, his stock rising with every weekend performance, but I'm sure he's ready to repeat the show if necessary. Great pick-up and signing by the front office, Wright has been a very pleasant

surprise. :04—Have you heard the one about the star player who's dis gruntled by the owner of the Pirates and wants out of here as fast as most beautiful wom en say "No" to me? Wait, what? Bryan Reynolds has asked for a trade and his agent has made it crystal clear they mean now, not later. Next in a long line of talent let go for "prospects" that never pan out, Reynolds has had to play through a team that in his four years has a winning per centage of .386, including backto-back 100-loss seasons. With salaries skyrocketing across MLB and the Pirates always trying to lock in talent on the cheap, it's no wonder Reynolds wants to leave. Shortstop Trea Turner just signed an 11-year, $300 million deal with the Phil lies. Seriously. With significant interest in the switch-hitting former All-Star, especially from the New York Yankees as per reports out of the Winter Meet ings, don't be shocked if Reyn olds is moved quickly for a pair of batting gloves game worn by Aaron Judge, 12 scuffed outfield balls and a slightly creased 1982 Oscar Gamble Yankees baseball card.

:03—Baker Mayfield was re leased by the Carolina Panthers. The 2018 No. 1 overall draft pick of the Cleveland Browns was 1-5 as the Panthers' starting QB and by almost all measures was pretty dreadful. Never liked him, never liked his commer cials, never liked his cocky atti tude, never liked him.

:02—The Penguins are back in playoff position, led by Sid ney Crosby, ninth in scoring this season and an early MVP candidate, and, hopefully with the quick return of Kris Letang from his second stroke, the Pens should be good enough to once again make the playoffs. That's it, a quick update, nothing more to see here, keep moving people, it's not January yet.

:01—The World Cup continues without the United States' per petually undermanned team, and with that continues not a whiff of interest from me and you, either.

:00—GAME OVER.

Michael