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Richmond Free Press © 2023 Paradigm Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
VOL. 32 NO. 51
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
richmondfreepress.com
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B1
DECEMBER 21-23, 2023
On probation VUU has a year to meet financial accreditation standards By Jeremy M. Lazarus
Virginia Union University remains optimistic of lifting the dark cloud that hangs over its accreditation – a key requirement for its students to access federal student loans – despite record enrollment, a strengthened academic program and increased donations. According to Dr. Hakim J. Lucas, president of the 158-year-old historically Black private university, the Richmond school is doubling down on its efforts to ensure its financial operations meet the standards required to maintain accreditation. In his view and that of the school’s board chairman, Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson, a school
devoted to excellence can do no less. “Our march toward best-in-class continues, and we continue working to align our operations with our aspirations,” Dr. Lucas stated in vowing to eliminate any concerns about the school’s status as an accredited institution. VUU has 12 months to get its financial house in order after receiving the strongest warning yet from its accreditation agency, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). The commission, which has monitored VUU for two years for compliance, placed VUU on probation Dec. 3 and gave the school a year to Please turn to A4
Coburn Hall at Virginia Union University
Regina H. Boone/Free Press file photo
Homeless people who died on U.S. streets are increasingly remembered at winter solstice gatherings The Associated Press
The Associated Press
Documentary photographer Eric Elmore displays one of his images of Roosevelt White III in Phoenix at the site of a fire where Mr. White lived in a tent before he died last September.
PHOENIX With his gap-tooth smile, hip-hop routines and volunteer work for a food charity, Roosevelt White III was well known in the downtown Phoenix tent city known as “The Zone.” But like many homeless people, Mr. White suffered from diabetes and cardiovascular disease. He died one sweltering September day at age 36. Thousands of people like Mr. White who died this year without a permanent home
are being memorialized on Thursday in communities from Cape Cod, Massachusetts to La Crosse, Wisconsin, to Riverside, California. Established in 1990, the increasingly popular Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day is observed with prayers, candles, moments of silence and the reading of names on Dec. 21, the first day of winter and the longest night of the year. A national gathering called “One Life, Too Many. Another Year, Too Long” is planned Thursday afternoon in Washington, with a Zoom call so people can follow from afar.
Despite defendants’ inability to pay court fees, many still incur costs By Jeremy M. Lazarus
“Anyone charged with a crime that can result in jail or prison time is entitled to legal representation. In the familiar line from the Miranda warning, “You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be
appointed to you.” But in Virginia, defendants who sign an affirmation in court that they have no funds to pay for an attorney are never told their right to a court-assigned lawyer is not free. To the surprise of many, they received a bill from the court for that attorney if they
Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press
A light on the town The illumination of the Downtown Richmond skyline continues at Kanawha Plaza, 701 E. Canal St. This annual light spectacular is always a people pleaser during the holiday season, so bundle up and take a drive or stroll for a light on the town! Happy holidays, Richmond!
are convicted or accept a plea deal. Depending on the case, the initial bill runs between $300 and $600 in Richmond and across the state, far lower than a paid attorney would charge. But in felony cases, that bill can be double or triple that amount. And over time, an initial bill will steadily grow each year as interest is applied. Left unpaid after release, that debt will hamper a former inmate’s ability to rebuild their lives, negatively affect their credit score and sometimes result in a new jail term, according to the Charlottesville-based Legal Aid Justice Center (LAJC). “Defendants get charged a fee for their court-appointed attorney or public defender, despite the judge already having decided they couldn’t afford an attorney,” notes the 56-year-old nonprofit legal aid group that represents immigrants, juveniles, public housing residents and other low-income people. Shining a new spotlight on the trouble that fee causes, the LAJC is now calling on the Virginia General Assembly to end this fee-based system that traps people in debt. In a report issued earlier this month, LAJC points out that lower court judges are using the unpaid fee for a court-appointed lawyer as an excuse to end parole or reinstate a suspended sentence — flouting a 1974 Virginia Supreme Court decision that found such tactics were never justified Please turn to A4
Other gatherings will be in Cincinnati, Ohio; Wilmington, Del.; and San Diego. A ceremony in Phoenix will honor 758 homeless people confirmed to have died so far this year in Maricopa County, the most populous in Arizona and home to Phoenix, the state’s largest city. That’s already a record. The Maricopa County Medical Examiner investigated 732 deaths of homeless people in 2022, representing a 42% jump in deaths from 2021. “Without sufficient housing and services, people will continue to die on the streets,” said Lisa Glow, CEO at Central Arizona Shelter Services, which operates the state’s largest emergency shelter, a 600-bed facility in Phoenix. DeBorah Gilbert White, the public education director for the National Coalition for the Homeless, said learning about those who died can shatter stereotypes. At one event several years ago, she learned of a
3-year-old homeless girl who died in the nation’s capital. “Meanwhile, as our overall population is growing older, we are seeing more homeless people dying in their 60s,” said Ms. White. She noted that many older homeless people with chronic conditions like diabetes don’t have the necessary conditions, such as refrigeration for insulation, to care for their health. Overall, homelessness is surging. The recent Annual Homeless Assessment Report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development showed that roughly 653,100 people in the United States were experiencing homelessness. That’s a 12% overall increase over the previous year and the highest since reporting began in 2007. “A lot of people living in encampments are uninsured and without access to medical treatment for a variety of Please turn to A4
Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press
Making a list Zeniyah Trent, 3, needs the support of her father, Colby Trent, as she confers with Soul Santa about her Christmas wish list Dec. 2 at the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia.
Richmond church gains $1.25M mental health program grant Free Press staff report
A historic East End church has been awarded $1.25 million from the Lilly Endowment to promote mental health and hire psychologists and other professionals to serve congregants and the community. Founded 156 years ago and now one of the largest predominantly Black churches in Richmond, Cedar Street Baptist Church of God was awarded the grant to start a program called “Support for Addressing Stigma and Promoting Mental Wellness among African-Americans,” the endowment stated. Cedar Street in its grant application stated that funds would
be used to increase mental health and wellness messaging through a collaboration with other churches and to expand mental health services in the area by opening a clinic with professional staff at its sanctuary at 2301 Cedar St. The first program of its kind in Richmond, the initiative challenges a tradition of promoting prayer as the best resource for relieving Dr. Chandler stress and mental health concerns. In the nuanced view of Cedar Street’s pastor, Dr. Anthony M. Chandler Sr., who led the effort to secure the grant, prayer and
pastoral counseling are not always enough to meet the mental health needs of the people the church serves. “I have learned through more than 20 years of pastoring that faith in God and your affiliation with a church are not the only resources necessary to holistic health,” Dr. Chandler said. “Depression, suicide, anxiety, feelings of guilt and loneliness are just a few of the stressors that affect members of my congregation and the African-American community at large,” said the pastor, who started his ministerial career in Baltimore and has been with Cedar Street since 2007. Please turn to A4