Foundation’s last member determined to maintain Black cemeteries

was shutting down.

Mr. Mitchell stated that he is using his family’s Richmond Planet Foundation to secure state and volunteer help to maintain the cemeteries during the dissolution process.

“The mission continues,” said Mr. Mitchell, the greatgreat-nephew of John Mitchell Jr., who was a banker, City Council leader and fiery editor of the former Richmond Planet newspaper.

Mr. Mitchell said he and the other board members spent 2022 trying to find a way to dissolve in an orderly fashion to “provide a path to repay creditors and to turn over (the cemeteries) to the City of

Richmond per the Enrichmond bylaws.”

He said the foundation’s historical documents, financial records, computers and other stored items already have been given to the city.

Despite consultation with legal advisers, he stated that the board could not find solutions to the financial challenges. Ultimately, the foundation’s situation proved “much too complicated for a volunteer board to resolve,” he continued in a statement to the Free Press.

He stated he chose to stay after the other board members resigned because “I just want to see the cemeteries remain clean and move forward, no matter who is at the helm.”

Free COVID-19 vaccines

Continued from A1

3501 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday for more information on testing sites, or go online at vax.rchd.com.

The Virginia Department of Health also has a list of COVID-19 testing locations around the state at www.vdh.virginia.gov/coronavirus/ covid-19-testing/covid-19-testing-sites.

Want a COVID-19 vaccine or booster shot?

The Richmond and Henrico health districts are offering free vaccines for COVID-19 and more at the following locations:

• Wednesday, Feb. 1, 10 a.m. to Noon - Henrico West Health Department, 8600 Dixon Powers Dr., JYNNEOS and flu shots; 2 to 4 p.m. - Primary Moderna shots for age 6 months and older, bivalent booster for age 6 years and older, Primary Pfizer shots for age 6 months and older and bivalent boosters for age 5 and older, Novavax primary shots for age 12 and older and boosters for age 18 and older, flu shots, walk-ups welcome but appointments encouraged.

• Thursday, Feb. 2, 2 to 4 p.m. - Cary Street, 400 E. Cary St.,

Primary Moderna shots for age 6 months and older, bivalent boosters for age 6 years and older, Primary Pfizer shots for age 6 months to 11 years and bivalent boosters for age 5 years and older, Novavax primary shots for age 12 and older and boosters for age 18 and older, Flu shots, walk-ups welcome but appointments encouraged.

People can schedule an appointment online at vase.vdh.virginia. gov, vaccinate.virginia.gov or vax.rchd.com, or by calling (804) 2053501 or (877) VAX-IN-VA (1-877-829-4682).

VaccineFinder.org and vaccines.gov also allow people to find nearby pharmacies and clinics that offer the COVID-19 vaccine and booster.

Those who are getting a booster shot should bring their vaccine card to confirm the date and type of vaccine received.

RHHD also offers at-home vaccinations by calling (804) 205-3501 to schedule appointments.

New COVID-19 boosters, updated to better protect against the latest variants of the virus, are now available. The new Pfizer booster is approved for those aged 12 and up, while the new Moderna booster is for those age 18 and older.

As with previous COVID-19 boosters, the new doses can only be received after an initial two vaccine shots, and those who qualify are instructed to wait at least two months after their second COVID19 vaccine.

The Richmond and Henrico Health Districts are now offering bivalent Pfizer and Moderna boosters to children between the ages of 5 and 11 in clinics in the near future. Children in this age range will be eligible after at least two months since their last vaccine dose.

New COVID-19 cases in Virginia fell 34 percent during the last week, according to data from the Virginia Department of Health, while data from the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association showed hospitalizations statewide dropped 15 percent since last Wednesday. Richmond and the counties of Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico County are now all at medium levels of community COVID-19 as of last week. Sixteen localities in Virginia are ranked at high community COVID levels, while 62 were ranked at medium as of last week.

A total of 1,589 new cases of COVID-19 were reported statewide Tuesday for the 24-hour period, contributing to an overall state total of 2,251,042 cases in Virginia since the pandemic’s outbreak. As of Wednesday, there have been 457,773 hospitalizations and 23,088 deaths were reported statewide on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, state health officials reported that over 18.2 million COVID-19 doses had been administered, with 73.7 percent of the state’s population fully vaccinated at the time. State data also showed that over 5.2 million people in Virginia have received booster shots or third doses of the vaccine.

Among ages 5 to 11 in Virginia, 342,787 have received their first shots as of Tuesday, accounting for 47.3 percent of the age group in the state, while 301,589 children, or 41.6 percent, are fully vaccinated. In this age group, 54,507 children have received a monovalent booster, making up 7.5 percent, while 38,918 have gotten a bivalent booster shot, accounting for 13.3 percent of this group.

As of Tuesday, 64,710 children from the ages of newborn to 4 have received their first doses, making up 14.2 percent of the population in Virginia, while 50,565 are fully vaccinated, or 11.1 percent of the population. On Tuesday, fewer than 449,545 cases, 2,126 hospitalizations and 36 deaths were recorded among children in the state. State data also shows that African-Americans comprised 22.1 percent of cases statewide and 22.1 percent of deaths for which ethnic and racial data is available, while Latinos made up 11 percent of cases and 4.6 percent of deaths.

As of Tuesday, Richmond reported a total of 61,386 cases, 1,282 hospitalizations and 547 deaths; Henrico County, 88,863 cases, 1,714 hospitalizations and 1,073 deaths; Chesterfield County, 98,401 cases, 1,758 hospitalizations and 870 deaths; and Hanover County, 28,590 cases, 891 hospitalizations and 344 deaths.

Compiled by George Copeland Jr.

Transfer of the cemeteries and the other properties is still a work in progress, he stated.

“While slow, the city is responding to the task. But it is out of my control. I’m pretty much support services at this point,” he stated.

City officials so far have not reported any decision to take control of the burial grounds to City Council’s Education and Human Services Committee.

While waiting for the city to act, Mr. Mitchell said in a telephone interview that his foundation has secured an agreement with the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, which he said has stepped up to cover the cost of keeping Evergreen mowed during the fall.

He said his foundation also has worked with a host of volunteer groups, ranging from Richmond-area Black firefighters to military veterans and Black Greek fraternities and sororities who helped to maintain the two cemeteries.

Mr. Mitchell also noted that John Shuck and the Friends of East End Cemetery have returned and are now engaged in maintaining that cemetery.

Created more than 30 years ago, Enrichmond long served as a conduit for private and public donations to be used to benefit city parks and recreation programs. Enrichmond also served as an umbrella nonprofit for 86 small community groups that banked their money with the organization. However, Enrichmond apparently became overwhelmed financially after accepting the two cemeteries with help from the Virginia Outdoors Foundation. There is no evidence that the foundation was able to raise the money that was needed to cover the full costs of staff and maintenance or the consultants who were hired.

According to a timeline the foundation’s board created, the foundation’s underpinnings were further undermined after Mayor Levar M. Stoney pulled the city’s $75,000 annual contribution in 2021 and refused, with council support, to restore it in 2022.

The foundation obtained a Small Business Administration loan in a bid to remain in operation, but that source ran out.

The board became aware the financial troubles were far more significant than anticipated in December 2021, the timeline shows, when John Sydnor, then executive director, presented the annual financial report that was to go to the IRS and also sought permission to seek additional loans to help stabilize the foundation.

In order to keep the foundation going, an estimated $165,000 the 86 organizations collectively had banked with Enrichmond was used to cover foundation costs.

Mr. Mitchell stated he is a member of the Armstrong Walker Legacy Project, one of the organizations that lost money as a result of the foundation’s collapse. The Project, like the other organizations, has struggled to replace the lost funds.

By April 2022, Mr. Sydnor resigned to take a position elsewhere after the board declined to borrow additional funds and the foundation’s bank account essentially hit empty, according to the timeline.

At this point, neither the city nor the council has sought to use part of the city’s estimated $36 million surplus from the 2021-22 fiscal year to reimburse the community groups whose money has disappeared, leaving those organizations that operate community gardens, restore historic buildings and tackle other community endeavors in limbo.

Hopes for a criminal investigation also have evaporated.

Both the Richmond Police Department and Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office have rejected a probe, considering the transfer of the community groups’ funds to other uses as a civil matter as there has been no evidence the money personally benefitted anyone associated with the foundation.

Mr. Mitchell remains buoyed by the calls and requests he gets from descendants of those who are buried in the two cemeteries.

“They are adamant,” he said, “that even though Enrichmond will disappear, East End and Evergreen will always be our historic legacy. The work and responsibility of caring for those burial grounds will always be ours to carry on.”

New historic preservation grant will support groups

Continued from A1 protective interest in real property, and data recovery such as archaeological excavation.

“A few examples of project types could be a rehabilitation of a historic Rosenwald school, the reacquisition of Tribal lands, or an archaeological project associated with Black watermen,” Ms. Sylvester said.

Despite the DHR’s outreach efforts, the word may not be reaching potential applicants most qualified for the funding.

The AMMD Pine Grove Project is an organization working to preserve a Rosenwald School that existed in Cumberland County from 1917 to 1964. As a former student at Pine Grove Elementary School, Muriel Branch’s family started the project several years ago. She said that she knew about the grant, but was unaware of details.

Pine Grove Elementary School was one of 5,000 “Rosenwald schools” built in rural communities between 1913 and

1932. A collaboration between Booker T. Washington and former Sears and Roebuck president Julius Rosenwald, the “Rosenwald schools” were built in 15 states, mostly rural Southern communities.

Ms. Branch said the organization never wants to turn away potential funding.

“We’re looking at a five-year plan for rehabilitating Pine Grove,” she said. “The thing about preservation is that it is slow and the process of applying can be tedious.”

Michelle Oliver, president of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, said she had not heard about the grant, but hopes DHR intends to increase outreach efforts.

“I’m glad there is money out there to do something in the community in terms of preserving history and genealogy,” she said. “But a lot of times we don’t know about these grants, though, and then the money is lost.” DHR is betting on organizations applying for funds. Gov. Glenn Youngkin put an additional $5 million for the grant into his proposed budget, but the outcome will not be known until the end of the General Assembly session.

Ms. Sylvester said there are plans in the near future to connect with and inform potential grantees.

All eligible applicants must request at least $50,000 in grant funding, but no more than $1 million. Applicants can apply for more than one project across application rounds, but grant awards per applicant will not exceed $1million in total.

“We are hosting a webinar with Preservation Virginia that is free but people must register, and it will include more details and a Q&A session,” Ms. Sylvester said. “We would encourage folks to attend that if they are interested in applying and they can reach out by emailing BIPOCGrantFund@dhr.virginia.gov with further questions.”

For more information about the BIPOC Grant Fund, please visit https://www.dhr. virginia.gov/grants/.

Fatigue, despair build as Calif. copes with massacres

Continued from A1 seven, in a crime authorities said was a case of workplace violence in the rich agricultural area that lies between the Pacific Ocean and coastal mountains.

In Monterey Park, a 72-year-old gunman shot up a dance hall in an Asian-American community that had been celebrating Lunar New Year’s Eve on Saturday night, wounding nine people in addition to the 11 killed. The gunman later took his own life.

A week earlier, at least two assailants fatally shot a 16-year-old mother clutch- ing her 10-month-old baby, and killed four others in a brazen attack in a Central California farming community that remains unsolved.

“Our hearts are with the people in California,” President Biden said Tuesday at a meeting with Democratic congressional leaders. “They’ve been a rough, rough couple of days.”

President Biden noted that Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., introduced an assault weapons ban, and he urged lawmakers to pass it.

Gov. Newsom also called for stronger gun safety laws and took particular aim at the large capacity magazines — like the one the dance studio gunman had — and what he called “weapons of damn war.”

“It’s said all the time: ‘Only in America,’” he said. “No. 1 in gun ownership, No. 1 in gun deaths. It’s not even complicated.”

The recent slayings moved California up five slots to 26th place on the number of fatal mass shootings per capita in the U.S. since 2006, according to a USA TODAY/ AP/Northeastern University mass killing database. The database only counts killings of at least four people.

Leaders are meant to keep state secrets — just not at home

Continued from A1 of Virginia, had tart advice for all expresidents and future ones regardless of party: “Go check your closets.”

The latest disclosure came from Pence lawyer Greg Jacob, who informed the National Archives — the proper place for such material — that classified documents were found in Mr. Pence’s Indiana home last week.

Mr. Jacob said an apparently small number of papers were inadvertently boxed and transported to the home at the end of the Trump administration and came to light when Mr. Pence, prompted by the discoveries in President Biden’s home and pre-presidential think-tank offices, asked lawyers to see if he had some, too.

Special counsels are investigating the Trump and Biden episodes. In all three matters, the significance of the classified material and whether its mishandling breaches national security is not publicly known. But it is clear that some of the documents retrieved at Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Fla., were top secret.

Aides to President Biden, a Demo- crat, say they cooperated quickly and fully when such material was found at a former office in Washington, though they waited for months to make public what had happened.

In the Republican-controlled House, Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, a contender to lead the Intelligence Committee, said he will ask for the same intelligence review and damage assessment in the Pence case as he did in earlier discoveries.

“It is a serious matter for any government official to mishandle classified documents,” Rep. Turner said.