October 19th, 2017 Edition

A month after Stockley verdict, demonstrators stay in the streets

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

“Governor Greitens, you said during your campaign that if you had been governor during Ferguson the protests would have been done in two days,” Wes Schnitker said through a bullhorn outside of the Ritz-Carlton St. Louis on Friday, October 12. He directed the 100 or so protestors to repeat after him.

“Today marks day 28,” Schnictker said, and they repeated. He said it again with such intensity that his voice cracked and his face turned red. The protestors repeated with the same fervency.

‘Worst

STL

By

n “Who the hell do these police think they are? Why do they think they get to be the law, the judge, the jury and the executioner?”

– Antoinette Harmon

“Today marks day 28. You lied.”

There have been a few scattered self-care days, but more than a month after people took to the streets in response to the not-guilty

verdict in the Jason Stockley murder trial, a diverse, multi-generation coalition of people continued to stage direct actions.

“Y’all know I don’t say much because I want the young people to speak, but you all have to keep going,” said Reverend Darryl Gray as they stood in front of the St. Louis County Justice Center in Clayton waiting to march.

Attendance was on the light side for this action, so Gray seemed compelled to encourage. “Some days there will be just a few of us,” he said. “Other days it will be

infrastructure devastation’

Teamsters disaster-relief

When Roy Gillespie says Puerto Rico currently faces “the worst infrastructure devastation” he has ever seen, he speaks as someone who has seen a wide variety of infrastructure devastation.

Gillespie, who is human rights commissioner for Teamsters Joint Council 13 in St. Louis, is a disaster-relief first responder for the Teamsters in partnership with the American Red Cross. He has coordinated disaster-relief logistics in the aftermath of hurricanes (Katrina, Wilma), tornadoes (in Joplin; Romeoville, Illinois; Jeffersonville, Indiana), floods (in St. Louis

veteran reports from Puerto Rico

Roy Gillespie, human rights commissioner for Teamsters Joint Council 13 in St. Louis, delivered water to people in what he identified as the Deacos area of Puerto Rico on Saturday, October 14. The Teamsters support the American Red Cross in disasterrelief efforts.

Safety

Pledges to personally reviewiall allegations of civil rights violations

By Chris King Of The St. Louis American

Photo by Vincent Lang

Chris King Of The St. Louis American

Photo courtesy of Roy Gillespie

Melvin Moffitt took a knee as demonstrators blocked traffic near the Chaifetz Arena parking garage near Compton and Olive on October 11.

Jimmie Edwards

Jeff Jensen

Nelly

accuser no longer pursuing case

Last week, the woman who accused St. Louis rapper Nelly of raping her on his tour bus in Washington state announced she was no longer pursing the case because of negative pressure from the media.

According to numerous reports, the alleged victim has notified the Auburn Police Department and the Washington District Attorney’s office that she will no longer be criminally pursuing the case – and will not be cooperating with the investigation or testifying in court.

Nelly’s attorney, Scott Rosenblum, says his client is owed an apology.

“The accuser’s reckless accusation, once investigated thoroughly, was exposed for what it was-a fabrication,” Rosenblum told TMZ. “A fabrication that has caused Nelly and his family to suffer emotionally and financially.”

Nelly is also said to be considering legal action against the accuser.

Gucci Mane is married now

(CNN) – Rapper Gucci Mane married his love of seven years, model and beauty/fitness entrepreneur Keyshia Ka’oir live Tuesday on BET as part of their 10-part wedding special series “The Mane Event.”

The couple are hip hop royalty, and their lavish $1.7 million wedding was billed as the wedding of the year.

There were diamonds everywhere (the bride reportedly walked down the aisle on them and the groom wore a diamond-studded bow tie) and everyone, including the guests, wore white to the event, which was held at the Four Seasons in Miami.

There was even a white carpet instead of red to greet all the celebrity guests, many of whom were interviewed as part of BET’s white carpet coverage leading up to the ceremony.

Social media was flooded with images from the ceremony and celebration.

The guest list included celebs such as fellow rappers Lil Yachty, 2 Chainz, Big Sean, and Rick Ross, mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, singer Monica, reality star Kim

Zolciak and a host of others.

Well wishes from fans and friends poured in on Twitter and Instagram as viewers followed along with the ceremony.

Tom Joyner to retire in 2019

Black radio staple Tom Joyner took to the airwaves to announce his retirement from radio this week.

“I’m putting in my twoyear notice,” Joyner said on his show. “At the end of the contract that I just signed, at the end of 2019, will be the end of the ‘Tom Joyner Morning Show.’ I’m retiring, and for the next two years, we’re going to reminisce, go down Memory Lane and talk about all the things that we’ve done for the past 25 years.”

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pleasure and the joy of my life to be a part of this journey with you.”

Joyner said that he plans to “go sit down,” after his radio days are over.

“I’m doing a two-year notice because I can,” Joyner said. “I want to have a swan song that’s two years long. It’s been a good ride, but like everything, it must come to an end.”

Blac Chyna said to be suing Kardashians over ‘Rob & Chyna

According to TMZ.com, Blac Chyna just filed a lawsuit against the Kardashians accusing them of using their influence at the E! Network to shut down the second season of “Rob & Chyna.” Chyna is also accusing Rob Kardashian of mental and physical abuse and included text messages of him threatening to kill himself if she didn’t respond.

Co-host Sybil Wilkes chimed in, “It’s hard to believe how much fun you can pack into 25 years,” Wilkes said. “Every day of doing this show has been a unique experience. It has been an extreme honor and a

Meanwhile E! places the blame for the demise of the show squarely at Blac Chyna’s feet claiming she broke up with Rob at the beginning of season one and refused to be in the same room with him making it impossible to film.

Sources: CNN.com, TMZ.com, E! News, Blackamericaweb.com

Tom Joyner

26 scholars receive $620K in scholarships

2017 Salute added UMSL to list of St. Louis American Foundation partners

By Sophie Hurwitz

For The St. Louis American

At The St. Louis American Foundation’s 2017 Salute to Excellence in Education gala, 26 students received scholarships – totaling over $620,000 – to help them pursue post-secondary education.

The program started 18 years ago, with the University of Missouri-Columbia as its first partner institution with a scholarship names for the president of the St. Louis American Foundation and publisher of The St. Louis American, Donald M. Suggs. This year, one undergraduate student named DeMario Malone, formerly of Hazelwood Central High School, will be beginning his studies at Mizzou with a fulltuition Suggs scholarship. He plans to study biological sciences. Malone’s scholarship includes a study abroad option to study anywhere in the world for one semester. In previous years, Suggs Scholars at Mizzou have studied in China, London, Africa, Brazil, South Korea, Germany, Australia and Greece.

There were also two dissertation fellowships awarded to Mizzou graduate students, both of whose work

is aimed towards uplifting minority communities. Jason McKinney is studying the resilience of black graduate students at primarily white higher education institutions. Oscar Perez, the other awardee, is working on developing a holistic, strengths-based psychological measurement system for Latino people.

Aside from the long-standing Mizzou scholarships, the St. Louis American Foundation has been awarding a scholarship to a St. Louis-area student attending Southeast Missouri State University for nine years. This year’s recipient, Ma’isah McMillan, a graduate of Ritenour High School, is pursuing a degree in health science. Missouri State University is also a partner school, and will host a Suggs Scholarship for Multicultural Leadership recipient Jeremy Townsend (a Hazelwood West grad).

Not all the scholarships are awarded to St. Louis natives – one student, Donovan Taylor from Memphis, Tennessee – will be using Suggs scholarship funds to attend Harris-Stowe State University’s 3+2 Mathematics and Interdisciplinary Engineering Degree Program, so he’ll transfer to Saint Louis

by

At The St. Louis American Foundation’s 2017 Salute to Excellence in Education gala, 26 students received scholarships – totaling over $620,000 – to help them pursue post-secondary education.

University after spending his first three years at HarrisStowe.

Louis Community College Suggs Scholarship, so she can go back to school full-time,

n In previous years, Suggs Scholars at Mizzou have studied in China, London, Africa, Brazil, South Korea, Germany, Australia and Greece.

Another student who’s taking a non-traditional degree path is Amica Johnson, who is a mother of three teenagers. She is receiving the 2017 St.

while raising her kids, and study to become a registered nurse.

Jessica France, Mya Robinson, Jerrica Davis,

Alejandro Rivas and Troy Scott, students at Fontbonne University, which is only in its second year of awarding Suggs Scholarships, will receive $2,000 scholarship, renewable each year at Fontbonne, along with peer support and tutoring as they matriculate into college. At Webster University, two students are being given fulltuition Suggs Scholarships this year: Jovan McBride from Hazelwood Central High School, and Nicholas Land from Althoff Catholic High School in O’Fallon, Illinois. Maryville University announced this year that it will be following in Webster’s footsteps and increasing the number of Suggs scholarships

they offer from one to two starting in 2018, after only three years as a partner school in the program. This year’s scholarship recipient is Destinie Jones from Eureka High School.

At the end of the long list, the University of Missouri St. Louis is awarding one scholarship this year, their first year involved with the St. Louis American Foundation scholarship program. Their one scholarship will go to Felesha Clarke, a graduate of Lift for Life High School. Look for profiles of this year’s Suggs Scholars in forthcoming editions of The American.

Photo

Wiley Price

Editorial /CommEntary

Krewson appointment of Edwards to direct Public Safety encouraging decision

When Mayor Lyda Krewson was sworn into office, she faced two key tests of her declared commitment to police reform: appointment of a Public Safety director and hiring of a new police chief. Krewson inherited Charlene Deeken as Public Safety director. A holdover from the Slay Administration, Deeken certainly is not seen as the police chief’s boss – and was nowhere to be seen when St. Louis police responded to protests with aggression and intimidation tactics that were publicly applauded (“we own the night!”) by Interim Police Chief Lawrence O’Toole.

Krewson’s appointment of Judge Jimmie Edwards as Public Safety director on Friday turned many heads across the political spectrum. A thoughtful African-American judge, born and bred himself in a low-income neighborhood, with a heart for troubled young people and deep ties and credibility in the community, Edwards is a good choice. He understands that the root causes of crime include poverty, poor education, lack of opportunity and ingrained institutional racism. There is no question Edwards will go into the job with the best of intentions and widespread community support.

The question, however, is how forcefully Edwards will push to implement the police reforms being called for by protestors and much of the public. They have remained stubbornly supportive of the police accountability movement despite the police’s obvious attempts to discredit and squash it. Edwards will now be the civilian boss of the police department, the person citizens entrust with the authority to direct the police chief to adopt just policies, responsibly implement best practices, and dramatically change current departmental practices that have resulted in a near-total breakdown of trust between the community and police.

A Public Safety director with a strong hand and flinty determination could counterbalance the police department’s tendency to align its policies with the St. Louis Police Officers Association, their attorneys, arguably, have had the greatest influence on the department’s evolution (or devolution) to date. If the mayor is firmly committed to implementing the police reforms outlined in the Ferguson Commission report, then she will entrust Edwards with the broad authority that will often conflict with much of Krewson’s political base (and the mostly conservative white male Democrats who form her shadow cabinet).

This would be a sharp departure from the practice of recent mayoral administrations, where directors of Public Safety have had little influence over policy or public presence. That in itself is remarkable, given that Public Safety encompasses not only the perennially controversial police department, but also the fire department, with its history of racial grievances, and the Corrections Division, notorious in recent years for guards staging fights between detainees, guards smuggling drugs into inmates, and jail

breaks. Mayor Francis G. Slay’s regard for this crucial position was so low that he promoted a functionary who mostly handed out mayoral certificates in the black community. Charles Bryson was given the post, simply so Slay could have a black man officially demote the city’s first black fire chief during his standoff with Chief Sherman George over testing and promotions.

The appointment of Jimmie Edwards immediately elevates the position to its proper position of power and accountability. However, it remains to be seen how someone accustomed to the all but unilateral power of the bench will respond to the inevitable aggressive pushback he will encounter if he pushes for major reform. Needless to say, the St. Louis Police Department is not going to change without a fight. Judges do not get much experience responding to and overcoming heated opposition to their leadership. If Krewson is serious about police reform, she must hire a police chief with experience in the daily battles that go along with reforming a problematic urban police department.

The city counselor also should play a key role in reforming the police department and protecting civil rights. In the aftermath of Ferguson, City Counselor Winston Calvert kept an open line of communication with the protest community and kept a close eye on respect for civil rights. Julian Bush, Krewson’s city counselor, appears to play no role whatsoever in influencing the police response to protests or attempting to ensure that the police uphold the rule of law. So, if we are left with an AWOL city counselor, the appointment of a bold, progressive police chief is all the more important.

The continuing protests by a large, diverse, multi-generational coalition – in the face of, at times, indiscriminate and brutal policing – should embolden the mayor and Edwards to fight for change. We also were impressed, shocked even, to see 32 members of the city’s Democratic Central Committee sign a forceful call to action to the mayor. It was an amazing display of progressive unity directed at a sitting mayor and the most feared sector of city government, the police. The progressive coalition that almost elected Tishaura O. Jones mayor, rather than Krewson, is now trying to shape city policy from the elected political positions of committeeman and committeewoman.

In the meantime, Edwards inherits O’Toole as interim chief when he takes his new position on November 6. We suggest on his very first day as O’Toole’s boss, that Edwards sit the chief down and make two things very clear: the police have no punitive role in our government – that belongs to the courts – and the U.S. Constitution compels police to treat all people equally.

Further, Edwards should tell O’Toole if he is not willing to drive those two simple messages down through the ranks and start disciplining officers who persist in unconstitutional policing, then discredited O’Toole needs to leave now.

Abandoning Puerto Rico would be impeachable offense

More than 80 percent of Puerto Rico is still in the dark, more than a third of its residents still have no clean drinking water, much of the island’s infrastructure still lies in ruins – and President Trump cruelly threatens to cut off federal aid. Doing so should be considered an impeachable offense.

Puerto Rico is part of the America that Trump promises to make great again. But the mayor of San Juan has had the temerity to criticize the Trump administration’s response to the calamity of Hurricane Maria as slow and inadequate. For Trump, everything is always all about Trump.

The president complained on Twitter, “Nobody could have done what I’ve done for #PuertoRico with so little appreciation. So much work!” Note the use of “I” instead of “we” or even “my administration.” What Trump has done personally for the people of Puerto Rico was to playfully toss rolls of paper towels into a crowd.

The administration has done much more, of course. But desperate people – still facing critical shortages of food and water three weeks after the storm – are demanding more action. This makes them “ingrates” in Trump’s eyes.

On October 12 he went beyond his usual self-pitying, self-justifying blather to make an outrageous threat:

“We cannot keep FEMA, the Military & the First Responders, who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P.R. forever!”

Columnist Eugene Robinson

That culminated a series of blame-the-victim tweets about how Puerto Rico faces “a financial crisis ... largely of their own making” and how “electric and all infrastructure was [a] disaster before hurricanes.” The need to solve the island’s debt problem and update its infrastructure is worthy of serious discussion, but not while people are having to collect unpurified water in buckets from mountain springs. This may be the most un-American thing Donald Trump has ever said or done. If he were to actually withdraw emergency assistance while Puerto Rico is still in such condition, Congress should begin impeachment proceedings.

We are one country, and we do what we must to help fellow citizens in need. We saw it during this long, terrible hurricane season, in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Texas, Florida – strangers

Death in Las Vegas, denial in Congress

By U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay For The St. Louis American

Since the horrific mass shooting in Las Vegas that killed 58 Americans and wounded over 500 more, I’ve been thinking a great deal about turning points, moments when if we had summoned the collective national courage to do the right thing, history would have been different.

In 2004, when I was just in my second term in the U.S. House, I witnessed just such a moment, when a majority of my congressional colleagues, who clearly feared the National Rifle Association more than they cared for their constituents safety, allowed the assault weapons ban to expire.

That shameful failure of leadership has cost many American lives. It exposed innocent citizens to massive and deadly firepower in tragedies like Las Vegas; Sandy Hook Elementary; Aurora, Colorado; Virginia Tech; Charleston; and too many others. And it has also resulted in the deaths of local police, most recently five brave officers in Dallas who were outgunned and woefully underprotected against assault rifles.

Even my fellow members of Congress are not immune to this carnage. Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) barely survived wounds received from a deranged gunman with an assault rifle and my great friend, former Congresswoman Gabriel Giffords (D-Arizona_ nearly died from a point-blank gunshot wound to the head.

The recent reflexive reaction to the Las Vegas mass shooting – an apparent bipartisan willingness to prohibit bump stocks, which allow semiautomatic rifles to function as

fully automatic weapons – is just a tiny step forward down a long path towards gun safety sanity.

helping strangers, regardless of race, income, political views. We are seeing it now as firefighters from around the country converge on Northern California to attack deadly blazes.

It is wrong to describe Trump as any kind of nationalist if he fails to grasp the most fundamental of nationalistic precepts: We leave none of our own on the battlefield.

I know that Trump sometimes says provocative things on Twitter to distract from his administration’s failures, to rally his base, to provoke his enemies or even just to blow off steam. I know that it’s impossible to take any one tweet too seriously, since it may be directly contradicted by the next.

But Trump actually went to Puerto Rico, and while he did not see the worst of the devastation, he saw more than enough. He knows that recovery is going to be a long, massive and largely thankless job. But that is the job he signed up for when he took the oath of office. Congress must not allow him to shirk his duty. To divide the country with rhetoric, as Trump so often does, is one thing. But to actually abandon 3.4 million Americans in their hour of need would not only be an unprecedented and shameful act. It would be grounds for removing an unfit man from the

Time for protestors to meet

I strongly support the lawful non-violent protestors in this current St. Louis revolt who are practicing their 1st Amendment rights under our great U.S. Constitution concerning the not-guilty verdict that Judge Timothy Wilson handed down to officer Jayson Stockley for killing Anthony Lamar Smith back in 2011. As protestors in this St. Louis revolt, are you aware some of your actions are really hurting small businesses and their workers? Like many citizens, I would like to know, what are your goals? Are they realistic?

I support the police who truly serve and protect the people. I do not support the bums with badges. I think the police should be paid overtime, but where will the overtime pay keep coming from without cutting much-needed services?

It appears to me that the protestors’ strategies and tactics have the attention of the powers that be. As a longtime civil and human rights activist, I’m wondering if the time is not right for the leaders of the various coalitions of this St. Louis revolt to meet with the powers that be. I hope the fix is not in by the powers that be as I suspect happened in the last St. Louis mayoral race.

Bob “Brother Bob” Williams St. Louis

Petition for Missouri progress

The September 21-27 edition of The St. Louis American was one of your best.

From Mike Jones’ reminder of our moral duty to protest as enshrined in the Declaration of Inde-

The U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted the 2nd Amendment as ensuring the private ownership of firearms, and I respect that. But when it was adopted in 1791, the founders, who were most familiar with muskets, could have not envisioned militarystyle assault rifles which fire hundreds of rounds per minute are legal, yet fully 40 percent of all gun purchases are conducted without any background check, while more than 30,000 Americans die from gunshot wounds each year. As in previous years, I will once again cosponsor legislation to renew the assault weapons ban; to mandate universal background checks for all firearms purchases; to prohibit highcapacity ammunition magazines and to end the sale of firearms and ammunition on the internet. Critics of my common-sense legislative proposals to curb gun violence often argue that no law can prevent every mass shooting. That’s true. But what is equally true is that Congress has the power, the ability, and the responsibility to prevent some of them – and we should just do it, without delay or excuses. What some members lack is the courage to act. But a review of historical crime data shows that reducing the number of assault weapons actually works.

According to the FBI Uniform Crime Statistics,

which categorizes mass shootings as incidents where five or more victims are killed by intentional gunfire and not as a result of any other related criminal activity, from 1973 to 2016 there were 108 mass shootings. Ninety-two of those incidents occurred either from 1973 to 1994 or from 2005 to 2016, but only 16 mass shootings occurred from 1994 to 2004, the decade during which the assault weapons ban was in force.

So the math is obvious: Fewer assault rifles result in fewer dead Americans.

The continuing deadly denial by Congress to protect our citizens and police officers from this menace is indefensible.

Far too many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle continue to weigh the urgent question of enacting reasonable laws to curb gun violence as carrying too high of a political risk. Their common sense is easily overcome by the fear of either a primary challenger funded by the NRA or the loss of campaign funds.

I am extremely proud to have never accepted a dime from the NRA and to receive my annual grade of “F” from them on my voting record. But even if I enjoyed their support, it wouldn’t matter. I would still continue to vote consistently to protect the American people from gun violence because I am acutely aware that history is judging me. It’s judging my colleagues too. And those members of Congress who have the capacity to save lives but lack the courage or political will to do so will have to live with that shameful legacy. That is a bloody stain that time will not remove.

pendence to the written and photographic coverage of mass actions following the Stockley verdict, the edition was stellar. And it certainly confirmed the first page headline: “The whole damn system is guilty as hell.” Given that justice does not prevail where prejudice exists, it is important that we use tools that allow us to do an end run around our General Assembly. Too often the Missouri Legislature follows an agenda dictated by a few wealthy white male campaign donors. One of these direct democracy tools is the ballot measure by petition

drive. By uniting in current petition drives, we have the chance to put a raise in the minimum wage and good government reform (“the CLEAN Initiative”) on the Missouri ballot in 2018. Along with repealing the deceptively named Right to Work, we can take the power into our own hands and improve our legal context on these three crucial matters.

Jeanette

Mott Oxford, executive director Empower Missouri, St. Louis

Applications open for new north St. Louis city/county leadership program

Applications are now being accepted for a new leadership-training program, Neighborhood Leadership Fellows, which will begin in January 2018. It’s presented by Creating Whole Communities, a partnership of University of Missouri- St. Louis, University of Missouri Extension and the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership. The primary geographic focus for the program is the federally designated St. Louis Promise Zone. The program, set to convene on January 12, will meet one weekend a month from January through September 2018. Participants will engage in shared collaborative learning experiences through dialogue, and presentations among fellows and respective community and state leaders. Educational workshops will cover policies, new research, and innovations that promote equitable neighborhood development in areas of housing, education, economic development, public health and safety. The goal is to give participants the foundational knowledge to run for boards, commissions, committees and elected office.

Neighborhood Leadership Fellows strongly encourages residents from the St. Louis Promise Zone (most of north St. Louis city and county) to apply for the program. All participants who are accepted receive a $2,000 stipend and a UMSL Chancellor’s Certificate upon completion. To learn more about the program and apply, visit cwc.umsl.edu/nlf.

Why I have not approved the issuance

of bonds for Scottrade renovations

Comptroller Darlene Green

For The St. Louis American

As comptroller of the City of St. Louis, my office does four main things for you: pays the city’s bills, conducts the city’s accounting and auditing, issues bonds, and protects the city’s credit.

I began serving as your comptroller in 1995 and have had the privilege of serving as watchdog for taxpayer dollars for more than 20 years and through four mayoral administrations. St. Louis has seen many ups and downs over this time; in good times and bad, I have taken safeguarding the responsible use of your tax dollars and protecting the city’s credit as my most solemn responsibilities.

and corporate entities, and these strong fiscal policies saved taxpayers millions of dollars as we avoided the derivative debt crisis that plagued cities and corporations alike. But fiscal management can only be sound when leaders make decisions that support financial responsibility. This brings us back to 2017 and the request to fund Scottrade Center renovations.

In January of this year, I wrote to the finance team of Scottrade Center in response to an all-too familiar question about balancing the budget. At the time, the process was underway to develop the city’s fiscal year 2018 budget, and the Board of Aldermen was considering several requests for development incentives and subsidies. In the normal course of our work, my management team diligently reviewed each request.

This request came on the heels of a tough credit surveillance cycle. In 2015, Moody’s and Fitch downgraded the city’s credit, and in 2016 and March 2017 Moody’s did so again. Looking at the downgrades shows a common theme: the city’s high debt level, inflexible revenues and inadequate reserves.

A city’s credit rating is one of its most valuable tools. A good credit rating tells investors that investing in a city’s bonds is safe, and it saves taxpayers millions of dollars when the city borrows money.

During my tenure in office, I have led the city to several year-end surpluses and multiple credit rating upgrades. And in 2008 during the country’s economic downturn the City of St. Louis received an A+ credit rating from S&P –something the city had not received in 35 years. Through my leadership, the city of St. Louis has not issued any derivative or variable rate debt like many other cities

Our financial advisor weighed in with a cautionary warning about possible further negative impacts to the city’s credit rating should the city finance the renovations. Believing that we needed to be proactive, I wrote to the Scottrade Center finance team to get the urgent message across concerning the credit of the city. I believed that understanding the city’s financial limitations, they would seek a financing structure that would not draw upon the city’s already vulnerable credit and financial condition.

The Scottrade team decided not to ease the burden on the taxpayers. Their bill passed the Board of Alderman and was approved at the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, over my objection – all while our 2018 city budget had to be reduced by $17 million for essential services.

Today, we are struggling to protect the city’s credit. We still maintain an A+ credit rating with S&P, but we have been cautioned by the rating agency to not issue more debt for nonessential services without increasing revenues. In its August 2017 review, S&P warned it may lower our credit rating should budgetary performance and flexibility worsen, and it mentioned the financing of Scottrade Center renovations would increase our already high debt burden. This is why I have not approved the issuance of bonds for the renovations.

Yet considering all of this, I am hopeful we can reach an equitable solution. An alternative financing structure has been proposed, which would add a small attendance fee, and other possibilities exist, including increasing parking rates at events. A fair and equitable solution that does not bargain on the city’s credit or take money away from essential city services is possible. I am here to do my part, and I ask that other city leaders come together and work as a team for the common good.

Darlene Green

Cathy “Mama Cat” Daniels and Melissa McKinnies were among those who marched through Midtown St. Louis after attending the Protest to Policy panel on October 11 at Harris-Stowe State University. The action was part of the ongoing demonstrations in response to the not-guilty verdict in the murder trial of former St. Louis Police Officer Jason Stockley.

Sisters in protest

Photo by Vincent Lang

GILLESPIE

County; Cedar Rapids, Iowa) and California wildfires.

“I’ve been all over this island,” Gillespie told The St. Louis American by phone from San Juan on Sunday, October 15, “and almost everywhere I go, there is no drinking water or electricity. All the main power poles, all the transmission lines, are down. Pole after pole after pole is broken or snapped, and the lines are all mangled. This island will have no electricity for the foreseeable future.”

The fact that it’s an island compounds the problems.

“On the mainland, we’d have thousands of trucks from all over driving in and out of here, but we’d have to transport a lot of trucks here before we could even get all the downed poles and mangled lines cleaned up.”

He is working with a small fleet of eight 28-foot boxed trucks and 112 volunteer Teamsters, mostly from New York and New Jersey, and mostly with family on the island. Gillespie is the only paid Teamsters staff on the ground, and he has been working 16- and 18-hour days for a week and half while being compensated for 8-hour days.

As of Sunday afternoon,

VIOLENCE

Continued from A1

Continued from A1 agent, will be on the lookout for federal charges to bring in cases of violent crime.

He even has a social justice motive. The federal Probation and Parole Office in Eastern Missouri, headed by Doug Burris, is a national leader in rehabilitating ex-offenders.

“In St. Louis if you are prosecuted in the federal system you are more likely to end up employed when you get out of prison and not end up

even the Teamsters were out of bottled water and waiting for a new shipment from FEMA. The local response to FEMA’s efforts, he said, was universal: “not enough.” He expected a delivery of water from an offshore barge soon.

“But you could fly in thousands of planes with water, and until they get their electricity and water infrastructure up and running, it wouldn’t be enough,” he said.

Saturday, October 14 was a typical day. Gillespie and a team trucked water, food, baby formula and cleanup supplies into an area he identified as Deacos. He was moved by a group of girls whose mother had put them in “pretty party dresses” to wait with her for supplies.

“The girls were crying,” he said. “They had not had water or milk for five days. We stayed two hours until we ran out of stuff to give away.”

Everywhere they deliver supplies, he said, they find people waiting for them. People also line up in front of stores that are open. On Sunday he passed a Wal-Mart in San Juan where the line to enter was three blocks long. He called The American from the largest shopping mall in San Juan, where it took him an hour to park, it was so busy with people seeking water, cell phone reception and airconditioning.

back in prison,” Jensen said.

He is aware that there is a national and regional outcry against over-incarceration and calls for more crime prevention through education and empowerment. He accepts that as true, even though his job description calls for him to prosecute people.

“I am starting to go around and meet people, and I am hearing, ‘Shouldn’t we be talking about education, not prosecution?’ And I say, ‘Yeah.’ We can’t prosecute our way out of this.”

But his position calls for prosecution. He was impressed

Gillespie went to the mall for the same reasons. He has been sleeping in a cot in a hallway at the Coliseum, an indoor arena with no electricity, so no air conditioning. The meals have all been beans and rice. When he has found a restaurant open, he has been served the bare bones of meals, since no one has things like lettuce, tomatoes or cheese.

n “I’ve

“Food is not plentiful,” he said. “Though I am very aware when I am helping people that I am in a whole lot better condition than they are.”

He has not been making friends, however, like many of his volunteers. “I don’t want to make and leave friends here because I’d be worried to death about them,” he said. “I would never know what was

prosecuted cases with cops as witnesses, I have prosecuted cops, I have defended cops from civil suits and

I

have brought civil suits against cops.”

Jeff Jensen

–

in his vetting process how much the Department of Justice wanted experienced federal prosecutors across the country and the detail with which he was questioned about nuances of law. Jensen is heavy on attorney, very light on politics.

He left private practice to accept the appointment, and said his experience as a defense attorney gave him valuable perspective – including on the volcanic issue of police accountability.

“I’ve prosecuted cases

happening to them. I don’t see power coming back here any time soon.”

The lack of electricity to power televisions and recharge cell phones means that people in Puerto Rico mostly have not heard the insulting, heartless remarks made by President Donald Trump about these Americans in distress.

“That’s the lucky part for

with cops as witnesses, I have prosecuted cops, I have defended cops from civil suits and I have brought civil suits against cops,” Jensen said. “I am in a good position to be fair. You just have to weigh each case on its merits.”

He is aware that when the police are criminal suspects, they are investigated by the police, and this creates doubt in the community that these investigations are impartial.

“But when state investigations lead to possible violations of civil rights laws, I will review every case personally” he said.

Protesters marched through Midtown on October 11 after attending the Protest to Policy forum at Harris-Stowe State University.

“You know when you look at a person and they roll their eyes to show you they’re not happy?” Gillespie said. “But all they’d say was, ‘No comment. I need my job.’”

Jensen would not disclose names, but said he has been setting up meetings with community leaders, hoping to address the breakdown in trust between the public and the justice system. He knows the public shares his goal of a safer St. Louis.

“Crime statistics can be a mush, where crimes can be recorded differently geographically and over time.” Jensen said. “But murder is murder. I am looking at that murder statistic. That’s the one I most want to drive down.”

him,” Gillespie said of Trump. Gillespie did bring up Trump’s comments with a FEMA staffer.

Photo by Vincent Lang

PROTESTS

more people than you ever could imagine. This is a sprint and not a marathon. You have to keep going.”

Fired up, they proceeded with the action. After nearly an hour of chants that demanded Greitens to come out to address them, the protestors moved on and ended the action by marching through Clayton.

As they dispersed, it was announced that the group would return to Ferguson for what they called a “liberation party.” It was the protestors’ second consecutive Friday returning to Ferguson. The crowd was small, but the group was energized. The week before they had marched through Ferguson for nearly three hours without incident – which was not the case this night. Less than an hour after they chanted “our streets” in front of the Ferguson Police Department on South Florissant Road, five arrests were made for impeding traffic.

Beyond the hashtags

As the protestors made a circle blocking traffic at Olive and Tucker in downtown St. Louis on Saturday afternoon, each was instructed to say the name of an individual who lost their lives at the hands of police.

“Sandra Bland,” “Tamir Rice,” “John Crawford,” they shouted. They kept shouting more names. There were so many that the sounds flooded together. Among those names were those with St. Louis connections: “Mike Brown,” “Philando Castile,” “Kajieme Powell,” “Kiwi Herring,” “Cary Ball Jr.,” “Thaddeus

EDWARDS

Continued from A1

Continued from A1 replacement of interim Police Chief Lawrence O’Toole –policies Edwards will now have the power to carry out with the mayor’s approval.

Edwards, a St. Louis circuit judge since 1992, has presided over more than 500 jury trials and overseen the city’s juvenile court system.

They ended by collectively shouting the name of Patrick Harmon.

Patrick Harmon was killed by Salt Lake City police in August. But his case was recently in the news because footage from the fatal shooting showed him running away from police – which contradicts law enforcement’s original claims.

“These are not just hashtags, they are real people,” Tory Russell said.

Antoinette Harmon, the sister of Patrick Harmon, had come to march with them.

“Who the hell do these police think they are?” Antoinette said. “Why do they think they get to be the law, the judge, the jury and the executioner? They need to act like they got some [expletive] sense, or put the [expletive] guns down.”

They marched to the

“My background has taught me that our justice system is merely one piece of a complex and precarious puzzle,” Edwards said in a press release. “At its best, government and the courts dispense justice and hold the guilty accountable. But good governance also seeks out root causes for social dysfunction, shows compassion when warranted, and works to improve opportunities for future generations.” In 2009, Edwards founded

courthouse, where they originally gathered a month before when Judge Timothy J. Wilson issued his verdict.

“We are at the steps of injustice,” Russell said. “We will disrupt. We will disturb. We will continue.”

Protestors march route of fatal chase

“This is the place where Jason Stockley executed Anthony Lamar Smith,” Cheyanne Green said. “He said, ‘I’m going to kill this mf’ – and that’s what he did. Each time you guys come out here, it’s not for nothing. We are making a change – we are making a difference.”

When more than 50 protestors assembled at Lillian and Riverview on Tuesday, October 11, the sky looked as if it was going to do its worst. Dark clouds and drizzle

the Innovative Concept Academy (ICA), a school for students who lack other educational options due to behavioral violations. Serving approximately 150 students age 10 through 18, the school is part of the “Missouri Model” for restorative juvenile justice. Edwards comes from outside the current public safety system, something Krewson’s closest competitor in the Democratic primary for mayor made a part of her

Protestors chanted at the site where Anthony Lamar Smith was fatally shot by former city cop Jason Stockley as they prepared to end their direct action on October 12at Acme and West Florissant.

Bush said. “Since we have that opportunity, we must use it to hold the police accountable. We must not let them snatch another life from us.”

As they observed three minutes of silence, the only sound was the crackling of those trash bag raincoats. The mildewed smell from the dilapidated building behind them blew in with each chilly breeze that accompanied the drizzle.

Just after their silence fell, a powerful voice – one everyone recognized – began to blast from a sound system.

appeared ready to give way to thunderstorms, but the idea of calling it a night never entered the many side conversations about the weather.

Trash bags were distributed. They became makeshift raincoats and hair bonnets as organizers gave instruction on what the evening would entail.

The plan was to follow the last route Anthony Lamar Smith would ever take. The sky was restless, but not a single person fell back as they proceeded with the 1.3-mile walk. Unlike other marches, there were no police to follow them and redirect traffic. A few designated drivers made a caravan and crept along to clear the path.

“Rain, shine, sleet, snow, hell no, we won’t go,” they chanted as the rain came down.

They blocked Riverview and West Florissant with their usual tactic of making a circle.

campaign platform. Former mayoral candidate and current city treasurer Tishaura O. Jones included the idea of bringing in an outsider to direct Public Safety was part of her “Community-Police Relations” platform. Jones said she would “hire a public safety director from outside the current system who has experience with crime in urban environments, someone who can work across all departments to make safety the

As they proceeded down West Florissant, many drivers honked in solidarity. Other motorists honked for them to get out of the way.

Several patrons of the China Chop Suey near Goodfellow and West Florissant looked on while they waited for their orders to be called. Some expressed solidarity.

“I know that’s right,” a woman with bright red hair yelled as she made her way into the restaurant. She raised her fist and chanted along in sync with the group of protesters as they shouted, “Black lives matter!”

Wet, cold and undeterred, protestors made it to Acme and West Florissant. They held a moment of silence. Just before, a few gave remarks.

“Jason Stockley felt like Anthony Lamar Smith’s life wasn’t valuable enough for him to continue to move on,” Cori

number one priority.” Many of Jones’ campaign promises are now echoed by protestors following the Stockley verdict. Edwards has received numerous awards for his work as a judge and with the ICA. He is a member of the Missouri Supreme Court Civil Rules Committee and the State Judicial Records Committee, and has also served as a special judge on the Missouri Supreme Court and as an adjunct professor at Webster

A white mini-van, one of the those leading the protest vehicle caravan, began playing audio of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “Before the victory is won, some will be misunderstood and called bad names and dismissed as rabblerousers and agitators, but we shall overcome. And I’ll tell you why we shall overcome – because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”

As with every action, they ended with the words of Assata Shakur: “It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains.”

Ebony Williams said those chains include trolls behind those keyboards – and the people who aren’t willing to protest.

“Those chains are all of those people who are criminalizing us,” Williams said. “We are the heroes. We have to be the voice of those people who are too scared to stand up – those people who are dead and can’t stand up.”

Along the route, they featured a new chant that said, “Tell them your demands: Y’all gon’ stop killin’ us.”

“That’s the only message,” Williams said.

University. Krewson said of Edwards in the city’s press release, “His experience, temperament, and focus will bring new perspective, energy and leadership to our police, firefighters, corrections employees, our Building Division and the Civil Service Building.”

Jessica Karins is an editorial intern for the St. Louis American from Webster University.

McCarroll.”

Photo by Vincent Lang

Police chief’s newly named boss talks protestor

rights, role of police

Judge Jimmie Edwards came by The St. Louis American on Friday, October 13, the day Mayor Lyda Krewson announced his appointment as director of Public Safety – the boss of the police and fire chiefs, we well as of the director of Corrections – to talk about his new position.

The American: How did this come to happen?

Jimmie Edwards: Well, about three weeks ago I was contacted by a representative of the mayor, who asked if I would consider being the Public Safety director. My initial response was, I need to understand what the Public Safety director does and what are the requirements. I said I would consider it. I had maybe four or five discussions with the representative, three or four discussions with the mayor. And after giving it a lot of thought and having conversations with my family, the only question I had was whether I could do any good and make a difference in

Judge Jimmie Edwards spoke at a panel when the National Consortium on Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Courts met in St. Louis on Tuesday, May 16. Mayor Lyda Krewson named him the new director of Public Safety on October 13.

our community. So, when I was getting close to making a decision, I indicated to the mayor I respected her, and I loved our city, and because of that, I think that I’m willing to consider, more carefully, your offer.

I have had a lot of discussion with folk – police, officers, protestors, agitators and the like – about what our city should look like and what should be my expectations should I take the job. And much to my happiness, they all want

the same thing. They all want peace. They all want to be able to live. But we all recognize that we’re had some challenges in our community, especially with policing. I like police officers. I’ve been law-and-order for 25 years. But I’m not naive enough to believe that all police officers should be police officers. And those that should not be police officers should take an opportunity to take a look at themselves. Can they do good even when nobody’s looking? Will you do justice irrespective of who a person is, or where they live, or their station in life, or their sexual orientation, or their race?

I think we accomplish nothing when we’re yelling at each other, we accomplish nothing when we’re on the fringes and unwilling to come to the table. I think one of the most important things that I can do as the director of Public Safety is to be a voice of calm, to reassure citizens of the City of St. Louis that we will do every single thing that we can do to treat everybody fairly, to keep people safe, including police officers, including protesters, including AfricanAmerican people, and that all communities will be policed in the same way. And that we will be accountable, and we will be transparent, and we will learn the rules, and we will follow the rules.

The American: As a judge, you know our government better than most, so you know that the punitive role of government is abrogated to the courts. Most of us who have watched the police work at protests, but also in covering street crime, they see many police officers who seem to have abrogated for themselves a punitive role. If a suspect makes them run, they get a lick. If they make them car chase, they get maybe a bullet. If they make them come out and work a double shift at a protest and get screamed at – First Amendment rights, of course, sometimes are used to express hate, which is also constitutional – I’m gonna hit ‘em with the shield on the way down and maybe zip-tie them so their arms bleed. What’s your message for police officers that are policing in a form that seems to have taken on a punitive role?

Jimmie Edwards: Certainly, we can’t legislate morality. I hope that we have the ability to change personality and to continue to be the professionals that we expect our law enforcement to be.

Policing is an honorable profession. As a little boy, we all wanted to be police officers or firefighters. We have to restore trust and confidence in the community, but that trust and confidence in the community will be expressed by each individual act of each individual officer. And so we will have to scrutinize with microscopic lenses how we police. That will be the responsibility of the police chief.

From a policy perspective, we can look at continuing education, understanding the rights of individuals, revisiting the role of the police officer, revisiting what it means to

have probable cause. Probable cause is a reasonable suspicion, more than a hunch, that a crime has been committed or that a crime is afoot. Yelling and screaming is not a crime by any statute in this country. The First Amendment takes precedent. We all have a right to protest. I would be the last to say that we don’t. But, you don’t have a right to commit crimes, you don’t have a right to destroy property, you don’t have a right to assault police officers. There’s a responsibility that we all have. We have a responsibility as citizens, and officers have a responsibility as those that have been commissioned to serve and protect us. I know a lot of my job will be about policing. I understand that a lot of my job will be setting the appropriate tone and reassuring citizens and businesses and visitors that when you come to the City of St. Louis, it will be a safe place, it will be a place that is not in chaos, and it will be a place of peace and beauty.

The American: You mentioned the police chief’s role. Were you briefed on the status of the chief search at this point, and how do you feel that’s going and what input would you want to have into that?

Jimmie Edwards: I don’t even know where my office is right now. I haven’t had an opportunity to investigate any of this. I haven’t had an opportunity to even meet the department heads. This is very new.

The American: You’re not even working there yet.

Jimmie Edwards: I am not working there.

The American: So, it’s also premature to ask about the status of the interim chief?

Jimmie Edwards: Yes.

The American: They’re getting a legal mind for free as their director of Public Safety, and there’s some big cases pending against the department, with the ACLU suit and the videographer team. Have you reviewed those?

Jimmie Edwards: I have not reviewed those cases.

The American: So, agreeing that it’s early and that we shouldn’t hold you to too much at this point and let you get your feet planted, is there anything else you want to add?

Jimmie Edwards: I just want to make sure that I’m always accessible. I believe listening to everyone is a sign of respect. A judge’s responsibility, the first responsibility, is to be a good listener and to be the arbiter of the facts. I intend to continue to be a good listener. I’ve seen the worst in our city and I’ve seen some of the best. I think that our city certainly can be an example of what it means to be resilient, and what it means to be decent, law-abiding, and what it means to be a great place to raise a family, to live, and to play.

Photo by Wiley Price

Remembering a landmark protest

When 99 percent of black bank workers had menial jobs

By Caoimhe Ni Dhonaill For The St. Louis American

The Jefferson Bank CORE protests were among the most significant in African Americans’ fight for equal employment opportunities in St. Louis. October 1963 was an especially uneasy time in the city: It’s when the nine protestors who had been arrested over the summer had their day in court.

The protests against unequal hiring practices at Jefferson Bank and Trust, which lasted for seven months, mark the largest – and most contentious – civil rights struggle in the history of St. Louis. Many local civil rights activists were involved, including William “Bill” Clay, Ivory Perry, Norman Seay, Charles and Marian Oldham, and Robert Curtis.

The protest was conceived by members of the Committee of Racial Equality (now Congress of Racial Equality). CORE leaders had been eager to stage a demonstration against the racist hiring practices in St. Louis at a time when few African Americans worked in white-collar jobs. For example, out of the 5,133 workers in 16 local banks, just 277 were black, and 99 percent of those black workers had menial jobs.

CORE sent a letter to the Jefferson Bank and Trust Company urging the financial institution’s leadership to hire four black employees in clerical positions. It received a reply insisting that there were not “four blacks in the city” fit for such jobs. This answer spurred CORE into selecting Jefferson Bank and Trust as the location of its protest.

The bank quickly filed for a restraining order to prevent protesters from disrupting business. The order was quickly granted – and even named several prominent members of CORE. Nonetheless, demonstrators gathered outside the bank’s location at Jefferson Avenue and Washington Boulevard on August 30, 1963. Initially they kept to the terms of the court order, but after an hour of peaceful, orderly picketing, approximately 100 people blocked the doors to

CORE protesters demonstrated at Jefferson Bank, on October 30, 1963.

From the Collections of the St. Louis Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

NAACP releases Clean Energy Report

Missouri Sierra Club says local, state reforms will further progressive

policy goals

the bank. They later entered the building and sat on the floor inside, singing “We Shall Not Be Moved.”

This action resulted in the arrest of nine of those mentioned on the court order, including Bill Clay, later elected to Congress from Missouri’s 1st District. Bonds were set extremely high, and a number of the demonstrators chose to stay in jail for a few extra days in protest of what they saw as a miscarriage of justice.

Opinions on these arrests and the protests themselves were mixed. On September 3, 1963, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat ran an editorial denouncing the protests, accusing the leaders of “brazenly violat[ing] the law and the court” and calling the protests “an extortion tactic in the guise of racial equality.” The St. Louis American was against breach of the court order, although it sympathized with CORE’s ideals and felt that the court’s heavy-handed actions were deplorable. October was a particularly fraught month in the history of the protests because the cases against the nine protesters arrested in August were brought to court on contempt charges. All nine were found guilty and harshly punished, receiving high fines and long sentences. Finally, after many weeks of appeals, the court relented, but it had damaged its reputation in the eyes of many in St. Louis who promoted racial equality.

Even the St. Louis Post-Dispatch urged that “Judge Scott’s decision should be reviewed by another court, not only to confirm the legality of the convictions but to determine whether the severe penalties imposed are commensurate with the offense.”

By November 1 the St. Louis Argus noted that Jefferson Bank had hired one black person – a “promotable” messenger. However, it wasn’t until March 1964 that Jefferson Bank gave in and hired four African Americans to clerical positions, bringing the protests to an end.

You can hear firsthand accounts from some of the people involved in the Jefferson Bank and Trust protests by visiting the Missouri History Museum’s exhibit “#1 in Civil Rights: The African American Freedom Struggle in St. Louis,” open through April 15, 2018. You can also find a wealth of information about the protests in Bill Clay’s memoir, “Bill Clay: A Political Voice at the Grass Roots, published by the Missouri Historical Society Press.”

This story originally appeared on the Missouri History Museum’s blog, “History Happens Here.”

By John Hickey For The St. Louis American

Marnese Jackson from the National Environmental and Climate Justice program of the NAACP was in St. Louis on Wednesday, October 11 to release “Just Energy Policies 2.0,” which assesses energy policy in the State of Missouri through a civil rights lens. Through recommended reforms, the report lays a path for advancing the well-being of the community while creating economic opportunities, particularly for local workers and minority- and womenowned businesses.

The purpose of the meeting was for the Missouri State Conference of the NAACP to meet with other groups engaged in energy justice work, and explore ways that we can collaborate. The Missouri Sierra Club applauds the NAACP for taking on this issue, and sees many opportunities to cooperate on local campaigns to implement

the roadmap provided by this new report.

The report’s recommendation to transition from coal to clean energy is in line with the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign. Similarly, the report’s focus on energy efficiency fits well with the Club’s efforts to promote energy efficiency building codes in the St. Louis area.

This report is timely, because President Trump’s Administration is trying to drag our country back to a dirty energy past. While “Big Coal” and “Big Oil” might benefit, the rest of us will pay a high price in health problems, higher utility bills, and fewer jobs. Many of the NAACP’s proposals can be adopted at the state and local level, and so do not require action by the federal government. We don’t have to wait for Washington to act!

Our health, and our children’s health, is too important. Dr. Huldah Blamoville, a St. Louis pediatrician who has fought environmental pollution here for decades, explained the health benefits of clean energy. Children in the City of St. Louis go to the hospital emergency rooms due to asthma at triple the rate of children statewide.

This disproportionate impact is triggered by air pollution from sources like coal-fired power plants and diesel trucks. The energy reforms promoted in the new NAACP report would reduce air pollution

by replacing dirty coal with clean wind, solar, and energy efficiency.

We need more goodpaying jobs as well. Dennis Gralike from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1 talked about the job creation side of clean energy. He used the example of the installation of solar panels on the Ikea store in St. Louis. Forty-two percent of the electrical workers on this project were African-American, and 25 percent lived in the City of St. Louis. In addition, the electrical contractor is a woman-owned business. This is a great local example of how clean energy technologies create more local, good-paying jobs than dirty energy does.

NAACP Missouri Environmental and Climate Chairperson Bruce Morrison, as well as Environmental Justice Committee Chair Elston McGowan, also spoke at the press conference and roundtable discussion held at the NAACP St. Louis Branch office. The Missouri Sierra Club looks forward to working with the NAACP to reduce pollution and advance energy efficiency and clean energy in our state. I encourage other organizations to get on board and support the policy goals being promoted in this report.

John Hickey is director of the Missouri Sierra Club Chapter.

Marnese Jackson from the National Environmental and Climate Justice program of the NAACP was in St. Louis on Wednesday, October 11 to release “Just Energy Policies 2.0.”

Health care is in a state of emergency

in 2010. There were

murders in St. Louis in 2010.

Gun violence is one of the top healthcare crises occurring in our nation today

By Angela Clabon For The St. Louis American

Gun violence is one of the top healthcare crises occurring in our nation today. The reminders of this crisis are becoming far too frequent and are costing the country the lives of innocent mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, grandparents, and even our children.

We see gun violence in St. Louis daily, and the recent massacre in Las Vegas prompts me, as the chief executive officer of Myrtle Hilliard Davis Comprehensive Health Centers (MHDCHC) to highlight the dire need for strengthening our healthcare systems, expanding Medicaid in Missouri and other states, and extending funding for the integration of mental and behavioral health services.

The clinical staff at MHDCHC serves patients who are directly affected by violence. There are even rare cases when violence occurs at our front door, and we are forced to

Angela Clabon

provide care until police and paramedics arrive.

Several months ago, our nurses ran out into the streets of Dr. Martin Luther King Drive to care for a young mother who had been shot as she attempted to drive away from a conflict. The woman’s car had crashed in front of our health center. Our staff assisted the victim’s two-year-old child who was also in the vehicle at the time of the shooting. The team worked through a scene of mass chaos and devastation without flinching.

Mass shootings like the one in Las Vegas increase fear and turbulence throughout the nation, and the physical, psychological, and emotional turmoil experienced daily by those living in crime-ridden neighborhoods

‘It’s better to be vaccinated before flu viruses start circulating’

Influenza (flu) season is here. The season typically begins in October and can run as late as May. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that millions of people get the flu every year, thousands are hospitalized and some people even die from flu-related causes. Influenza doesn’t discriminate, all ages, genders, income levels, and races can be impacted, and even healthy people can get the flu.

“Influenza is a potentially serious infection but it is preventable,” said Steven Lawrence, MD, MSC, associate professor of Medicine Division of Infectious Diseases, Washington University School of Medicine. “The best way to reduce your risk for influenza is to

n Flu season typically begins in October and can run as late as May.

get the flu shot. It is safe and cannot itself cause influenza and it is recommended for everybody over 6 months of age unless there is a history of allergic reaction to prior influenza vaccines.” He said it is critical that some individuals get vaccinated because they are at higher risk of serious complications from the flu. These

n The physical, psychological, and emotional turmoil experienced daily by those living in crimeridden neighborhoods is incalculable.

is incalculable. A recent article in Money Watch magazine estimated the cost of gun violence in the nation to be well over $100 billion in lost wages, lower property values, and higher taxes. A healthy and educated public is crucial to a safe and productive society. We must be the advocates for our people and our communities. Many healthcare initiatives are currently being debated such as the Children’s Health Insurance Program

City addressing needs of citizens dealing with physical and cognitive challenges

By Sandra Jordan Of The St. Louis American

The Kirkwood Human Rights Commission (KHRC) will hold a Symposium on Abilities at 9 a.m. Saturday, October 28 at the downtown Kirkwood Eliot Unitarian Chapel, 100 S. Taylor Avenue (63122). The symposium will bring together more than 16 organizations to discuss the needs identified in a 2015-2016 survey of citizens dealing with physical and cognitive challenges. The purpose of the survey was to determine actions the city could take to improve the life of residents with disabilities and their families.

n The symposium will bring together more than 16 organizations to discuss the needs identified in a 20152016 survey of citizens dealing with physical and cognitive challenges.

Some of the needs identified in the report were greater transportation and mobility, housing, education and employment and support services. In the area of housing, for example, the survey called for more affordable and accessible housing and help with interior and exterior home chores. The survey also called for improvements to the City’s ADA & Support Services web page in order to use the page as a resource for some of those identified needs.

“The city immediately addressed the website,” said Denis Hart, chairman of the Kirkwood Human Rights Commission. “We needed a place for people to go to post things that are available. What we are doing now is refining the web page to make it more inclusive and user-friendly.”

Additionally, the survey pointed to addressing needs of persons with disabilities as a priority in street, sidewalk and other transportation and mobility improvements.

Hart said the symposium will make the public aware of the steps the city has taken, is taking and will take to address abilities issues.

Speakers include commission and city

A10 ST. LOUIS AMERICAN

Photo by Wiley Price

CHIP reauthorization needed for 9 million children

Congress takes steps toward reauthorizing Children’s Health Insurance Program

By Sandra Jordan Of The St. Louis American

Community health leaders

continue to speak out in support of continued funding of two health care safety net programs: CHIP (the Children’s Health Insurance Program) and DSH (Disproportionate Share Hospital Medicaid payments to hospitals that serve a significantly high number of patients in poor and rural communities). Although both programs have benefitted from bipartisan support, the Republican-led Congress allowed funding for the CHIP program to expire on September 30, leaving millions of children of low-income families in a lurch and access to quality care in jeopardy. In Missouri, CHIP provides insurance to 87,000 babies, children and youngsters with disabilities. The program is not dead, however. House and Senate committees took up the issue on October 4 and reauthorized funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program for another five years. The House and Senate bills now must be heard, reconciled and approved by both houses and signed

into law by the president for funding to be restored.

U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay (D-Missouri), who was recently honored as the namesake of People’s Health Center’s new building for children’s health care in St. Louis, said it is time for lawmakers to take action.

n “It’s outrageous that Congress allowed CHIP funding to lapse for over 9 million American kids who depend on it for quality pediatric care.”

– U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay

“CHIP saves young lives, especially in urban areas like St. Louis with large populations of at-risk minority children,” Clay said. “It’s outrageous that Congress allowed CHIP funding to lapse for over 9 million American kids who depend on it for quality pediatric care. We must extend CHIP funding immediately.”

U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, voted to break inaction by Congressional leaders on a five-year renewal of the critical Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which covers more than 80,000 Missouri children.

a bipartisan voice vote.

FLU SHOT

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high risk populations include: children younger than 5, adults 65 years of age and older, pregnant women, and residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities and individuals with weakened immune systems.

“We recommend people get a flu shot by the end of October, if possible. It takes about two weeks after vaccination for the body’s immune response to fully respond and for you to be protected,” said Nirav D. Shah, M.D., J.D., director of the Illinois Department of Public Health. “Therefore, it’s better to be vaccinated before flu viruses start circulating.”

Contact your primary healthcare provider or local health department for additional information about the flu or for vaccination sites in your community.

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CHIP programs until Congress can pass CHIP reauthorization.

Dwayne Butler, president and CEO of People’s Health Centers, said, “It is unfortunate that Congress did not continue the funding for the CHIP program that has traditionally supported the significant health needs of so many of our vulnerable children. And I remain hopeful that, in concert with the state and federal government, we will find other ways to support our deserving children and families that will be negatively affected by this development.”

At a press conference in St. Louis on September 20, leaders of community and health organizations urged Congress to continue authorization these programs.

“If our elected leaders want to protect Missouri’s children, they will reauthorize CHIP, DSH and the other health care programs,” said Rev. Teresa Danieley, priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri. “Because of CHIP, children can get immunizations, annual check-ups, and good care when they are sick. I am very worried about what would happen to many young patients if funding for CHIP were to go away.

“CHIP is a literal life-safer for Missouri kids, which is why I’m proud to support it, and why I’m equally discouraged that Congressional leaders let us get to this point of letting it expire,” McCaskill said. “This critical program that’s helped so many Missouri families should be a shining example of what all of us – on both sides of the aisle – should rally around in a bipartisan way.”

The Senate committee approved the Keep Kids’ Insurance Dependable and Secure (KIDS) Act of 2017 on

The House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced its version, called the Healthy Kids Act, that extends funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) through Fiscal Year 2022. The committee also cleared legislation that would

extend funding and make improvements for Community Health Centers.

In the meantime, states are using unspent FY 2017 CHIP allotments and funds redistributed from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to cover current spending needs for

Jen Bersdale, executive director of Missouri Health Care for All, stated, “We call on our legislators to pay attention to what matters, such as health care for kids and the stability of our hospitals.”

Mariam Rosemon with Quest Diagnostics and St. Louis University hospital gives Tyrone Jones a flu shot at the 15th Annual Shalom City of Peace Community Health Fair Saturday. The event took place at Hazelwood East High School.

This country is also seeing the results of a lack of integrated mental and behavioral healthcare. A study by the American Psychological Association

estimates that approximately half of all individuals will be exposed to at least one traumatic event in their lifetime. The impact of gun violence is far-reaching. In addition to the victims, the nurses, physicians, police, and emergency responders are also psychologically affected. This is just one reason why we have to push for proactive healthcare policies and initiatives.

The Excellence in Mental Health Act sponsored by U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (D-Missouri) is a great step forward and requires additional support to extend beyond the life of two years and to reach further than eight states. We thank Senator Blunt and U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay (D-Missouri), as well as organizations such as Missouri Primary Care and the Regional Health Commission, who have been on the forefront of fighting for change and supporting the healthcare needs of their communities. At MHDCHC, we believe healthcare is a right, not a privilege. It is time to come together to save our families and communities. We’re in a state of emergency, and as leaders and advocates, we must be the voice for those who need us most.

Comprehensive Health Centers.

The symposium is free and open to the public. Onsite registration begins at 9 a.m. and the program begins at 9:45 a.m. For more information, please call 314-822-5806. (CHIP), Medicaid expansion, and the state of the Affordable Care Act. Millions of children will lose coverage if CHIP funding is not restored. Missouri desperately needs Medicaid expansion. The Affordable Care Act should be strengthened and supported because it has allowed working-class people access to care they could not otherwise afford.

leadership. Representatives from the Starkloff Institute, St. Louis ARC, Paraquad and the Missouri Department of Vocational Rehabilitation are scheduled to lead discussions on how their organizations can help with housing, transportation and mobility, education, employment, safety and support.

Hart said, “They are going to address each one of those and make suggestions on what things can be done, be done better, and what things residents can do to help compliment what the city is doing to address those four

areas” Following a light lunch and beginning at 12:45 p.m. attendees can participate in one of three discussion group topics – housing, transportation, and education and employment, which will be facilitated by

other service organizations –L’Arche St. Louis, Call-a-Ride, Sheperd’s Center, Sammy Soap and MERS Goodwill. The general session will include discussion with the Kirkwood Human Rights Commission.

Angela Clabon is chief executive director of Myrtle Hilliard Davis

Health care and community leaders spoke in support of vital funding for low-income children’s health care and hospitals that provide care for low-income patients at a press conference in St. Louis on Wednesday, September 20.

Photo by Wiley Price

Photo by Wiley Price

NEWSPAPER IN EDUCATION

Fast Food Options

Schedule It!

Timeto Excercise

PRESENT:

Healthy Kids Kids

Healthcare Careers

Space Heaters

When your family is in a hurry and going through a fast-food drive-thru, how are you supposed to eat healthy? Here are a few tips to remember:

q Select grilled instead of fried options. Often the healthiest option is a nice salad of greens and veggies, along with grilled chicken.

w Instead of fries or onion rings, see if you can have a fresh fruit cup or side salad instead.

e Be mindful of liquid calories (soda, shakes, slushes, etc.). Choose water or zero-calorie drinks whenever possible.

Too busy to exercise? Then schedule it! Just like you would put anything else important on your calendar (sports practice, school events, doctor appointments) so that you don’t forget — do the same for exercise. Try to schedule at least thirty minutes

According to the National Fire Protection Association, space heaters cause about 35% of all winter house fires and 80% of all winter heating fire deaths.

Let’s discuss some ways to be safe while using space heaters.

November

X = Exercise

r Condiments can contribute unhealthy calories, especially full-fat dressings, sauces and mayonnaise. Just think before you order — and you could eliminate hundreds of calories from sugar and fat!

t Most (if not all) fast-food restaurants can now provide nutrition information for all menu items.

Learning Standards: HPE 2, HPE 5, NH 1, NH 3, NH 5

(but aim for sixty!) at least four days a week. What are some creative ways to mark your calendar? Try putting “Me Time!” or “Explore the Neighborhood” on your calendar. Regular exercise is good for your heart and lungs. But don’t forget the bonus benefits. Exercise burns calories, increases your metabolism and even improves your mood. So, put it on your calendar!

Where do you work? I am the supervisor for school nurses in the Jennings School District. Where did you go to school? I graduated from Lafayette Senior High School. I attended Florissant Valley Community College and earned an LPN from St. Louis College of Health Careers.

What does a school nurse do? I educate students on health risks and the types of medicines that they need. For example, I teach students with asthma how to monitor their own symptoms and how they can prevent their health from getting worse by being proactive in their own care.

Learning Standards: HPE 1, HPE 2, HPE 5, NH 1, NH 5

> Do not use a space heater if the chord is frayed or damaged

> The best space heaters are the ones with a safety switch that automatically turns off if the heater falls over. If yours does not have this, be sure to turn it off when you leave.

> Keep anything flammable away from the space heater including blankets, curtains, newspapers, etc.

> Can you think of any other space heater safety tips?

Learning Standards: HPE 5, NH 5

Cheese

Why did you choose this career? When I was in high school I went through a rough time. I had a school nurse that was very kind to me. She was so encouraging to me and treated me with such respect that I continued on in school in order to have a successful career.

What is your favorite part of the job you have?

My favorite part is being there for the kids and being available for whatever they need. This can sometimes include personal things such as eye glasses, dental care or helping them to locate different resources for their everyday needs. I also very much enjoy encouraging them by telling them that they can be anything that they set their mind to.

veggies.

CLASSROOM SPOTLIGHT

SCIENCE CORNER

What Are Fungi?

Fungi are organisms made of filaments (called hyphe) that are stacked together. Unlike plants, fungi do not have chlorophyll, so they cannot make their own food. Some fungi are parasites, which mean they live off of other organisms. Some fungi feed off of dead and decaying matter. Fungi are everywhere in the environment, including the soil, lakes, river and seas, air, and on plants and animals. Fungi (plural of fungus) help organic matter to decay and release carbon and oxygen into the environment.

SCIENCE INVESTIGATION

Unlike plants, fungi do not have leaves, stems, or roots. Fungi use spores to reproduce. One common type of fungus is the mushrooms you find on your pizza. Mold, yeasts, and mildew are also types of fungus.

For More Information, Go to: library.thinkquest.org/CR0212089/ fungi.htm

Learning Standards: I can read nonfiction text to gain background information about fungi.

Growing

In this experiment, you will learn how mold grows best. Mold is an important fungus that has several uses, including breaking down dead organic material. Some purified molds are actually used as an antibiotic to treat illnesses.

Materials Needed:

• 3 slices of bread • Water • 3 Ziploc bags

• 10x10 square centimeter grid • Ruler

Process:

q Wet one slice of bread enough to make it moist and place it in a bag. Seal the bag very tightly.

w Place the two other slices of dry bread in two separate bags and seal them, as well.

e Place the bag with the wet slice of bread and one of the bags with a dry slice of bread in a dark place, such as a closed cabinet or closet.

r Place the third bag with a dry slice of bread in the refrigerator.

MATH CONNECTION

Mold!

t For five days, measure the square centimeters of mold on each piece of bread through the bag. Use a grid, if possible, or a ruler. If mold covers more than half a square centimeter, it is counted as one full centimeter. If it is less, it is counted as 0 centimeters. This will give you the area of mold on each slice of bread

y At the end of a week (5 days of measuring) or longer, use your final results to say what percentage of the bread was covered in mold. Make a table or graph to display the information.

Discussion Questions: How much mold was on the bread? Which location had the most mold? Which had the least? What conclusions can you draw about the conditions in which mold grows? How can food manufacturers and restaurant owners use this information to help them?

Learning Standards: I can follow sequential directions to complete an experiment. I can display my results, make observations, and draw conclusions.

Analyzing a Bar Graph

Scientists often use tables and graphs to display the results of their research. Looking at these displays, you can draw conclusions.

When winter strikes, create a bar graph that displays the amount of snow you measured in your yard for four consecutive days. Day 1: 3 inches, Day 2: 5.5 inches, Day 3: 4 inches, Day 4: 1.5 inches.

SCIENCE STARS

AFRICAN AMERICAN MYCOLOGIST AND EDUCATOR: Jeanette Jones

Jeanette Jones was born on September 19, 1950, in Fort Valley, Georgia. Jones graduated from Fort Valley State University in 1972 with a bachelor’s degree in biology education. In 1973, Jones received her master’s degree in botany and mycology (a branch of biology that studies fungi) from The Ohio State University. In 1976, she received her doctorate (Ph.D.) degree. She also studied at the University of Nevada, the University of California Medical School, the National Center for Disease Control-Atlanta, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

After graduation, Alabama A&M University hired Jones as an assistant biology professor. In 1986, she served as an adjunct professor in the College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Services at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University and worked on a project with NASA. In 1991, Jones served as the first female vice president of research and development at Alabama A&M University. She also served as President of Alabama A&M University’s Faculty Senate from 2001 to 2006. In 1992, she was appointed to the U.S. Army Science Board by the U.S. Secretary of the Army, Togo West. Since 2004 Jones has been the director of the Center for Biomedical, Behavioral, and Environment Research at Alabama A&M University. She also worked as a consultant with federal agencies to help them develop training programs to attract women and minorities to STEM education and careers.

In 1975, Jones was listed in the World’s Women’s Who’s Who and she was named an Outstanding Young Woman of America in 1978. Beta Beta Beta National Biological Honor Society awarded her the distinguished service award. Jones also received the Significant Service Award from the NASA Space Life Sciences Training Program and the Extramural Associate Research Development Award from the National Institute of Health. In 1990 and 2006, she was named Woman of the Year at Alabama A&M University and was given the Outstanding Leadership Award by the Faculty Senate. The U.S. Army presented Jones the Commander’s Award for Outstanding Civilian Service as a member of the Army Science Board.

Discussion Questions: Dr. Jones received many awards and honors. How would you describe her achievements and her contributions to science? Dr. Jones is studying how fungi might be used as agents of war. What purpose do you think fungi serve in modern warfare? Are fungi beneficial or harmful?

Learning Standards: I can read a biography to learn about an African American who has made contributions in science, math, technology, or engineering.

Use the newspaper to complete the following activities: Types of News:

Discussion Questions: Which day had the most measured snow fall? Which had the least? Looking at the bar graph, when do you think the snowfall ended? When did the snow start to melt? What other observations can you make?

Learning Standards: I can use a bar graph to display information. I can use the information to make deductions and inferences.

Use the front section of the newspaper to evaluate the types of news stories presented: local, national, and international. Sort the articles into the three categories and create a bar graph that displays the amount of coverage each type of news story received.

Mystery Story: Cut out several pictures from the newspaper without reading the caption. Place the pictures in a bag, and without looking, pick your mystery picture from the bag. That’s your stimulus for writing. Construct a graphic organizer to identify the 5Ws (who, what, when, where, and why) of your story by looking at your picture. Then, continue the writing process.

Learning Standards: I can use the newspaper to locate information. I can categorize and summarize that information.

Ms. Stovall’s 5th Grade Class Gateway Elementary MST SLPS Premier Charter School 8th grade teacher Carly McAdams works with students Noor Al Bhadli, Caldra Williford, Ali Jabbar and Xamdi Abdullahi on how to search for certain types of news stories using the newspaper. Photo by Wiley Price

St. Louis County Library wins national innovation award

Emerson funded technology center and computer lab at Natural Bridge Branch

American staff

The St. Louis County Library has been recognized as a national urban innovator by opening a lab with 26 public computers that is open during regular library hours as well as select extended hours at a North County library branch. The Urban Libraries Council gave its 2017 Innovation Award to the library for its Emerson Technology Center and After Hours Computer Lab. The tech center and lab are part of the Natural Bridge Branch, located at 7606 Natural Bridge Rd. in Normandy.

The center contains 26 public computers and is open during regular library hours as well as extended hours from 9-11 p.m. Monday –Thursday and 5-7 p.m. Fridays. The lab is a family friendly environment where adults can

n “We know from talking with our patrons that the Natural Bridge Branch is where many residents go for computer use and technology help.”

– SLCL Director Kristen Sorth

work while their children read or play at childsize tables. A business center with fax, scan and copy capabilities is also available inside the lab.

“We know from talking with our patrons that the Natural Bridge Branch is where many residents go for computer use and technology help,” SLCL Director Kristen Sorth said.

“Because the public’s computing needs often extend beyond normal branch hours, we designed the branch to allow after-hours access. By meeting our patrons where they are, we are providing a vital resource to the community.”

A panel of expert judges selected St. Louis County Library from a pool of over 250 submissions as one of 10 libraries that best embodies the 21st century library’s role as a community leader and pioneer for positive change.

The technology center at the Natural Bridge Branch was made possible by a donation from Emerson. The lab was part of the branch’s renovation which took place in 2016 as part of the Your Library Renewed capital improvement campaign.

Gloria Carter-Hicks is 2017 Entrepreneur of the Year

By Rebecca Rivas Of The St. Louis American

Gloria Carter-Hicks was standing at a crossroad 18 years ago where many successful entrepreneurs have found themselves.

“I lost the job,” said Carter-Hicks, who is now president, CEO and owner of Hicks-CarterHicks, LLC. “A company that I worked for sold a large division, and I was the head of human resources over that division.”

They wanted to transfer her to Chicago, but at that particular time, her daughter was still in high school. She didn’t want to transfer, so she had to make a choice. Did she take her 15 years of experience as a human resources executive and find another position, or did she go off on her own?

“My parents owned a business,” Carter-Hicks said. “I thought: Now is the time to do that. I took my severance and started my company. So something good came out of losing my job, which was starting my company.”

Gloria CarterHicks is president, CEO and owner of Hicks-CarterHicks, a performanceimprovement company.

n “I took my severance and started my company. So something good came out of losing my job.”

– Gloria Carter-Hicks

executive coaching, management consulting and organizational development.

“We help organizations work with their employees to create a better, stronger work culture and to also improve the goods and services they deliver to their customers,” CarterHicks said.

Michael Holmes was recently hired as Vice President of Workforce Development and Strategic Partnerships for the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, Inc. Holmes previously served as executive director of the St. Louis Agency on Training and Employment. The Urban League is an organization that seeks to empower African-Americans through volunteer work and civil rights advocacy.

Madeline Jackson has launched a new business and product line called NanaComb, a hair styling tool for curly, coily, and/or kinky hair. The product will be produced at a local manufacture and was awarded grant funding from the Balsa Foundation, a volunteer-run group whose mission is to promote social equity and prosperity in the St. Louis region.

Marcus Adams has joined Midwest BankCentre as vice president and mortgage lender. He will the bank’s mortgage products within both low- to moderate-income customers and emerging market communities .Adams serves as a certified housing counselor for the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development and with UnidosUS.

Charlene Blair has formed the National Museum of African Americans on Stamps (NMAAS). NMAAS with be a traveling and virtural display of Blair’s personal collection and donations from others. As a collector for over 26 years, she hopes the museum will encourage the hobby and introduce others to African Americans on stamps and be a catalyst for change.

Michael W. Noble has received the Mentor Award from Missouri Lawyers Weekly, an award given to experienced legal professionals who have been important to the professional development of those just starting out. Noble is a circuit court judge in Missouri and a faculty member at Emory University’s School of Law.

Sowande’ Mustakeem received the WesleyLogan Prize in African Diaspora History for her book “Slavery at Sea: Terror, Sex, and Sickness in the Middle Passage”. The prize recognizes extraordinary books written about African-American life and history. Mustakeem is a professor of history and African-American studies at Washington University; this is her first book.

In 1999, she launched Hicks-Carter-Hicks, a full-service performance-improvement company. She and her team help organizations build better workplaces, through learning and development,

Within her own company, she sets very clear goals for herself.

to cking@stlamerican. com

Michael Holmes

Marcus Adams

Sowande’ Mustakeem

Michael W. Noble

Madeline Jackson

Photo by Lawrence Bryant

Charlene Blair

Class at the Emerson Technology Center and After Hours Computer Lab, funded by Emerson at the St. Louis County Library’s Natural Bridge Branch.

‘These shackles of debt must be broken’

New Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule reins in predatory lending

By Charlene Crowell Columnist

After five years of field hearings, town hall meetings, multiple research reports, and over one million comments, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced on October 5 a new rule to rein in predatory payday and car-title loans.

“These protections bring needed reform to a market where far too often lenders have succeeded in setting up borrowers to fail. . . Faced with unaffordable payments, consumers must choose between defaulting, re-borrowing, or failing to pay basic living expenses or other major financial obligations,” said Richard Cordray, CFPB director. Central to the CFPB’s rule is the establishment of an ability-to-repay principle. High-cost loans of 45 days or less, as well as longer term loans that end in a balloon payment, must first take into account whether the loan is affordable when both borrower income and expenses are considered. These loans allow lenders to seize funds from either a borrowers’ bank accounts (payday loans) or repossess vehicles that were used as collateral (car-title loans). Although marketed by predatory lenders as an easy lifeline in a financial emergency, research by CFPB, and other consumer groups found otherwise: payday lending’s business model is the tool that drowns borrowers into a sea of debt. With tripledigit interest rates of 400 percent or higher, payday and car-title loans drain $8 billion in fees on loans averaging

$300-$400. Borrowers stuck in more than 10 loans a year generated 75 percent of all payday loan fees. Similarly, 85 percent of car-title loan renewals occur 30 days after a previous one could not be fully repaid. Across the country, these high-cost lenders are mostoften found in communities of color where blacks, Latinos, and low-wealth families reside. The data and consistency of

n “Payday lending is bad for many consumers; but like many predatory scams, it invariably ends up as a weapon against the disadvantaged communities.”

– Vanita

Gupta

business locations in these areas suggest that lenders target financially vulnerable

“With little accountability for their actions, payday lenders have long preyed upon communities of color and drained them of their hard-earned savings,” said Hilary O. Shelton, the NAACP’s Washington Bureau director and senior vice president for Policy and Advocacy.

even higher in other states, cash-strapped people who needed only a couple hundred dollars soon discover they are in financial quicksand, paying loan fees were after week, that only sink them deeper into debt.”

“As best I can, I comfort those caught in payday lending’s web of debt,” Gable added. “Yet I also know that it is time for change. These shackles of debt must be broken.”

“President Trump and Congress should get on the side of civil rights advocates, the religious community, consumer organizations, and the public at-large by supporting and strengthening the CFPB’s new rules on payday lending,” challenged Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the civil and human rights of all persons in the United States. “Payday lending is bad for many consumers; but like many predatory scams, it invariably ends up as a weapon against the disadvantaged communities that are least able to bear its terrible burden.”

Washington Bureau director and senior vice president for Policy and Advocacy. “This CFPB rule establishes a muchneeded set of transparent responsibilities for lenders and basic rights and protection for borrowers.”

consumers.

Upon learning of CFPB’s payday rule, clergy and civil rights leaders who have steadfastly opposed payday and car-title lenders’ triple-digit interest rates were swift to speak in support. Their desire to rein-in the debt trap of these unaffordable loans was both strong and consistent.

“With little accountability for their actions, payday lenders have long preyed upon communities of color and drained them of their hardearned savings,” said Hilary O. Shelton, the NAACP’s

HICKS

continued from page B1

“I want to be a servant leader,” Carter-Hicks said. “Being a servant leader is someone who gives their employees all the tools, the nurturing, the coaching that they need to be successful. I believe that if you treat people like superstars, they will perform like rock stars. Flip the organizational chart. I’m at the bottom, they’re at the top.”

On Friday, November 17, Carter-Hicks will receive the 2017 Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the St. Louis American Foundation’s Salute to Excellence in Business networking luncheon and awards reception. The event will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel St. Louis.

Growing up in Alton, Illinois, Carter-Hicks watched her parents – Floyd and Lula May Carter – grow their independent grocery business, Carter Groceries and Café. They were in business for 35 years.

“My dad is probably the most influential person that was in my life,” she said. “He passed away when I was a sophomore in college, so he really never got to see me live my dream. But my father said that ‘can’t’ is never in your vocabulary.”

“We will work to defend and strengthen this rule,” continued Shelton, “so Americans face fewer burdens in establishing financial security.”

For Reverend Willie Gable Jr., pastor of Progressive Baptist Church in New Orleans and Member of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., the country’s largest predominantly African-American religious denomination, the payday rule was both personal and pastoral.

“In my home state of Louisiana, the average payday loan interest rate is 391 percent,” said Reverend Gable Jr., “With rates this high – and

When she graduated from the University of Missouri-St. Louis, she decided that she wanted to go a more corporate route, rather than taking over the family business. However, becoming an entrepreneur one day like her parents was something she felt was inevitable.

“I knew that I needed time to work in the corporate world to gain experience, to gain exposure and to better know how to run a business,” she said. “It was just a matter of time.”

Carter-Hicks is proud of the recognition that her growing company has received, including the recent Diverse Universe Award by the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD) for her company’s exemplary consulting and training performance. From 2010 to 2016, the company received the Salute to Excellence in Business Award for being one of the Top 25 AfricanAmerican businesses in the St. Louis region. The St. Louis Small Business Monthly recognized CarterHicks as one of the region’s 2012 Diversity Heroes. In 2012, the United States Small Business Administration (SBA) recognized Hicks-Carter-Hicks as a Business Consultant Extraordinaire.

Looking ahead, many consumer advocates remain hopeful that CFPB will go even further with its rules, to include similar actions against harmful and longer-term loans. At both the state and federal levels, civil rights leaders and consumer advocates must remain watchful to preserve, expand, and enforce existing interest rate caps now in effect in 15 states and the District of Columbia. Advocates must also remain watchful for any congressional actions that may be taken to preempt or undermine consumer protections.

CFPB’s payday rule marks a key step in disrupting the debt trap.

Yet, much more remains to be done before financial fairness is a reality for all. Charlene Crowell is the communications deputy director with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at Charlene. crowell@responsiblelending. org.

“It’s important to me in life to experience people who are different from me,” CarterHicks said. “Those individuals bring things to the table that I don’t have.”

The 18th Annual Salute to Excellence in Business Awards & Networking Luncheon will be held Friday, November 17 at the Four Seasons Hotel St. Louis, with a networking reception at 11 a.m. and luncheon program at noon. Tickets are $100 for Preferred/VIP seating and $75 for general admission. Call 314-533-8000 or visit www. stlamerican.com for more information or to purchase tickets.

Larry W. Lee, CEO of Andy’s Seasoning, said his company has been working with Hicks-Carter-Hicks to develop a strategic plan and performance-appraisal process. “They have been very helpful,” Lee said. “We have found Gloria Carter-Hicks and her team to be very professional, very knowledgeable, as well as very accessible. We have been very satisfied with the work that Hicks-Carter-Hicks has done.” Hicks-Carter-Hicks also helps companies expand their diversity and inclusion efforts. And within her own company, Carter-Hicks stresses that diversity and inclusion are absolutely a key part of their core values.

n “I don’t know how serious they take defense.”

– Golden State’s Draymond Green, on the new look Houston Rockets

Sports

PreP Football notebook

Road to the Missouri state title begins this weekend

After ninegame regular season, every team is 0-0

The road to the state championship begins for Missouri teams this weekend as the district playoffs begin underway. After a nine-game regular season, every team begins the postseason with a 0-0 record all over again. Here is a look at all of the districts that have St. Louis area teams along with my fearless predictions. To see the complete brackets, you can visit the website, www.mshsaa.org.

Earl Austin Jr.

Class 6

District 1

Top Seed: Eureka

Top Contenders: Lindbergh, Kirkwood

Earl’s Prediction: Eureka (Wildcats break through this year)

District 2

Top Seed: CBC

Top Contenders: Hazelwood Central, Ritenour

Earl’s Prediction: CBC (Cadets are looking strong once again)

District 3

Top Seed: Rock Bridge

Top Contenders: Francis Howell, Blue Springs, Fort Zumwalt West

Earl’s Prediction: Blue Springs (Wildcats are state runners-up in ’17)

Class 5

District 1

Top Seed: Vianney

PREP, B5

STL ballers primed to make big NBA impact

“Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”

– Mike Tyson

The Boston Celtics had a plan. After an exciting offseason of wheeling, dealing and drama, the Celtics were ready for some stability. The team expected to lean on its two All-Star acquisitions, Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward. Together, they could finally lead the Celtics past the Cleveland Cavaliers in the playoffs.

In the ClutCh

Early in the first quarter, Hayward suffered a gruesome ankle injury. In an instant, his season came crashing to an end.

Many believe that the Celtics’ championship aspirations went down with Hayward. However, in his first career NBA game, Tatum showed that he’s ready to shoulder whatever load Boston needs him to carry.

After a shaky, butterfly-filled first half, Tatum showed why the Celtics drafted him with the third overall pick. In his first NBA game, Tatum scored 14 points and grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds.

The performance didn’t come against the lowly Brooklyn Nets. Tatum balled out against LeBron James and the defending Eastern Conference champions.

“Jayson is a special talent,” Celtics guard Jaylen Brown

Rookie forward, St. Louis native, Jayson Tatum (Chaminade) figured to play a key role off the bench. The Celtics wanted to leave the heavy lifting to the young veteran leadership. What a difference a day makes. During the NBA’s season opener between the Celtics and Cavs, Tatum was thrusted into the starting lineup due to a preseason minor knee injury to Marcus Morris

See CLUTCH, B5

Ishmael H. Sistrunk

Ishmael H. Sistrunk

The Boston Celtics’ Jayson Tatum (right) drives past LeBron James during his NBA debut. The former Chaminade star scored 14 points and 10 rebounds on opening night.

McCluer South-Berkeley’s Devon Blanchard (1) just missed this reception but had 6 carries for 25 yards in helping McCluer to a 58-0 victory over Confluence Prep Saturday at Berkeley.

Photo by Wiley Price

SportS EyE

With Alvin A. Reid

Black NFL players should form a ‘Guild’ with its own agenda, action items

While NFL owners, as of Wednesday morning, did not change game day rules and regulations to forbid peaceful, civil protests during the national anthem, it’s obvious that Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and the league is choosing its white fans over its black players.

Jones says it is not an assault on black players’ rights. It is the cost of doing business. There are actions that black NFL players can now take to show solidarity and demonstrate to owners and the nation that they are to be taken seriously.

Black NFL players should form a trade association called the Black Professional Football Players Guild.

Separate from the NFLPA, this trade organization should be comprised of black NFL players, with a board of directors and executive committee. This group would address any issues involving a single black player or group of them. While its decisions are not binding, this entity would speak on behalf of all black players. The organization could be funded by a 1 percent donation based on salary of players involved.

or activity during the 2018 offseason. This includes offseason workouts at team facilities and Organized Team Activities (OTAs). Remember, these are “voluntary.” If the NFL can’t support its black players on issues of importance, why should black players volunteer their time and physical efforts to their respective teams? This action would be met with ire from owners, coaches and some fellow players. This is a form of protest that cannot be mandated by the NFL because, once again, these activities are “voluntary.”

The Guild should discourage black players from participating in marketing efforts sponsored by the NFL, including its “Play 60” program, which is directed at youths, and any other campaigns that exist for the public relations image of the NFL. If the NFL could care less about its black players and, importantly, a significant number of black fans, why should black players lend themselves to marketing and PR assignments? While players might lose some income, it is a willing sacrifice.

Upon its establishment following the Super Bowl in February, “The Guild” should announce its 2018 NFL agenda – the agenda could change each season. Because of NFL owners’ actions regarding the national anthem, the 2018 agenda should be designed to shake individual teams and the NFL to the core.

The Guild should request that no black player attend any voluntary team function

The Guild should encourage black players to refrain from wearing pink as part of the NFL’s awareness campaign concerning breast cancer. NFL owners can’t force players to wear pink – so they should not wear pink apparel. Players can make financial contributions or find ways to support breast cancer research which are not part of the NFL campaign. The Guild could direct this effort.

The Guild should discourage black collegiate players from attending the NFL Draft, regardless of their draft status. This is no more than a showcase for the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell. Each year, fewer collegiate stars attend the NFL Draft. It is now time for black college stars to help support those that have made their dream possible – black players that have been ignored by owners and the NFL.

The Guild should recommend that no black players on the Super Bowl winning team attend a reception at the White House with President Trump. This certainly needs no explanation. The Guild should join black players at a rally of

their own in the winning city, in a part of the metropolitan area with a majority black population.

The Guild should monitor the number of black media members that cover NFL teams. The focus should be on local media not members.

Once compiled, this figure should be prominently shared to show the lack of diversity among those that cover the NFL for local radio, TV and newspaper outlets.

The Guild should encourage black free agents to seek fully guaranteed contracts. You often hear “the NFL does not offer guaranteed contracts.” There is no NFL rule or policy that stops an owner from offering a fully guaranteed contract. The owners collude to not offer this type of contract. Black players could help burst

this dam of fallacy. Ironically, this would benefit wealthy, white quarterbacks, first and foremost.

The success of The Guild would, of course, hinge on the number of black players that are willing to follow its guidelines and suggestions. If a majority of the NFL’s black stars follow the 2018 agenda, it would cause a stir in the league and within team locker rooms.

While it could divide black and white teammates and draw negative reaction, The Guild must be considered and should be established because a segment of white America, the NFL and the president have left black players with no option.

The time has come for black NFL players to organize, be active and stop being “volunteers” in the racial attacks on themselves.

It’s obvious that Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and the league is choosing its white fans over its black players. Jones says it is not an assault on black players’ rights. It is the cost of doing business.

As the Ezekiel turns

St. Louis attorney Scott Rosenbloom and Ezekiel Elliott’s legal team convinced a federal court to issue a temporary restraining order that halts his six-game suspension for violating the NFL’s domestic violence policy. The order holds for 14 days or until a formal hearing can be held. He can play Sunday at San Francisco and, most likely, at Washington a week later. Elliott was suspended for six games in August after the league concluded following a yearlong investigation that he had several physical confrontations in the summer of 2016 with Tiffany Thompson. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is helping move heaven and earth to clear the way for Elliott to play football on Sunday – even if he is guilty of physically abusing his former girlfriend.

However, should Elliott take a knee during the national anthem, he will not be allowed to play in the game.

The level of irony and hypocrisy this situation demonstrates is all one needs to know about how NFL owners truly feel about their black players and their fellow black American citizens.

Boxing back Saturday

Jarvis “The Jackal” Williams will headline a card of boxing at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Omega Center, 3900 Goodfellow in St. Louis. Williams scored a unanimous decision victory over Luis Pena on June 17 at the Pipefitters Union Hall to move his record to 8-0 with one no-decision to Charon Spain in July 2016. He came back to win a unanimous decision over Spain later that year. The card will also feature Kent Cruz, who ran his record to 13-0 on Sept. 3 when he notched a technical knockout over Yankton Southern in Omaha, Neb. Leon “Third Generation” Spinks (11-3-1) is scheduled to return to the ring after a twoyear hiatus. Also on the card is Jessica “Caskilla” McCaskill, who is 5-1 following her TKO over Natalie Brown in Chicago on July 29. Other bouts will include Jermaine McDonald and Jeremiah Millett, who will be making his pro debut. General admission tickets are $35 and ringside VIP is $50. For more information, call John Harris at (314) 452-8414.

Alvin A. Reid was honored as the 2017 “Best Sports Columnist – Weeklies” in the Missouri Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest. He is a panelist on the Nine Network program, Donnybrook, is a weekly contributor to “The Charlie Tuna Show” on KFNS and can also be heard on Frank Cusumano’s “The Press Box.” His Twitter handle is #aareid1.

Alvin A. Reid

CLUTCH

Continued from B3

Bradley Beal’s breakthrough season?

Last season, many people believed that Bradley Beal (Chaminade) deserved an All-Star nod. When it was announced that Cavs forward Kevin Love would miss the game due to injury, all eyes were on Beal and then-New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony Going into the All-Star break, Beal averaged 22.2 points, 3.7 assists and 2.9 rebounds per game. The Wizards’ record was 34-21. The team led its division and sat third place overall in the Eastern Conference.

Anthony averaged 23.4 points, six rebounds and 2.9 assists per game before the break. The Knicks’ record was 23-34 and sat in the Eastern Conference basement, ranking 12th out of 15 teams.

However, Anthony is a bigger star. New York is a bigger

PREP

Continued from B3

Top Contenders: Poplar Bluff, Jackson

Earl’s Prediction: Vianney (Defending state champions start their quest for a repeat).

District 2

Top Seed: Pattonville

Top Contenders: Chaminade, Webster Groves, Hazelwood East

Earl’s Prediction: Pattonville

District 3

Top Seed: Fort Zumwalt North

Top Contenders: Timberland, Holt

Earl’s Prediction: Fort Zumwalt North (Panthers are rolling once again into the postseason).

Class 4

District 1

Top Seed: Hillsboro

Top Contenders: Cape Central, North County

Earl’s Prediction: Hillsboro

District 2

Top Seed: Ladue

Top Contenders: MICDS, St. Mary’s

Earl’s Prediction: Ladue (Rams advanced to state semifinals last season).

District 3

Top Seed: Riverview Gardens

market. So ‘Melo received the call from Commissioner Adam Silver. Let’s call it a lifetime achievement selection.

“If they reward winning, then I don’t understand how the decision was made,” Beal told The Washington Post after the snub in February. “It was kind of weird to me.”

Beal used the snub as inspiration and averaged 24.8 points after the All-Star break. He helped lead his team to the playoffs while Anthony watched from his couch like the rest of us.

This season, Beal has an excellent opportunity to earn his first All-Star berth. 2016 Eastern Conference All-Stars Anthony, Paul George and Jimmy Butler have all migrated to the West. Hayward’s injury means he will not inherit an Eastern Conference All-Star berth, as was expected. Beal should be a shoe-in to be named an All-Star this season. Last January, Zach Harper of CBS Sports, ranked Beal and John Wall as the second-best backcourt in the NBA. The only duo rated in front of the Wizards’ tandem was the Golden State Warriors’

Top Contenders: Parkway Central, Parkway North

Earl’s Prediction: Riverview Gardens (A loaded district with three quality teams)

District 4

Top Seed: Borgia

Top Contenders: Rolla, Parkway West

Earl’s Prediction: Rolla

Class 3

District 2

Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson

Throughout his career, Beal has proven to be an excellent two-way player. He will need to take the next step and leave no-doubt regarding his All-Star status if the Wizards want to re-emerge and threaten the Cavs for the Eastern Conference crown.

With Wall and Sikeston native Otto Porter Jr. (Scott County Central) at his side, Beal is confident in his team’s outlook for the 2017-18 season.

“I feel like we’re the best team in the East, Beal told ESPN. “That’s how we feel coming into the season.”

McCaw, McLemore and Lee

The Warriors’ Patrick McCaw (CBC) earned a NBA championship during his rookie season and hopes to add to his collection this year. McCaw stands to be a solid bench contributor to the juggernaut Warriors. In the season opener, he scored four points, three rebounds, one block and one assist in 19 minutes of action.

Top Seed: Lutheran South Contenders: Miller Career Academy, John Burroughs, Confluence

Earl’s Prediction: Miller Career Academy

District 5

Top Seed: McCluer SouthBerkeley

Top Contenders: Orchard Farm, St. Charles West

Earl’s Prediction: McCluer South-Berkeley

PreP Athlete of the Week

Micah Arps

Incarnate Word Academy – Softball

The senior standout has enjoyed a big season in leading the Red Knights to the Final Four of the Class 3 state tournament. In IWA’s 6-3 victory over St. Dominic in the state quarterfinals, Arps was two-for-four with two runs scored and a stolen base. In the sectional playoffs, Arps was three-for-three with three runs scored, three

runs batted in, two extra base hits and a stolen base in the Red Knights’ 16-0 victory over Rosati-Kain. For the season, Arps is hitting .468 with two home runs, 33 runs batted in and a team-high 22 stolen bases. Incarnate Word (21-6) will meet Notre Dame in the Class 3 state semifinals on Friday in Springfield, Mo.

McCaw proved that he was NBA-ready when he started 20 games for the champions last season. His coach, Steve Kerr, described him as a “good player with a chance to be a great player.”

McCaw will be given every opportunity to prove his worth.

Ben McLemore (Wellston) has a new zip code. McLemore signed with the Memphis Grizzlies as a free agent. He will have a chance to jumpstart his career after finally escaping the Sacramento Kings. Whether the Grizzlies use him as a starter or off the bench, McLemore should have the chance to develop without the pressure and expectations that came with being the 7th overall pick in the 2013 draft. However, McLemore will start the season in street clothes while he rehabs his injured foot.

David Lee (Chaminade) opted out of his deal with the San Antonio Spurs during the offseason and is currently a free agent. It’s possible that his phone will ring as the inevitable injury bug makes its

Class 2

District 2

Top Seed: Lutheran North

Top Contenders: Trinity, Cardinal Ritter

Earl’s Prediction: Trinity (The game that everyone has been waiting for since the season started is the Trinity at Lutheran North final. No. 3 seed Cardinal Ritter is also a quality team).

the St. louiS AmericAn college AthleteS of the Week

Shayeen Edwards

The senior running back from Cahokia, Illinois became the fifth player in McKendree’s history to pass the 2,000-yard mark in career rushing last weekend.

The 5’8 185-pound Edwards rushed for 120 yards on 26 carries and scored a touchdown in the Bearcats’ 27-24 overtime loss to Davenport

Camila Chaves

The freshman goalkeeper from Bogota, Columbia was selected the American Midwest Conference Defensive Player of the Week. Chaves recorded 11 saves in the Hornets’ 2-1 victory over Williams Baptist last week. She sealed the Hornets’

University. He is now fourth on McKendree’s career rushing list with 2,073 yards. For the season, Edwards has rushed for 664 yards on 143 carries while scoring seven touchdowns. Last season, Edwards earned All-Great Lakes Valley Conference honors while rushing for 771 yards and scoring four touchdowns.

Harris-Stowe State University – Soccer

McKendree University – Football victory with a big save in the penalty kicks session at the close of the match. In two victories last week, Chaves gave up only one goal in 147 minutes of action. She has recorded 59 saves during the season.

rounds. However, Lee appears to be in the twilight of his career. Follow Ishmael and In the Clutch on Twitter @ IshmaelSistrunk

Bradley Beal has emerged as an All-Star candidate in the Eastern Conference. Beal and John Wall form one of the most lethal backcourts in the entire NBA.

Auditor finds legislature has no system for tracking impact of tax incentives

‘Promoting a good business climate doesn’t have to be at odds with protecting taxpayers’

American staff

Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway reports that the Missouri legislature lacks an accurate way to account for or track the fiscal impact of the state’s tax incentives and exemptions, based on a review of hundreds of tax breaks intended to spur economic activity in the state.

“There’s no system in place to determine whether taxpayers are getting promised economic benefits from special interest giveaways,” Galloway said. “Unless the legislature does a better job assessing the costs and benefits of their policy decisions, the state will continue to jeopardize its fiscal health and threaten critical services for Missourians.”

During the legislative process, bills receive a fiscal note, an estimate of the impact the proposed legislation will have on state funds. The report found that these cost estimates are sometimes formulated with out-of-date information and require much greater economic analysis than is currently performed. In addition, there is no follow-up process to evaluate the accuracy of the estimates and actual impact of new laws.

Galloway looked at a 2015

Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway

law that created a new method of allocating corporate income from interstate sales between states. The bill’s fiscal note estimated the legislation would have a cost of $15.2 million each year. However, in the first two years since the law was implemented, corporate income tax collections have decreased by $177 million – five times the amount predicted in the fiscal note. The audit also reviewed the discount offered to retailers in exchange for paying sales taxes on time. Missouri’s discount is the second highest in the nation. A similar discount is offered to businesses that remit their employee withholding taxes on time, which is a discount only offered in Missouri. Over a two year period, these two discounts account for up to $282 million in taxes citizens paid, but are instead funneled to corporations. “While Missourians absorb

n The fiscal note on a 2015 bill estimated the legislation would cost $15.2 million each year, but corporate income tax collections have decreased by $177 million per year.

dramatic restrictions on higher education funding and cuts to prescription drugs and in-home nursing care, the state is giving away millions to corporations for simply doing what the law requires,” said Galloway. “Promoting a good business climate doesn’t have to be at odds with protecting taxpayers.”

The report also found that the state does not monitor the effect of sales tax exemptions, making it difficult to know the actual fiscal impact. Missouri has 209 sales tax exemptions for items like commercial laundries, fitness classes, and medical equipment. However, the Department of Revenue only tracks the specific impact of three individual exemptions.

The complete report is available at http://app. auditor.mo.gov/Repository/ Press/2017113798933.pdf.

Financial Focus

By Courtney Bond-Walters

Five tips for women business owners

‘Artists

Reverend Sekou speaks on the role of art in the movement

By Clark Randall For The St. Louis American

are the legislators of

The glamorous life of giving back

Cedric The Entertainer gala returns to Peabody Saturday starring Sheila E.

By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American

This weekend will mark the fourth year that king of comedy and St. Louis native Cedric The Entertainer has enlisted some of the biggest names in show business to lend a hand for his worthy cause.

Following in the footsteps of Jill Scott, Patti LaBelle and Smokey Robinson will be the one and only Sheila E. as headliner of the 4th Annual Cedric The Entertainer and Friends Gala.

“We are grateful to our sponsors and to Cedric, Sharita and the Kyles’ family for their commitment to SSM Health and to bringing in top national talent each year,” said Travis Capers, president of SSM Health St. Mary’s.

“Music icon Sheila E., who after more than 30 years in the business, is a perfect example of a woman living life to the fullest and on her own terms.”

On Saturday, October 21, the city will once again gather at the Peabody Opera House for a good time that helps raise funds for the Rosetta Boyce Kyles Women’s Pavilion that will be housed at SSM St. Mary’s. The pavilion that will bear the name of their mother was her idea.

While preparing for the inaugural Cedric The Entertainer and Friends Gala back in 2014, Cedric told The American that his mother and their entire family were

The

: I remember hearing you speak in 2014 saying that “we’ve already won.” What did you mean by that and how does it come through in your music?

Sekou: That’s a faith claim. Every time we get up and go into the street and say no, or a trans person affirms who they are in public, or a woman looks into the face of patriarchy and says no – Albert Camus says, “When the rebel says no they are saying yes.” When we say no it can create a space for us to win as we are. Part of

First of two-part tribute for comedy and civil rights legend held at Graham Chapel

By Kenya Vaughn Of the St. Louis American

“We

service for the oppressed and voiceless,” said Sylvester Brown Jr. Brown was the keynote speaker for the first of the two-part tribute to Dick Gregory Sunday at Washington University’s Graham Chapel.

The second program will take place November 30.

He joined Holden Thorp, Washington University’s provost and executive vice chancellor for Academic Affairs, Gregory’s brother Ron and U.S. Rep Wm. Lacy Clay in sharing remarks about the comedy pioneer-turned-civil rights legend.

Gregory passed away in August at the age of 84.

“Everything he did in life, he challenged us to think about how things could be better,” Thorp said. “He came back from military service and returned to Southern Illinois University at

Carbondale. He left soon afterwards. He said, ‘I’m leaving because you didn’t want me to study. You wanted me to run.’”

His brother Ron Gregory wanted to make the foundation of his brother’s role as an activist clear to the audience.

“Although Dick was away from St. Louis for quite a while, everything he did later in life has its roots right here in St. Louis,” Ron said.

“There are a lot of people that thought Dick’s activism started after he became an internationally known entertainer. That’s far from the truth.”

Ron shared stories of his older brother working to integrate sports and to improve the conditions for African American students within the St. Louis Public Schools in the early 1950s. The

of comedy for a lifetime of

See SEKOU, C4

See CEDRIC, C4

Congressman Wm. Lacy Clay honors the memory of Dick Gregory Sunday afternoon at Graham Chapel.

How to place a calendar listing

1. Email your listing to calendar@stlamerican. com OR

2. Visit the calendar section on stlamerican.com and place your listing

Calendar listings are free of charge, are edited for space and run on a space-available basis.

concerts

Sat., Oct. 21, 8 p.m., Chaifetz Arena presents Janet Jackson: State of the World Tour. 1 S. Compton Ave., 63103. For more information, visit www.ticketmaster.com.

Sat., Oct. 21, 8 p.m., An Evening with Cedric The Entertainer and Friends featuring Sheila E. The Peabody Opera House, 1400 Market. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit http://www.ssmhealthstmarys. org/cedric-and-friends/t. Sheila E.

Sun., Oct. 22, 5 pm Chuck Flowers: Up Close & Personal with Darrell Mixon/upright bass, Leland Crenshaw/acoustic guitar and David A. N. Jackson, BB’s Jazz Soups and Blues, 700 S. Broadway.

Sun., Oct. 29, 5 p.m., Royal Vagabonds Foundation, Inc. presents The Bosman Twins with special guest Brianna Brown. Sheldon Concert Hall, 3648 Washington Blvd., 63108. For more information, visit www. royalvagabondsfoundation.org.

Thur., Nov. 2, 7:30 p.m., The 13 th Annual Mildred Thimes Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Benefit Concert. Feat. Denise Thimes, hosted by Lou Thimes Jr. “The Real JR”, with comedienne Monique

Marvez. Sheldon Concert Hall, 3648 Washington Blvd., 63108. For more information, visit www.metrotix.com.

Fri., Nov. 3, 8 p.m., Anthony Gomes – Live in St. Louis The Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St., 63104. For more information, visit www. anthonygomes.com.

special events

Thurs., Oct. 19, 6 p.m., Operation Food Search’s Food and Wine Pairing Event, Operation Food Search, 1644 Lotsie Blvd. For more information, visit http://www. cooklearnshare.org

Thurs., Oct. 19, 6:30 p.m., Westminster Christian Academy Open House, Westminster Christian Academy, 800 Maryville Centre Drive, Town and Country, MO. For more information, visit https://wcastl.org/prospectivestudents/

Fri., Oct. 20, 5 p.m., Goody Two Shoes by CB Launch Party, Bridgeton Rec Center, 4201 Fee Fee Rd, Bridgeton, 63044. For more information, email: cbrown@ goodytwoshoesbycb.com

Fri., Oct. 20, 6 p.m., The SoulFisher Ministries invites you to the 4th Annual

Kenya

The

AGAPE Gala. Andre’s Banquet and Catering, 4254 Telegraph Rd., 63129. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Sat., Oct. 21, 12 p.m., Black Nurses Association of Greater St. Louis invites you to their First Annual Scholarship Luncheon Catering To You, 12777 New Halls Ferry Rd., 63134. For more information, visit www. bnast.louis.org.

Sat., Oct. 28, 9 a.m., Gateway Classic Cars first, “Trunk or Treat”! Cruise in with your classic, exotic or muscle car. Fill your trunk with candy for the kids. Free Admission! For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/

2050 Dorsett Village Plaza, Maryland Heights, MO 63043. For more information, visit http://www.soroptimiststlouis. com/.

Sat., Nov. 4, 5:30 p.m., The American Cancer Society Champions of Hope Gala, led by the CEOs Against Cancer of Missouri – St. Louis Chapter Members. Presented by World Wide Technology, Inc. and The Steward Family Foundation will feature Patrice Rushen, Sheldon Concert Hall and Art Galleries, 3648 Washington Blvd. For more information, visit http:// www.championshopegala.org

Nov. 4, 7 p.m., Dillon International National Adoption Month dinner and benefit concert featuring Emmy Award-winning classical jazz pianist-composer/ Dillon adoptive father Michael Silverman and Grammy Artist/ renowned saxophonist Eric Marienthal. Mandarin House Banquet Hall 8004 Olive. For more information, visit http:// www.dillonadopt.com

pg/GatewayClassicCars/ events/?ref=page_internal

Sat., Oct. 28, 11 a.m., Halloween in the Central West End. Join us for fun daytime activities for the whole family, an after-hours adults-only bash and costume contest, and more than $6,000 in cash and prizes. Central West End, 63108. For more information, visit www. cwescene.com/happenings.

Sun., Oct. 29, 4 p.m., Lash Loft 10 Year Anniversary Day Soiree. Vue 17, 1034 S. Brentwood, 10th floor, 63117. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com/e/lashloft-10-year-anniversary-daysoiree-tickets-37933767921.

Thur., Nov. 2, 11 a.m., Myrtle Hilliard Davis Comprehensive Health Centers, Inc. presents the 48th Annual Anniversary Celebration Awards Luncheon. The William D. Purser Center, Logan University, 1851 Schoettler Rd., 63017. For more information, visit www. mhdchc.org.

Sat., Nov. 4, 11:30 a.m., 42nd Annual Soroptimist International of Greater St Louis Fall Fashion Show,

Nov. 4 – 5, Dia de los Muertos Celebration. A showcase of altars that represent a variety of Latin American cultural traditions, Day of the Dead–inspired artwork, and much more. Missouir History Museum, 5700 Lindell Blvd., 63112. For more information, visit www. mohistory.org.

Sat., Nov. 11, 6 p.m., AbdulWakil M Kamal Memorial Foundation presents the 2017 Jeans ‘N Hoodies Fundraiser. Come out for music, speakers, a raffle, and more to raise money to renovate homes for four low-income families. 2035 Shenandoah Ave., 63104. For more information, visit www. abdul-wakilfoundation.org.

Sun., Nov. 12, 1 p.m., Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., St. Louis Metropolitan Alumnae Chapter presents Unmasking Our Power: High School Professional Development Day. Siegle Hall, Washington University, 1 Brookings Dr., 63130. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Sun., Nov. 12, 5 p.m., Dignity Period Has the Blues. A night of jazz and comedy in support of St. Louis-based nonprofit, Dignity Period. The Harold and Dorothy Stewart Center, 3536 Washington Ave., 63103. For more information, visit www.dignityperiod.org/events.

Fri., Nov. 17, 11 a.m., The St. Louis American Foundation’s 18th Annual Salute to Excellence in Business Education Awards & Networking Luncheon. Four Seasons Hotel, 999 N. 2nd St., 63102. For more information, call (314) 5338000.

comedy

Oct. 20-Oct 22., Helium Comedy Club presents Bruce Bruce. Helium Comedy Club, 1151 St. Louis Galleria, 63117. For more information, visit www.heliumcomedy.com.

Oct. 26 – Oct. 29, Laugh Lounge presents Earthquake, 11208 W Florissant Ave, Florissant MO 63033. For more information, e-mail: thelaughloungestl@gmail.com or call (314) 314-921-2810

Sat., Nov. 4, 1:30 p.m., New Millennium Groups presents A Tribute to Dick Gregory St. Louis. Henry Givens Auditorium, Harris Stowe State University, 3026 Laclede Ave., 63103. For more information, visit www. metrotix.com.

Thur., Oct. 19, 7 p.m., St. Louis County Library hosts author Brit Bennett, author of The Mothers. A story of love and ambition that asks whether a “what if” can be more powerful than an experience. 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd., 63131. For more information, visit www.slcl.org.

Thur., Oct. 19, 7 p.m., Left Bank Books hosts author Mark Bowden, author of Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam An in depth look at the Tet Offensive.

Tues., Oct. 24, 4:30 p.m., Library Faculty Book Talk Series: Paul Steinbeck, author of Message to Our Folks: The Art Ensemble of Chicago. Olin Library, Washington University, 1 Brookings Dr., 63130. For more information, visit www.music.wustl.edu.

Sat., Oct. 28, 7 p.m., St. Louis County Library hosts author Gabrielle Union, author of We’re Going to Need More Wine. A collection of essays about gender, sexuality, race, and what it means to be a modern woman. 1640 S.

Vaughn recommends

Laugh Lounge presents Earthquake. See COMEDY for details.

Lindbergh Blvd., 63131. For more information, visit www. slcl.org.

Fri., Nov. 3, 5 p.m. and Sat.

Nov. 4, 12 noon. St. Louis Indie Book Fair. More than 100 titles from over 60 authors from which to choose, with 15 authors present to sign and sell their books. Kranzberg Arts Center in Grand Center, 63103. For more information, visit www.stlouisindiebookfair.

org.

Sun., Nov. 5, 4 p.m., Left Bank Books hosts author Orlando Luis Pardo, author of Cuba in Splinters. Eleven Cuban writers depict a world that veers from a hyperreal Havana in decay to a fantasy land—or is it? 399 N. Euclid Ave., 63108. For more information, visit www.leftbank.com.

Tues., Nov. 7, 7 p.m., Scott Kelly discusses Endurance: A Year in Space, a Lifetime of Discovery, with Professor Ramanath Cowsik. Kelly is a veteran of four space flights and the American record holder for consecutive days spent in space. SLU High School Peformance Arts Center, 4970 Oakland Ave., 63110. For more information, visit www.left-bank.com.

Thur., Nov. 9, 7 p.m., Left

Bank Books hosts author Keisha Mabry, author of Hey Friend: 100 Ways to Connect with 100 People in 100 Days a mission-driven book or better yet—a movement to get people to stop networking and to start #friendworking.

Wed., Nov. 15, 7 p.m., Left

Bank Books hosts author Dr. Chezare Warren, author of Urban Preparation: Young Black Men Moving from Chicago’s South Side to Success in Higher Education

A significant contribution to our understanding of how young males of color can best be served in schools

Fri., Nov. 3, 5 p.m. and Sat. Nov. 4, 12 noon, St. Louis Indie Book Fair, more than 100 titles from over 60 authors from which to choose, with 15 authors present to sell and sign

their books. Kranzberg Arts Center in Grand Center. For more information, visit http:// www.stlouisindiebookfair.org

Sat., Oct. 21, 11 a.m., Art on Campus Walking Tour of artworks recently installed throughout the Danforth Campus as part of the Art on Campus program, led by Leslie Markle, curator for public art. The tour will begin at Bauer Hall and will include stops at the Sumers Recreation Center, the South 40, and Hillman and Umrath Halls For more information, visit http:// www.kemperartmuseum.wustl. edu/events/tours/12196

lectures and workshops

Thur., Oct. 19, 6 p.m., Panel Discussion: Injury, Trauma, and Repair. Explore issues relating to trauma and repair in conjunction with the opening of Kader Attia: Reason’s Oxymorons. Kemper Art Museum, 1 Brookings Dr., 63130. For more information, visit www.kemperartmuseum. wustl.edu.

Fri., Oct. 27, 5 p.m., TEDxGatewayArch – a TEDlicensed event featuring talks in the renowned TED Talk style, creative performances, and innovative exhibits –will take place for the fifth consecutive year. Touhill Performing Arts Center on the University of MissouriSt. Louis (UMSL) campus at 1 University Blvd. For more information, visit http://www. TEDxGatewayArch.org

Wed., Nov. 1, 5:30 p.m., Creating Whole Communities presents Informational Workshop on Applying for MO State Boards and Commissions. Beyond Housing Headquarters, 6506 Wright Way, 63121. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Wed., Nov. 1, 7 p.m.,

Kenya Vaughn recommends

St. Louis County Library hosts Gabrielle Union, author of ‘We’re Going to Need More Wine’. For more information, see LITERARY.

Katherine Dunham: A Legacy of Activism through Dance. Joanna Das will discuss Dunham’s legacy. Performances by Keith Williams and the Dunham Children’s Workshop will follow. Missouri History Museum, 5700 Lindell Blvd., 63112.

Tues., Nov. 7, 9 a.m., Starting a Business in Missouri: The First Steps, Missouri Job Center, 715 Northwest Plaza Dr. For more information, visit https://www. missouribusiness.net

Tues., Nov. 7, 9 a.m., Starting a Business in Missouri: The First Steps. Missouri Job Center 715 Northwest Plaza Dr., 63074. For more information, visit www.missouribusiness.net.

Wed., Nov. 8, 6:30 p.m., The Scholarship Foundation

Jennings. Examine the notion that perhaps pain is instrumental in sculpting our lives. The Monocle, 4510 Manchester Ave., 63110. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.

Thur., Oct. 19, 7 p.m., R-S Theatrics presents Falling to Find Me with Marshall Jennings. Examine the notion that perhaps pain is instrumental in sculpting our lives. The Monocle, 4510 Manchester Ave., 63110. For more information, visit www.eventbrite.com.

Oct. 20 – 21, A Call to Conscious presents the T.D. McNeal Story: From Servitude to Civil Rights. A chronicle of McNeal’s life from organizing the St. Louis Sleeping Car Porters’ Union to his election as the first African American state senator in Missouri. Missouri History Museum, 5700 Lindell Blvd., 63112. For more information, visit www.mohistory.org.

Oct. 20 – 22, COCA presents The Wiz. The Black Rep’s Ron Himes directs this upbeat retelling of Dorothy and her crew’s adventure through the Land of Oz. 524 Trinity Ave., 63130. For more information, visit www.cocastl.org/event/ the-wiz.

of St. Louis presents the Financial Aid Basics Workshop. Workshop to aid students and families in successfully navigating the financial aid process. 6825 Clayton Ave., Suite 100, 63139. For more information, visit www.sfstl.org.

Fri., Nov. 10, 12 p.m., History of the St. Louis American. Fred Sweets will discuss the history and origins of St. Louis’s only continually operated newspaper for African Americans. Missouri History Museum, 5700 Lindell Blvd., 63112.

theatre

Thur., Oct. 19, 7 p.m., R-S Theatrics presents Falling to Find Me with Marshall

Sat., Nov. 4, 7:30 p.m., The Black Rep presents the 2nd Annual Gala: Crossin’ Over in Concert. Songs of faith, spirituals and gospel music from its roots in Africa to contemporary gospel. 560 Music Center, 560 Trinity Ave., 63130. For more information, visit www. theblackrep.org.

health

Thurs., Oct. 19, 7 a.m., Touchette Regional Hospital to Host 4th Annual Mammothon Breast Cancer Screening Event. For more information, visit http://www. touchette.org/start-now.htm Sat., Oct. 21, 8 a.m., 14th

Annual Second Wind Lung Walk & 5K Race. Forest Park Visitor’s Center, 5595 Grand Ave., 63112. For more information, call (314) 6646360.

Sat., Oct. 21, 8 p.m., The Breakfast Club, Inc. presents the 6th Annual Pink Posse Roundup for a Cure. New Northside Conference Center, 5939 Goodfellow Blvd., 63147. For more information, visit www.breakfastclub-stl. org.

Sun., Oct. 22, 8 a.m., 2017 Walk to Feed The Hungry, a 5K walk to benefit Buddhist Global Relief, founded by Bhikkhu Bodhi, Sons of Rest Pavilion [SE corner of park] in Tower Grove Park For more information, or to register, visit http:// www.maba-usa.org/ BuddhistGlobalReliefWalk

Sat., Oct. 28, 9 a.m., National Coalition of 100 Black Women –Metropolitan St. Louis Chapter presents the Minority Women’s Health Fair. St. Louis. Community College – Forest Park, 5600 Oakland Ave., 63110. For more information, visit www. eventbrite.com.

Oct. 18 – Oct. 20, Leonard Missionary Baptist Church He Gave, We Give Revival, Shop in their FREE store; clothing, toiletries, toys, shoes, etc. Preaching, teaching, anointing, baptizing, healing and deliverance. Leonard Missionary Baptist Church, 1100 N. Compton. For more information, visit http://www.leonardbaptist.org/ Calendar

Fri., Oct. 20 – 21, 6th Annual Women of the Cross Conference. River of Life Evangelistic Center, 518 North 12th St., East St. Louis, IL. 62201. For more information, visit www. back2crossministries.org.

Continued from C1

blown away by the exceptional care that Ms. Kyles received at SSM while being treated for cancer.

She was so moved that she wanted to see the comprehensive care made available to women across the region. The Kyles family and SSM Health St. Mary’s partnered and began the work of making her vision come to pass.

“The women’s center is going to be important for young ladies who feel like they have nowhere to go,” Cedric said. “They can come in to get questions answered and have somebody to listen to them and talk to them and guide them. These things are innately important to me because I had to grow up and watch my mom go through things on her own.”

Ms. Kyles passed away in 2015, but played an integral role in the efforts to build the pavilion that will bear her name until the very end.

Last year, the signage of the center was revealed on the eve of the third gala.

“This is a wonderful day to celebrate – not just life, but celebrate legacy,” Ms. Kyles’ spiritual advisor Pastor Leonardo D. Gilbert, pastor of the Sheldon Heights Church of Christ in Chicago told the crowd who came to see her name spread across the right side of SSM St. Mary’s Health.

SEKOU

Continued from C1

my understanding of black life in America is that our political victories are so fleeting. Look back at the promising eight or nine years of Reconstruction, then the promise of the Civil Rights Movement, and so on. The reality is that political victories are fleeting so we come to find a certain comfort and salve in existential victories – right? Because freedom not just a place, it is a state of mind.

The American: Is it a victory when you step on stage?

Monsters.” In that you say “artists are the legislators of hope,” then “love is their government.” Can you expand on that?

Sekou: I believe artists –if you look at the history of civilization – have a moral responsibility to articulate a vision of the world which calls into question the various forms and arrangements of that world. So, the artist’s allegiance is never to governments or nation-states. Our role is to prophesize to the nation-state, to prophesize to those in power. To remind citizens of their capacity to resist. And so, for me, love is their only government.

before, “If your practice is not rejuvenating you, you’re doing something wrong.” How does that relate to your music?

Sekou: Frantz Fanon says, “We struggle not only for the product of freedom, but we benefit from the process.” And so, in singing freedom music, I get freer.

The American: The album’s title, “In Times Like These,” where did that originate?

A special video tribute was played in her honor and a spotlight beamed down on what was supposed to be her seat for the first gala after her passing.

n “We are here to celebrate the legacy of one of your angels who spent her life being a blessing to others.”

–

Pastor Leonardo D. Gilbert

“My legacy will be that I really cared,” Ms. Kyles said in the video. “I hope that people will say that she was able to provide a place for us where we can get the healthcare that’s needed. I want that women’s pavilion to be a place where

“We are here to celebrate the legacy of one of your angels who spent her life being a blessing to others. Her legacy lives on in a place that continues to give and bring comfort and support for those who walk through these doors.”

every woman counts.”

The show has gone on in her memory and has proved itself to be a wonderful time for a worthy cause.

“Funding from this event makes it possible for SSM Health St. Mary’s to be the first medical facility to provide this particular level of comprehensive women’s health services in the Metropolitan area,” Capers said. “Each day, our award-winning medical teams are advancing techniques, providing cuttingedge medical care and improving outcomes for women in traditional areas of obstetrics, oncology and a variety of disease states including depression, cancer and heart disease.”

The 4th Annual Cedric The Entertainer and Friends Gala starring Sheila E. will take place on Saturday, Oct. 21 at The Peabody Opera House. For tickets or additional information, visit http://www. ssmhealthstmarys.org/cedricand-friends.

Sekou: I am my most free when I get on stage. In my tradition, we would say the Holy Ghost comes and meets me on stage. Every time I get on stage, I’m a little freer than I was before and for those folks that come to see us, I hope they are a little freer too.

The American: Now you wrote an essay, “The Task of Artists in the Time of

GREGORY

Continued from C1

activism led Dick Gregory to spearhead the integration of high school track and field in Missouri– and he became the first African American halfmile, mile and cross-country state champion. Clay spoke of Gregory the political pioneer and his groundbreaking career in comedy.

The American: When you perform your song “Resist,” in your chorus – “we want freedom and we want it now” – I hear a little added energy behind you.

Sekou: Well, we recorded the record about a month after Trump was elected and so there was a certain kind of feeling in the air.

The American: You’ve said

“He was the first African American to run for president of the United States,” Clay said. “He paved the way for Jesse Jackson, Doug Wilder and eventually Barack Obama. Everyone knows his comedic genius was unparalleled.

“While my dad, Congressman Bill Clay was breaking the back of segregated employment in St. Louis, Dick Gregory was tearing down walls of segregation in the entertainment industry.”

Brown framed his remarks around an exchange he had with Dick Gregory when the two crossed paths in Ferguson during the height of the unrest.

Brown wanted to tell him about his Sweet Potato Project initiative, but Dick Gregory had no time for that. He wanted Brown to understand what was happening in Ferguson and why.

“Whenever you have explosions like this, I go,” Dick Gregory told Brown. “If I came here and my head was bleeding, you know something’s wrong, right? When you see people rioting, you know something’s wrong. It’s like hearing a baby cry and you go tell him to ‘shut up.’”

He recited Dick Gregory’s words from more than 50 years before.

“‘We’re not saying, Let’s go downtown and take over City Hall. We’re not saying, Let’s

Sekou: It’s kind of one of those scriptures that has been prayed over me by Pentecostal elders, that God might raise you up for a time like this. And I don’t take that lightly. Given what we have at the federal level and the sweeping role back of civil rights legislation, we ultimately cannot depend on the government. And so we struggle locally. That’s why I think Ferguson and the struggle over the murder of Anthony Lamar Smith is so crucial. It creates a space for us to understand that can’t nobody save us, we are the leaders we’ve been looking for.

stand on rooftops and throw bricks at the white folks,’” Brown said, quoting Dick Gregory. “‘I’m a black man, and you made me sit down in a black school and take a test on the United States Constitution, a constitution that hasn’t worked for anyone but you ...We’re saying, We want what you said belongs to us.’”

“So, yeah, Dick hurt my feelings a little bit that day,” Brown said. “But after really listening to his words, I had to put those feelings aside. I was reminded of the true essence of Dick Gregory’s words and their relevance to our modern times.” His words and actions rang true when he was a student at Sumner and SIUC. They spoke to the times of the Civil Rights Movement. They resonated in Ferguson and to this very day.

“His activism started when he was a high school student here in St. Louis – and it spanned 67 years,” Ron Gregory said. “Please understand this champion of human rights did not die on August 19, 2017. If Dick was here, he would tell you, it’s only just begun.”

Part two of the tribute will take place at 5 p.m. on Thursday, November 30 at Crowder Courtyard and Anheuser-Bush Hall. The program will feature a screening of the documentary “Unsung.”

Celebrations

Charity Congratulations

The Hazelwood School District Foundation recently hosted its Third Annual Charity Golf Tournament at the Old Florissant Golf Course. More than 90 golfers participated in the tournament, which included 18-holes of golf, breakfast, lunch, prizes, and more. Proceeds from the tournament benefited the HSD Foundation which supports the following programs: Care to Learn-Hazelwood, Hazelwood Bright Futures, and HSD Food 4 Thought, which share the same mission—to help provide basic necessities for students in areas of health, hunger, and hygiene.

Reunions

Beaumont Class of 1968 will begin planning for its 50-year reunion to be held in St. Louis, Missouri in 2018. For more information contact Vanetta Cobbs, 314-869-5665, or email vanetta.cobbs@ sbcglobal.net.

Beaumont High Class of 1978 will celebrate its 40-year reunion in 2018. For further information, please contact: Marietta Shegog Shelby, 314-799-5296, madeshe@sbcglobal.net.

Kinloch High School Class of 1967 has finalized plans for an outstanding 50-year reunion. If you haven’t received your registration letter or email, please call 310-346-7235. You may also email your contact information to alreemc@aol. com.

McKinley Class of 1978 will celebrate its 40-year

reunion July 27-29, 2018 at the Embassy Suites-Airport. For more information please contact Barbara Lindsey, Barbara_Lindsey@icloud.com or Marvin Woods, mwoods@ projectcontrolsgroup.com , (314) 647-0707.

Northwest High School Class of 1978 is planning its 40-year reunion for next year. PLEASE reach out to our classmates, tell them get ready for this. If you have any questions please contact Sly at (314) 397-0311 or email us at northwestbluedevils@78gmail. com. Check us out on Facebook Northwest High School-Class of 1978.

Congratulations to Clayton Missionary Baptist Church (Rev. Harold C.M. Ellis III, Pastor) on its upcoming celebration of its 124th anniversary on Sunday, October 22, 2017. The guest speaker for the 10:30 am service will be Rev. Charles Watkins, Pastor of King Solomon MB Church in Milwaukee, WI. The 3 pm guest speaker will be Rev. Kory D. Ellis, Pastor of Nazarene Baptist Church in Webster Groves MO. All are welcome to join this special celebration!

Sumner Class of 1976

Annual Christmas Party Saturday, December 23, 2017, 7pm at DEJAVU II Cafe, 2805 Target Dr., St L, MO 63136. 2 for 1 Drink Specials (5:307:30pm), Free Parking, No Cover Charge but $5 (40-Yr Class Reunion Attendees & Guest) or $10 for all others for the Catered Food. Limited Reserved Seating AVAILABLE until 10pm. (Doors open 5pm/closes 1am) For more info, call B. Louis at 314.385.9843.

Do you have a celebration you’re proud of? If so we would like to share your good news with our readers. Whether it’s a birth, wedding, engagement announcement, anniversary, retirement or birthday, send your photos and a brief announcement (50 words or less) to us and we may include it in our paper and website – AT NO COST – as space is available Photos will not be returned. Send your announcements to: kdaniel@stlamerican. com or mail to: St. Louis American Celebrations c/o Kate Daniel 2315 Pine St. St.

notices are free of charge and

on

We prefer that notices be emailed to us! However, notices may also be sent by mail to:

Daniel, 2315 Pine St., St. Louis, MO 63103

Deadline is 10 a.m. on Friday. If you’d like your class to be featured in a reunion profile, email or mail photos to us. Our email address is: reunions@ stlamerican.com

The Message

When patience and prayer collide

Senior Pastor Frederick Douglass Haynes III, of Friendship West Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, preaches, “There is no such thing as an emergency in eternity.” An understanding of patience and prayer will allow you to reconcile the difference between God’s time and yours. And make no mistake about it, they are very different.

You know we have a tendency to want what we want when we want it. That includes those things that we ask of God. At times we are in a rush to be delivered from, sent to, get paid for, get ours or get rid of that thing, that person, that condition or that situation we caused. As if God operates on our time schedule, we can actually get an attitude and question God’s judgment if He takes too long or doesn’t answer at all. We even begin to question prayer depending on how often we prayed for the same thing only to have God’s silence come through loud and clear.

I hate to have to be the one to break it down to you, but God is not on call. He does not answer e-mail and you can forget texting or Facebook Live. Think about it. How many things can you look back over your own life and thank God that you didn’t get what you so desperately pleaded for? Was it a job? A spouse? Some man or women you couldn’t live without? Now, through hindsight, it turns out that the best thing that could have happened did happen. How often can you say that had you gotten what you prayed for when you prayed for it, you would not have been ready and disaster surely would have been the result?

We’ve all been told at one time or another that God will not put anything on you that you can’t handle. I’m not so sure that’s true. There have been many days and many times that I’ve known for a fact that I just couldn’t make it another day, go another step or deal with my mess for another moment. At the point of giving up, I know that I have been sustained by the grace of God and the Holy Spirit. If you’re spiritually conscious and humble enough, you realize that the key to your survival, if not your salvation, is to let go and let God.

Jesus did the dirty work. Now all we have to do is to remember why.

“He said to them, “It is not for you to know the times or the dates the Father has sent by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you…” Acts1:7-8. This power is evident when patience and prayer collide and reveal to you that there is a divine reason for what each and every one of us goes through in our lives.

Religion

‘Make a joyful noise unto the Lord’

San Francisco Temple’s 3rd Annual Men’s Conference is Oct. 20-22

By Elder Allif Dove For The St. Louis American

Are you tired of turning on the news every day and every night and hearing astonishing reports about horrendous murders? Yes, murders which range from an innocent bystander senselessly losing their life to a mass slaying that was methodically planned out, resulting in many of our citizens being subject to deep hurt and emotional turmoil?

Are you tired of hearing solutions that point to improving how we deal with mental illness, background checks and gun laws, as the key to changing the murderous and violent temperament sweeping through our society?

Well, I am sure, if you like things such as happiness, peace and freedom, you are fed up and strongly desiring a change. And while it might seem that there is no answer, in reality the answer rests with a need for change within the very perpetrators of these offenses, and that’s what will be addressed at the San Francisco Temple Christian Assembly 3rd Annual Men’s Conference.

This year’s conference will be held at San Francisco Temple, 10191 Halls Ferry Rd., from Friday, October 20 at 7 p.m. through Sunday, October 22 at 10:30 a.m. In today’s society the majority of crimes, including murder, are committed by men. While these crimes generally result in imprisonment, they also

contribute to many fatherless children growing up with a major void in their lives. Men appear to have lost their way, making it evident that until this state of affairs changes, we can expect the daily and nightly news accounts to continue.

At this year’s Men’s Conference, Executive Pastor Lucien Blackwell will speak on Friday night. This young man of God, who recently relocated from Cleveland, Ohio, where he faithfully served at Mega Church under the leadership of his father Bishop Luther Blackwell and his mother Pastor Lois Blackwell, is the grandson of San Francisco Temple Christian Assembly church founder, the late Bishop Dwight H. McDaniels. He will minister the Word of God at this

year’s conference which bears the theme, “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord.”

The day two events on Saturday October 21 will consist of a Prayer Breakfast culminating with a question and answer session. Prayer will start at 7 a.m. followed by breakfast at 8:30 a.m. During the question and answer session (starting at 9:30 a.m.) men and women will be able to ask questions pertaining to how to help men find their way. The idea being if men can improve, crime will decrease, incarceration rates will drop and more families and communities will have a stronger male presence.

Q&A panelists include Executive Pastor Lucien Blackwell, Senior Pastor

Ferguson Police Chief Delrish Moss will be among the panelists for a question and answer session on Saturday October 21 during San Francisco Temple’s 3rd Annual Men’s Conference, to be held Friday, October 20 through Sunday, October 22 at the church, 10191 Halls Ferry Rd.

Luther J. Blackwell on several occasions over the last seven years. Each time he has delivered a powerful word about serving the Lord and about being a “godly man.” The author of several impactful books that help readers understand the word, Bishop Clark is a profound teacher. Sunday service begins at 10:30 a.m.

So if you are tired, and I mean sick and tired, I invite you to join us at this year’s conference to hear God’s solution to rebuilding our families, our communities, and our society. The Men of Standard (Men’s Ministry) at San Francisco Temple, under the leadership of Elder LySanders Ivy, invite you to come and help us “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord,” (Psalms 66:1) as we dwell together in unity (Psalms 133:1).

Tommie A. Harsley of Grace New Covenant Church in St. Louis, Bishop Eric Kincaid Clark of the Body of Christ Assembly in Warrensville, Ohio and Chief Delrish Moss of the Ferguson Police Department. On the final day of the conference, the Word of God will be delivered by Bishop Clark, who is no stranger to St. Louis. Bishop Clark has been invited to San Francisco Temple Christian Assembly by Bishop and Senior Pastor

Columnist James Washington

MULTI-MEDIA ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

American Publishing Company is in search of an optimistic, energetic, hard-working and creative Multi-Media Account Executive. Must be growth oriented, have a strong work ethic and exceptional people skills. Your hard work, energy and strong desire to meet and exceed sales opportunities and challenges will ensure your success in this position.

Must work well independently, be entrepreneurial, persistent and have a proven work record. This is a great opportunity for those who love sales and want to be an integral part of the ongoing growth of a major St. Louis media outlet.

Your task will be to consistently sell a variety of products to meet clients’ needs: print advertising, online advertising, social media advertising, special sections, events, sponsorships, etc.

Full or part time opportunity. Salary plus commission. (Benefits package with full time).

About The St. Louis American:

• Now Missouri’s largest weekly newspaper, period!

• 160,000+ Unique monthly visitors to stlamerican.com

• More than 50,000 Facebook fans, and more than 14,000 Twitter followers

In its 88th year, The St. Louis American’s:

• Print circulation is at an all-time high

• Online viewership is at an all-time high

• Social media engagement is at an alltime high

For information, contact: Kevin Jones, Chief Operating Officer

The St. Louis American kjones@stlamerican.com

(Absolutely no phone calls will be accepted)

The Missouri History Museum seeks temporary part-time Elkington Photographic Negative Specialist. Visit www.mohistory.org for details. An Equal Opportunity Employer

BUS DRIVER

The City of Jennings is seeking applicants for a Part-time bus driver to drive 16 passenger bus and van, transporting senior citizens and youth to local activities. Approximately 20-25 hours per week at $9.50 per hour. Must have valid CDL license with passenger endorsement.

Applications available at Jennings City Hall, 2120 Hord Ave., or at www.cityofjennings.org.

Applications must be returned to City Hall by 5:00 p.m. November 9, 2017. No resumes accepted without our application, copy of driver’s license must be included with application.

CITY OF ST PETERS CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

Are you a team player? Work for an employer who values and supports teamwork for their employees. For current job openings please check our website at www.stpetersmo.net. City Hall also has job openings posted in the lobby.

Apply in person, fax application to 636477-1044, or mail to: Human Resources City of St. Peters One St. Peters Centre Blvd. P.O. Box 9 St. Peters, MO 63376 AA/EOE

UNITED STATES PROBATION OFFICERS

United States Probation Officer vacancy/ies, Eastern District of Missouri. Generous retirement/benefits package. For additional information including how to apply, see our website at www.moep.uscourts.gov. Vacancy Announcement 2018-02. Equal Opportunity Employer.

ACCOUNTING COORDINATOR

Saint Louis Art Museum. Accounting Coordinator. Weekdays. www.slam.org/careers

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

Full-Time, tenure-track Assistant Professor of Social Work position at the University of Central Missouri. Apply at www.ucmo.edu/hr Direct questions about the position to: 660-543-8227. For information about the online application process contact Human Resources at https://jobs. ucmo.edu or (660) 543-4255. AA/EO/ADA

ACTOR/INTERPRETER

The Missouri Historical Society seeks an Actor/Interpreter to portray leaders in the African American Freedom Struggle in St. Louis. Visit www.mohistory.org for details. An Equal Opportunity Employer

PART-TIME PROTECTION OFFICER

Saint Louis Art Museum. PartTime Protection Officer. Weekdays and Weekends. Apply at www.slam.org/careers

LAUNDRY SHIRT INSPECTOR/ASSEMBLY

Will train. Competitive pay, Clayton location. Call 314-725-4500.

SECURITY OFFICER

Saint Louis Art Museum. Full Time Security Officer. Weekdays and Weekends. www.slam.org/careers

JOB OPENING CITY OF OLIVETTE POLICE RECRUIT

The City of Olivette Police Department is seeking a smart, energetic candidate interested in attending the Police Academy for a rewarding career in law enforcement. Candidate chosen will earn a salary while attending the Academy. Applicants must have a valid driver’s license, high school diploma or equivalent, a minimum of 60 hours of college credit preferred, must be 21 years of age. Information on the hiring process available at www.olivettemo. com or dmandle@olivettemo.com or 314-983-5231. There will be a mandatory informational meeting on Monday, November 6, 2017 at 7:00 PM at the Olivette City Center.

Applications are available on the City’s website at www.olivettemo. com (click on Careers), in person at the Olivette City Center, 1140 Dielman Road, Olivette, MO 63132, or by contacting Human Resources at dmandle@olivettemo.com or 314-983-5231. APPLICATION DEADLINE IS FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2017 AT 4:30 PM.

THE CITY OF OLIVETTE IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER.

An Equal Opportunity Employer

ENGENGINEERING

TECHNICIAN Saint Louis Art Museum. Engineering Technician. Weekdays and Weekends. www.slam.org/careers

DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

The Metropolitan Zoological Park and Museum District seeks a motivated individual to serve as its Deputy Executive Director. The position is currently parttime but could become full-time. This is an exceptional opportunity for a CPA with significant professional experience. Strong analytical skills, software proficiency including Microsoft Office and computerized accounting systems, and excellent written and oral communication skills are required. Please send a letter of interest and resume to: J. Patrick Dougherty, Executive Director, Metropolitan Zoological Park and Museum District, 7733 Forsyth Blvd., Suite 550, Clayton, MO 63105, metzoodist@sbcglobal.net.

FIREFIGHTER

City of Alton, IL

Must have current Paramedic License

See website for further requirements and link to online application

www.cityofaltonil.com

Written test will be held on October 28 at 9am

Deadline for applications: October 13, 2017

POLICE OFFICERLATERAL ENTRY

City of Alton, IL Must have been a full-time Police Officer

See website for further requirements and link to online application www.cityofaltonil.com/careers

Deadline for applications: October 18, 2017

City of Wentzville

WATER OPERATOR I P-T

$14.70 per hour, Apply online: www.wentzvillemo.org E.O.E.

MISSOURI COALITION FOR THE ENVIRONMENT SEEKS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR

Protect Missouri’s environment by raising $ from major donors, grants, members, direct mail & events. 2 years fundraising experience required; 5 years preferred. For full job description see http://www.moenvironment.org/get-involved/job-openings

DIRECTOR OF SOLUTIONS ARCHITECTURE

This position will provide leadership in the growth and management of Safety National’s team of Solution Architects. This role is responsible for providing and maintaining a well-defined approach to solution architecture, management of the solution architecture team, and oversight of the solutions proposed and developed by this team.

This role will also serve individually as solution architect on projects as necessary.

To apply, please visit: www.safetynational.com and click on the Careers tab.

DATABASE ADMINISTRATOR

Responsible for the day-to-day administering and maintaining of SQL databases, including system and product administration functions as well as problem resolution, report writing and performance tuning.

To apply, please visit: www.safetynational.com and click on the Careers tab.

UNITED STATES PROBATION OFFICER ASSISTANT

United States Probation Officer Assistant, Eastern District of Missouri. Generous retirement/benefits package. For additional information including how to apply, see our website at www.moep.uscourts.gov.

Vacancy Announcement 2018-03. Equal Opportunity Employer.

VINTECH SOLUTIONS INC HAS OPENINGS FOR THE POSITION:

“Pharmacy Systems Analyst” with Master’s degree in Pharmacy, Computer Science, Engineering(any),Any Analytical Science or related and 6 months of exp to design, develop and simplify pharmacy label printing system. Gather Pharmacist requirements for software features/ modifications & prepare technical request forms .Design & perform unit test to ensure proper implementation of requested features. Prepare low charts, specifications, diagrams and data models representing workflows, instructions and data migration. Perform tests and reviews to ascertain the successful implementation of new processes/software and upgrades.

“Software Engineer” with Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering (any), Technology or related to design, develop, implement, maintain and test business functions and web applications using a variety of languages, tools, methodologies and technologies, Develop, create and modify general computer applications software or specialized utility programs, analyze user needs, develop software solutions and design software or customize software for client use with the aim of optimizing operational efficiency.

“Systems Analyst” with Computer Science, Engineering (any),Technology or related to analyze user requirements, procedures, and problems to automate processing or to improve existing computer system. Design, develop, implement, test and maintain business functions using a variety of computer operating systems, languages, tools, methodologies and technologies. Prepares functional, system and program specifications for the requirement. Provide technical and functional support on production issues.

Work location is Olivette, MO with required travel to client locations throughout the USA. Please mail resumes to 9715 Olive Blvd, Floor 2, Olivette, MO 63132 (OR) e-mail : legal@vintech.com

TRANSPORTATION ANALYST I

East-West Gateway Council of Governments has an opening for a Transportation Analyst I position. Starting salary is $42,552 annually. Please follow the link to view post at http://www.ewgateway. com/AboutUs/JobAds/jobads.htm An Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action Employer

ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS

The St. Louis Community College invites separate sealed bids for Chiller Maintenance Agreement No. M-322-DW . Bids will be received by the Board of Trustees of the St. Louis Community College until 2:00 pm local time on Thursday, October 19, 2017, and publicly opened at the office of the Supervisor, Central Facilities, at the Corporate College, 3221 McKelvey Road, Bridgeton, MO 63044 and read aloud. Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from the supervisor’s office. An Equal Opportunity and Affirmation Action Employer

ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE

St. Louis Community College will receive separate sealed bids for Contract No. F 18 502, Abatement of Tile and Mastic in I.R. Building, St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley until 2:00 p.m. local time, November 2, 2017. Bids will be publicly opened and read aloud at the office of the Manager of Engineering and Design, 300 South Broadway (Room 423, Fourth Floor). Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from the Manager’s office, at the above address or by calling (314) 539-5015. An Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer

VOLUNTARY PRE-BID MEETING:

Date: October 20, 2017

Time: 10:00 a.m. Place: Florissant

NOTICE TO BID

Notice is hereby given that Kenrick Design / Construction Services will be accepting bids for the build out of 2311-2321 Locust Street, Saint Louis MO 63103. Pre-bid meeting on site, 10/26 @ 1:30 pm. Any qualified WMBE contractors wishing to bid may purchase plans and specifications at Custom Blueprint & Supply, 1632 South Broadway, 63104, (314) 231-4400. All bidders must obtain a set of plans and specifications in order to submit a bid in the name of the entity submitting the bid. Submitted bids may be mailed or faxed; contact details on website www.KenrickDesign.com . All bids are to be submitted to the General Contractor no later than 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 9, 2017. Contact 314-865-5200 ext. 102 with questions.

Public Notice of Single Source Procurement

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is proposing to procure: Re-build of 3 Trident sluice gate Actuators. The District is proposing single source procurement to MARINE & IDUSTRIAL HYDRAULICS, INC. for this equipment because they are the only Certified Repair facility for these Actuators. Any inquiries should be sent to ltreat@stlmsd.com.

Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS SEWER DISTRICT

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District will receive RFQ’s in the Purchasing Division, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103-2555 until 10:00 a.m. on November 21, 2017 to contract with a company for: BULK FERROUS CHLORIDE.

Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from www.stlmsd.com, click on the “MSD AT WORK” link, (bid opportunities). The bid document will be identified as 9194 RFQ. If you do not have access to the internet, call 314-768-6254 to request a copy of this bid.

Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

your Bids & Notices

email Angelita at ajackson@stlamerican.com

METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS SEWER DISTRICT

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is accepting proposals in the Purchasing Division, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103-2555 until 4:00 p.m. on November 17th, 2017 to contract with a company for: Rate Commission – Advertising & Public Engagement Services.

Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from www.stlmsd.com, click on the “MSD AT WORK” link, (bid opportunities). The bid document will be identified as 9192 RFP. If you do not have access to the internet, call 314.768.2735 to request a copy of this bid.

Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS SEWER DISTRICT

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is accepting proposals in the Purchasing Division, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 631032555 until 4:00 p.m. on November 17th, 2017 to contract with a company for: Rate Commission – Legal Services.

Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from www.stlmsd.com, click on the “MSD AT WORK” link, (bid opportunities). The bid document will be identified as 9190 RFP. If you do not have access to the internet, call 314.768.2735 to request a copy of this bid.

Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS

SEWER DISTRICT

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is accepting proposals in the Purchasing Division, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 631032555 until 10:00 a.m. on November 17th, 2017 to contract with a company for: Rate Commission – Rate Consulting Services.

Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from www.stlmsd.com, click on the “MSD AT WORK” link, (bid opportunities). The bid document will be

Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Public Notice of Single Source Procurement

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is proposing to procure Mailroom Resource Services from Ascent LLC. The District is proposing a single source procurement for this service because Ascent currently has a contract with the District to manage the District’s facility management function. Any inquiries should be sent to strenz@stlmsd.com.

Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

for viewing or purchase at Cross Rhodes Reprographics located at 1712 Macklind Avenue, St. Louis MO 63110. All bidders must obtain a set of plans and specifications in order to submit a bid in the name of the entity submitting the bid. The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

PROMOTIONAL T-SHIRTS

The Missouri Lottery is accepting bids for the purpose of establishing a contract for promotional t-shirts . The bid document with the specifications can be obtained by going to http:// www.molottery.com/learnaboutus/ bid_opportunities.shtm or by contacting Melissa Blankenship at melissa.blankenship@molottery.com or 573-751-4050.

WELLSTON HOUSING AUTHORITY ANNOUNCES A PUBLIC HEARING

DATE: December 4, 2017

TIME: 3:00 PM

PLACE: 6203 Cote Brilliante Ave.

The purpose of the hearing is to obtain input from the city residents in reference to the 2018 Annual Plan Submission to be submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for fiscal year 2018. Total funds being allocated for this year are estimated at $ 715,669 for Operating Funds and, $248,247 for Capital Funds. All residents are encouraged to attend this hearing. A draft copy of the Five-Year Agency Plan and Annual Plan will be available for review from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. October 19, 2017 thru December 4, 2017 prior to public hearing at the address below. In conjunction with the Agency Plan review the draft Admission and Continued Occupancy Policy, Flat Rent Rate and Utility Rate Increase changes are available for viewing. Persons can also submit written comments prior to public hearing to: Wellston Housing Authority 6203 Cote Brilliante Avenue

MO 63133-2501 For further information please contact Ernestine Hernton, Asset Manager at (314) 385-4089

BIDS for Parking Lots 11 and 12 Repairs and I m p r o v e m e n t s , Capitol Complex, Jefferson City, Missouri, Project No. O1606-01 will be received by FMDC, State of MO, UNTIL 1:30 PM, 11/2/2017. For specific project information and ordering plans, go to: http://oa.mo. gov/ facilities

Notice is hereby given that The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (District) will receive sealed bids for Apple Orchard - SingersonBayless Place I/I Reduction (Lemay Ferry Rd and Bayless Ave) under Letting No. 12078015.1, at this office, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103, until 02:00 PM on Tuesday, November 21, 2017, at a place designated. Bids will be received only from companies that are pre-qualified by the District’s Engineering Department for: SEWER CONSTRUCTION – St. Louis County drainlayer’s license required Plans and Specifications are available for free electronic download. Please go to MSD’s website and look for a link to “ELECTRONIC PLANROOM.” Plans and Specifications are also available for viewing or purchase at Cross Rhodes Reprographics located at 1712 Macklind Avenue, St. Louis MO 63110. All bidders must obtain a set of plans and specifications in order to submit a bid in the name of the entity submitting the bid.

The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Sealed bids for Vance Road Bridge No. 368 and Vance Road ARS Infrastructure Projects, St. Louis County Project No. No. AR-1648, Federal Job No. BRM-9900(680) and St. Louis County Project AR-1491, Federal Job No. STP9900(663), will be received at the Office of the Director of Procurement for the County of St. Louis, County Government Center Administration Building, 41 South Central Avenue, 8th Floor, Clayton, Missouri 63105, until 2:00 p.m. on (November 8, 2017).

Plans and specifications will be available on (October 16, 2017) from the St. Louis County Web Site (www.stlouisco.com), or by contacting County Blue Reprographics, Inc., 1449 Strassner Drive, St. Louis, Missouri 63144, (314) 961-3800.

DIRECTOR OF PROCUREMENT AND AD-

MINISTRATIVE SERVICES ST. LOUIS, COUNTY

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Sealed bids for the Adams Avenue – Ballas Road ARS Infrastructure and West Adams Avenue Resurfacing, St. Louis County Project Nos. AR-1479 / AR-1681 will be

received at the Office of the Director of Procurement for the County of St. Louis, County Government Center Administration Building, 41 South Central Avenue, 8th Floor, Clayton, Missouri 63105, until 2:00 p.m. on November 8, 2017.

Plans and specifications will be available on October 16, 2017 from the St. Louis County Web Site (www.stlouisco.com), or by contacting County Blue Reprographics, Inc., 1449 Strassner Drive, St. Louis, Missouri 63144, (314) 961-3800.

DIRECTOR OF PROCUREMENT AND ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES

ST. LOUIS, COUNTY

INVITATION TO BID

Lemay Child and Family Center, at 9828 South Broadway Saint Louis Missouri, is soliciting bids for roof replacement work at our location at 9828 S. Broadway St. Louis, MO 63125. Interested parties to contact Denise Wiese at dwiese@lemaychildandfamily. org to request a bid information package that defines the scope of the project and bid requirements. The scope of work for this project will be the replacement of an existing roof surface (as

Wiese

BY:

Public Notice of Single Source Procurement

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is proposing to procure: Postage and Postal Services. The District is proposing single source procurement to United States Postal Service. Any inquiries should be sent to dlegrand@stlmsd.com Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Public Notice of Single Source Procurement

Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is proposing to procure: St. Louis County Lien Processing. The District is proposing single source procurement to eRecording Partners Network. Any inquiries should be sent to dlegrand@stlmsd.com

Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

ST. LOUIS

COMMUNITY COLLEGE

St. Louis Community College will receive separate sealed bids for Contract No. F 18 503, Renovation for Academic Services and IT Relocation, St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley, until 10:00 a.m. local time Tuesday, November 7, 2017. Bids will be publicly opened and read aloud at the office of the Manager of Engineering and Design, 300 South Broadway (Room 423, Fourth Floor). Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from the Manager’s office at the above address, or by calling (314) 5395015. Non-Mandatory Pre-Bid Meeting in Florissant Valley Instructional Resources (Library) Lobby 3400 Pershall Road, at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 26

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS

Notice is hereby given that The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (District) will receive sealed bids for Ladue Farms Pump Station (P-733) Replacement under Letting No. 12320-015.1, at this office, 2350 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63103, until 02:00 PM on Thursday, November 16, 2017, at a place designated. Bids will be received only from companies that are pre-qualified by the District’s Engineering Department for: SEWER CONSTRUCTION – St. Louis County drainlayer’s license required Plans and Specifications are available for free electronic download. Please go to MSD’s website and look for a link to “ELECTRONIC PLANROOM.” Plans and Specifications are also available for viewing or purchase at Cross Rhodes Reprographics located at 1712 Macklind Avenue, St. Louis MO 63110. All bidders must obtain a set of plans and specifications in order to submit a bid in the name of the entity submitting the bid. The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY COLLEGE

St. Louis Community College will receive separate sealed bids for Contract No. F 18 504, Playground Surface Fall Zone Replacement, St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley, until 2:00 p.m. local time Tuesday, November 7, 2017. Bids will be publicly opened and read aloud at the office of the Manager of Engineering and Design, 300 South Broadway (Room 423, Fourth Floor). Specifications and bid forms may be obtained from the Manager’s office at the above address, or by calling (314) 539-5015.

Pre-Bid Meeting at FV Child Development Center 3400 Pershall Road, at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, October 24

Public Notice of Single Source Procurement Notice is hereby given that the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is proposing to procure temporary help services from Amitech Solutions in an effort to support the IT Technology Plan. The District is proposing single source procurement for this service because it does not have the internal expertise to fulfill this Information Technology role. Any inquiries should be sent to strenz@stlmsd.com. Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

www.stlamerican.com BID NOTICE

Great Rivers Greenway District is seeking bids for landscape, mowing and park maintenance. Check www.greatriversgreenway.org/jobs-bids/ and submit by October 27, 2017. www.stlamerican.com

2017 EMF PAINTING PROJECT RFP

The St. Louis Zoo is soliciting bids for a painting project that is to commence in the next 60 days. This project consists of sandblasting and repainting steel columns and related steel inside of the Elephant Management Facility. Please read the bid documents closely for specs and details. They can be found on the zoo website at https:// www.stlzoo.org/about/contact/vendoropportunities/

BID NOTICE

Great Rivers Greenway is accepting qualification submissions from interested design teams for an international design competition for the Chouteau Greenway. Check https:// greatriversgreenway.org/ Chouteau/ and submit by November 21, 2017.

At Lambert-St. Louis International Airport

Sealed proposals will be received by the Board of Public Service in Room 208 City Hall, 1200 Market Street, St. Louis, Mo. Until 1:45 PM, CT, on Tuesday November 14, 2017, then publicly opened and read. Plans and Specifications may be examined on the Board of Public Service website http://www.stl-bps.org/planroom.aspx (BPS On Line Plan Room) and may be purchased directly through the BPS website from INDOX Services at cost plus shipping. No refunds will be made.

Bidders shall comply with all applicable City, State and Federal laws (including MBE/WBE policies). ). Mandatory pre-bid meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 24, 2017, at 10:00 AM in the Training Room at the Airport Office Building, 11495 Navaid Rd., Bridgeton, MO 63044.

All bidders must regard Federal Executive Order 11246, “Notice of Requirement for Affirmative Action to Ensure Equal Employment Opportunity”, the “Equal Opportunity Clause” and the “Standard Federal Equal Employment Specifications” set forth within and referenced at www.stl-bps.org (Announcements).

FOR BID Goodwin Bros. Construction Co. is requesting subcontract bids and/or material quotations from qualifying minority business enterprises

CITY OF ST. LOUIS BOARD

REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS for ARCHITECTUR-

AL AND MEP DESIGN SERVICES AT 12TH & PARK RECREATION CENTER AND WOHL RECREATION CENTER, ST. LOUIS, MO. Statements of Qualifications due by 5:00 P.M., CT, November 6, 2017 at Board of Public Service, 1200 Market, Room 301 City Hall, St. Louis, MO 63103. RFQ may be obtained from website www.stl-bps. org, under On Line Plan Room – Plan Room, or call Board of Public Service at 314-622-3535. This activity is financed through an allocation of Community Development Block Grant funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the City of St. Louis Community Development Administration. The City of St. Louis is an Equal Opportunity Agency. 25% MBE and 5% WBE participation goals.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

The St. Louis County Port Authority (the “Authority”) is soliciting proposals for a qualified contractor to purchase salvage rights to materials located in the former Macy’s (500 Jamestown Mall) and former JC Penney (246 Jamestown Mall) at the Jamestown Mall site in Florissant, Missouri 63034.

To be considered, proposals must be received no later than 3:00 PM on Friday, October 27, 2017. Proposals should be sent by e-mail to hbean@stlpartnership.com, or to St. Louis County Port Authority, c/o St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, ATTN: Howl Bean II, 7733 Forsyth Blvd., Suite 2200, St. Louis, Missouri 63105. DBE, MBE, and WBE firms are encouraged to bid.

The Request for Proposals may be obtained from the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership’s web site at www.stlpartnership.com. The Authority reserves the right to reject any or all proposals and to waive informalities therein. Any questions should be directed to Howl Bean II, Staff Attorney, St. Louis Economic Development Partnership at (314) 615-7663 or hbean@ stlpartnership.com. St. Louis Economic Development Partnership Equal Opportunity Employer

Advertised

ST. AUGUSTINE RAGS TO RICHES SALE

Saturday, October 21st 8:30 am - 1:30 pm Resale Event, Household Goods Clothing, Jewelry, Art Bar B Que Dinners, Baked Goods, Beverages

Church Parking Lot

1371 Hamilton Ave., St. Louis, MO 63112 Alternate Rain Site Church Gymnasium

PUBLISHER’S NOTICE:

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

The Public Safety Committee of the Board of Aldermen has $953,193 available to appropriate in calendar-year 2018 for programs designed to prevent crime in the City of St. Louis. The Committee is seeking proposals from qualified not-forprofit organizations to serve youth at risk, targeting male and female youth between the ages of 11 and 24. For the purposes of this RFP, crime prevention programs are defined as those programs that, either on an individual or group level, work to reduce the likelihood of involvement in criminal activity. An award range from $15,000 to $200,000 has been established for proposals submitted pursuant to this RFP. For more information please contact Rebecca Hodge, Program Specialist, Department of Public Safety at 314-6223391, or visit https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/ government/procurement.cfm.

Solicitation For Bids (SFB) for

Bids Wanted

Bid documents may be obtained at St. Louis Lambert International Airport, Airport Properties Division, Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., or by calling (314) 426-8184. This SFB may also be obtained by visiting our website at www.flystl.com/ business/contact-opportunites.

Robert Salarano Airport Properties Division Manager

BID NOTICE

Bethesda Temple Church of The Apostolic Faith, Inc. is accepting bids for a major renovation of its bathroom facilities. If you are a General Contractor interested in submitting a bid for this project, please contact the church at (314) 382-5401 or by email at bethesdatemple@bethesdastl.org and an electronic copy of the RFP will be forwarded to your attention.

tact-opportunites. Robert Salarano Airport Properties Division Manager

BIDS

Contegra Construction Company, LLC, will be submitting a bid on the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD) project: Coldwater Creek WWTF Final Clarifiers Replacement -12504-015.1, bid date is 10/10/17. We are requesting bids from qualified Minority Business Enterprises (MBE) on this project to help in our effort to meet or exceed the 30% goal set forth in MSD’s MBE utilization program. A pre-bid meeting for interested parties will be held at Contegra’s office, 22 Gateway Commerce Center Drive W, Suite 110, Edwardsville, IL 62025, on 9/28/17 at 9am. Please contact Joe Koenig (618931-3500 ext. 106) for more information regarding bid opportunities.

freight railroad bridge in St. Louis, MO to Venice, IL. Bids are due January 22, 2018. A DBE networking event is planned for November 7, 2017 starting at 4:30 p.m. at the Missouri Athletic Club, 405 Washington Ave, St. Louis, MO 63102. For more information, please email efields@terminalrailroad.com

DEACONESS SEEKING COMPANY FOR INTERIOR SIGNAGE

Deaconess Foundation is requesting proposals from firms to provide interior signage for the new Deaconess Center for Child Well-Being. The Center is currently under construction at 1000 N. Vandeventer with substantial completion scheduled for December 15, 2017. For more information visit www.deaconess.org. Proposals are due by 5:00 p.m. Central Time on September 22, 2017.

Swag Snap of the Week

Cedric and his friend Sheila E. Everybody should already be lined up and ready to check out Sheila E. to express their thanks for that EPIC Prince tribute on BET last year, but I’m telling y’all to stop through for the 4th Annual Cedric The Entertainer and Friends Gala at Peabody Opera House on Saturday anyway. I’m hoping with all my heart that she at least gives us a sip of it as part of the show. I’ve heard phenomenal things about her live act, so I cannot wait! I’ve been along for the ride with Cedric and Sharita from the inception of the gala that raises funds for the Rosetta Boyce Kyles Women’s Pavilion at SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital St. Louis. I’m going to go ahead and say it’s my second favorite gala – after Salute, of course. They always have the big names, the folks come through with their formal or high-end cocktail game and the entertainment is always on point. Jill Scott’s Michael McDonald inspired wig was the exception to the rule. Trust me, the night will be wonderful – and it’s for a worthy cause. You get some great laughs and wonderful music – and the most bang possible for your buck as far as star power goes. Those who have been can most certainly vouch for the glamour and the good time. You won’t be sorry if you make a night of it. I promise. For ticket information, visit http://www.ssmhealthstmarys.org/ cedric-and-friends/.

Laughing until the sun came up with Sinbad. For those wondering, yes, Sinbad’s late show on Saturday eventually ended – at about 2 p.m. on Tuesday. But seriously, the last thing any of us expected when the comedy veteran looked at his watch and said, “it’s after midnight” was for him to do another hour and fifteen minutes of material. Don’t get me wrong, I was ready to go when it was over. But I hollered the whole time he was on that stage. I’m still not sure what his haircut was going through, but I laughed so hard I forgot that it was a hot red mess. The great thing about Sinbad is that he gives you something fresh every time you see him. He’s so fresh with the material that the people who came on Thursday got a different show from those of us who rolled through at the last opportunity. I laughed so hard that I was scared my cheeks would start bleeding. And if one or two of you had a member of the mother’s board that was too hoarse to function, she was probably in that crew of seasoned women sitting next to me. When Sinbad boasted of being in his sixties, they proudly touted being close to seventy – and hollered all night long. The one little lady got her whole body involved when her voice started giving out. She kicked those tiny legs so hard when he got to going in on East St. Louis that her little slacks came untucked out her cowboy boots. I have been checking for Sinbad for years and had no idea until Saturday that his dad was from East St. Louis. His observation of the city and the people were absolutely everything – just like his whole show. I don’t know what that professional gamer of an opening act was going through – and he should have gotten the hint to shut it down early. But Sinbad more than made up for it. The only bad thing is that he was on so long that by the time I got in these streets, everything else was already wrapped up. They cut the lights on when he said it was midnight. Cut them back off. Cut them back on again and Sinbad never missed a punchline. He ended up being his own after party.

Silent nights. The silent party craze is clearly what’s hot in these streets, because that how things started and ended for me this weekend. I got things started at The Marquee – and things were lit as always. I made sure to hug the wall in case there was a “Rake It Up” or “Bodak Yellow” dance tsunami. The Hot 104.1 Boogie Nights had a Sunday day party that didn’t fare as well as far as the crowd, but the few folks that were there seemed to be having a blast. How could you not with DJ Cuddy on the tables? I was thrilled to run into two of my favorite naturalistas … sisters Kelly and Mekhat Moore. Happy birthday Mekhat! I don’t know how you keep getting older without aging. Maybe one of these days you will share your secret.

It’s his nappiversary. I’m having the hardest time no longer calling him Nappy DJ Needles, but that doesn’t mean he won’t still get my undying support. James Biko, the artist formerly known as Needles, is coming up on the five-year anniversary of Supernatural. The party that celebrates kinks, coils, twists, locks and curls is one of my favorite recurring sets in the city – so I’m expecting to have the time of my life at. Zack Saturday night. Honestly, he had me when he put the lovely Sarita Moody on the flyer art. He’s changed his name, but the party and his skills on the table remain unchanged. Be sure to stop through and get your life at an event that celebrates the beauty of black hair. I’ve been to nearly every single installment and been the recipient of life more abundantly. I’m expecting the same on Saturday at. Zack. Doors open at 8:30 p.m. and the spin session starts at 9. Did I mention that Black Spade will be on the tables too? I can’t wait.

Young Prezident and ShadezModels showed up for the Silent Party “Trap Edition” turn up Friday @ The Marquee

Mystic hosted The Animal House reunion so Nikki and Chae stopped thru to reminisce about the good old days Friday night

The crowd wasn’t ready for Sheda and Chez as the party at Cuetopia II warmed up on Friday

Nicole, Derrick and April started their weekend unwind action Friday night @ Mood

“For Ahkeem” star Daje and the film’s field producer Bradley Rayford Thursday night for the STL premiere of the film Thursday night @ 24:1 Theatres

Eric and Carol as they waited in line to see comedy legend Sinbad Thursday @ Helium

Villa and Darryl Jones just before they found a seat for the sold out opening of “For Ahkeem” Thursday @ 24:1 Theatres

The film For Ahkeem opened at 24:1 Theatres on Thursday and Jeff and Kim couldn’t watch it without the essentials

Julian and Ashley had their hands full as they raced to find seats in the sold out 24:1 theatre Thursday

95.5 The Lou FM’s KiKi The First Lady in the studio with the starstudded cast of Je’Caryous Johnson’s stage adaptation of “Two Can Play That Game” a day before the production came to the Peabody Opera House Sunday Afternoon.

Photo by Victoria Said It Courtesy of 95.5 FM.

Photos by V. Lang

Thursday Taisha and Lafayette dropped into Helium for dinner with a few laughs

Private SchoolS

How The College School shows up for our family

By Stefani Weeden-Smith and Rodney W. Smith

For The St. Louis American

The work of building authentic relationships and bravely examining ideas around race hasn’t been easy for our community in St. Louis, but it is crucial. It is work The College School is committed to doing, and part of the reason why we chose this school for our daughter, Zora.

Zora is getting the best education –academically, socially, and emotionally. In that education, social justice work is present. As a family of color, one critical factor we considered when researching schools for our child was equity and inclusion. The College School is doing the type of work our schools and our community needs. Here are a few ways the school is showing up for my family: Our daughter is known in her school. She has built deep friendships with her peers, and her voice matters. We see the gains she has made, but we also see the

effort that is made by the teachers and administrators at The College School.

Zora’s identity and cultural background isn’t minimized, it’s celebrated and honored in the classroom. Her teachers bring intentional conversations around racial equity into the curriculum through their core classroom work and experiences in local communities. The school is also dedicating professional development resources for their teachers, exploring both conscious and unconscious racial bias.

Our voice matters as parents. The school’s Equity and Inclusion Committee partners with parents and administrators to facilitate an understanding of why this work is important, and how we can be a thought leader in the greater St. Louis school community.

Social justice should be reflected in who is a part of our community, and also in how we live, learn, and grow together.

Catholic elementary schools get $100K Beyond Sunday tech grant

Thanks to the generous $100,000 Beyond Sunday Academic Capacity Enhancement Grant received by the Federation of Catholic Schools, ten North County Catholic elementary schools each received a classroom set of Chromebooks with a charging cart to start the 2017-18 school year.

In addition, teachers had the opportunity to attend a variety of professional development workshops in August, focused on Chromebooks, Google for Education, and Differentiated Instruction at different grade levels.

One of the most exciting components of this grant project is the collaboration of lead technology teachers from each school. Each school now has a staff member who is a certified “Level 1” Google Educator, and all are working toward their “Level 2” certification as well.

Principal Addie Govero at Blessed Teresa of Calcutta School, serves as the program coordinator and is facilitating the work of the technology teachers to share their expertise with one another. Each teacher has his or her own strengths to share, and now we have established a way to connect them so they can more easily help one another as challenges arise with using the new technology.

Middle school (grades 6-8) math teachers at each school have begun using the Chromebooks for basic math facts practice using Xtramath. This is one way the results of the grant will be measured. This technology boost is among many reasons why a Renaissance is emerging for Catholic Schools in North County and through-

Great Circle’s education complex in Webster Groves is a place where no one feels different. That’s what makes us different.

Our private, state-of-the-art school programs are fully accredited and staffed by a licensed and credentialed faculty. It’s an important part of the work Great Circle delivers every day.

Great Circle is a statewide nonprofit that focuses on strengthening children and families in difficult circumstances by providing a variety of services that can help address behavioral health and trauma-related issues. Great Circle’s menu of services includes education, 24-hour specialized care, counseling, parenting support, and other home and community-based programming.

You are invited to Great Circle’s education open house, Saturday, Nov. 4, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m., to learn more about how your child can benefit from our educational options that focus on creating academic success for students in grades K-12.

Great Circle’s three school program options are: 1) Individually tailored academics and therapeutic support for students, grades K-12, with social, emotional and behavioral challenges; 2) specialized education and therapeutic support for children, grades K-12, on the autism spectrum; and 3) the newly opened Great Circle Academy, an innovative high school for teens after treatment from substance use to continue their education in a safe, sober environment and avoid relapse.

At the open house, you can tour our warm and inviting schools, and talk with teachers and therapists about Great Circle’s curricula, teaching strategies and therapeutic approaches. Plus, enjoy free activities for the whole family (rock climbing, drumming, and more). Bring your camera to get a photo with Cardinals mascot Fredbird (noon-1 pm) and Blues mascot Louie (1p.m. - 2 p.m.). At Great Circle, we inspire the students who continually inspire us. RSVPs for the open house are appreciated. Call 314-301-4617 or register at greatcircle.org/openhouse.

Whitfield takes highly personalized approach to education

Whitfield School cultivates ethical, confident, successful students in a community of innovation, collaboration and trust. The school’s challenging, studentcentered education prepares children in grades 6-12 to be innovative thinkers and 21st century problem-solvers. A rigorous curriculum taught by dedicated professionals provides students with a strong liberal arts education. AP courses in math, science, and languages are available.

Whitfield’s Habits of Mind and Heart curriculum provides a common language for character education for students and faculty. The Habits curriculum encourages critical reflection for academic and personal growth, improves social and emotional intelligence, and shapes the personal strengths of Whitfield students so that they have the resilience and moral awareness to be effective citizens and leaders. There is a focus on six major areas: ethics, citizenship, leadership, mindfulness, scholarship and cultural competence.

Whitfield’s commitment to technology

Stefani Weeden-Smith, Rodney W. Smith and Zora

St. Rose Philippine Duchense School, along with their

in North County, now use Chromebooks to practice their math facts.

At Whitfield School, the Habits curriculum focuses on six major areas: ethics, citizenship, leadership, mindfulness, scholarship and cultural competence.

On struggle and progress at MICDS

By Brian Thomas

For The St. Louis American

Frederick Douglass stated:

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” It’s no secret that MICDS was recently in the media spotlight when five 9th graders shared racist and sexually explicit Snapchats that became public. Those students are no longer members of the MICDS community. That incident – both in the events leading up to the disciplinary decision and the aftermath – caused productive struggle about what constitutes a diverse, inclusive and culturally responsive community.

As Assistant Head of School at MICDS since July of 2016 and also as a black man who moved here from Oakland, California, I have reflected deeply on this incident – about how it doesn’t define MICDS, but rather a national problem –one that black folks and folks of conscious are all too aware. But if there is no struggle, progress doesn’t exist. Hoping is not enough. Saying “we are diverse” is not enough. Thinking is not enough. The struggle happens in the doing that will shape us – the MICDS

GRANT

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gains momentum. Danzeisen has served as a Catholic School principal for 35 years, most recently at Our Lady of Lourdes in Washington, Mo. He brings enthusiasm and expertise to the table, as he will be working together with the school principals, pastors, and director of advancement to continue the collaboration of Catholic schools in North County, which has been ongo-

community, St. Louis, our nation – into the world we imagine. The doing involves forming intentional relationships with people who are different from us, learning about one another’s

ing since 2005. “For many years now, we have been working hard at working together to continue excellence in Catholic education here in North County,” said Fr. Mike Henning, pastor of Holy Name of Jesus Parish and pastor representative for the Federation of Catholic Schools. “Having a director from the archdiocese focused on the unique opportunities and challenges for our north county schools is another milestone in this collaboration. We are excited to have Rick join this important work.”

backgrounds, and teaching one another what it means to live by the platinum rule – which is to treat others as they want to be treated. At MICDS, our mission to prepare leaders who “will embrace all [the world’s

Danzeisen will spend much of his time on location in the 10 Catholic elementary schools in North County. He will provide support and guidance to principals at all parish schools on administrative and curriculum issues, and identify programs and resources that are needed to ensure that all families in North County have access to excellent and affordable Catholic schools.

“I am very excited and honored to be the new Director of North County Catholic Elementary Schools,” said Danzeisen. “I look forward to

people] with compassion” compels us to do just that. In the days and weeks after the incident occurred, we deepened our work to confront racism. From school administrators to Black Student Union

working closely with principals and pastors to ensure viability, affordability and accessibility of Catholic education for all children in North County”

The Catholic elementary schools in North County offer diverse learning communities, enrolling families of many faiths and backgrounds. Several schools have openings in their 3- and 4-year-old preschool programs for the current school year, and enrollment will begin in February/ March 2018 for the 2018-19 school year (preschool through junior high). Each school will

members to the most conservative students on campus, we stood together to condemn hate in no uncertain terms. The School experienced both struggle and progress all in the same week. We held parent forums

welcome visitors on Open House Sunday, scheduled for January 28, 2018. Admissions information and tours are available year-round by contacting the individual schools. A map of locations and contact information can be found at ExploreCatholicSchools.org.

The federation agreement is renewed annually and now includes, Blessed Teresa of Calcutta School and Parish, Christ Light of the Nations School (Holy Name of Jesus Parish), Holy Spirit Parish and School, Holy Trinity Parish and School, Our Lady of Guadalupe

on race, fireside chats for students, classroom discussions about the history and uses of the n-word and activities centered around empathy during our annual Day of Caring. It’s not that most members of our community weren’t already living our mission. It’s that, in the aftermath, they were reinforcing the school as a place where we don’t just pay lip service to being a diverse, multicultural, multigenerational, international and inclusive community. Instead, we live our mission. Will this be the last racialized incident we face? Perhaps not, given our current and historical context. But I am confident we all will and must continue to progress in the right direction.

One of our African American students recently stated, “In every school, there will be students who make bad decisions. But those decisions do not define a community. It’s how the community responds. I’m proud of how MICDS responded to this incident.” I, too, am proud of how MICDS responded, how we stood for what is good and right, which is at the core of what we say we do. That’s progress.

Parish and School, Sacred Heart Parish and School, St. Angela Merici Parish, St. Ann Parish and School, St. Ferdinand Parish and School (St. Martin De Porres Parish), St. Norbert School and Parish (St. Sabina Parish) and St. Rose Philippine Duchesne Parish and School. To learn more about the programs and goals of the Federation or for application and enrollment information for any of the nine schools, please visit www. ExploreCatholicSchools.org.

Chaminade offers an

challenging journey from boyhood to manhood

By Rev. Ralph A. Siefert, S.M.

For The St. Louis American Chaminade College Preparatory School educates young men, grades 6-12, in the Catholic Marianist tradition. The school’s motto is ESTO VIR, “Be A Man.” The journey from boyhood to manhood is a path that includes spiritual, educational, and social development. As a school for boys, everything at Chaminade is created from the perspective of how young men learn-how they interact, build relationships,

and see the world. Chaminade’s mission is to build a student’s inherent skills, gifts and talents while realizing their potential as men.

Chaminade provides a modern, academically challenging curriculum using personalized instruction. Our classrooms, averaging 17 students, are student-centered and address multiple learning styles of young men. Taught by talented faculty with advanced degrees in the subjects they teach, Chaminade emphasizes the skills needed for academic success. There is simply no other

school for young men in St. Louis that devotes as many resources to the formation of character.

Chaminade’s Campus Ministry assists student’s growth in their relationship with God and provides opportunities to

serve the world through community service.

Chaminade’s House System provides the natural framework by which leadership and family spirit come alive each and every day.

Chaminade students are more than classmates, they are family.

Young men learn by DOING. Chaminade provides over 50 different clubs – Scholar Bowl, Cardinal & White Newspaper, Honor Society, and Model UN are some examples. Chaminade’s Fine Arts program includes music, drama, and art courses such as digital imaging, printmaking, and ceramics.

Chaminade’s Athletic Program gives students an opportunity to compete in the Metro Catholic Conference, which is regarded as the most competitive conference in Missouri. Many of our teams

are no-cut, providing an opportunity for all students to play; with up to 80 percent of students participating in at least one sport.

Scholarships valued at up to $7,000/year, need-based grants with an average value of $6,500 and endowed scholarships are available to assist in making a Chaminade education affordable for as many families as possible. Visit www.chaminade-stl.org to learn more. Rev. Ralph A. Siefert, S.M. is president of Chaminade College Preparatory School.

John Burroughs School: balance of STEM, arts, activities, opportunities

Established in 1923, John Burroughs School is an independent, coeducational, college preparatory day school (grades 7-12).

The Burroughs experience is distinguished by objectives set by our founders, including a mix of informality, community service and traditions such as morning assembly and family-style lunch. We put a premium on global awareness and cultural competency, service and sustainability, and ethics. Our core curriculum in humanities and STEM is balanced by extensive opportunities in athletics, health and wellness as well as in the fine, practical and performing arts. Students engage in more than four dozen student-run, faculty-sponsored activities – from chess teams to cheerleading squads; from a super mileage vehicle club to a literary and art magazine; and from Extra Hands for ALS to Future Business Leaders of America.

Our 49-acre campus in St. Louis County includes classroom, athletic and visual and performing arts, a full complement of playing fields and courts, and an indoor pool. We also have an outdoor education facility in the Ozarks in south central Missouri.

In 2017-2018, enrollment stands at 619, averaging just over 100 students per grade. The student-to-faculty ratio is 7-to-1 and 37 percent of

the student body identifies as students of color.

Admission to John Burroughs is based on school records, recommendations, an entrance examination and an interview. More than 22 percent of our students receive tuition aid.

Its world-class faculty average 19 years of teaching experience (11 at Burroughs), and 81 percent hold advanced degrees. They interact with students beyond the classroom in an atmosphere that fosters independence while providing individual academic and personal support.

Fifteen members of the Class of 2017 (101 students) were semi-finalists in the National Merit Scholarship competition and another 17 earned Letters of Commendation. The median SAT scores for the Class of 2017 were Math/730 and Critical Reading/720. The median ACT for that class was 31.

On average, students matriculate to more than five dozen schools nationwide. The top college choices for the past ten years have been Washington University in St. Louis, Indiana University, University of Miami, University of Missouri, New York University, Harvard University, Southern Methodist University, Tulane University, Yale University and Northwestern University.

for

Public vs. private school

What’s with all the judging?

By Kelly Wallace Of CNN

By now, I am familiar with what I refer to as “the look.”

I see it nearly every time I have a conversation with people who favor private schools. It goes something like this: “Where do your girls go to school?” they ask.

When I tell them a public school not too far from our New York home, there is a slight pause, and I know what’s going through their minds: My children are worse off because they don’t go to private school. Let me be clear that I haven’t ever heard those exact words, but I know it’s what people are thinking. Where we choose to send our kids to school is a loaded topic that can come to symbolize a parent’s values, income and worldview. But the public versus private school debate doesn’t even enter the equation for a majority of Americans who can’t afford private school tuition. So why all the judgment?

Julie DeNeen of Clinton, Connecticut, can relate. Her three children are in public schools. She says she sometimes feels judged when people say to her, “Oh, we’re sending our kids to private school.”

“It feels like they’re insinuating that I am somehow doing less for my child by keeping them in public school,” said DeNeen, who has a blog and also runs a business called Fabulous Blogging, which provides education about social media and Web design in addi-

tion to blogging.

“They don’t mean to send that message, but that’s how it feels, and so I get defensive like, ‘Why is your kid so special?’ My kids are just as smart, and I want just as much for them,” she said with a chuckle. Elena Sonnino’s daughter, a third-grader, is now in public school after attending a private Montessori school. Sonnino says she often senses people wondering why, if she can afford private school, she wouldn’t choose that option.

The tone of judgment is subtle, said the northern Virginia mom, who is also a founder of the site Live.Do.Grow, a social media strategist and a writer.

“It’s a little bit like, ‘Do you belong to the country club or do you belong to the neighborhood pool?’” she added with a laugh.

But the judging is not strictly limited to the private school camp. Public school advocates can be just as opinionated.

Just ask Lyz Lenz of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, who plans to send her two children, now 8 months old and 3, to private school until high school.

“So a lot of the conversations I’ve heard are, ‘Oh, do you not think the schools are good enough?’ or ‘Are you afraid of the experiences your kids are going to have?’ “ –comments that she says feels like “coded language” accusing her of racism.

“It’s really not any of that,” said Lenz, who hosts a blog in her name. The decision, in part, comes from her and her husband’s experiences: She was home-schooled until high

school; he attended private school until his high school years.

“We do want our kids to be in a place where we hope they can thrive and not maybe be held back by disciplinary issues or other things,” she said.

But even as Lenz explained her rationale to me on the phone, she admitted she couldn’t help but get defensive.

“It’s so hard,” she said. There is an equally charged

which receive public funding but operate independently.

Micky Morrison, who has two children in public school in Islamorada, Florida, says the conversation can get so heated that she and her friends, who are sending their children to charter schools, try to avoid the subject.

“It’s kind of just out of a mutual respect, that they’ve made their choices, and I have my beliefs,” said the author and

conversation going on between parents who send their children to traditional public schools and those who choose charters,

founder of BabyWeightTV.

“It’s sort of like politics ... one of those things that we don’t even bring up.”

Lela Davidson sends her children, ages 13 and 15, to a charter school in Rogers, Arkansas.

“If you are choosing a private school or you’re at a charter school, you are going to be in the minority,” said the author of “Blacklisted From the PTA” and “Who Peed on My Yoga Mat?”

“So I find myself probably over explaining our choice,” she said with a laugh. And in some cases, “I feel I am sometimes justifying our choice.”

Parents get defensive, said Rebecca Levy, whose twin daughters attend a New York public middle school.

“They’re not always honest,” said Levy, founder of the video-sharing site for tweens called KidsVuz.

She says her daughters have had bad teachers in the past but says private school parents might not be as willing to admit that some of their children’s teachers have been less than stellar.

“I certainly have friends at certain private schools who would never say that to me because they feel they have to justify the money they’re spending,” she added.

Adding to the complicated brew of judgment and insecurity about each parent’s school

choice are assumptions about a family’s values and income level, many parents said.

‘I think it’s an issue about money,” said a mom of three who goes by the name “Miss Lori” online.

When she applied to private school for her youngest, she immediately got questions about how she can afford the tuition. Her answer: scholarships.

“It’s an age-old thing of the haves and the have-nots, and the divide between the two has become so vast,” said the children’s television host, social media strategist and Babble. com contributor.

Sadly, the chance of eliminating the judgment that goes along with our modern and often hyper-involved parenting is about as likely as keeping teens off Instagram.

Today’s parents are too often “worried about what the nextdoor neighbors think of where they’re sending their kids to school,” said Janis Brett Elspas, host of the blog Mommy Blog Expert. Her triplets are juniors at a private high school. Her son, now in college, attended public school for the end of middle and high school. All the judgment might dissipate as more education options become available, she said.

One of the most important issues for parents has always been making sure their children get the best education possible. But perhaps the stakes are even higher in today’s uncertain uneconomic times.

After all, it used to be that a child who went to a good school went to a good college and got a good job.

“That domino sequence does not exist anymore,” said the children’s TV host “Miss Lori.”

“I think that is why it’s so scary in terms of looking at where do I send my kids to school. ... If you find a good public school, there’s not a guarantee that the dominoes are going to fall and your kids are going to be OK.” The St. Louis American is an affiliate of CNNWire.

Self and service to others

Central Christian provides foundation for future leaders

Central Christian School, a 2016 National Blue Ribbon school, partners with families to instill a passion for God, a love of truth and zeal to serve. Founded in 1957, Central Christian School educates children ages 3 through sixth grade in Clayton, just south of the business district.

Widely identified as an academic competitor both locally and nationally, Central demonstrates a commitment to providing research-validated best practices within a nurturing, Gospel-centered community. Enrollment has grown 60 percent over the last decade, and the school plans to expand their program for three year olds next year to include a five full-day program. Their richly diverse community, representing 43 zip codes and 76 churches, offers

Westminster Christian Academy offers STEM, college prep, fine arts, athletics

The integration of the Christian faith with the study of the academic disciplines is the distinguishing characteristic of a Westminster Christian Academy education. In partnership with the Christian home and church, Westminster strives to help develop the Christian mind and character of students while providing them an unparalleled education in the context of a strong school community. Teachers are dedicated to distinctive studies that provide an academically diverse student body with the highestquality education – cultivating

knowledge in the traditional liberal arts, interwoven with a Christian worldview, so that they leave with a cohesive and comprehensive understanding of the world and are well prepared to be change agents in today’s culture. Westminster’s strong college preparatory program includes numerous AP and college credit courses, foreign languages, and electives in the practical and fine arts. Expanded opportunities in academics, including a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) program and a gifted program,

students exposure to varied outlooks. Thirty-six percent of the students are children of color, and teachers are committed to educating a uniquely diverse group of students equi-

tably, with purposeful excellence to prepare them well for middle school. Students are taught to understand themselves and their uniqueness while simultaneously valuing

have allowed students the ability to use every opportunity in their education to become more skilled and knowledgeable. Expanded curriculum in our fine arts department in addition to a nationally recognized athletics program are making it possible for all students to find their place and fulfill their deepest passions using their God-given gifts and talents. In addition, guidance programs, including college and career counseling, are available at the upper and middle school levels

and serving the “other” in their classroom, neighborhood, city and world. Through cultural responsiveness training, their teachers are empowered to equip children to think critically about others’ perspectives and engage with a changing world for Christ.

These values are evidenced in Central’s “Portrait of a Graduate,” their goals for every student upon graduating after sixth grade:

• Know and love God through Jesus Christ

• Understand the unity of the Old and New Testaments

• Understand life’s ultimate purpose is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever

• Are on a path to understand their particular calling

• Can discern truth from error through the proper use of logic, reason, and applica-

tion of God’s Word

• Recognize their finiteness and as a result are on a path to lifelong learning

• Aren’t afraid of secular society, but instead learn to engage the culture for Christ

• Are solution providers

• Can communicate effectively in a number of mediums

• Understand their place in world society

• Have an others-centered orientation

• Have a genuine concern for the poor and disenfranchised Academically rigorous, unapologetically Christian and richly diverse, Central seeks to lay in students a foundation for our city’s and nation’s future civic-engagers, thoughtleaders and change-agents. For more information, visit centralschoolstl.org

and challenge students to not only learn but also apply key skills that they will carry with them into college and beyond in the professional world. Come experience firsthand what distinguishes a Westminster education at one of our Welcome on Wednesday events. Parents have the opportunity to meet staff and faculty members, tour our 70-acre campus, and experience Chapel. Register at wcastl.org/admissions.

fAMilY

Continued from C1

We invite you to learn more about The College School’s initiatives around equity and inclusion, and consider it as a potential home for your family.

Whitfield

Continued from C1

serves as a powerful catalyst to learning. Students and teachers use Microsoft Surface Pro laptops to individualize instruction, design innovative learning experiences, and interact with material from a variety of perspectives.

Whitfield teachers are experts in their disciplines and know how to challenge, support, motivate and engage students. The Whitfield experience is also about community. With an average class size of 14 and a school size of approximately 440,

Stefani Weeden-Smith is assistant director for Campus and Community Partnerships at the Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement at Washington University in St. Louis. Rodney W. Smith, EdD, is an educator and Owner/ Operator at Palomino Lounge.

parents are confident their child will be known and challenged. Students enjoy 24 clubs and activities; 20 high school sports; 11 middle school sports and thriving music, theater and visual arts programs. Whitfield has an exceptional college counseling program which provides a highly personalized approach that empowers students to reach their top choice schools in a low-stress way. Whitfield graduates attend the world’s finest colleges and universities. They are prepared to negotiate a new global reality in science and technology, in business and economics, and in relationships, both interpersonal and international.

Fontbonne to make private education possible for low-income students

At least 30 fall 2018 freshmen will attend private university for free

American staff

Fontbonne University has launched The Fontbonne Promise, a new program that makes the dream of a debt-free, private college education a reality for low-income students.

The Fontbonne Promise is a unique opportunity for first-time, first-year Missouri residents who meet Fontbonne’s admission requirements and are calculated with an expected family contribution of zero on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The private university expects to award full tuition and fees for up to five years to at least 30 fall 2018 freshmen. Full-time undergraduate tuition and fees are currently $25,460 per academic year.

“We want to change the paradigm. The neediest students who demonstrate academic ability deserve an opportunity to earn a college degree,” said Dr. J. Michael Pressimone Fontbonne president.

“We believe at Fontbonne we can play a significant role in changing communities through our strong foundation in valuesbased education. We recognize that many recipients of The Fontbonne Promise will be the first in their family to attend college. This is about providing access to education. By creating positive change in individual families, we are delivering on our promise to the community and the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, our founders, to serve the dear neighbor without distinction, something that

Fontbonne University expects to award full tuition and fees for up to five years to at least 30 fall 2018 freshmen. Full-time undergraduate tuition and fees are currently $25,460 per academic year.

benefits the entire St. Louis region.”

Students with bachelor’s degrees have higher salary attainment, career potential and life satisfaction. Additionally, graduates of smaller private colleges tend to be more civically-engaged than their peers. According to the Council of Independent Colleges, firstgeneration graduates of smaller private colleges are more likely to vote and volunteer time to their community than their peers from public universities.

“We believe Fontbonne is uniquely positioned to serve at-risk students because of our proven record of personal attention, student support and dynamic academic offerings,” said Joseph Havis, vice president for enrollment. “We have an environment where

students thrive, where they are pushed to find their personal potential. With our focus on mentoring, tutoring, financial literacy and student retention, we are confident that college will be a transformational experience for these students.”

Students who qualify for The Fontbonne Promise will receive a financial aid award that covers full tuition and fees – loan free. Funding for this program will be made possible through a combination of state and federal aid, Fontbonne aid and donor partnerships.

“Donor partners will be assured that their funds reach the students most needing assistance and that these students will enjoy a personalized college experience in an intimate and familial environment,” said Kitty

Lohrum, Fontbonne vice president for advancement.

“We’re looking for community members and corporations who also believe that no deserving student should be left behind. Our Fontbonne Promise Partners serve the greater good of the entire St. Louis area. It’s an investment in the future of our community.”

Fontbonne Promise Partners will sponsor a student at $8,500 a year for up to five years, according to Lohrum. Additionally, donations of any amount toward this program will help build the pool needed to support deserving students in future years. To learn more about applying to Fontbonne or becoming a Fontbonne Promise Partner, visit www.fontbonne. edu/promise.

Cardinal Ritter College Prep:

‘enlightened in faith, enriched by excellence’

Cardinal Ritter College

Preparatory High School, a premier Catholic institution that is historically black, has been serving the African-American community since 1979.

The school’s mission is to educate the entire student. We accomplish this by providing a nurturing learning environment by emphasizing the AfricanAmerican experience allowing students to grow to their fullest potential. We believe all students should be educated in an environment that celebrates them for who they are, and includes a strong connection to their faith. With a strong foundation in academic excellence, faith and leadership, graduates are prepared to succeed in college and have fulfilling careers. Cardinal Ritter offers a high school experience that instills these attitudes. Ritter provides a faith-based educational

learning environment with a unique and rigorous college prep curriculum, advanced college credit and honors courses, 1:1 technology in the classroom, robust co-curricular offerings and an extensive Intern Leadership Program. Since our beginning, we have graduated approximately 3000 students who have successfully moved on to take advantage of numerous opportunities in higher education and various career fields. Our goal has always been to have 100 percent graduation and college acceptance rates. These goals are accomplished by providing our students the necessary faith foundation, nurturing, support, and other tools for success which have resulted in $3.4 million in average college scholarships over the past five years. Being a Cardinal Ritter

commencement ceremony,

confirmed as attaining all the requirements, goals, and exhibiting the characteristics contained in the school’s mission, vision, and core values. The school and its alumni highly value this confirmation.

The Cardinal Ritter College Preparatory diploma is evidence and a proclamation that graduates understand that they are poised, positioned, and called to being “Alive in Christ” as they move forward in their lives. Our graduates are witnesses that they have been empowered by being “enlightened in faith,” “nurtured with compassion,” “enriched by excellence,” and “called to leadership.” For more information visit us during our Open House on November 5 from noon until 4 p.m. Go to www. cardinalritterprep.org to register.

Beyond Sunday campaign raises $105 million to transform Catholic education

The Beyond Sunday campaign, an historic fundraising endeavor led by the Roman Catholic Foundation of Eastern Missouri, has ended with great success, with more than $105 million in gifts and pledges from over 25,000 households raised to transform Catholic education in the Archdiocese of St. Louis and invest in local parish communities. Surpassing the $100 million campaign goal, Beyond Sunday has already begun to make significant impact on Catholic families, schools and parishes.

Transforming Catholic Education

Sixty percent of Beyond Sunday funds (less campaign expenses) are allocated to Catholic education, offering scholarship support to meet the needs of middle-income families seeking Catholic education for their children. In addition to scholarships, Beyond Sunday also provides two types of grants to parish and archdiocesan schools; Academic Capacity Enhancement grants fund the development of competitive educational programs in the STREAM (science, technology, religion, engineering, arts and mathematics) disciplines, and Transformational Innovation grants fund the implementation of groundbreaking ideas to enhance schools’ operational and business models.

Investing in Parish Communities

The remaining 40 percent of Beyond Sunday funds provide for the local needs of parishes

throughout the archdiocese. Many parishes are using Beyond Sunday distributions to improve their schools and provide school families with additional scholarship support. Others are addressing longstanding maintenance needs, including roof and parking lot repair, tuck-pointing, and heating and air conditioning updates.

Beyond Sunday’s Immediate Impact

With the success of Beyond Sunday, the impact to date in the Catholic community has been substantial:

• $3.7 million in scholarships awarded to 1,520 students in the Archdiocese of St. Louis attending 132 Catholic elementary and high schools

• $1 million in grants awarded to 50 elementary schools, high schools and parish schools of religion and the Catholic Education Office of the Archdiocese of St. Louis

• $14.6 million in parish share distributions to 184 parishes, spanning from Perry to Lincoln to Franklin counties

As pledges are fulfilled,

financial support will continue to flow back into the community through scholarships, grants and parish share distributions.

“The support of our Catholic community has been amazing, and we are excited to see the positive effects that Beyond Sunday will continue to have on Catholic education and our parishes,” said Mark J. Guyol, president & CEO of the Roman Catholic Foundation.

“For generations to come, families across the Archdiocese of St. Louis will be grateful to Archbishop Robert Carlson for his focus on Catholic education, which inspired Beyond Sunday, and they’ll be especially grateful to the thousands of families who contributed to the campaign.”

For more information, please visit rcfstl.org or call 314-918-2890.

How to make sense of the school choice debate

By AJ Willingham Of CNN

During her time as education

secretary, Betsy DeVos has made it very clear she supports educational choice. She even went as far as calling opponents of the movement “flat earthers” who are holding America’s children back.

Educational choice, or school choice, also has a friend in President Donald Trump and it’s sure to be a huge part of the education conversation going forward. Supporters say it’s a chance for parents to have better control over the type of education their child gets, while detractors say it’s an attempt at privatizing education that funnels money away from already strapped public schools.

CNN spoke with Tommy

Schultz, the national communications director for the American Federation for Children, to nail down the basics of what, exactly, school choice is and why it’s such an emerging hot-button issue.

Generally, in the public school system, where you live decides where you go to school. School choice, in a nutshell, adds more options into the mix.

“Educational choice is based on the idea that parents are in control of where their child goes to school,” Schultz says. This can be accomplished through a variety of programs that are typically carried out on the state and local levels. There are some options that apply to private schools, some that apply to public, and even more that apply to both.

What are some types of

public school choice?

Public education choices are those that operate within the public school system.

Charter school: This is a school, run by a private

Children learn by exploring.

Community

group, that is able to operate independently of the school system in which it is located, even though it may receive some funding from them. Charter schools don’t have the regulations that regular schools have, “so they can experiment with different teaching methods,” Schultz said. “Some children learn best in that environment.”

However, some charter schools are so in-demand they attract thousands of applicants for just a few hundred spots, meaning there are often a sizable amount of students who need to be turned away.

Magnet school: A magnet school has specialized courses or academic focuses that draw in especially gifted or interested students. For instance, a school can be a math magnet or a performing arts magnet, or even an agricultural studies magnet. Since they are specialized, magnet schools are sometimes selective and require certain admissions standards for prospective students.

Vocational school: Similar to a magnet school, a vocational or technical school specializes in teaching students certain skills: Farm work, auto mechanics, construction work and the like.

In the school choice model, these types of educational centers serve as alternatives to the typical set of schools

Students booed Education Secretary Betsy DeVos when she delivered the commencement speech at BethuneCookman University in May.

prescribed by a student’s neighborhood.

What are some types of private school choice?

In general, private school choice is the more controversial set of education options because opponents claim they take funding away from public schools. These programs either re-direct government funds from a public to a private education, or use charitable contributions to form private school scholarships.

Voucher program: With a school voucher, the state essentially pays for the tuition of a private school using a portion of the funds that would have been spent educating the student at a public school. However, the vouchers are not a carte blanche to attend any school of the student’s choosing. “There will be restriction in most states on what types of schools can use it,” Schultz says, “Or there may be some kind of testing requirement.”

Tax credit scholarship program: In some states, businesses and individuals can get tax breaks for contributing to scholarship granting organizations, or SGOs. These SGOs then provide various types of scholarships to local students. The money doesn’t actually have to be used for private school, either -- a family can choose to use the scholarship money to send a student to a public school outside of their district. Schultz says a lot of people conflate tax credit scholarships with voucher programs, and while they’re similar, they rely on different source of funding.

This list is not exhaustive, and some educational choice programs, like the tax credit scholarship program above, can apply to both private and public schools.

Not all of the programs are available in all states, and some states have specialized programs, like the Autism Scholarship Program in Ohio, that garner national attention. Once relegated to a small niche of the education sphere, the concept of school choice has found the spotlight since DeVos became education secretary.

“Out of 74 million kids in the US, only 3.5 million are using a school choice program, along with 5 million in private schools,” Schultz says. There are distinct criticisms of school choice programs: Some argue that siphoning money away from struggling schools is a bad gamble in the long run and is degrading public education, especially in low-income areas that may see an exodus of students due to school choice programs. Teachers’ Unions are typically not fond of charter schools, because they typically are not unionized. Others worry that school choice is a way for the government to subsidize religious education since vouchers and other funding can sometimes be used towards religious schools. Though she has been a champion of charter schools for decades, in February DeVos made a comment claiming historically black colleges and universities were an example of “school choice.” In fact, HBCUs were founded as a response to ingrained racism and segregation in the country’s public school system. Her most recent comments drew ire as well, when she called school choice opponents “flat earthers” who have “chilled creativity” in schools.

The St. Louis American is a CNNWire affiliate.