A Civil Right for Pennsylvania's Children

The Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus (PLBC) has begun a series of hearings titled "A Civil Right for Pennsylvania's Children: High Quality Universal Education" to improve access to education and eliminating the achievement gap.

The first was Friday in Philadelphia; the second is scheduled for today in Harrisburg; and a third is set for Friday, April 15th in Pittsburgh. Three issues being discussed are: Governor Tom Corbett's proposed state budget, school climate and its effect on student performance, and student support services.

Caucus Chairman and State Representative Ronald Waters, says that the overall goal of the hearings is to give all students, or future leaders, a chance for success.

"Hopefully we'll be able to communicate and it will be real and open enough so that we can really learn how to address the ongoing problems that are negatively impacting he quality of education, or the educational climate and environment where our children of this Commonwealth attend school."

Waters says that a specific issue they are going to discuss in Allegheny County is the inability to get a class under control in a sufficient amount of time.

The hearing will take place at the University of Pittsburgh on the Lower Lounge of the William Pitt Union Building. It begins at 10:00 a.m.

Local Labor Leader Honored Via Film

The legacy of the recently deceased Nate Smith, one of the most famous labor and civil rights leaders from Pittsburgh, will live on in the form of a documentary. The film titled, "What Does Trouble Mean? Nate Smith's Revolution," will be shown at the Elsie Hillman Auditorium at the Hill House Thursday, April 7th by Robert Morris University Center for Documentary Production and Study.

Smith died at age 82 on April 1st from Alzheimer's disease, and was well-known in the area for his activism for equal working rights for African Americans and integration of Pittsburgh's construction trade unions in the 1960s and 1970s. Smith led thousands of marchers protesting the lack of inclusion of minorities in the construction of the U.S. Steel Building and Three Rivers Stadium. He is known for lying down in front of a bulldozer to halt construction. Erica Peiffer, who wrote and produced the film with Alexander Wilson, says that she was inspired by Smith from day one.

"Not knowing what I was getting into, I went into the studio and helped with the interview and as I was listening to what Nate Smith was saying in response to the questions I just became really interested in his life."

The project took five years to complete and Peiffer says that her overall goal has a certain target audience.

"I just wanted to inspire other people, especially young people, to be interested in issues, to get involved, and to find something they're really passionate about."

Smith's hour-long documentary viewing will be free and open to the public. A dinner reception will begin at 5:30 and film screening at 6:00. More information about the film can be found at www.NateSmithMovie.com

Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and August Wilson Center Collaborate

The Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and the August Wilson Center for African American Culture today announced a three-year partnership that will include performances, workshops and reciprocal dance instruction.

The August Wilson Center’s president and CEO Andre Kimo Stone Guess says the seven executives of cultural district institutions meet every month, and this cooperative effort with the Ballet Theatre is one result. Guess says he's not aware of any other city with the same high level of cooperation among artistic groups.

Greer Reed Jones, founding Artistic Director for the August Wilson Center, says the collaboration is coming out of a real dance boom in Pittsburgh, with young companies forming and individual projects taking shape.

In February, 2012, the ballet will perform “Uncommon Baroque” a contemporary mixed repertoire with live music of Bach, Brahms and Beethoven in the August Wilson Center’s 486-seat theater. Choreographer Dwight Rhoden will choreograph an original work to music by Bach.

One of Andre Kimo Stone Guess’s visions is instruction in either ballet or modern dance at either institution available to children from an early age through CAPA through Point Park College and, without leaving Pittsburgh, into a world class dance ensemble.

PA Legislators Push Affirmative Action Set Asides

A short list of Pennsylvania House members including Rep. Jake Wheatley of the Hill District gathered a panel of minority, women and veteran owned business advocates this week to urge fellow lawmakers to pass a bill that would create set aside goals for under represented businesses. H.B. 2149 died last session without coming up for a vote. It would have set affirmative action goals for state contracts. Wheatley hopes to offer similar legislation in the current session.

Western Pennsylvania Minority Supplier Development Council President Lawrence Nichols was among those on the panel. He says the only department in the state that seems to be doing a good job of contracting with minority owned firms is the Department of Welfare. He says there are other states that Pennsylvania can turn to as a model. He says at this time no one seems to know how well minority owned firms do in state contracts. “I’ve never done a survey of my organizations… to see how many of them have active contracts with the state,” says Nichols.

The Western Pennsylvania Minority Supplier Development Council represents about 120 minority owned businesses. Nichols says that includes businesses owned by African Americans, Asians, Hispanics and Indians. Groups representing women owned business and veteran owned business were also on the panel. Some argue that there are not enough minority, women and veteran owned businesses in the state to support set asides. Others argue that without the set asides there will never be enough of those businesses.

Nichols says he plans to return to Harrisburg several times in the coming months to promote the pending legislation. He says one of the first tasks will be making sure the new governor is on board.

Governor Salutes African-American Newspaper Execs

Governor Tom Corbett singled out four African-American Pennsylvanians during a Black History Month celebration at the Capitol Tuesday.
Two of the honorees were Rod Doss and Robert Bogle, executives from the Pittsburgh Courier and Philadelphia Tribune.
Referencing an article a black reporter recently wrote about how black and white people tend to avoid each other on the bus, Corbett said the two African-American newspapers are carrying out important work, and trying to bridge racial divides.
“Let’s make sure that in the days to come, even when luncheon isn’t served, that we don’t leave one another alone on that big bus we call Pennsylvania. We can’t get anywhere together if we don’t travel side-by-side.”

Doss said the two African-American newspapers are charged with the same mission.
“Both publications share a credo that goes back to 1827, and the first editorial written by John B. Russwurm, that said, “for too long, others have spoken for us. Today we plead our own cause.”
Corbett said racial tension still exists, and the two papers play an important role, by providing a voice for the black community.
The governor also presented awards to Renee Amoore, who runs a Philadelphia-based health care group, and Fred Clark, who runs a Harrisburg consulting firm.
The Pennsylvania Governors Office has held similar Black History Month celebrations for nine years now.

City Councilman Hears from Community on Police Accountability

A Tuesday night hearing at the Shiloh Community Missionary Baptist Church in Homewood addressed upcoming legislation for more police transparency. Pittsburgh Councilman Ricky Burgess' bill would establish policy for off-duty police, and compel the Pittsburgh Police Bureau to produce an annual report on the make-up of the police force; any legal action against police officers; average response times; arrests by charge, race and gender by zone and specialized units; conviction rates and traffic stops as well as recruitment and retention.

Burgess says that a lot of people are interested in the duties and requirements of off-duty police officers. "I think there needs to be a clear policy that states what off duty police officers should and should not do, and what is the responsibility and the city's commitment to them so that both sides are clear. I think that recent events have lead us to need to have that process clarified."

He says that the majority of his constituents are behind him and that he has not yet heard from the opposition directly. Burgess is willing to make compromises to his legislation but believes that the conversation and public discussion is incredibly important.

Councilman Burgess' legislation was proposed after allegations of police brutality against 18 year old Jordan Miles, who was allegedly beaten by 3 plain clothed officers while walking to his grandmother's house in Homewood.

Speakers Testify on City Police Reform Legislation

Experts from law enforcement, academia and the legal arena spoke out in support of proposed police reform legislation at Pittsburgh Council Thursday. The post-agenda meeting centered on an ordinance drafted by Councilman Ricky Burgess that would require routine data collection by officers and law enforcement administrators. That data would include everything from routine traffic stops to incidents involving the use of force. The information would be published in an annual public report that would specify the make-up of the police force; any legal action against police officers; average response times; arrests by charge, race and gender by zone and specialized units; conviction rates and traffic stops as well as recruitment and retention. Vic Walczak, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania says in the 1990's Pittsburgh police were forced to abide by a consent decree that help bring the department in line. But he says he's sure the police union will come out against the legislation as hamstringing their operations, "that is demonstrably false because other police departments around the country do it, and the city of Pittsburgh police department has done it--they were forced to do it under the consent decree--and crime went down." Walczak says there's a perception in the black community that it is under siege, "and until and unless the city measures what their officers are doing and publicizes it, they can't credibly come out and say there's no problem." Wayne Babish, a former police officer and adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh supports the legislation and says over time, police officers will recognize its benefits, "a police chief would welcome and view this proposed legislation as an opportunity to communicate and collaborate with elected officials." Burgess' legislation was sparked by the alleged beating of Jordan Miles, a black high-school student, by white, plain-clothed police officers in Homewood in January 2010. An investigation into that incident is still pending.

African-American Museum Conference Held in Pittsburgh

For three days this week representatives from more than 200 African-American museums are in Pittsburgh for a conference. They are attending sessions on curating and archiving. There were also more specialized sessions on re-interpreting African-American food history and preserving Florida’s African-American civil war heritage.

A museum is defined as an institution that is open to the public, has a collection and does exhibitions. President of the Association of African-American museums Vernon Courtney said although there is a need for such museums, he hopes African-American history and art will work their way into all museums.

"Our history is unique in this country and we hope that at some point in time we work ourselves out of a job when mainstream museums treat African-American history and culture as it does the rest of the history of the nation," he said.

This is the 32nd year the conference has been held. Pittsburgh was selected as the conference host because of the recent opening of the August Wilson Center for African-American Culture.

Upcoming Festival Emphasizes Need for Minority Organ Donors

Saturday, the Center for Organ Recovery and Education (CORE) will host a Celebration of Praise Gospel Fest in honor of National Minority Donor Awareness Day. The event will be held at the August Wilson Center for African American Culture in downtown Pittsburgh at 6 p.m.
National Minority Donor Awareness Day, officially on August 1, was established to raise awareness about the shortage of designated donors in the United States, with particular emphasis on the multicultural community.
CORE’s spokesperson, Holly Bulvony, says the need for organ transplantation is great within minority groups, particularly with kidneys, but the amount of organ donors from these groups is small. African Americans and other minority groups are three times more likely to suffer from end-stage kidney disease than Caucasians, yet 73% of organ donors are Caucasian. Bulvony says the key to a donor/recipient match is blood type and race is not a criterion. Because minority patients make up more than half of the national transplant waiting list, the awareness day is meant to encourage more members of the African-American community to become a designated donor.

Feds Issue Subpoenas In Miles Case

The investigation into the actions of 3 white, plainclothes Pittsburgh police officers during the January arrest of an African-American high school honors student will continue. City officials had hoped to wrap up the Office of Municipal Investigations (OMI) inquiry soon after a district magistrate dropped resisting arrest and other charges against 18 year old Jordan Miles of Homewood.
Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl says the city's investigation will remain open while the Justice Department conducts its own probe. Federal authorities have confirmed they are investigating whether the 3 police officers, Michael Saldutte, Richard Ewing and David Sisak, violated Miles' civil rights.
Ravenstahl says the city has been issued "numerous subpoenas" by federal authorities and is "cooperating fully," but he wouldn't say to which individuals the subpoenas were issued. He says the OMI investigation will remain open until the federal authorities conclude their inquiries.
Miles, an honors student at the Creative and Performing Arts High School (CAPA), says the 3 men did not identify themselves as police officers when they tried to stop him as he walked in his Homewood neighborhood. Miles, who required hospital treatment as a result of the encounter, was charged with aggravated assault and resisting arrest but earlier this month the district judge dropped those charges.
The attorneys for Miles and the 3 officers say their clients passed lie detector tests. The officers, who were on a special crime prevention detail that night, remain on paid suspension.

Former Head of Pittsburgh NAACP Dies

Harvey Adams, Jr., former president of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the NAACP, had died at age 80. His daughter says he died yesterday of natural causes. However, it's known that Mr. Adams suffered 2 strokes in recent years. Mr. Adams was a former sergeant in the Pittsburgh Police Bureau and was retired as Director of the Pittsburgh Housing Authority Police. Mr. Adams served as NAACP President in the Pittsburgh area from 1976-92.
Tim Stevens, who is also a former president of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the NAACP, says Mr. Adams was a force for local change and was a prime mover in a federal court decision to have the Pittsburgh Police Bureau better reflect the citizenry. Under a ruling from then U.S. District Court Judge Gerald Weber, when the bureau hired new officers, it had to be done in fours: one white male, one while female, one black male, and one black female.
Stevens says he will remember Harvey Adams for "his strength, his passion, his power, and his commitment to the struggle."

Savings and Loan Meets Financing Plan Deadline

Dwelling House Savings & Loan President John Haines announced today that he has submitted a capitalization plan to meet the deadline imposed by federal bank regulators. The new financing is part of the 119 year old Savings & Loan's effort to fill a $1 million capital deficit left by cyber thieves who stole $3 million through electronic bank transfers. Haines says they've made progress in recovering some of the money from other financial institutions that unwittingly processed the fraudulent transfers. Haines says that new financing plan includes additional funds from Dollar Bank as well as from a group of Pittsburgh philanthropies: the Pittsburgh Foundation, Elsie Hillman Foundation, the Heinz Endowments and Richard King Mellon via a grant to the Poise Foundation.
Haines says he "wasn't surprised but rather overwhelmed" by the response of the foundation community. Haines refused to disclose details of the plan until F.D.I.C. officials respond to it..."What we can say at this point is that we are confident we have a way forward that will meet expectations of federal regulators in terms of recapitalization and recovery from a terrible criminal act."
Haines says the plan will "reinvigorate a historic Pittsburgh institution so that it continues its special mission of serving the African American community for decades to come."

Simple Changes Could Boost Parental Involvement

The Center on Race and Social Problems at the University of Pittsburgh gathered experts in the field of racial disparities in public education today for a daylong conference that included a look at strategies to build parent involvement. Ann Levett is the executive director of the School Development Program at Yale University. She says while there is a perception that African American parents are less involved in their children’s schools, the research shows that is not true. She says parental involvement among African Americans, like all races, is dependent on income. Levett says that is partial due to the “middle-class bias” in the public education system. She says schools assume parents can come to mid-day or early evening events and parent-teacher conferences. Levett says schools need to understand that most lower income parents can not get off work in the middle of the day, may have transportation problems in the evening and often need child care assistance at any time of the day. She says schools can easily address all of those issues by changing teacher and administration schedules and expectations and by partnering with other organizations to offer more family friendly events. However, Levett says most schools are so focused on academic achievement and test scores that helping parents be more involved is seen by teachers as, ”just one more thing they have to do.” She says the focus on parental involvement needs to be found and embraced at all levels. Levett says the effort is well worth it. She says the research clearly shows that tests scores, grades and graduation rates increase in schools where the level of parental involvement is high.

SEA Says MBE/WBE Numbers Are Up.

With more than half of the contracts already awarded for the construction of the new arena the Sports and Exhibition Authority says it will exceed goals set by the city for minority and women owned business participation. Of the 160-million in contracts awarded, 24% have gone to minority owned businesses and 6% were awarded to women owned businesses. Senior Diversity coordinator for the SEA Clarence Curry says he hopes that number will grow slightly as the remainder of the contracts is awarded. The city had asked for 18% minority and 7% women owned participation. The SEA had set a goal of 25% and 10%. Curry says those numbers are better than similar projects and better than the numbers for the two North Shore stadiums. Curry says they were able to get the higher numbers by working with contractors throughout the process and the board as it awarded the bids. He says the numbers for the amount of contracts to firms actually doing the work on the arena compared to suppliers is also better than it was for the stadiums.

PA Grows and Allegheny County Shrinks by 2030

Allegheny County’s population is expected to continue to decline over the next 20 years according to the most recent projections from the Pennsylvania State Data Center at Penn State University. From 2000 to 2030 Pennsylvania is expected to grow 7.4% making it a small growth state like many in the northeast. In the same period Allegheny County is expected to loose 11.6% of its population. However, the study shows the Hispanic population in the county will grow by 136 percent and the African American population will grow by nearly 11 percent. Another area of growth for Allegheny County is its senior population with those over 65 growing by 20 percent from 2000 to 2030. Data Center Director Sue Copella says not all of southwester Pennsylvania is shrinking. Washington County will reverse the trend of population loss over the last three decades and butler and Westmorland counties will also see growth. The state as a whole is also seeing minority populations growing faster than non-minorities with Hispanics showing the largest growth at 184% and African Americans growing by 26.6% moving that minority from representing 10% of the population in 2000 to 12% in 2030.

Alcoa Foundation Awards $1.2 million

The Alcoa Foundation has awarded $!.2 million to three Pittsburgh non-profits, bringing its total for the past five years in Allegheny County to $11 million.

$600,000 goes to the August Wilson Center for African American Culture now under construction downtown. The grant will be used for permanent exhibits and for the currently touring exhibit of Teenie Harris photos with an accompanying dance performance--both will wind up at the center's opening in 2009.

The Carnegie Library will put its $400,000 toward improving childrens' sections in several branches and for renovations and new construction on the North Side and in the Hill District.

$200,000 will be used by the Children's Institute to study the feasibility of an "Environmental Pediatric Room" --a "clean room" with reduced toxins and exposures. Autistic children would live there for a few weeks to a few months. Friends and family could go in and out, enjoying the clean air, water and organic food in a beautiful setting. Dr. Scott Faber said the hope is the children would undergo biomedical change in that environment, especially de-toxifying chemicals and heavy metals in their bodies. There could be improvements in the immune system, language and socialization, along with a decrease in repetitive behavior patterns.

NAACP partners with Duquesne University

Duquesne University has partnered with the NAACP to allow 3rd year law students to work on civil rights complaints that come through the NAACP. The students worked on a variety of cases from someone being denied witness protection because of race to someone being denied accommodations at a hotel because of race. The students took the cases as far as they needed to go. Most cases do not end up in court so it is a way for students to gain actual legal experience before entering the work force.

31st Annual Conference on Black History in Pennsylvania

Mary Frances Berry was in Pittsburgh today to address the 31st Annual Conference on Black History in Pennsylvania at Pitt put on by the State Historical and Museum Commission. Ms. Berry served on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights from 1980 to 2004 and is now a history professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

Very mindful that she was speaking on the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King's assassination, Mary Frances Berry emphasized the need for protest, not just voting, to bring about policy change and improve the political and economic situation of African Americans.

Originally appointed to the Civil Rights Commission by President Jimmy Carter, Berry was fired by President Ronald Reagan for criticizing his policies, but she sued and won reinstatement.

Pilot Program at Pitt Medical School

The University of Pittsburgh is one of four universities in the nation participating in a pilot program called “Aspiring Docs”, that aims to increase the number of minorities entering the medical field. Paula Davis of Pitt’s School for Health Sciences says currently minorities are underrepresented. Davis says rising costs play a big part withthe average medical school debt more than $100,000. That does not include if the student borrowed for undergraduate studies. The pilot program aims to provide mentors to minority students who show strength in the sciences in an effort to increase the numbers entering the field of medicine.

ANNUAL MINORITY ENTERPRISES CONFERENCE

Representatives of Minority, Women and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (MWDBE) met today to discuss strategies, best practices and recount success stories for winning minority contracts for public and private projects around the region.

Keynote speaker Keith B. Keys of KBK Enterprises spoke to DUQ about the qualities they and others look for when deciding to award a contract. He noted that vendor relations and orgainized, accountable finances are essential qualities of a viable, competative company.

Also in attendance was Don Barden of PITG Gaming. Barden is developing the Majestic Star Casino on the North Shore. Though he did not commit to a specific percentage of contracts that he would award to minority businesses, he did say that it was important to him to diversify the work, and he hoped that minority contractors would make themselves stand out from the competition.

In an aside he also mentioned that he would be pushing for table games to be legalized in time for the casino's opening in 2009. In response to questions of whether it was smooth sailing from here on out with the construction project, Barden laughed and said the he hoped so, because he has begun to feel like a marathon "hurdle jumper."