Twenty black men sat tall in the front row as their name was called to the stage. These men were recognized at the 2013 Black Male Engagement (BMe) Leadership Awards at WHYY studios on Saturday.
The winners were A. Nasir Al-Maliki, Omar Barlow, Ronald C. Brown Sr., James Burnett, Thomas Butler, Herman Davis, Joe Davis, Michael Gross, Bryheem Charity, Joaquim Hamilton, Lovett Hines, Wayne Jacobs, Khary Moody, Anton Moor, Jimmie Moore, Chris Norris, Chris Rabb, El Sawyer, Craig Stroman, and Rashuan Williams.
As each winner received his glass plaque, a brief video clip was shown to explain each man’s business, organization or non-profit that makes Philadelphia communities stronger.
In this network of community activists are men making science and technology retable to students in city schools. Some are empowering youth to finish high school, and also help with the retention rate of college students. Some men teach entrepreneurship, urban gardening, music and conflict resolution. Others are tackling the issue of ex-offenders reentering into communities and addressing the difficulties of employment and adjustments to their new lives.
Collectively, these fathers, brothers, sons and community advocates, will receive $200,000 in grant money to further their individual businesses.
Last year, ten Black men were given the BMe Leadership Award.
During the ceremony, a tribute was given to Shawn White—an awardee of the 2011 BMe Leadership Award. Eric Williams, friend and winner of the 2011 BMe award, talked about reconnecting with White through BMe, his work in Philadelphia barber shops and at the University of Pennsylvania, and his goal oriented spirit.
“Shawn was always deeply rooted in my cause more so than his own cause,” Williams said. “And we sat down for maybe two or three hours and he just shared some inspiration to me. And although Shawn isn’t physically here, I believe his spirit still lives in me and with all the other ten recipients.”
Donna Frisby-Greenwood, program director of Philadelphia Knight Foundation, said this year’s class is special because of their work in communities whether it was feeding the homeless every week year round, or teaching S.T.E.M education through new methods. She said she hopes to see these men expand their network through BMe.
“Not only is it great to recognize the 20 [men] today, but to connect them to journalists that are here today, folks in the media and also connect them with each other and connect the past winners with the current winners.”
After an hour networking lunch, and in conjunction with the BMe awards, the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists hosted a media workshop “Accessing and Demystifying the Media.” E. Steven Collins, director of urban marketing and external relations and host of “Philly Speaks” of Radio One moderated the discussion.
The panelists were members of print, television and radio media: Loraine Ballard-Morrill, news and community affairs director of Clear Channel; Cherri Gregg, community affairs reporter for KYW Newsradio; Michael Days, editor of The Philadelphia Daily News; Irv Randolph, managing editor of The Philadelphia Tribune; and Manuel McDonald Smith, producer of CNBC.
The panel shared tips on how the BMe awardees and community could pitch their story ideas to the various news outlets. A paper was handed out that gave some suggestions of being proactive, communicating clearly the event or story idea, understanding that timing is key and sending information to the appropriate organization or reporter.
Randolph said that the story ideas people offer can translate into columns, but he suggested that people have to do their homework.
“For us [at the Tribune], the column should be no more than 600 words, it should be timely or topical, something that’s playing on the news, that’s something we would have interest in looking at,” he said.
As the youngest of eight children, Willie Mae Haynes has witnessed all her siblings have open heart surgery, her mother had a heart attack and her father had a stroke. Even with her family’s medical background, Haynes completed her first 5K run at the age of 62.
Registered as No. 123 of The Stroehmann 5K Walk and Run Against Hunger, Haynes threaded her iPhone headphones under her black t-shirt, placed her black baseball cap on her head and walked to the starting line.
“As a chef, it’s exciting to be able to be able to do something that I do as a living and give to someone who needs to eat,” Haynes told the Tribune.
At 44, Haynes opened The Virtuous Woman Bakery December 1994 in Voorhees, N.J. The bakery specialized in southern-style homemade all occasion cakes, pies, desserts and southern-cuisine from her Louisiana roots. The sweet potato cheesecake, crawfish cornbread, “heavenly dream pie” and homemade yeast potato rolls were popular items.
By the time the bakery closed in December 2006, her 12-year career as a full-time pastry chef made her 85 pounds heavier. Motivated by her family’s medical history and pains she felt in her joints, Haynes made a decision to get more active.
“I stay healthy by my lifestyle,” Haynes said. “My lifestyle and my vocation are a little different. I gained a lot of weight. Most people who are chefs enjoy their food. But you just have to eat right. It’s been many years of learning that.
“It took me a long time to transition. It took over a year of changing the bad habits. Once I detoxified my body, I could resist a lot of the stuff I was baking. I got the craving out of my system.”
Those cravings were of foods with sugar, salt and flour. And when she stopped eating those foods, took herbal supplements and multi vitamins and with regular exercise, she began to notice changes.
Haynes also credits the ganoderma lucidum ingredient in Organo Gold Coffee products that helped with her lifestyle change.
“After the first 30 days of trying the product, I had bleeding gums — a condition in my family,” she said. “And I learned that it was a part of heart disease, as well. My bleeding gums have stopped and haven’t returned since I have been using the product.”
Once Haynes mastered a eating and fitness regime, she began training in January for the 5K. Using a application on her iPhone and with the help of friends like Rita Scarborough and Cynthia Hayward, Haynes started running.
“I’m honored,” Hayward said. “It’s just wonderful to see. I turned 40 and decided to do right. So for somebody to be over 60 and doing a little better than me, and she’s starting to train for a 10K, it’s amazing. She’s my inspiration and I’m honored to be doing her first [5K] with her.”
“Just to go from being a couch potato to actually being able to run a 5K was a part of my New Year’s journey leading into my 63rd birthday,” Haynes said.
Now, Haynes is Organo Gold Coffee seller, leads the Repass Ministry at Christian Stronghold Baptist Church in West Philadelphia — where she cooks food for funerals — bakes in her free time and encourages others on Facebook to get active. Her 63rd birthday is in May and she is planning on running her second 5K next month, as well.
Columbus Charter 8th-grader wins regional spelling bee
Sunday, 10 March 2013 15:24 Published in News Headlines
Video of 2013 Philadelphia Tribune/Scripps Regional Spelling Bee
The championship word was “degenerative” that secured Nina McManus as the 2013 Philadelphia regional spelling bee winner.
“My heart was pumping really fast,” Nina told the Tribune.
As a science club member and avid reader, Nina out spelled 62 other competitors who she said she enjoyed meeting.
“All the kids are really nice,” Nina said. “You talk to the other kids while you’re on stage and before you go on the stage.”
Paula McManus, Nina’s mom, held back tears after her daughter was announced as champion.
“She’s worked her tail off,” Paula said. “She just wanted this so bad. She truly worked hard to get it. She studied hard just as she did last year, but I think maybe she was a seventh-grader, it was her first time being here. This time as an eighth-grader maybe she was a little more confident in herself.”
Nina’s family and even her fifth-grade, seventh-grade and eighth-grade teachers came to support.
Last year, Nina was the second runner up. Her preparation consisted of studying two hours a night and practicing definitions, word origins and spellings of the packet of words provided on the national spelling bee website.
Nina now goes on to compete in May at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.
“I just think it’s going to be really hard,” Nina said.
The word “mossery” tripped up second-place finisher, Amir S. Lewis. The eighth-grader of General Louis Wagner Middle School has participated in the bee before. In 2012, he reached fourth-place.
“Last year, I didn’t take it as serious as I did this year and I didn’t study and I waited to the last minute,” Lewis said. The student government, football, basketball, swimming and student Philly Run team member aspires to be an architect. Learning from his first experience, Lewis changed his approach to prepare for this year’s competition.
“I was real confident,” Lewis said. “Nobody had to push me to study. And when I came here, I just had fun. That’s the main thing.”
In Round 17 of the sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade Citywide Competition, Liam Hart from George McCall Elementary School took third place. And in Round 9, Sade Foxx from Stephen Decatur Elementary School finished fourth.
Earlier in the day, fifth-grader and all “A” student, Nadja Scipio from John Moffet Elementary School, won the Fifth-Grade Spelldown.
This is the 19th annual Philadelphia Tribune/Scripps Regional Spelling Bee. The Tribune receives students from public, private, charter, parochial, virtual and home schools to participate in both the Fifth-Grade Spelldown and Citywide Competition.
“Just keep, keep, keep studying,” Nina advised to younger spellers. “If you keep on studying then you’ll know everything.”
The 2013 Philadelphia Tribune/Scripps Regional Spelling Bee was sponsored by The Philadelphia Tribune, AmeriHealth Mercy Family Companies and Wells Fargo. Merriam Webster was the prize donor. Winners of this event will move on to the national competition in Washington D.C.
Germantown stage company is ‘safe place’ for youth
Wednesday, 06 March 2013 17:36 Published in Metros: Northwest
As soon as the house lights flash on and Michael Jackson's “They don't care about us” begins to play, Indiya Green, 16, leads the younger actors of FreshVisions Youth Theatre Company in warm up stretches.
Like most of the children of FreshVisions, Green is a veteran of the company and will be starring as Ella Baker in the production of “Marching to Freedomland.” The production delves into the heroes and events of the Civil Rights Movement and how the 50s and 60s shook America.
Originally known as the Mitchell-Robinson Youth Theatre, FreshVisions has been established for more than 20 years. With no audition requirements and year-round productions, youth participants between the age of 5 and 17 have acting opportunities in lower Germantown.
“Acting is a fun experience,” Green said. “It's something I've always wanted to do. FreshVisions is a safe place and you're able to make friends.”
Written and directed by founder and executive artistic director, Bruce Robinson, this will be the play’s 15th production. To note, this year marks the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s March on Washington speech.
“You can never do a show like this enough that tells about the history of the Civil Rights Movement,” Robinson said. “This movement not changed this country, but the whole world. I mean think about how life was before the movement before Emmett Till, before Rosa Parks, [and] before the Birmingham March.”
Also starring in the play is Marc Johnson Jr. as Martin Luther King Jr., Amataadi Latham, Tahmir Thompson, Lawana Lamone and Sadiq Afif. There will be a special appearance by Carol E. Lumford.
Percussion will be done by Thomas Lowery and choreography by Tanya Scott and Carmen Butler.
And, even though these are young actors, Robinson said expectations are set high.
“What makes FreshVisions special is that it is a theater company that has a strong social purpose to empower, for self esteem, providing a positive environment," Robinson said.
“But we have a strong artistic standard, too. We have people come see these kids that aren't friends and family. Two-third of our audience are just audience who have no real connection to the kids. But they know that they are going to see a good show.”
Also performing are main company members Kira Brown-Gray, Maia McCoy, Amanti Thompson and Ayanna Jones, who play the four girls killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala. in 1963.
Using a stern directing and dramatic acting style, Robinson helps the young cast break down various scenes during rehearsal.
"Mr. Robinson does not play games with us," Green said. "He is on point with everything. He wants you to do your best. Besides your health and safety, everything else is fair game. You have to be on top of your work.
"But he's a great guy," Green added. "Mr. Robinson knows how to work with you. If you have any kind of problems, even outside of the theater, at school, he will be there for you."
Growing up in the 1960s in North Philadelphia, Robinson said life was tough especially during the gang era.
From a bleak environment of little motivation, he looked to his mother, stepfather and grandparents for support.
"It was very hard for [me] to find things of beauty in [my] surroundings." Robinson said. "I was lucky to have people in my home life that gave me a foundation."
And that foundation has led him to a 35-year career on the stage as a actor, director, writer and teacher of theater arts.
Robinson has also worked at venues such as: The Ritz Theatre, The Prince Music Theatre, Tova, Eastern University Theatre, The Philadelphia Theatre Caravan, The Philadelphia Drama Ensemble, and Theatre Center of Philadelphia.
He wrote "Marching to Freedomland" in 1998, has written over 24 others and has received various recognition for his productions.
Opening night was Feb. 22. The production is scheduled to run nine performances during three weekends: Fridays, March 1 and March 8; Saturdays, Feb. 23, March 2 and March 9; Sundays, Feb 24, March 3 and March 10.
The Germantown Theatre Centre is located at 4821 Germantown Ave. For more information call (267) 226-7135 or (215) 843-5486.
Her journey began more than two decades ago and 6,000 miles away - in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where she left friends and family - all in an effort to become an American citizen.
“I feel calm and quiet,” Colette Mutongo told the Tribune when the big day arrived. “I didn’t expect it to be full like this.”
More than 25 countries were represented at the United States Citizenship Immigration Services naturalization ceremony Jan. 17 in the James A. Byrne Federal Courthouse. Judge Joel H. Slomsky presided.
“This is a great day in the history of the United States courthouse here in Philadelphia,” Slomsky said. “It’s the day when many of you are becoming citizens of the United States and joining our family of citizens.”
Mutongo’s eldest daughter traveled from Virginia to witness this event.
“Today is a special day for my mother because she is finally being oathed as an American citizen,” Murine Lusakweno said. “It’s an honor, considering the fact that she’s been here for at least 21 years without her citizenship, and now finally getting it. It opens up many more doors to her.”
In 1992, Mutongo and her former husband came to New York. He was a student at Union Theological Seminary of New York. He did not want her to get a degree, so she stayed home. However, she did learn English at a local church.
“When I first came, I was not happy,” Mutongo admitted. “When we came to the school, we had to walk in Manhattan. I see the homeless men and they smell of pee. The smell was so bad I said, ‘I’m not staying. I have to go back home.’ Back home, at the time, was very nice. Everything was okay. Finally, I said, ‘It’s like my home now.’”
Soon after her husband graduated, the couple visited the Valley Forge area and decided to raise a family there. Initially, they stayed in King of Prussia with a man named Ivan George—a clergyman at Grace Baptist Church of Germantown. For 16 months, George and his wife took the couple in and helped them with their first child, Murine.
“When he finished school, and after his vista expired, we had a hard time to get another vista,” Mutongo recalled. “We applied, applied, applied. We went to one lawyer and we give money--$2,000 to start to do the process for us to get the green card, then the lawyer just run away with the money and was gone. Ever since that day, we never found him.”
Fifteen years and three children later, the couple started the process again to get their green cards with a different immigration lawyer. They were then able to move to Philadelphia and buy a house.
Mutongo has been a member of Grace Baptist Church for 20 years. She praised the members for their support.
“The church has become like a family to me,” she said. “I don’t have nobody here, but the church family became like my family. They struggled with me to get my green card. They come together. They collected money. They [found] a lawyer. The church [even tries] to learn my language.”
Mutongo speaks five languages; Lingala (Congo), French, Yaka (Congo), English, the Congo Language and Swahili.
“[The church] has been good since I grew up here,” Denise Lusakweno said. “They just show support and love. I’m used to everyone here. I considered them my family. It’s like a second family.”
“But, we didn’t stay with their father,” Mutongo said. “We finally got a divorce because when we got the green card, we needed work. We needed a job. I had to work always, day and night. Sometimes, I come home and go right back out. I was working 120 hours a week. He didn’t want to work. He stayed home.”
She plans to go to school to become a registered nurse and travel back to the Democratic Republic of Congo to see the family she left behind.
“Oh yeah, I want to go back one day,” Mutongo said. “I want to see my family. My kids never been nowhere. They never known my family where I came from. I really want to. If God gives me some money to take these kids, they have to go see where I come from.”
For now, Mutongo can take pride in one big goal accomplished. She’s an American citizen.