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PRESS ROOM: Billy Horschel APGA Tour Invitational presented by Cisco announces field, purse, sponsors and Korn Ferry Tour event exemption

NNPA NEWSWIRE — The event will include an initial day of a pro-am, a trip to PGA TOUR Superstore to help the players with equipment and other needs, seminars and other development opportunities all with key partners and industry leaders.
The post PRESS ROOM: Billy Horschel APGA Tour Invitational presented by Cisco announces field, purse, sponsors and Korn Ferry Tour event exemption first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

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4 years ago

April 2, 2022

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May 4 – 6 event at TPC Sawgrass will include a field of 18 players with the largest purse in APGA Tour history, will focus on competition, promoting diversity and player development opportunities.

Ponte Vedra Beach, Fl. – Six-time PGA TOUR winner and 2021 BMW PGA Championship winner Billy Horschel today announced that the Billy Horschel APGA Tour Invitational presented by Cisco will return to THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on May 4-6. Inside the ropes, the second-year event on the Advocates Professional Golf Association (APGA) Tour will include an 18-player field competing for a $125,000 total prize purse, the largest in APGA Tour history, with the winner also receiving an exemption into the Korn Ferry Tour’s BMW Charity Pro-Am. Outside the ropes, the tournament will provide business development opportunities for the players as well as opportunities for business leaders to learn from the players and their stories of perseverance and determination.

“My goal last year was to create a tournament that not only gave these young players an opportunity to compete on a world-class golf course for a substantial prize, but to also connect them with leaders in the business community,” Horschel said. “With the vision and support from Cisco, we hoped to help support each player’s journey, provide them with resources, and create an experience that I hoped would benefit each player on their path in the professional game. What I didn’t expect is how much of an impact the event would have on me, on the players and on the attendees. The success of year one has only fueled my desire to do more and this year’s event is going to be even better. We are fortunate to have companies like Cisco, Velocity Global, PGA TOUR Superstore, Polo Ralph Lauren and The Concession Golf Club who have returned and many more who have joined to support this event who share my passion in making golf better resemble the world we live in. To have Korn Ferry provide a sponsor exemption to the BMW Charity Pro-Am is a massive opportunity for the winner not only to gain experience on that stage, but sometimes one week can change a player’s career.”

The event will include an initial day of a pro-am, a trip to PGA TOUR Superstore to help the players with equipment and other needs, seminars and other development opportunities all with key partners and industry leaders. The list of companies and partners who are supporting the event and/or will be a part of the business development efforts includes: Cisco, BDO USA, Body Armor, Duvel Moortgat USA, Farmers Insurance, Garden of Life, PGA Tour Superstore, PGA TOUR, Polo Golf Ralph Lauren, Spartan Investment Group, The Concession Golf Club, The Exeter Group, Titleist and Velocity Global. The competition will challenge the players with 36 holes at THE PLAYERS Stadium course, home of THE PLAYERS Championship.

“We are thrilled to continue our support of this APGA event and build on the success it had last year,” said Mark Patterson, SVP and Chief of Staff to the Chair and CEO at Cisco. “We are focused on supporting individuals like Billy Horschel and organizations like the APGA who are acting boldly and deliberately to accelerate fairness, inclusion, and equitable access to opportunity. Together, we will take another step forward toward achieving our purpose to power a more inclusive future for all.”

“It is exciting to offer an exemption into the Korn Ferry Tour’s BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by TD SYNNEX for the winner of the Billy Horschel APGA Tour Invitational presented by Cisco,” said Korn Ferry Tour President Alex Baldwin. “Our Tour prides itself in providing a pathway for professional golfers to achieve their dreams and reach the PGA TOUR, and we’re honored to work alongside Billy Horschel and the APGA Tour in an effort to provide meaningful playing opportunities to help diversify the golf landscape. Thank you to our partners at Korn Ferry for their commitment to this mission and providing the sponsor exemption, and we look forward to welcoming the winner of the event to the Thornblade Club in South Carolina in June.”

The APGA Tour was established in 2010 as a non-profit organization with the mission to bring greater diversity to the game of golf. The APGA Tour Board of Directors works to accomplish this by hosting and operating professional golf tournaments, player development programs, mentoring programs and by introducing the game to inner city young people. In addition to conducting up to 17 tournaments awarding more than $500,000 in prize money and nearly $100,000 in bonus money in 2022, the APGA has organized a Player Development Program to aid young minority golfers as they work to chase their goals in professional golf.

“Last year’s event had a profound impact on our players with several receiving financial support from companies that attended, but it also gave them a chance to hear from Billy about what it takes to be a professional in the game and to test their skills at a world-class golf course,” said APGA Tour CEO Ken Bentley. “With Billy and the team at Cisco, we are certain that this will be another successful event with tremendous impact on our players. The grind of professional golf is not only immensely difficult, but it is also very costly. With Farmers Insurance starting off the year with a record-breaking $100,000 purse and now Cisco and Billy Horschel pushing this purse to $125,000, the financial support of this week alone can go a long way for these players throughout the season.”

Many of the players in the field are a part of the APGA Tour player development program. The event will include six APGA Tour players who have made starts on the PGA TOUR in the last 18 months including Kamaiu Johnson, Ryan Alford, Marcus Byrd, Kevin Hall, Aaron Beverly and Willie Mack, who made back-to-back cuts on the PGA TOUR in 2021. Kamaiu Johnson and Ryan Alford both played in this year’s Farmers Insurance Open where Alford made an eagle on the first hole of his PGA TOUR career. Alford won back-to-back events on the APGA Tour in 2021. Aaron Beverly received the Charlie Sifford Exemption at the Genesis Open after winning the 2021 APGA Farmers Fall Series Finale at Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles. Mack returns as defending champion of the Billy Horschel APGA Tour Invitational presented by Cisco after winning last year’s event by four strokes in a season that saw him continue on to win the APGA Tour’s season-long Lexus Cup. Michigan State’s Troy Taylor II returns again as an amatuer after playing in last year’s event and finishing an impressive runner-up to Mack.

The 18-player field will consist of:

12 players from the APGA Tour Player Development Program
- Ryan Alford
- Aaron Beverly
- Marcus Byrd
- Mulbe Dillard IV
- Michael Herrera
- Kamaiu Johnson
- Mahindra Lutchman
- Willie Mack III
- Trey Valentine
- Davin White
- Rovonta Young
- Andrew Walker
Amateur golfer as determined by tournament and APGA Tour leadership –
- Troy Taylor II
Exemptions
- Olajuwon Ajanaku
- Kevin Hall
- Joey Stills
- Wyatt Worthington
- Gregory Odom Jr.

ABOUT BILLY HORSCHEL – A resident of Northeast Florida, Billy Horschel has won six times on the PGA TOUR, and most recently added a victory on the DP World Tour at the 2021 BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. Horschel is a dedicated husband and father to his wife, Brittany, and their three children. He hosts one of the most successful AJGA youth events, the Billy Horschel Junior Championship and, along with Annika Sorenstam, was recently named as one of two National Chairmen on the AJGA Board of Directors. Billy is an ardent supporter ofFeeding Northeast Florida through numerous charitable efforts.

ABOUT CISCO – Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in technology that powers the Internet. Cisco inspires new possibilities by reimagining your applications, securing your data, transforming your infrastructure, and empowering your teams for a global and inclusive future. Discover more on The Network and follow us on Twitter.

Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. A listing of Cisco’s trademarks can be found at http://www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company.

ABOUT THE APGA TOUR – The APGA Tour was established in 2010 as a non-profit organization with the mission to bring greater diversity to the game of golf. The APGA Tour Board of Directors works to accomplish this by hosting and operating professional golf tournaments, player development programs, mentoring programs and by introducing the game to inner city young people. In addition to conducting up to 17 tournaments awarding more than $500,000 in prize money and nearly $100,000 in bonus money in 2022, the APGA has organized a Player Development Program to aid young minority golfers as they work to chase their goals in professional golf.

ABOUT FAIRWHAY MANAGEMENT – Fairwhay Management is a boutique, female-owned, sports marketing, consulting and talent management firm. With over 30 years of experience in the industry, our expertise lies in unique and innovative alliances and endeavors. We specialize in relationship building, multi-faceted marketing partnerships, along with full-service athlete and client management. We are proud to partner with a collection of the most driven and talented athletes in the golf industry.

ABOUT KORN FERRY TOUR – Founded (1990), owned and operated by the PGA TOUR, the Korn Ferry Tour identifies and develops golf’s next stars, preparing them to compete and win on the game’s biggest stage. The Korn Ferry Tour, which has served as a path to the PGA TOUR since its inception, began providing 50 PGA TOUR cards annually in 2013. Each season, the top 25 players secure PGA TOUR cards via the Korn Ferry Tour’s regular season and an additional 25 players secure promotion through the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. With more than 600 PGA TOUR titles, 25 major championships and six FedExCup Champions, Korn Ferry Tour alumni make up over 80 percent of the PGA TOUR’s current membership. To learn more about the PGA TOUR, the Korn Ferry Tour and to follow the season-long quest for a PGA TOUR card, visit PGATOUR.COM or follow the Korn Ferry Tour on social media.

Six Korn Ferry Tour events are televised annually on GOLF Channel in the United States, with tournament programming also available via 22 linear TV partners in 170-plus countries and territories. Over 70 hours of live coverage is available in 130-plus countries and territories. Programming is also available via the OTT platform GOLFTV powered by PGA TOUR in every market outside of the United States (240-plus countries and territories), excluding China, Korea and Russia, with live coverage distributed in 130-plus countries and territories.

The post PRESS ROOM: Billy Horschel APGA Tour Invitational presented by Cisco announces field, purse, sponsors and Korn Ferry Tour event exemption first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

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Poll Shows Support for Policies That Help Families Afford Child Care

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

Published

3 days ago

March 2, 2026

Oakland Post

By First Five Years Fund

New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

The national survey was conducted by UpOne Insight on behalf of the First Five Years Fund from January 13–18, 2026.

Key findings include:

• Parents need help: 80% of voters say the ability of working parents to find and afford child care is either in a state of crisis or a major problem.

• This is an affordability issue: 82% believe federal child care funding will help lower costs for working families — including 69% of Republicans, 84% of Independents, and 94% of Democrats.

• And there continues to be strong support (62%) for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), a federal program that makes it possible for hundreds of thousands of families to afford safe, quality care for their children while parents work or go to school, including a majority of Republicans, 63% of Independents and 72% of Democrats.

• Support for funding child care programs remains strong: 75% believe child care funding should be increased or kept at current levels — including 75% of Republicans, 85% of Independents, and 97% of Democrats.

• 74% say funding for child care is an important and good use of tax dollars, including a majority of Republicans, three-quarters of Independents, and nine in ten Democrats.

FFYF Executive Director Sarah Rittling said, “Voters across the country are sending a clear message: federal child care and early learning programs work. These investments help parents stay in the workforce, strengthen families, and support healthy child development. They have also long had strong bipartisan support in Congress. At a time when affordability is top of mind for families, continued federal funding is essential to ensure child care remains accessible and within reach.”

First Five Years Fund works to protect, prioritize, and build bipartisan support for quality child care and early learning programs at the federal level. Reliable, affordable, and high-quality early learning and child care can be transformative, not only enhancing a child’s prospects for a brighter future but also bolstering working parents and fostering economic stability nationwide.

We work with Congress and the Administration to identify federal solutions that work for families with young children, as well as states and communities. We work with policymakers to identify ways to increase access to affordable, high-quality child care and early learning programs for children. And we collaborate with advocacy groups to help align best practices with the best possible policies. http://www.ffyf.org

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Trump’s MAGA Allies are Creating Executive Order Plan to Steal the 2026 Midterms

NNPA NEWSWIRE — The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

Published

6 days ago

February 27, 2026

Oakland Post

By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire Correspondent

A group of MAGA pro-Trump activists, who say they are working in coordination with the White House, are circulating a 17-page draft executive order that would claim without evidence that China interfered with the 2020 presidential election. Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential to President Joe Biden by over 7 million votes. Since Trump lost to Biden in 2020, he has repeatedly claimed that the election was “stolen” without evidence. The report of a group of “Trump allies” preparing an executive order to give Trump power over elections was first reported by The Washington Post.

The lies around the right-wing campaign that pushed falsehoods that the 2020 election was stolen was trafficked through right-wing media, particularly Fox News. Fox News was then sued for defamation for the claims by Dominion Voting Systems. Fox lost the case and had to settle for the largest defamation amount on record of $787.5 million in April 2023.

The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

The story in The Washington Post arrives as Trump increasingly signals that he may take actions that would alter the result of the 2026 midterms. The Republicans are widely expected to lose as their approval ratings plummet as a result of a failing economy under Trump. Over 50 members of Congress have announced they will retire this year and not return in 2027.

The Trump Department of Justice, which now has a large image of Trump on the side of it, “sued five new states Thursday [Feb. 26, 2026] demanding access to their unredacted voter rolls — escalating a campaign that has been rejected by multiple federal courts and faces resistance from Republican-led states as well,” according to Democracy Docket, a group that works to protect voting rights.

Trump claimed back in late 2020, the last year of his first term, that he had the authority to issue an executive order related to mail-in voting for the 2020 elections — which he would then lose. But the Constitution states that control of elections lies with the states. As the GOP works to place hurdles in front of voting, Democrats worked to make voting easier.

In March 2021, President Biden signed an executive order calling on federal agencies to expand voting access as part of the Biden Administration’s effort “to promote and defend the right to vote for all Americans who are legally entitled to participate in elections.”

Trump’s focus is clearly on altering the November 2026 midterm elections. Trump’s polling numbers and the elections and special elections that have taken place around the U.S. over the last year clearly indicate that Republicans are about to be hit by a blue wave of Democratic victories.

Lauren Victoria Burke is an independent investigative journalist and the founder of Black Virginia News. She is a political analyst who appears on #RolandMartinUnfiltered and hosts the show LAUREN LIVE on YouTube @LaurenVictoriaBurke. She can be contacted at LBurke007@gmail.com and on twitter at @LVBurke

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PRESS ROOM: NBA Hall of Fame Nominee Terry Cummings Joins 100 Black Men of DeKalb County to Launch Victory & Values Initiative

NNPA NEWSWIRE — NBA Hall of Fame nominee and Basketball Legend Terry Cummings was administered the official member’s oath and ceremonially pinned during a special induction ceremony held on Friday, February 20th.

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6 days ago

February 27, 2026

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Cummings becomes an honorary member, joining other role model sports stars

NBA Hall of Fame nominee and Basketball Legend Terry Cummings has officially become an honorary member of the 100 Black Men of DeKalb County, marking a powerful new chapter for the 100 Black Men and youth development across the region.

Cummings was administered the official member’s oath and ceremonially pinned during a special induction ceremony held on Friday, February 20th. The moment signified more than membership — it marked the launch of the organization’s transformative new platform, the Victory & Values Initiative.

The Victory & Values Initiative is a groundbreaking youth development program designed to empower elementary and middle school students through a dynamic blend of sports, mentorship, and STEM exposure. The initiative focuses on building health, discipline, character, leadership, and access to opportunity — creating pathways for long-term academic and personal success.

“This is about more than sports,” said Cummings during the ceremony. “It’s about using the platform of athletics to teach life lessons, create access, and build the next generation of leaders.”

The induction ceremony also featured notable guests including NASCAR’s newest Star Driver, Lavar Scott and NASCAR Director of Athletic Performance, Phil Horton, who joined Cummings for a powerful Victory & Values Town Hall discussion. The Town Hall was moderated by renowned Sports Emcee John Hollins and focused on leadership, resilience, discipline, and the importance of mentorship in shaping young lives.

A “Day at NASCAR” for 75+ Youth

Cummings wasted no time getting to work. On his first full day as an honorary member, he joined his new brothers of the 100 Black Men of DeKalb County to host a “Day at NASCAR,” escorting more than 75 youth to a once-in-a-lifetime experience at EchoPark Motor Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway).

The youth participants received behind-the-scenes access including: an exclusive tour of Pit Row, access to the Garage Area and exploration of the interactive Fan Zone.

The experience culminated with a surprise meet-and-greet and Q&A session with NASCAR Superstar Bubba Wallace, who shared insights on perseverance, preparation, and breaking barriers in professional sports.

The day served as a living example of the ‘Victory & Values’ Initiative in action — exposing youth to new industries, expanding their vision for the future, and connecting them directly with high- level mentors and role models.

Building Leaders Through Access and Mentorship

The 100 Black Men of DeKalb County – a chapter of the largest, national mentoring organization in the county – continues to expand its footprint with programs focused on academic excellence, economic empowerment, leadership development, and health & wellness.

The launch of ‘Victory & Values’ represents a strategic expansion of the organization’s impact

intentionally integrating athletics and STEM to engage youth at an early age while reinforcing core principles such as integrity, accountability, teamwork, and perseverance.

“Our mission has always been to mentor the next generation,” said Vaughn Irons, President-Elect of the 100 Black Men of DeKalb County. “With Terry Cummings joining the brotherhood, along with partners in NASCAR and professional sports, we are creating unprecedented access and exposure for our youth. Victory & Values is about turning inspiration into structured opportunity.”

By connecting elementary and middle school students to professional athletes, executives, STEM professionals, and community leaders, the initiative aims to:

Increase youth exposure to careers in sports business, engineering, and performance science
Strengthen mentorship pipelines
Promote physical wellness and mental resilience
Build character-driven leadership at an early age

Open Invitation to Youth and Families

All youth are invited to participate in the Victory & Values Initiative, along with the other countless, impactful programs offered by the 100 Black Men of DeKalb County.

Parents and guardians seeking mentorship, leadership development, academic enrichment, and transformative exposure opportunities for their children are encouraged to connect with the organization.

As NBA Legend Terry Cummings’ induction demonstrates, Victory & Values is more than a program — it is a movement designed to build champions in life, not just in sports.

For more information about the Victory & Values Initiative or to enroll a student, contact: 100 Black Men of DeKalb County at Phone at 404.241.1338, info@100bmod.org or Tee Foxx at 404.791.6525,