#NNPA BlackPress
COMMENTARY: Remembering the Silver Linings of 2020
NNPA NEWSWIRE — So, as the calendar turns to 2021, and many wish friends, family and associates, “Happy New Year!” we’ll place an overwhelming emphasis on the “New Year” portion of the sentiment.
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia
There was little to celebrate or be happy about in 2020, particularly for Black America. So, as the calendar turns to 2021, and many wish friends, family and associates, “Happy New Year!” we’ll place an overwhelming emphasis on the “New Year” portion of the sentiment.
The year began with devastating news as the world learned that a helicopter carrying NBA legend Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gigi, had crashed into a mountainside just outside of Los Angeles. Bryant, his young daughter, the pilot and six other passengers were all killed in the accident.
In unfortunate, but anticipated news, 2020 headlines continued to report on two areas of disproportionate death tolls for Blacks: Police killings of unarmed African Americans, and the novel coronavirus pandemic, or COVID-19, which disproportionately affected communities of color.
While some might argue that detecting a silver lining over the past 365 days is difficult, there was good news.
The outgoing year saw many firsts and accomplishments for African Americans, including many from the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), representing the Black Press of America.
Presidential candidates Joe Biden, Tom Steyer, and Michael Bloomberg all sat for interviews with NNPA President and CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr.
Chavis, a civil rights icon, also helped raise the profile of the Black Press when he launched The Chavis Chronicles, a national television show with American Public Television.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation continued a campaign with the NNPA to raise awareness about education barriers for students of color and bridging the learning gap for minorities. That partnership has proven even more vital during the pandemic.
The United States, and much of the world, underwent an awakened awareness that Black Lives Matter now more than ever in 2020.
Following the murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and others, major sports leagues, corporations, and others began acknowledging their responsibility in the fight for social justice and civil rights.
Led by LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers, NBA players exerted their popularity and authority by successfully demanding that the league honor the Black Lives Matter Movement.
Because of the players’ actions, the NBA opened its arenas to use as polling places, and the league agreed to promote social justice and civic engagement.
Major League Baseball and the National Football League also instituted initiatives with promises to do more for minorities at all levels.
The Google News Initiative (GNI) Innovation Challenge awarded Black Voice News (BVN) $300,000 in support of “Save the Black Press,” a bold call to action to innovate revenue and sustainability solutions at Black news organizations through the creation of the Data Access and Content Discovery Hub (DACDH).
Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts announced that Comcast would fight injustice and inequality against race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, or ability. With that, Roberts committed $100 million to a three-year plan to advance social justice and equality. The initiative includes a $75 million cash commitment and $25 million in media.
Facebook announced that 15 member publishers of the NNPA would receive $1.288 million in grants through the Facebook Journalism Project’s relief fund for local news.
The social media giant said more than 200 news organizations would receive nearly $16 million in grants, which stem from $25 million in local news relief funding announced in March as part of Facebook’s $100 million global investment in the news.
MSNBC named Rashida Jones the first Black person and Black woman president of the network. Jones, who quickly becomes the most prominent woman in cable news, is scheduled to step into the top role on Feb. 1, Black History Month, replacing Phil Griffin, who had been at the cable news channel for more than 25 years.
Mellody Hobson, a Princeton graduate who, in 2019, earned the Woodrow Wilson Award, the university’s highest honor, was named Chairwoman of the Board of Starbucks.
With the promotion, Hobson became the only African American woman to chair a Fortune 500 company.
Midshipman First Class Sydney Barber, a mechanical engineering major from Illinois, was named Brigade Commander for the spring semester at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Barber, a track star with a stated desire to work as a Marine Corps ground officer, becomes the first Black woman to lead the Naval Academy’s student body.
The Brigade Commander heads the Academy’s day-to-day activities and trains the class of approximately 4,500 midshipmen. Barber becomes the 16th woman to serve in that role.
There were significant changes in the world of entertainment as Valeisha Butterfield Jones, a leader, global influencer, and culture shifter, who co-founded the Women in Entertainment Empowerment Network (WENN) and served as the National Youth Vote Director for President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign, was named the Recording Academy’s first Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer.
While the traditional annual festival which hosts more than 350,000 people on Los Angeles’ Crenshaw Boulevard wasn’t in the cards because of the pandemic, Bakewell Media and the Los Angeles Sentinel found a new way to bring even more people together. The 15th annual Taste of Soul, the largest one-day street festival in Southern California, took place virtually in October.
Carol H. Williams received Ad Age’s Vanguard Award during this year’s Women to Watch Awards event. Williams, the CEO of Carol H. Williams Advertising, was honored for a lifetime of significant achievements, including being named to the AAF Advertising Hall of Fame.
2020 also answered the question, “What do Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Delores Tucker, Roland Martin, Gayle King, and Brent Staples have in common?” Each has made the Ebony Power 100 List, which annually recognizes leaders in their respective fields whom the iconic publication’s editors say have, “positively impacted the African American community.”
Retired NBA Star Junior Bridgeman announced the purchase of Ebony for $14 million. Ebony’s archives were previously sold for more than $30 million.
With death and hospitalizations piling up from the pandemic, a Black woman, Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, was at the forefront of a National Institutes of Health’s team that worked with Moderna on its coronavirus vaccine.
Corbett, an expert on the front lines of the global race for a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, will go down in history as one of the key players in developing the science that could end the pandemic.
Many others on the front lines of the fight to educate and advocate for African Americans are also celebrated. African American physicians at the University of Virginia, including Drs. Ebony Hilton, Leigh-Ann Webb, Taison Bell, Rochanda Mitchell and Cameron Webb all proved to be trusted and vital sources of objective information throughout the pandemic.
Critical care nurse Sandra Lindsay, an African American in New York, became the first person in the country to receive Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.
In November, the ticket of Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris earned 306 electoral college votes and recorded more than 81 million popular votes to defeat President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
Harris will become the nation’s first African American and first woman vice president.
In December, L+M Development Partners formally announced financing for a $349 million development project on the Bronx Harlem River waterfront in New York, including the Universal Hip Hop Museum. Construction is scheduled to commence in January.
The NNPA embraced online video and went “viral.”
With the goal of presenting each of the NNPA member media companies via an online panel format, the NNPA entered into online streaming aggressively under the theme, “Save Local Journalism.” Each of the streams featured up to four publishers who were able to share valuable insights, creativity, challenges and solutions.
Live audience interaction, in the form of questions and comments from those viewing the streams verified that the series of NNPA livestreams with African American newspaper publishers were an instant hit.
Other livestreams included interviews with superstars and legends like Ice Cube, Stephanie Mills, Ziggy Marley, Sugar Ray Leonard, Isiah Thomas, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, and LL Cool J.
Because of the livestreams, the NNPA gained new followers on all of its social media platforms and a dramatic increase in visitation to the BlackPressUSA.com website.
The 2020 Virtual NNPA Annual Convention — a first completely online event for the NNPA — proved wildly successful with several hundred thousand attendees viewing the event live and over the days that followed.
NNPA Livestream guests included a host of Congress members, including Congressional Black Caucus Chair Karen Bass (D-Calif.), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY), and many others.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin, and Meharry Medical College President and CEO Dr. James Hildreth also appeared on livestreams with the NNPA.
Live broadcasts also included several from the 2020 Afro-Comic Con, including a special broadcast featuring comedian Sinbad. The NNPA’s Dr. Nsenga Burton hosted a series of livestreams on the future of higher learning post COVID featuring the presidents of America’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). America was also introduced to the NNPA’s newest livestream series: “Ask Alma,” an interactive advice show.
The NNPA plans to broadcast even more live events in 2021.
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PRESS ROOM: The Allen Lewis Agency Named Ally Supplier Diversity: Supplier of the Year for 2024
NNPA NEWSWIRE — “This recognition from Ally is deeply appreciated,” said Chandra Lewis, co-founder and COO of TALA. “Receiving Ally’s Supplier Diversity: Supplier of the Year award is a testament to the strength of our team, our strategic approach and our ability to use relationships to deliver meaningful business results for our clients.”
The post PRESS ROOM: The Allen Lewis Agency Named Ally Supplier Diversity: Supplier of the Year for 2024 first appeared on BlackPressUSA.
DETROIT– Ally Financial has recognized The Allen Lewis Agency, a full-service marketing and communications agency, as its Supplier Diversity: Supplier of the Year for 2024. The award was given at the Ally 4th annual Supplier Diversity & Sustainability Symposium, on Feb. 29 in Charlotte, N.C.
In 2023, TALA led media outreach and marketing efforts for the fifth anniversary of Moguls in the Making, Ally’s HBCU entrepreneurial pitch competition. It also introduced the brand to new opportunities such as the American Black Film Festival (ABFF), where Ally led a panel on financial education for filmmakers, and leveraged professional connections and years of experience in multicultural marketing to amplify Ally’s partnership with UnitedMasters.
“We are honored to work with Ally and its incredible team members,” said Jocelyn (Allen) Coley, co-founder and CEO of TALA. “The work Ally is doing to bring financial education to a more diverse, multicultural audience through outreach to the creator community aligns with our own passions and priorities. We’re proud to be part of programs such as Moguls in the Making, the American Black Film Festival, and Art Basel, raising awareness within a diverse, often underrepresented audience.”
Ally, the nation’s largest all-digital bank, started its supplier diversity program in 2020 to highlight its commitment to supporting the advancement of an inclusive and sustainable marketplace. The brand strives yearly to increase its spending with diverse suppliers – creating economic value, mobility, and a sustainable future for all.
“When Ally launched its Supplier Diversity program four years ago, our goal was to build an ecosystem of partners and suppliers who truly represented our communities,” said TJ Lewis, Ally senior director of Supplier Diversity and Sustainability. “From the beginning, TALA’s success in forging connections between Ally and minority-focused media has greatly expanded the visibility of our brand to the audiences we most want to reach. Their work is worthy of recognition.”
“This recognition from Ally is deeply appreciated,” said Chandra Lewis, co-founder and COO of TALA. “Receiving Ally’s Supplier Diversity: Supplier of the Year award is a testament to the strength of our team, our strategic approach and our ability to use relationships to deliver meaningful business results for our clients.”
About The Allen Lewis Agency:
The Allen Lewis Agency (TALA) is a full-service marketing and communications agency committed to helping clients build their brands and expand their business through a range of services including strategic brand development, media relations, diversity, equity and inclusion, advertising, events and reputation management. Founders Jocelyn (Allen) Coley and Chandra S. Lewis bring more than 40 combined years of corporate experience with a breadth and depth of services that are unmatched. Now in its eighth year in business, TALA is a certified Minority Business Enterprise, Women Business Enterprise, Women-Owned Small Business and a certified Association of National Advertisers diverse supplier that has employed a national team of experts who have decades of experience servicing major brands with positive measurable results. Learn more about The Allen Lewis Agency at https://www.theallenlewisagency.com.
The post PRESS ROOM: The Allen Lewis Agency Named Ally Supplier Diversity: Supplier of the Year for 2024 first appeared on BlackPressUSA.
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OP-ED: A Silent Killer No More
NNPA NEWSWIRE — Data from Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City shows that more than 13 percent of African American men between the ages 45 and 79 will develop prostate cancer in their lifetimes. And Black men have a 70 percent higher rate of developing prostate cancer than White men. The American Cancer Society also shockingly predicts that Black men are more than twice as likely to die from prostate cancer than their White counterparts.
The post OP-ED: A Silent Killer No More first appeared on BlackPressUSA.
By Hamil R. Harris, NNPA Contributing Writer
Political provocateurs are determined to stir up controversy over Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s failure to tell President Biden about his treatment for prostate cancer. Yet, his desire to keep the matter private—and out of the public eye—is in line with what many men, particularly men of color, have done for decades. The reticence to share details of a medical condition is understandable, but prostate cancer is a silent killer in the Black community and the time has come to give it a voice.
In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose son Dexter recently passed from prostate cancer, I ask: How long? How long will Men of color suffer in silence and die alone? How long will too many brothers hide their plight?
When he finally commented publicly about his condition, Austin offered regrets about keeping silent and then made an important pledge. He said that by not initially disclosing his diagnosis, he “missed an opportunity to send a message on an important public health issue,” while noting the prevalence of prostate cancer, particularly among Black men. Encouraging all men to get screened, Austin promised, “You can count on me to set a better example on this issue today and for the rest of my life.”
Any cancer diagnosis is a private matter. But men like Dexter King and Austin can help so many others who are prone to prostate cancer. Keeping the surgery and treatment a secret would only have continued to add to the stigma surrounding prostate cancer. That would have been a disservice to the thousands of men of color diagnosed annually.
Indeed, data from Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City shows that more than 13 percent of African American men between the ages 45 and 79 will develop prostate cancer in their lifetimes. And Black men have a 70 percent higher rate of developing prostate cancer than White men. The American Cancer Society also shockingly predicts that Black men are more than twice as likely to die from prostate cancer than their White counterparts.
These figures are appalling when considering that prostate cancer is one of the most treatable forms of the disease with the five-year survival rate for men diagnosed with it being greater than 99 percent if the cancer is detected during the early stage.
While there are numerous reasons for why this disparity between Black and white men exists – decades of structural racism, environmental issues, certain comorbidities, different molecular pathways in the body of Black men – a great deal of the reason comes down to the fact that Black men are disproportionately not being screened for prostate cancer as early or as regularly as White men.
A recent study published in JAMA Oncology by a team at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center found that Black men get fewer PSA (prostate specific antigen) screenings; they are more likely to be diagnosed with later stage cancer; they are less likely to have health insurance; and they have less access to high-quality care and other disparities that can be linked to a lower overall socioeconomic status.
Given his platform as Secretary of Defense, I am happy that Austin recognized his duty to be open and honest about his battle with this disease. And in doing so, he now joins groups and individuals who are already working on spreading awareness for prostate screenings who can act as guideposts.
For example, Mount Sinai Medical Center recently unveiled the Robert F. Smith Mobile Prostate Cancer Screening Unit, which will visit New York City neighborhoods where men could be at a higher risk of developing prostate cancer. The mobile home sized bus is named after the African American philanthropist and venture capitalist who donated almost $4 million to launch the program. Smith, who has led many philanthropic endeavors aimed at supporting the African-American community, obviously realizes that it takes a preemptive approach to combat the scourge of prostate cancer by going directly into the communities most affected by the disease. In announcing the prostate screening initiative, Smith tied it to larger inequities in our society that leave African Americans behind. “It’s unconscionable that in our great country and at this moment of technological breakthrough, Black Americans are still subject to staggeringly worse health outcomes,” he said. “We can fix this.”
Thankfully there are individuals like Smith and now Austin to use their platforms to spread awareness for this deadly – yet very treatable – form of cancer and ensure that more people don’t die needlessly.
Hamil R. Harris is an award-winning journalist and contributing writer for the NNPA
The post OP-ED: A Silent Killer No More first appeared on BlackPressUSA.
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Chevrolet and National Newspaper Association Offer Summer Internship: Discover the Unexpected Fellowship
NNPA NEWSWIRE — The importance of diverse storytelling has never been more evident, and Chevrolet, in partnership with the NNPA, is committed to empowering the next generation of storytellers. By offering this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, the DTU Fellowship seeks to make a lasting impact on both the individuals selected and the media landscape. The application window for the DTU Fellowship closes on April 1, 2024.
The post Chevrolet and National Newspaper Association Offer Summer Internship: Discover the Unexpected Fellowship first appeared on BlackPressUSA.
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia
In a bid to amplify Black voices and highlight diverse stories, Chevrolet, in collaboration with the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), invites budding journalists, content creators, and communications enthusiasts to embark on the summer internship of a lifetime through the Discover the Unexpected (DTU) Fellowship.
The DTU Fellowship is geared towards students of historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) who are passionate about storytelling and eager to contribute to the media landscape. This opportunity offers a platform for aspiring journalists and provides financial support in the form of a $10,000 scholarship and an $8,000 stipend.
One of the key aspects of the DTU Fellowship is the chance to collaborate with some of the largest and most influential Black-owned newspapers in the community. The collaboration aims to bridge the gap between emerging talents and established media outlets, fostering an environment of mentorship and shared knowledge.
The selected DTU fellows will embark on a transformative journey beyond conventional internships. This experience promises exploration, learning, and, most importantly, amplifying their voices. The fellowship recognizes the unique perspectives of HBCU students and aims to provide a platform for these voices to be heard.
What sets the DTU Fellowship apart is the hands-on guidance and mentorship provided by industry professionals who understand the power of diverse perspectives. Fellows can elevate content and gain career-building knowledge through interactions with seasoned journalists and media experts.
The importance of diverse storytelling has never been more evident, and Chevrolet, in partnership with the NNPA, is committed to empowering the next generation of storytellers. By offering this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, the DTU Fellowship seeks to make a lasting impact on both the individuals selected and the media landscape.
As the application deadline approaches, interested individuals are encouraged to take advantage of this extraordinary opportunity. The application window for the DTU Fellowship closes on April 1, 2024. The tight deadline emphasizes the urgency and exclusivity of the opportunity, urging potential applicants to act promptly.
The Discover the Unexpected Fellowship by Chevrolet and the National Newspaper Association represents a unique chance for HBCU students to receive financial support for their education and gain invaluable hands-on experience in collaboration with influential Black-owned newspapers. By taking part in this transformative journey, aspiring journalists have the opportunity to leave a lasting impact on the media industry. Don’t miss out on the chance to elevate your content and amplify your voice – apply before the April 1, 2024 deadline!
The post Chevrolet and National Newspaper Association Offer Summer Internship: Discover the Unexpected Fellowship first appeared on BlackPressUSA.
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