Community

Food Focused Program Narrows Gap

THE AFRO — Building Bridges Across the River (BBAR) and Seeds of Change are partnering up to create a “food-focused” accelerator program to narrow the food gap in the District, especially in Wards 7 and 8. The collaboration, strengthened by a $115,000 grant from Mars, Inc., the organization behind the Seeds of Change Project, will provide food literacy programs, nutrition and farming workshops through the upcoming months at THEARC and several other locations.

Published

7 years ago

May 24, 2019

Oakland Post

By George Kevin Jordan

Building Bridges Across the River (BBAR) and Seeds of Change are partnering up to create a “food-focused” accelerator program to narrow the food gap in the District, especially in Wards 7 and 8.

The collaboration, strengthened by a $115,000 grant from Mars, Inc., the organization behind the Seeds of Change Project, will provide food literacy programs, nutrition and farming workshops through the upcoming months at THEARC and several other locations.

“What the Seeds of Change sponsorship has been able to do is not only support the producing of food, but inspire the next food producers,” said, Scott Kratz, vice president of Building Bridges Across the River, and director of the 11th Street Bridge Park.

“This is the largest single grant that we’ve received and it allows us to do so much for the community,” Kratz said. “We’re really excited about it.”

According to an article by the DC Policy Center more than three-fourths of food deserts are located in Wards 7 and 8. The program will help residents with access to fresh food and offer ways to grow, cook and learn about health foods.

There are classes that will focus on composting, herbalism, canning preserving and fermenting and even bee harvesting. Many classes are at THEARC’s main campus located at 1901 Mississippi Avenue S.E. However several classes are located throughout Wards 7 and 8 including The National Children’s Center at 3400 Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue S.E., and Kelly Miller Middle School located at 301 49th Street N.E.

D.C. is the second U.S. city where Seeds of Change is donating grants and creating programming to address food disparities as part of a larger, country-wide initiative, the first being Chicago, according to Sara Schulte, External Communications Manager of Mars, Incorporated.

“We got connected with Scott and BBAR with some other community works through Mars,” Schulte said. “We knew we wanted to get involved in the work they were doing.”

“When we look for partners, we look for people who share our mission and who are also focused on providing healthier greener communities. So when we talked to Scott it was such a great fit.”

Mars is a family-owned business with more than a century of history making diverse products and offering services, according to their website.

In addition, thanks to the SOC sponsorship, BBAR will also be employing an intern to learn about urban agriculture. Tatiana Bogans, 22, a D.C. resident will intern with BBAR until November.

“Basically I will be working with the farmers, which includes weeding harvesting, basically keeping the farm together,” Bogans said. “I like working outdoors and I like community work so it was a good fit.”

After her internship, Bogans hopes to one day attend the University of the District of Columbia and study environmental science and agriculture.

“This is a really good job if you like being outside and giving back to the community,” Bogans said.

All the programming is free and open to the public. For a full list of classes and workshops please go to: https://bbardc.org/workshops-classes/

This article originally appeared in The Afro.

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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

1 week 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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Oakland Post: Week of February 25 – March 3, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – February 25 – March 3, 2026

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March 1, 2026

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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.

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2 weeks 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