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Ray B. Shackelford Elected as 10th National President of National Urban League Young Professionals

NNPA NEWSWIRE — “Just like I didn’t get here on my own, moving forward the same will be true,” said Shackelford. “In the coming months my team and I look forward to meeting with the members across the country and hearing their ideas of how we can work together to advance the movement. It will take all of us to create the impact that we want to see, and our communities desperately need.”

Published

6 years ago

September 9, 2019

Oakland Post

National Urban League Young Professionals 10th National President, Mr. Ray B. Shackelford

Native Houstonian Takes the Helm as NULYP Celebrates 20 Years of Making an Impact

By Jeffrey L. Boney, NNPA Newswire Contributor

When it comes to voting, it is often said that “every vote counts” and that adage really rang true for Houston native Ray B. Shackelford, as he was recently elected as the 10^th National President of the National Urban League Young Professionals (NULYP) by a narrow ONE vote margin at the National Urban League (NUL) Annual Convention in Indianapolis. Again, every vote counts!

NULYP is a National Urban League volunteer auxiliary that targets young professionals from the ages of 21 to 40, who seek to empower their communities and change lives through the Urban League Movement. NULYP’s mission is to support the Urban League Movement through volunteerism, philanthropy and membership development.

Since its inception, NULYP has worked to support their Affiliates and to develop a leadership pipeline for the NUL. Over the years, the NULYP’s role has expanded to a point where they have provided leadership in every space, while helping to bridge generational gaps and solve problems that have plagued the African American community for decades.

Shackelford was elected to serve as the new leader of NULYP, which was ironically unveiled at the NUL Annual Conference in Houston back in 1999.

Fast forward to 2019, and we find a Houstonian at the helm of the very organization that was launched in his home city of Houston exactly twenty years ago.

“This all still seems surreal,” said Shackelford. “I am humbled and thankful for this awesome responsibility.”

It is also fitting that Shackelford will be at the helm of leading the organization, as the NUL Annual Conference will be returning to his hometown of Houston in 2020.

Shackelford was born and raised in Houston’s Third Ward, where he spent his entire childhood attending Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church. After graduating from Lamar High School, he left Houston to attend Morehouse College, where he graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration, concentrating in Finance.

Upon returning to Houston, Shackelford became a member of the Houston Area Urban League for Young Professionals (HAULYP) and was eventually elected to serve as its President.

As President, he steered HAULYP to an intense focus on service programming and connecting with the community. His impact in that role led to him being named as the National President of the Year. Shackelford went on to serve as Southern Region Vice President of NULYP before recently being elected to serve as the 10th National President.

Recognized as a leader in his community, Shackelford was nominated by the Mayor of Houston and confirmed by the Houston City Council to serve on the city’s Independent Police Oversight Board (IPOB), making him one of the youngest members to serve on that board in the city’s history.

In this role, Shackelford reviews investigations conducted by the Houston Police Department’s Internal Affairs Division when officers use force on civilians or discharge their firearms.

After reviewing those cases, Shackelford and his peers make recommendations to the Mayor, Chief of Police, and the Public Safety representative for City Council.

Not only is Shackelford an Eagle Scout, he is also a proud member of the Rho Beta Beta Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., as well as a graduate of the Houston Black Leadership Institute Class II, National Urban League Emerging Leaders Class VII, National Urban League Advocacy Certificate Program, Acceler8 Cohort 3, United Way Project Blueprint Class XXXV, and Leadership Houston Class XXXVII.

He is also the proud father of a nine-year old daughter, Jordan. While maintaining significant commitment to his community, Shackelford has also excelled in his professional life. He holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Houston and previously worked for the Houston Area Urban League in its Housing Programs department and as a certified housing counselor for the Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program.

In both roles, Shackelford worked to solve housing issues facing disadvantaged communities. He is currently working on a major Census 2020 project to ensure an accurate count for African Americans in the upcoming year.

Shackelford understands that he must gain the trust and respect of all members, especially those who did not vote for him, but he is overly optimistic that the organization can thrive with collective unity and focus on advancing the movement.

“Just like I didn’t get here on my own, moving forward the same will be true,” said Shackelford. “In the coming months my team and I look forward to meeting with the members across the country and hearing their ideas of how we can work together to advance the movement. It will take all of us to create the impact that we want to see, and our communities desperately need.”

Shackelford ran on a presidential platform that focused on the following:

Connecting with the community on a more grassroots level and bringing together corporations, elected officials, entrepreneurs, unions, the faith community and all other concerned parties for the benefit of the people they serve.
Creating a “family-feel” environment that with an emphasis on support and accountability as the organization moves toward the common goal of positive impact in our communities, in that wherever a YP member travels to a place where they have a presence in that city they should be able to connect with other YPs.
Ensuring that the NULYP Executive Leadership Team (ELT) sets the tone and the example for chapters across the country, by modeling the same expectations they have of the leaders and chapters they support.
Being open to receive feedback and listening intently to collect and consider all recommendations.
Setting clear expectations for how they will operate internally and being transparent by sharing that information with the overall body.
Responding to communications and requests within 48 hours.
Strongly encouraging all ELT members to remain active in the movement by participating in local chapter events and supporting NULYP Programming.
Working with each chapter on how to best align efforts with Affiliate programming
Having a year-round fundraising focus, targeting national corporate partners that will provide funding to local chapters.
Instituting a National Giving Tuesday Effort
YP Next – Urban League College Program or Auxiliary, which will give the organization an opportunity to reestablish their presence on college campuses across the country.
The Whitney Initiative – Part One: Work with corporate partners to encourage existing Black employee resource groups (BERG) to join NULYP and the development of BERG’s where applicable. Part Two: Have conversations with corporations about diversity within their recruitment efforts. Part Three: Encourage Tech and high skill companies to invest in low-income neighborhoods to help close the skill gap.
National Black Leadership Forum – Organize an annual meeting to discuss issues facing our community in conjunction with other national organizations to identify areas for collaboration and action plans.
Develop a solid Strategic Plan to continually assess their trajectory and adjust course where needed for the betterment of NULYP and the communities they serve.

Shackelford knows it will take a lot of hard work to accomplish those goals, but he believes the current climate in this country as it relates to African Americans won’t allow him to be deterred from his mission to better the organization.

“Today we live in a nation where Black lives have little to no value, mass shootings have become the norm, children are being stripped from their families, women cannot receive equal pay, and a host of other issues. So, what does that mean for you and I?” asks Shackelford. “We must achieve record voter turnout in both presidential and local elections. We must ensure that every soul is counted in the census. We must become the best version of ourselves and we must come together as a family. We are necessary. We are needed and we must all step up to lead now. The time is now, and this is too important of a time to have a seat on the sidelines.”

Jeffrey Boney is a political analyst and frequent contributor for the NNPA Newswire and BlackPressUSA.com and the associate editor for the Houston Forward Times newspaper. Jeffrey is an award-winning journalist, dynamic, international speaker, experienced entrepreneur and business development strategist. Follow Jeffrey on Twitter @realtalkjunkies.

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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.

Published

6 days ago

February 27, 2026

admin

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,