Authors Dr. Bernice A. King and Dr. Kimberly P. Johnson were at the Early Literacy Development Agency Bookstore at New Black Wall Street in Stonecrest, Georgia, signing copies of their new children’s book “It Starts With Me!”

Published by The King Center, the book follows a little girl named Amora who is encouraging her friends to “Be Love.”

Amora’s name was inspired by the word “amour,” the French equivalent of the word “love.”  “Amora” is also a reference to the “Be Love” campaign launched by the King Center in 2021 to promote non-violence and social justice.

“That campaign was tapping into something that my father said about love and its capacity to champion for justice,” said King.

“Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love,” said Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his speech at the 1967 convention of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Dr. Bernice A. King went on to say that in the current polarized political climate, she wanted kids to understand the power love has to transform and break the cycle of violence.

“Non-violence is hard work,” Johnson said. She further stated that her goal was to make the message digestible for children, so they understand the value they can bring to society.

Both authors spoke about their desire for kids to understand that love and non-violence are holistic concepts.

“Violence is not only physical; policies can be violent too,” King said. 

Johnson said the authors wanted the book to be for families, not just for the children.

“Parents are the child’s first teachers,” she said. “It’s about changing the dynamics of a household to transform a house into a home.”

A few signed copies of “It Starts With Me” are for sale at the ELDA Bookstore. The book can also be purchased via The King Center website, at https://thekingcenter.myshopify.com/collections/for-kids.

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Elyssa Lassiter is a life coach and owner of the Say Life! Coaching Institute, where she trains and coaches people looking to kickstart the next phase of their professional careers. 

According to Say Life!, the organization’s coaching can help bridge the gap between the academic skills required to succeed in school and the skills they will need to succeed in their professional careers.

Lassiter says she has primarily worked with entrepreneurs and people looking to become life coaches themselves, but one thing she highlights is that a certain education level isn’t necessary for her clients to achieve their goals.

“There are so many different people from so many different backgrounds: ministers, teachers and health care workers,” said Lassiter. 

Part of what Lassiter says makes Say Life! coaches successful is that they are just as diverse as their clientele and are therefore able to accommodate people in a multitude of specialties. Lassiter said the coaches range widely in age and in education level, with some having joined the workforce right out of high school, and others having gone to law school or medical school.

One thing Lassiter says is important to her mentorship program is that new entrepreneurs do not get in their own way, emphasizing that internal narratives can affect a person’s external output.

“Whether you’re starting a hair care business or a sweets and treats or your own coaching practice– your success will depend on your mindset,” she said, calling mindset the common denominator.

When it comes to working with young graduates, Lassiter says she always has to remind them to treat themselves with grace. Pointing out that oftentimes, after the hype and excitement of graduation festivities end, recent graduates can feel lost or stagnant.

Since the pandemic, recent graduates have faced new difficulties entering the workforce, which include a decrease in employment and labor force participation rates.

According to Lassiter, there are skills needed that cannot be found in a purely academic environment. A key to success is finding creative ways to acquire those skills. Agencies like Say Life! Can be pivotal in that role.

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The United Negro College Fund (UNCF) convened at the Atlanta Airport Mariott Gateway for UNITE 2022, the organization’s summit for students, educators and professional stakeholders at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

Throughout the conference, HBCUs were highlighted and celebrated for the impact they’ve made on the lives of Black Americans.

Dr. Michael Lomax, president and CEO of the UNCF, reminded the conference of the importance HBCUs have played throughout American history, but especially during the Reconstruction and Jim Crow eras.

“Those institutions still gave one of the most important tools that any people can have, and that is the ability to read, to write, to learn, to develop… and to keep striving,” said Lomax.

Speakers at the conference included Dietra Trent, executive director of the White House Initiative on HBCUs; Byna Elliott, Head of Advancing Black Pathways at JPMorgan & Chase Co.; and Naomi Shelton, CEO of the National Charter Collaborative.

The panel focused on how HBCUs can serve as an anchor for Black communities, by highlighting the ways Black colleges and universities serve communities beyond providing an education. Black scholars and academics at HBCUs serve as a means of educational enrichment to each other, and often serve as an integral means of support to one another.

Panelists also discussed the cultural significance of HBCUs, as a place where marching bands have flourished and where the next generation of musicians have been trained.

At the conference, UNCF also shared a message from Claflin University student government president Lauren Tolbert, who spoke about how HBCUs enrich the lives of more than just the students who attend. She also said that as an African American studies major, she has learned a great deal about the injustices Black people have faced in this country.

“Going to an HBCU for me was really important because I wanted to be in an environment that was built for me to succeed,” said Tolbert. 

Next year’s conference has already been announced. UNCF will hold UNITE 2023 from July 17-20, 2023 at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta.

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced in June that the organization officially recommends the Moderna Vaccine for children and adolescents.

The recommendation came from the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ (ACIP) following a review of the scientific evidence, according to the CDC. Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, CDC Director, also endorsed the ACIP’s recommendation as one way to protect children from the complications COVID can cause.

“Vaccinating this age group can provide greater confidence to families that their children and adolescents participating in childcare, school and other activities will have less risk for serious COVID-19 illness,” said Walenksky.

With this recommendation, parents are now able to choose between the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines for their kids ages 5-17. Both vaccines have already been recommended for kids 6 months to 4 years old.

In addition to Black adults being more than twice as likely to be hospitalized due to COVID and almost twice as likely to die, Black children are also more likely to be infected with COVID.

While young people are less likely to have fatal complications, Black youth are also twice as likely to have comorbidities, like asthma, than their white counterparts.

The CDC has also been tracking cases of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C), which has been linked to COVID. While the mortality rate for MIS-C remains low, Black and Hispanic children made up 57 percent of cases.

The average age of a patient diagnosed with MIS-C is 9 years old, and over 60 percent of cases were diagnosed in boys.

Georgia is currently the smallest state (by population) to have reported over 400 cases to the CDC.

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From Soccer to C-Suite, an organization focused on supporting girls and young women, held their first in a series of 15 nationwide workshops at Kennesaw State University last week.

“Girls are having a hard time right now— even more so than boys,” said Greg Charlop, the founder of From Soccer to C-Suite, and a self-described girl dad.

Charlop said the organization hopes to use these workshops not only as a way to help girls, but also to connect people who are interested in helping but maybe don’t know where to begin.

At the Kennesaw workshop, the organization hosted professionals in media, philanthropy and healthcare. Charlop said it is the organization’s goal to bring together professionals who might otherwise not be in the same room.

From Soccer to C-Suite has partnered with The Center for Advancing Innovation, led by CEO and founder Rosemarie Truman.

Truman told The Atlanta Voice that having speakers from a range of fields in conversation with one another can allow them to create a road map to success.

“Talent and opportunity are disproportionate,” said Truman. “With a road map, however, they can identify the barriers, solutions and actions to improve the playing field so that young women can advance in their careers.”

Central to the goal of the organization is the belief that sports can be part of a girl’s pathway to success by teaching teamwork and leadership skills.

Charlop cited a study by Ernst & Young that found that over 90 percent of women in executive positions were also athletes, which was reflected in the number of Kennesaw State University women’s soccer team members that chose to attend the workshop.

The workshops, Charlop said, attract mainly college age students, many of whom are also athletes. 

From Soccer to C-Suite will host their next workshop in Washington D.C. on July 17. Charlop said ultimately, the organization hopes to create a model that others can emulate, if interested in helping the careers of young women.

“We’re looking to bring together a wide range of women from different backgrounds that can lead to collaboration,” Charlop said.

Charlop added that the organization knows it does not have all the answers, but with the workshops, it hopes to create a space where people with strong ideas on how to advance women into executive positions can meet and share ideas. He wants From Soccer to C-Suite to specifically reach out to those individuals who are passionate about creating opportunities for young women, and have the knowledge and resources to do so.

“If there’s someone with a solution, we don’t want her idea to wither on the vine; we want the idea to come to fruition,” Charlop said.

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National educational nonprofit Jumpstart is using its Georgia division to address the need for language and literacy support in Atlanta’s low-income communities.

Jumpstart Atlanta has, for the past 15 years, partnered with early childhood learning centers to place trained college students in preschool classrooms.

“That provides more of the direct one-on-one contact with children that may be struggling in different areas,” said Eshé Collins, Senior Director of Programs at Jumpstart.

According to data provided by Jumpstart, 97 percent of all their students come from low-income households. Collins said this is important, because oftentimes, children from affluent families enter kindergarten at more advanced reading levels than their lower-income peers.

“What the research shows is that when children actually start education early, they enter school prepared and that sets them on a trajectory of success,” said Collins. “But access to high quality early education is not equitable throughout our communities.”

Collins went on to say that Jumpstart includes the student’s families, so that the child can continue learning even while they are outside the classroom. In addition to the academic program, Jumpstart includes social-emotional education as well.

Embedded into the curriculum two years prior to the pandemic, Collins said that her team works with students to understand emotions and how to communicate them effectively to others.

Jumpstart also has a summer program that Collins said is expecting to see a return to pre-pandemic numbers as more parents become comfortable with in-person learning. 

She added that a lot of times, there are very few options for summer camp for kids 3-5 years old that are academically focused, and when they do exist, the programs are very expensive. This is what Collins said contributes to the gap between students from low-income families versus higher-income families prior to the start of kindergarten.

In addition to trying to prepare students for the coming school year, the summer program addresses the learning loss that many students experienced due to the pandemic.

Candice Jordan, Jumpstart’s associate vice president of development, said the organization works to make sure that the college students in the classrooms reflect the communities they are serving.

Jordan said 99 percent of the students they serve in Jumpstart Atlanta are Black, and they value the connection between instructors and the students who often come from the same community.

“Essentially, it’s giving them that first taste in the classroom. Many teachers don’t get early opportunities to see what it’s like to engage with students, build a curriculum and make an impact,” said Jordan.

Jumpstart states that over 60 percent of their corps members leave Jumpstart wanting to pursue a degree in education.

“It’s just as important to build a diverse popeline of educators who are high quality and who look like the students they’re serving,” Jordan added.

Members of Jumpstart ATL hail from local colleges and universities such as Spelman College, Morehouse College, Clark Atlanta University, Georgia State University and Georgia Tech.

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ORLANDO, Fla. — Earlier this year, Zak and Robyn Wallace opened Local Green Orlando, Walt Disney World’s first Black-owned food truck.

The couple also owns and operates Local Green Atlanta, a fast-casual restaurant that provides healthy vegetarian and pescatarian food options in Vine City. 

“We wanted to come down here to Orlando, and make a footprint here at Disney, but really go into other communities that are comparable to a Vine City and be able to offer some of those same healthy options,” Robyn Wallace said.

Robyn Wallace said that when she and her husband were first opening their Vine City location, they were told that people in that neighborhood were not interested in healthy food options.

One year before they opened the brick-and-mortar location in 2018, Zak Wallace started the Local Green food truck. He wanted to serve healthy foods to people living in Atlanta’s food deserts.

“When we were in the throes of COVID, we were able to use our food truck to go administer food to the homeless community in Vine City,” Robyn Wallace told The Atlanta Voice.

With its heavily plant-based menu, Local Green offers a range of options that are not often found in low-income communities.

Food deserts and food insecurity have affected rural and low-income communities for decades, with the pandemic only exacerbating the issue.

According to data published by the USDA, non-Hispanic Black households experience food insecurity at double the national average. In Atlanta, three out of four residents living in a food desert are Black.

Local Green has also partnered with US Foods to provide classes where they teach people in the community how to make healthy snacks and smoothies at home. They then provide the boxes of food and supplies so that people can also have healthy options in their homes.

“We don’t believe in just giving food away, because I don’t believe that that is really going to change how people do things if they’re not taught,” said Robyn Wallace.

She continued to say providing the information and the tools they need is what allows people to change their eating habits.

“We’re hoping that once we get this fully up and running, that we can go into Orlando and do the same thing,” said Robyn Wallace.

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For the first time since the start of the pandemic, Atlanta Public Schools held their annual Special Olympics at Lakewood Stadium.

Atlanta Public Schools (APS) first began holding the Special Olympics in 1981 as a way to engage and connect special education students from across the district.

The competitions ranged from the 50-meter dash to wheelchair races and more.

Joretta Kelly, a health and swimming teacher at King Middle School, ran the softball-throw contest. 

During previous softball-throw events, students ordinarily had three opportunities to throw the ball as far as they can and then get ranked based on distance and grade level, but Kelly said she wouldn’t be keeping score this time around.

“This year, because we haven’t been here in a couple years, we just want the kids to come out and enjoy being able to come together and fellowship like this,” said Kelly.

Over 300 students from 45 schools gathered at Lakewood Stadium to participate in the friendly competition.

“This is a culminating activity for them,” said Dr. Shai Menina, a speech language pathologist at Frederick Douglass High School. “They’ve been training for this moment.”

Menina said she was excited to be there to cheer on her students as they put into practice some of what they have learned this school year.

As a speech language pathologist, Menina told The Atlanta Voice she works to incorporate vocabulary into her curriculum that matches what her students are learning in their adaptive physical education classes.

“They can carry over those vocabulary skills with their family and friends,” she said.

Charlotte Sanford and Veronica Kirk are both special education teachers at Hollis Innovation Academy. Kirk spoke about how whole body movement and rhythm helps with learning for some of her students; for others, the event was an opportunity for them to connect with other kids and the APS community.

Sanford and Kirk, who are the lead special education teachers for middle and elementary school respectively, said they always love the APS Special Olympics because it is an opportunity to see their students that have moved on to high school.

This article is one of a series of articles produced by The Atlanta Voice through support provided by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to Word In Black, a collaborative of 10 Black-owned media outlets across the country.

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Thanks to the efforts of Operation HOPE, the City of Atlanta and Atlanta Public Schools, every kindergartener at an Atlanta Public Schools (APS) Title I school has been given a savings account.

In addition to a one-time $50 deposit, students and their families can earn money towards their savings account by participating in financial literacy workshops.

The Child Savings Account program, created through Operation HOPE, came together because financial literacy programs were made a priority by former mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, when she appointed Qaadirah Abdur-Rahim to serve as chief equity officer for the city.

“Qaadirah shared with me that Mayor Bottoms had this vision for a savings account program for kindergarteners in low income schools. And the vision was to create opportunities for financial literacy and post secondary educational opportunities so they can begin building a solid financial future,” said Dr. Tauheedah Baker-Jones.

Baker-Jones was appointed by APS Superintendent Dr. Lisa Herring to head the district’s new Center for Equity and Social Justice.

The Mayor’s Office and Operation HOPE also worked with Atlanta Public Schools to make sure the program was accessible to the kids who needed it most.

Baker-Jones said that it was important for the school district to be a part of this project because of the district’s high poverty rate.

“75 percent of students in Atlanta Public Schools live in poverty, compared to 35 percent in the City of Atlanta,” said Baker-Jones.

The savings funds cannot be withdrawn until the student graduates from an APS high school, and have been designated specifically to be spent on education expenses like books and tuition.

Baker-Jones added that the savings account program was created not only to increase financial literacy, but also to promote upward mobility among low-income students.

“Research [at] Stanford University found that a child born in poverty in the city of Atlanta has only a 4.5 percent chance of upward mobility,” Baker-Jones told The Atlanta Voice. “That right there is a call to action.”

This article is one of a series of articles produced by The Atlanta Voice through support provided by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to Word In Black, a collaborative of 10 Black-owned media outlets across the country.

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Eight graduating seniors from Frederick Douglass High School’s first Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) cohort were honored at Sea Salt Seafood Lounge, the only Black-owned restaurant in Virginia-Highlands.

The students, including valedictorian Raymond Bell, were hosted by Sea Salt Cares, a nonprofit founded in 2021 by Sea Salt’s owner, Juan Farmer, and former Atlanta Police Department officer Karl Smith.

The scholars all attend the STEAM Academy, which is housed within Douglass High. The program is focused on developing students skills in all five of the STEAM components.

As freshmen, all of the STEAM scholars took advanced placement (AP) computer science classes, taught by a visiting professor from Georgia Tech.

Douglass High’s STEAM Coordinator, Dr. Sakai Franklin-Jones, spoke to The Atlanta Voice about how proud she is to graduate her first cohort of students.

“I’ve pushed them,” said Franklin-Jones. “But today is decision day, so we’re celebrating.”

The dinner served as an opportunity to celebrate the students, and to give them the opportunity to hear from two prominent Black professionals currently working in STEAM: Dr. Nashlie Sephus, an applied scientist who works on artificial intelligence at Amazon, and Dr. Rashad Sanford, a chiropractor.

Sephus spoke to the students about her journey into the STEM field. In 2013 the technology her company built was bought by, and incorporated into the Amazon app as the ‘scan products’ feature.

She continued to highlight the importance of remembering to give back to the community after becoming successful in the tech field.

“My whole mission in life is to say, how do I give back to my people?” Sephus said.

She went on to tell the students about the work she does in her hometown, Jackson, Mississippi. With the capital from the Amazon acquisition, Sephus purchased 14 acres of land in downtown Jackson to create the city’s first tech district, in addition to the nonprofit work she does in the city.

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