Academic and career guidance will be offered to Maple Heights residents over the next year through a pilot program between Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C®) and community partners.

The program is designed to help residents in the city select a career path and find the training needed for employment in their chosen field. The goal is to connect people to jobs with family-sustaining wages and high growth potential.

The College is collaborating on the project with Maple Heights City Schools, the city of Maple Heights and the Urban League of Greater Cleveland (Cleveland, OH).

“Education and workforce training opens the door to opportunity,” said Alex Johnson, president of Tri-C. “The College is committed to meeting the community where they live to change lives and put a better future within reach.”

The Grand Rapids Urban League (Grand Rapids, MI) is taking a strong stance on smoking and vaping when it comes to our youth.

The organization encourages healthy living and lifestyles, housing, employment, equity, inclusion and more. Alarming numbers when it comes to youth and vaping have encouraged them to take the matter head on.

Acting as advocates, they work with leaders on a local and state level. Social media has been a great platform for them to get their message across. Recently they went to MLK Park to do a clean-up and netted more than 1,300 cigarette butts! When it comes to vaping, they don’t want to wait 50 years down the road to see what the true impact will be on one’s health.

to read the full article, click here.  

On the behalf of Liquid Soul and Bleecker Street Media, we want to thank the National Urban League for featuring Brian Banks at your recent national convention. This is a story that the masses need to know and a movie people need to see.

Film Synopsis: The inspirational true story of Brian Banks (Aldis Hodge), an All-American high school football star committed to USC who finds his life upended. Driven by the same thoughtfulness and focus that propelled him as an athlete, Banks continues to fight to clear his name, ultimately partnering with the California Innocence Project.

Karen Freeman-Wilson has her next role lined up once her term as mayor of Gary ends on Dec. 31.

Freeman-Wilson was named president and CEO of the Chicago Urban League (Chicago, IL), an established organization that has worked for economic, educational and social progress for African Americans. She begins in January.

“Karen Freeman-Wilson has a depth of leadership experience and a demonstrated passion for the issues of equality and social justice that are central to the mission of the Chicago Urban League,” Eric S. Smith, chairman of the Chicago Urban League board, said in a statement announcing Freeman-Wilson’s appointment. “We are confident that she will be a strong, visionary leader who will continue to advance the organization’s excellent work toward serving the needs of African-American communities and advocating for equity.”

The U.S. 2020 census will determine each state’s representation in Congress, and how more than $675 billion in federal funding would be distributed across the country.

As the federal government prepares for the spring survey, community groups in West Michigan are pushing the public for greater participation and hoping to see more resources allocated to their communities as a result.

“Neighbors are counted so that we can get funds to our neighborhood. If those neighbors aren’t counted, we can’t get those funds coming back into our neighborhood because they don’t know these people are here,” Monica Hall said. “It's like if there's a hundred people in the community and only 10 answer, we're only going to have resources for 10 people.”

African-American architect who made his name designing homes for the stars donated his star-shaped design for the hospital founded by his friend Danny Thomas.

He styled a Mid-Century Modern bachelor’s abode for Frank Sinatra that enthralled a national audience during a televised tour. For Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, he designed a Palm Springs weekend home that epitomized sleek, glass-walled elegance.

But Paul Revere Williams had something simpler, more functional in mind when he drew up plans for the original St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

For this project, the so-called architect to the stars sketched a star.

To read the full article, click here.

In a move that will benefit millions of low-income people, Comcast is expanding a program that offers low-cost Internet. See how it works.