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On March 29^th the University of Minnesota’s Northrop Plaza will be scoured with individuals wearing hooded shirts to symbolize the wide spread outrage stemming from heinous  malfeasance on behalf of the Sanford, Florida law enforcement and the stultifying half-truths told regarding the homicide of Trayvon Martin. People around the world have rallied and petitioned to have George Zimmerman, the man who admitted to killing Trayvon, arrested. At this time Zimmerman remains free whereabouts unknown while a grand jury has been called to meet sometime during the second week of April although this death occurred on the 26^th of February.

Just last week I sat comfortable on my living room floor and listened as a recorded 911 call came through the speakers of my laptop. In the background just beyond the voices of the two women discussing what was occurring I heard a boy scream help and I grew uneasy as the inevitable approached. Screams for help persisted coming through the speakers as the woman in her Florida home explained to the 911 operator that she was inside hiding and suddenly a gunshot ended the painful cries with an immediate and deafening silence. Bringing assertion to the reality of what had transpired the operator asked a question:

… “I don’t hear him yelling anymore do you hear anything?”

I knew that eventually I would have to author this posting. I recognized that I would have to face the disgust, frustration, and fear that I feel knowing that my wife and I are planning a move to Florida in coming months and put purposeful words on an empty page. The purpose of the posting is not to bring additional awareness to the issue. The purpose of this post is selfish, I want each reader to know that I heard Trayvon’s cries, and that is worth knowing because we can recognize that when a life is lost unjustly, no matter where, the echo can finds its way around the world. Knowing this, I hope we can hold accountable those responsible for lives lost unjustly throughout this nation and the world as well as here in the Twin Cities.

-Proverb

Event Poster

When it comes to community service the state of Minnesota is well known for its volunteerism. The Minnesota Council of Non Profits boasts a massive list of organizations most with their own massive lists of staff and volunteers dedicated to providing service especially to vulnerable communities. Unsung heroes and heroines are understood to be those who take time out of their fully packed schedules to commit to service projects that aren’t associated with any 501c3 designated organization fully incorporated and recognized by government and we even take time out to recognize their place in the realm of community service.

Let’s take a moment to consider the for-profit business owner, the entrepreneur, and their place in community service. For approximately a decade Galie Jaddunath, CEO at Galies Professional Services has not allowed her entrepreneurial ambition to derail her commitment to service. Galie regularly distributes meals to the homeless with help from friends like Gabrielle Roberts of ATG Entertainment, Keeya Allen the owner of Premium Diva & Co., Lisa Moy an 89.9 KMOJ radio personality and Leekplay Paye of the Minnesota Valkyrie Lingerie Football League Team. Galie as well as these friends agreed to answer a few questions about their work in the community and it’s clear from their responses that they are no stranger to giving back!

The entrepreneurs who prioritize community service expemplify the reality that a passion for excersizing talent in business management and innovation does not nullify the necessity of engaging and providing service to communities. Direct service opportunities are not reserved by nonprofit staff and registered volunteers only. Small business owners especially should recognize that making time to support the community that supports the business is not only important but also a wise investment.

More info about Galie’s Professional Services:

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Galie's Professional Services, Inc, was created with the vision to make the lives of our CEOs, Athletes and Entertainers lives easier while dealing with their professional lives. Our goal is to provide our clients with the best possible services. We do business Nationwide!!!

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Questions for Galie:
How long have you been coordinating community service projects?

I've starting out coordinating community since about 2002 while working at KMOJ Radio 89.9FM.

What made you interested in serving the homeless specifically?

I do it because I feel like these folks truly are in need and really do appreciate my efforts.

Is it difficult to get people to help out with your service events?

You know, it hasn't been too difficult to get help. I'm impressed that we get more male volunteers than females. The African American men in our community have definitely stepped up and doing their part.

When you're serving the homeless community how do you get the word out to get the community to show up where you are?

I use Facebook a lot as well as text blasting all of my friends.

The State of Minnesota has been called the land of 10,000 Homeless. How can others help in resolving the issue of homelessness?

That's a huge issue but folk can start out small with dinners, clothes, offer jobs, etc. They can also join us by emailing Galie@GaliesProServices.com

As an entrepreneur how do you find the time to dedicate to community service?

We make time for anything that's important to us every day and this is very important to me :)

How has homelessness affected you & your family or community?

It hasn't affected myself or family personally but it breaks my heart to see anyone struggle. I love helping when I can and I'm here doing what needs to be done.

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Questions for Volunteers:

What made you want to help out with the community service efforts of Galie's Professional Services?

Gabrielle: I feel like the community is often overlooked and there are not enough positive things done for the community, especially for the homeless and the youth.  I went to sleep at night knowing that I helped feed over 200 homeless people that did not know where their next meal would come from. That, in itself brought warmth to my heart.

Keeya: What made me volunteer with Galie are two things; One, I believe in community and giving back by serving GOD in assisting others. Two, I've known Galie for about 10 years. I remember when she started Galie's Professional Services. She does good business with a great reputation. Anytime I can assist friends, particularly ones with great cause, I'm there.

Lisa: Giving back I feel is a personal duty that we all need to fulfill! The reason why I chose to volunteer with Galie Professional Services is because I know the owner personally and I know that her heart is always in the right place! I see the passion that she has for giving back! She's very humble and I know all her donations go exactly where she says they’re gonna go! Her selfless acts are something that I look for when I involve myself in organizations! She genuinely cares about people and people like that and organizations like hers will always have my support!

Leekplay: Galie's efforts has influenced me to help out the community more because she is so driven and motivated to make a difference in peoples lives. She has been an inspiration to so many people. The more I can do to help contribute to what she does is a reward in itself for me.

Are there other  community service opportunities that you volunteer with regularly?

Gabrielle: Yes, I volunteer with A.C.E.S (athletes committed to educating students) weekly, we work with students to help close the achievement gap.  I also volunteer with VTAP to prepare taxes for people in the community.

Keeya: I'm currently a DIVA Consultant for an organization called Project DIVA that is based in Minneapolis. My position consists of mentoring young women, and pouring into their lives. I also give time through serving in my church and community regularly.

Lisa: I have volunteered in the past with various organizations! I'm currently volunteering my time with a hand full of young Women as a Mentor!

Leekplay: I volunteer at the Junior High School I work at with the community service projects we have.

How do you find the time to dedicate to community service?

Gabrielle: I make sure to fit it in my schedule some way.  I can give two hours of my time once a week to help someone else.

Keeya: Serving and volunteering comes second nature. We do what we choose. Depends on how important helping change lives matters to you.

Lisa: I make it a priority and anything you make priority you have time for! When my schedule is hectic, ‘cause that does happen I still try to reach out as much as possible, whether that's helping to spread the word out by using social networks or mentioning it on air!

Leekplay: I make time. With two jobs and other activities I have going on if I can’t contribute the time I will try to do other things that will help. I believe anything I can do to help will count.

How has homelessness affected you & your family or community?

Gabrielle: Homelessness has not affected me or my family directly, but I see it daily in my community.  It's sad to see people that have no home, no money, etc.  The community battles with it daily, keeping homeless people off of the street, providing them shelter, food, etc.

Keeya: I've had family members who've been homeless before. Being from a working, middle class family in North Minneapolis, you see it. In reality, most of the country is a few paychecks away from homelessness. Sometimes it's due to choice, but mostly it's due to circumstances. Loss of job, kids, spouse, etc. You must encourage through words, actions, love and lots of prayer.

Lisa: Homelessness is a major community issue! Not only within my community but in this country! I find it disheartening that there are human beings out there with no home, no food and limited resources for both! Living in a cold weather state it definitely bothers me to know that there are people who have nowhere to go in harsh weather conditions! It's absolutely devastating and that's why I choose to work with organizations like Galie's Professional Services! I know that any time that I can offer or food items that I can donate makes a huge difference in a homeless person's life!

Leekplay: I came to America as a refugee in 1991. My family and I started from scratch in Minnesota. With the help of loving and caring people in the community we were able to get on our feet. People like Galie and her services make a difference in lives.

On January 14^th The Minnesota Sigmas will be hosting the 2012 Founders Day Celebration commemorating 98 years of dedication to uplifting community through service offering an opportunity to  see and recognize the successes of 2011 as well as the vision for 2012. For members of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated the principles of Brotherhood, Scholarship and Service set the framework for positive impact. While recent news of violence among youth has grasped the attention of the Twin Cities community this is an opportunity to look toward the assets of our community and what existing initiatives have been effective to address new and recursive issues in innovative ways.

This will be an entertaining and informative event. Attendees will enjoy a keynote address from Sondra Samuels an accomplished community activist and the CEO of Northside Achievement Zone (NAZ) as well as dinner, and a live musical performance.

Awards will be distributed to community partners and Minnesota Sigmas will be showcasing what Phi Beta Sigma has accomplished in the state of Minnesota over the past year as well as acknowledging members who have made great strides in the fraternity.

Event Details

January 14^th 2012

6:00pm – 9:00pm

2800 Greenhaven Rd, Anoka, MN, 55303.

Amos Haynes Scholarship

The Amos Haynes scholarship will be distributed to a local high school junior or senior that demonstrates an outstanding entrepreneurial ability through submitting a most innovative and impressive business plan to address a community issue.

Tickets are $40 per guest and may be purchased from any local Phi Beta Sigma member or at www.minnesotasigmas.com

About Sondra Samuels

As the PEACE Foundation DBA Northside Achievement Zone CEO and NAZ co-founder, I provide leadership, vision, oversight and direction for the overall organization and collaborative strategies. I have a direct role in managing and overseeing resource development, school-based strategies and the systems-change, policy-level work of NAZ.

Under my leadership, the PEACE Foundation founded and led initiatives such as the Northside Policy Action Coalition (NPAC), a group which in 2009 helped pass a law classifying youth violence as a public health issue; the Northside Allies, a group of suburban churches committed to lending its resources to empowering North Minneapolis leadership; and the Hope Collaborative, an education reform movement that convened forums bringing to Minneapolis successful school leaders who provided examples of effective strategies for educating low-income minority students. I also serve on the board of KIPP Stand Academy, an innovative charter school in Minneapolis, and Catalyst Community Partners, a cutting edge community and real estate development organization focused on North Minneapolis. I am most recently working with a high-level team to establish MinnCAN, (Minnesota’s Campaign for Achievement Now), the first statewide Education Policy advocacy group in MN, and will serve on the first MinnCAN board.

I bring my experiences as a marketing manager, an entrepreneur and Northside community activist to my leadership at the PEACE Foundation. Ultimately, my best quality as a leader is my relentless pursuit of a vision for my neighborhood, city and state that poverty and isolation will no longer determine the fate of our most vulnerable children, but by forging good will, trusting relationships and a shared agenda focused on results, the odds will be changed for all children and they will succeed!

More about Phi Beta Sigma:

Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity was founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C., January 9, 1914, by three young African-American male students. The Founders sought to organize a Greek letter fraternity that would truly exemplify the ideals of brotherhood, scholarship, and service.

Minnesota Sigmas have been instrumental in efforts to positively affect the state of Minnesota and Twin Cities community. Having been recognized for coordinating major events this fraternity prides itself in providing service. Well known projects include: “Hoops for Haiti” which raised hundreds of dollars and pounds of food to be donated to the disaster relief efforts in Haiti, and “Sleep Out for the Homeless” featured on WCCO Channel 4 News which collected dozens of blankets and food for homeless people in Minnesota. With projects such as these and an unyielding persistence our cause speeds on its way with the greatest expedience and efficiency.

BHMSF

 On February 25, 2012 students will compete for $1, 000 and $500 scholarships at a Science Fair hosted by the Sigma Charitable Foundation of Zeta Nu Sigma Chapter - Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated. Applications are currently being accepted, the deadline has been extended to December 9^th, 2011. For the purpose of growth and sustainability of this initiative there is a $30 application fee. This fee will be waived for twenty five (25) proactive applicants. Fee waivers will be provided on a first come, first served basis. This event is designed to provide knowledge and awareness of the contributions of people of color to fields relating to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Local high school juniors and seniors of all nationalities and ethnic backgrounds are encouraged to apply. Public, Private, Charter, and home schooled students are all eligible.

Thirty participants will be selected for participation by a small committee including judges and members of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated based on creativity of project and display, relevance to the theme (Black History Month), as well as eligibility & adherance to the rules of the science fair. Scholarship winners will receive special trophies from Crown Trophy (http://www.crowntrophy.com/) to go along with their scholarship and sponsors of winning students will receive awards as recognition for participation in the success of this event.

According to an article that was recently published *African American and Latino people make up just 12% of the science and technology workforce. Black History Month has been observed since 1976 as a way to recall and commemorate the achievements and history of Americans of African descent. Its origins are found in what was originally known as Negro History Week, established in the 1920s through the efforts of several African American scholars. Since we live in an era where Black and African American Students often demonstrate disinterest in fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics what better way to celebrate this occasion than by paying homage and bringing awareness to the contributions of African Americans in STEM fields? Scientists like George Washington Carver, Mathematicians and Physicists like Ronald E. Mickens, and Engineers like Mae C. Jemison will all be honored with the presentation of projects that display passion, creativity, and commitment to fields of STEM and African American influences  thereof.

This is an all age’s event open to the public meant to inform, entertain, as well as uplift the youth of the great state of Minnesota. This is also a call to action for local corporations businesses and educational institutions to invest in the next generation of leaders.

Sponsor a Scientist: $200 gives students an opportunity to earn a small book scholarship while demonstrating an investment in the success of the youth in our community. Other sponsorship opportunities include “Carver” or “Quantum” level sponsorship; The Sigma Charitable Foundation asks that your organization assist in reaching goals by sponsoring a number of students who might have the opportunity to change a paradigm in this state that claims African American and Black youth do not achieve academic or professional success as often as the majority in fields of STEM. Your donation is tax deductible.

Please mail your contribution to:

Zeta Nu Sigma | BHMSF

P.O. Box 65155

St. Paul, MN 55165 - 0155

Please make your check or money order payable to: Urban Instituted of Service and Learning. Each sponsor will be recognized on the event program and if a sponsored project wins a scholarship that sponsor will be recognized with a plaque. Additional details are provided in the Sponsorship Opportunities section of the Sponsorship Overview Available at: www.MinnesotaSigmas.com

This post found on the **Twin Cities Regional Science Fairs web site speaks to “Benefits of Doing Both a Science Project and a Research Paper” read below for some clarification on what a science fair is and is not:

Is science fair just for geeks or nerds? NO WAY!  Doing a good science fair project teaches real life skills that apply to EVERYONE!

First of all, what is a science project?  A science project is the process of running a controlled experiment, proposing a new theory based on library or experimental research, or developing a new concept, invention, program, or design (engineering).  A science project is not a report about an area of science. A science project is not building a model that demonstrates something, unless the point of the project is a new engineering design. Models of volcanoes, or of the solar system, or of the heart are not a science project. Use of a model to demonstrate a new theory or finding is, however, acceptable.  At the school and regional levels of competition in a science fair, the science project is more about the process of science and project work than it is about the specific findings.

The purpose of doing a science project is to teach the student several skills. The first skill to be learned is the planning, execution, and evaluation of a project. Every project, including remodeling or decorating a room in your house or apartment or building a deck, requires the same basic process.

Doing a science project teaches the student extremely valuable skills integrating  reading, writing, spelling, grammar, critical thinking, scientific methodology, graphic arts, math, statistics, ethics, logic, computer science,  self-learning of one or more technical or specialty fields, and  public speaking and defense in front of expert judges. When a student completes a science fair project, year after year, through junior and senior high school, the science fair process yields mature, self-confident, skilled, and competitive young leaders who have career goals and the preparation, discipline, and drive to attain them.

Did you know that doing an excellent science project in high school is likely the highest paying job your high school student can get?  A top project and paper can net a quarter of a million dollars just in winnings, and that doesn't count what it does for a student's resume, college application, and self-confidence! Many students earn $5000 or more!  Some of these projects take as few as 6 weeks to complete.  Now that pays more than a summer job!

* http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/09/new-study-quantifies-blacks-and-latinos-absence-in-the-science-and-technology-workforce.php

** http://www.tcrsf.org/

2012 Black History Month Science Fair is Presented by:

The Minnesota Sigma Sigma Charitable Foundation

   

For an incredible amount of support in the success of this event special thanks to:

TCRSF

 

 

Old Rondo

(Photo collage retrieved from www.RondoDays.com)

If you were researching the Rondo neighborhood in St. Paul, MN up until today you might have come across an article that read as follows:

Rondo Neighborhood & the Building of I-94

This predominantly African American neighborhood in St. Paul was displaced in the 1960s by freeway construction. In the 1930s, Rondo Avenue was at the heart of St. Paul's largest Black neighborhood. African-Americans whose families had lived in Minnesota for decades and others who were just arriving from the South made up a vibrant, vital community that was in many ways independent of the white society around it. The construction of I-94 in the 1960s shattered this tight-knit community, displaced thousands of African-Americans into a racially segregated city and a discriminatory housing market, and erased a now-legendary neighborhood.

While these work speak to the powerful history of Rondo it leaves readers with the impression that beyond the 1960s the Rondo community doesn't exist. Anyone from the Rondo community or from anywhere in the Twin Cities knows that this to be a frustrating untruth.

It was that frustration that compelled me to reach out to the Minnesota Historical Society in an effort to express my discontent. I had not considered the possibility of getting a response, I only recognized the truth that the wording I had come across on their website was misleading.

This is what I wrote:

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Hello and thank you for your time,

I hope I've reached out to the appropriate people. This message is regarding the "Rondo Neighborhood & the Building of I-94" posting on the MNHS website. I would  like to take just a moment to push back slightly and challenge the framing of this post. For anyone not from the St. Paul community this may read as if the Rondo Community no longer exists when in fact that community is very much alive stretching from the Selby-Western intersection to the Lexington-University and some claim that it reaches even further. The construction of I-94 was an attempt to  erase  an impervious community that now annually celebrates it's persistence and growth through events like *Rondo Days and the **Jazz Festival. Please consider re-framing this post to acknowledge that this community is still standing and working together to develop into an even greater example of a self-sustaining community of many colors with a serious commitment to celebrating its historical significance.

Rpndo appreciates your consideration.
Best,
Ernest
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As a result of having sent this email if you go to the MNHS website now this short but powerful sentance rests at the end of the posting:

"While the construction of I-94 radically changed the landscape of the neighborhood, the community of Rondo still exists and its persistence and growth are celebrated through events like Rondo Days and the Jazz Festival."

Here's the link to that posting:
http://www.mnhs.org/library/tips/history_topics/112rondo.html

There is power in giving voice to your concerns, recognize that and act upon it.If that slight revision hadn't been requested, imagine how many reasearchers who come across that page would have moved on with the assumption that Rondo no longer exists. Thank you to Minnesota Historical Society for demonstrating your commitment to the accuracy of the information that you distribute and for helping me understand that expressing concerns such as this is good for much more than just regulating stress.

For more information on Rondo Days and the Jazz Festival visit the links below:

*http://www.rondodays.com/

**http://selbyavejazzfest.com/