African American atheletes that make a difference. PT1

A.C. Green Youth Foundation
The mission of the A.C. Green Youth Foundation is to serve both youth and the communities in which they live by providing information about sexual abstinence and social issues that concern our young people and educating them to make responsible choices to prepare them for their future. PROGRAMS FOR YOUTH believes that young people must develop morally, ethically, educationally, physically, and mentally to fulfill their dreams and goals in life. The underlying theme throughout is to accept each person for who they are, in an unconditional atmosphere of love and respect. www.acgreen.com.

Adalius Thomas S.L.A.S.H. Fund
Adalius Thomas is one of the most active Ravens in the community, donating time and financial support to organizations that assist underprivileged children. Thomas annually hosts a group of 45 students from the Knights of Valor chess team to take part in a chess tournament against Ravens players and, for his work in the community, was honored as a finalist for the Byron "Whizzer" White Humanitarian Award in 2004, given to the NFL player who best represents dedication to team, community and country. Also in 2004, Thomas hosted his 1st Annual S.L.A.S.H. (Sportsmen Lifting Academics and Sponsoring Hope) Golf Tournament with proceeds benefiting the foundation.

Allen Rossum "Healthy Kids Klub"
The Allen Rossum "Healthy Kids Klub" works with entire families to provide education on healthy lifestyles. The Klub activities emphasize good eating habits (nutrition) combined with athletic programs (healthy activities). www.rossumshealthykids.org.

Alonzo Mourning Charities, Inc. (“AMC”)
Founded in 1997, Alonzo Mourning Charities, Inc. (“AMC”) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that allows donors with valid interest in children’s issues the opportunity of giving to several charities from their one contribution. All benefiting organizations aid in the development of at-risk children and families, including those who have been abused, abandoned, and/or neglected. It is the goal of the AMC to improve the quality of life, enhance educational and economic opportunities for all minorities based on the percepts of respect for family, education, spirituality, justice and integrity. Together with donors, AMC makes it possible for young people to develop a better way of life and encourages them to dream and reach for a more positive future that might otherwise have been thought unattainable. AMC supports organizations and programs that provide human services and mentoring in several locations in addition to South Florida, such as Hampton Toads, VA and New Jersey. www.amcharities.org.

Amani Toomer Foundation
In 2001, Amani Toomer and his wife Dr. Yola Dabrowski, founded The Amani Toomer Foundation (TATF). TAFT if a not-for-profit organization dedicated to increasing the awareness of, and providing resources to after-school recreation programs in the New York metro area. The mission of TATF is to identify established after-school programs in these underserved communities and assist them in furthering their efforts. www.amanitoomer.com or www.amanitoomerfoundation.org.

Anthony Weaver Foundation
The Anthony Weaver Foundation was established in 2004 with the purpose of providing both financial and personal assistance to children living in the Greater Baltimore Area and Saratoga Springs, NY. In living up to his high school and college nickname, "Dream Weaver," the Anthony Weaver Foundation will assist in making the dreams of children become a reality.

Barry Stokes Foundation
The Barry Stokes Foundation offers "hope for a better tomorrow" for youth as they grow spiritually, athletically and academically. The Foundation does this by supporting The Make-A-Wish Foundation, Striving After Self Sufficiency (S.A.S.S.) and The Davison High School Athletic Scholarship Fund in his hometown of Davison, MI. www.barrystokesfoundation.org.

Charlie Batch – The Batch Foundation
Quarterback Charlie Batch launched the Best of the Batch Foundation in 2002 to help support educational and recreational opportunities for underprivileged children. Activities include Project C.H.U.C.K., a six-week summer youth basketball league for inner-city children in the Homestead, Pa., the Pittsburgh suburb where Charlie grew up. The program targets children ages 7-18 and provides a structured summer recreational activity for children, which takes place in the evening so parents can attend.

Chris McAlister Foundation
The Chris McAlister Foundation raises money for the Boys & Girls Club of Pasadena, CA and contributes food and money to Baltimore area churches so that they can provide support to needy families. In 2004, McAlister provided game tickets to the Echo House Multi Cultural Center in Baltimore, hosted a Halloween Extravaganza for over 300 area youth, donated food and supplies to 200 families for Thanksgiving and provided televisions and games to patients at the Johns Hopkins Pediatric Outpatient Center for Christmas.

Rapper Ludacris gives away cars to contest winners

AP, Sep 7, 2009 6:09 am PDT

Talk about a one-man stimulus package: Grammy-winning rapper Ludacris has given away 20 cars to people who wrote about their struggles to keep their jobs for a lack of wheels of their own.
Ludacris said he was taken aback after reading thousands of essays by people struggling or unable to buy cars needed to get to and from work or find jobs. The 31-year-old rapper felt he could step in and move them ahead, partnering with a suburban Atlanta dealership for Sunday's giveaway.


"People are getting laid off, and now are looking for jobs," Ludacris said. "To be efficient, you need some transportation of your own to get there. That's why I wanted to give back to those who need it."


Each of the used vehicles included free gas for 30 days. Winning contestants were responsible for tags, registration, tax and insurance. About 4,000 contestants submitted a 300-word essay to the rapper's foundation, explaining why they deserved a car.


One of the most touching stories Ludacris read was by Mading Duor.


Duor described how he moved to the United States six years ago after his mother, father, and five brothers and sisters were killed in Sudan. The man also wrote that a son was killed by a drunken driver in Atlanta a few years back.


"His story touched my heart," Ludacris said. "He's endured so much in his life and he's still here standing. I'm very proud to have helped him."


Duor, 33, has been able to keep a steady job at a school, but each day he felt stressed about how he was going to get to work. No longer.


"I'm so happy, that I'm nervous," said Duor, who won a Nissan Maxima. "When I look at my new car, I say to myself, 'Is this really happening?'"


Crystal Beauford, a single mother who used to ride the bus to two jobs and school, now has a Saturn Ion. The 26-year-old college student doesn't know how to drive the stick-shift vehicle, but said she'll learn.


"This is going to help me out so much," Beauford said. "It's a blessing."


Ludacris won Grammys for Best Rap Album for "Release Therapy" and Best Rap Song for "Money Maker."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090907/ap_on_en_mu/us_people_ludacris

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

We seldom post about books at Gizmodo, but if this story of a self-taught Malawian boy using junkyard parts to build windmills and bring life-changing electricity to his village doesn't make you misty-eyed, then you must be one cold-hearted bastard.

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence, and William Kamkwamba has it in spades. At age fourteen, while many of us were sneaking out of classrooms, William was struggling to sneak into them—his family was unable to afford the $80 annual tuition. As is bound to happen to most students, he was caught. But instead of being sent to detention, he was barred from the school. In a show of the driven man he would become, he didn't allow that to hinder him and instead started spending his days in the local library. While there, he encountered a book called Using Energy:

Using Energy described how windmills could be used to generate electricity. Only two percent of Malawians have electricity, and the service is notoriously unreliable. William decided an electric windmill was something he wanted to make. Illuminating his house and the other houses in his village would mean that people could read at night after work. A windmill to pump water would mean that they could grow two crops a year rather than one, grow vegetable gardens, and not have to spend two hours a day hauling water. "A windmill meant more than just power," he wrote, "it was freedom."

This book is what changed his life. And I don't mean that as an exaggeration. It was truly what made a difference in his life. Because of that book, and the potential he saw in its ideas, William began to build:

William scoured trash bins and junkyards for materials he could use to build his windmill. With only a couple of wrenches at his disposal, and unable to afford even nuts and bolts, he collected things that most people would consider garbage-slime-clogged plastic pipes, a broken bicycle, a discarded tractor fan-and assembled them into a wind-powered dynamo. For a soldering iron, he used a stiff piece of wire heated in a fire. A bent bicycle spoke served as a size adapter for his wrenches.

Imagine that. A young boy being so motivated by ideas and the sheer need to build something life-changing that he discovered materials and uses for them which most of us wouldn't even dream of. As Mark Frauenfelder put it:

For an educated adult living in a developed nation, designing and building a wind turbine that generates electricity is something to be proud of. For a half-starved, uneducated boy living in a country plagued with drought, famine, poverty, disease, a cruelly corrupt government, crippling superstitions, and low expectations, it's another thing altogether. It's nothing short of monumental.

After completing his first windmill, William "went on to wire his house with four light bulbs and two radios, installing switches made from rubber sandals, and scratch-building a circuit breaker to keep the thatch roof of his house from catching fire." His project had the attention of village locals early on, but at this point he gained the attention of TED, Technology Entertainment Design, through whom he was introduced to individuals willing to contribute to his plans to "electrify, irrigate, and educate his village, as well as pay his tuition at the prestigious African Leadership Academy in Johannesburg."

In short: A young man struggled to educate himself, to build something his village needed, and in the end made a difference to the entire locale and gained the education he'd always wanted. Yes, it's a fluffy, feel-good story with a happy ending. What should you take from the it? Maybe that there's hope in the bleakest of situations, maybe that your teachers and parents were right about the power of education, maybe just that I'm a sappy bookworm with a soft spot for happy endings. No matter, if you wish to learn more, you can read the recently released The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, check out William's blog, or peek at this video from before he ever wrote his autobiography.



Source: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Persistence, Jury-Rigging, and Ingenuity Against All Odds - The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind - Gizmodo

Book: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

Check out "First Meeting of the School Year" on NAACP Philly Youth NAACP

Time: September 12, 2009 from 2pm to 4pm

Location: NAACP Office

Organized By: NAACP

Event Description: As a reminder there will be a meeting this Saturday at 2pm at the NAACP office 1619 Ceil B. Moore Ave; Philadelphia,PA 19121.See you there!

START THE SCHOOL YEAR OFF WITH A BANG!!We know as students or people who have kids that started school that the only way to succeed is to start good habits from the very beginning. On behalf of the chapter we want to invite everyone to come out to our meeting this Saturday at 2PM at 1619 Ceil B. Moore Avenue.LOOK FOR THE SYMBOL OUTSIDE THE DOOR!For those who want to created good habits start attending our meetings regularly and become an active member. This is a way for some of us to something else to look forward to besides the regular 9-5 or for some 8-3 dragging day M-F.


See more details and RSVP on NAACP Philly Youth:
http://naacpphillyyouthcouncil.ning.com/events/event/show?id=3731469%3AEvent%3A304&xgi=25wgEC7UEpBWiZ

Jay-Z to give 9/11 benefit concert in NY

NEW YORK -- A benefit concert that rapper Jay-Z is planning for Sept. 11 is a step in the direction that his career - and life - is heading in, he said Monday.

The 39-year-old is set to release his 11th studio CD, "The Blueprint 3," the same day of the charity concert, which has been billed as "Answer the Call." The performance will be at New York's Madison Square Garden and air live on Fuse TV.

"The first 'Blueprint' was a return to my roots, like those soul samples my mom and pop listened to, and now on this one we're becoming those guys we looked up to on all those records," he said. "It's my evolution and it's me now in the forefront, not as the performer who looked back ... but me taking the initiative being the one, and being the icon, or being the philanthropist," he said in an interview after a news conference Monday.

Jay-Z was joined by his wife, singer Beyonce Knowles; Gov. David Paterson; Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. Jay-Z said he will donate all proceeds from the concert to the New York Police and Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund. Tickets are being sold for $50, and the show is expected to raise $750,000 to $1 million.


Paterson says the rapper is best person to perform because of his connection to young people.
"It is outstanding that perhaps a younger audience, one that needs to know the dangers of terrorism and also the benefits of the freedom this country allows, (will experience this) all in one night," he said.

"He has a message. He's a great performer. He's very sensitive to the problems of other people," Paterson added.

Jay-Z, a Brooklyn native, has sold out Madison Square Garden seven times. He said plans to perform material from his new CD, and like many concerts in New York, fans can expect him to bring out special guests.

"I'm trying to put that together," he said.

Source: http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/entertainment&id=6991616&rss=rss-kabc-article-6991616

14-year-old 'surgeon' to present findings today

A Jacksonville researcher has developed a way of sewing up patients after hysterectomies that stands to reduce the risk of complications and simplify the tricky procedure for less-seasoned surgeons. Oh, and he's 14 years old. Feel free to read that again.

Tony Hansberry II is a ninth-grader who, as it happens, will be presenting his findings today before an auditorium filled with doctors just like any of his board-certified - and decades older - colleagues would. He would say he was following in the footsteps of "Doogie Howser, M.D." - if he weren't too young to have heard of the television show. Instead, he says that his remarkable accomplishments are merely steps toward his ultimate goal of becoming a University of Florida-trained neurosurgeon. "I just want to help people and be respected, knowing that I can save lives," said Tony, the son of a registered nurse mom and an African Methodist Episcopal church pastor dad. To be sure, he had some help along the way, but, then again, most researchers do. The seeds of his project were planted last summer during his internship at the University of Florida's Center for Simulation Education and Safety Research, based at Shands Jacksonville.

To understand why a teenager would be a hospital intern, it's important to know that Tony is a student down the street from Shands at Darnell-Cookman Middle/High School, a magnet school geared toward all things medical. (Students, for example, master suturing by the eighth grade.) At the simulation center, where medical residents and nurses practice on dummies, the normally shy student warmed up to the center's administrative director, Bruce Nappi. In turn, Nappi, a problem-solver with a Massachusetts Institute of Technology aeronautics degree, found someone willing to learn. One day, an obstetrics and gynecology professor asked the pair to help him figure out why no one was using a handy device that looks like a dipstick with clamps at the end, called an endo stitch, for sewing up hysterectomy patients. In other procedures, it proved its worth for its ability to grip pieces of thread and maneuverability.

What Tony did next is so complicated that the professor who suggested the project has to resort to a metaphor to explain it: "Instead of buttoning your shirt side to side, what about doing it up and down?" Brent Seibel said. Here's the literal explanation: The problem was that the endo stitch couldn't clamp down properly to close the tube where the patient's uterus had been. Tony figured that by suturing the tube vertically instead of horizontally, it could be done. And he was right. Nappi said he came up with the idea but didn't tell Tony, letting him come to the conclusion himself. "It was truly independent that he figured it out," Nappi said, adding that a representative for the device's manufacturer told him that the endo stitch had never been used for that purpose. Tony's unpracticed hands were able to stitch three times faster with the endo stitch vs. the conventional needle driver.
Further study may prove whether the same is true for more experienced surgeons, Seibel said. In addition to cutting surgical time, the technique may help surgeons who don't do many hysterectomies because it's easier to use the endo stitch, he added. Tony's presentation today is part of UF's medical education week, a time to spotlight teaching advancements, a hospital spokeswoman said. Tony often speaks in the highly technical, dispassionate language of doctors. In that respect, he's not the exception but the rule at Darnell-Cookman, said Angela TenBroeck, the school's medical lead teacher. But he has surged ahead of others when it comes to surgical skills. "I would put him up against a first-year med student," she said. "He's an outstanding young man, and I'm proud to have him representing us." jeremy.cox@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4083

3

Grad Prep Academy

An Initiative Focused on Preparing for Doctoral Study in Education
Penn GSE has made a serious commitment to preparing promising undergraduate scholars for admission to and success in Ph.D. programs in the field of education.

We are seeking to identify talented undergraduates who are entering their junior year for participation in our Grad Prep Academy, a program that includes a four-day visit to the University of Pennsylvania in November 2009. We will select 10 college juniors and cover all their travel expenses, lodging, and meals. During their visit to our campus, the selected scholars will learn more about applying to and succeeding in graduate school; hear about the excellent research of our faculty; interact with our graduate students and alumni; and tour Philadelphia. Next spring, we will pay for Academy participants to take a three-month Kaplan course valued at $1,200 to prepare for the Graduate Record Exam (the GRE is required for admission to most education doctoral programs). Additionally, each Academy participant will be paired with a current Ph.D. student in education at Penn GSE or elsewhere who will offer mentoring throughout the graduate school application process, feedback on essays and other application materials, and advice on where else to apply besides Penn GSE. Lastly, Academy Scholars who apply for Fall 2011 admission to one of our Ph.D. Programs at Penn GSE will receive an application fee waiver; that deadline is December 1, 2010.

Because a master’s degree is not required for admission to Ph.D. programs at Penn GSE, our goal is to enroll as many of the Academy participants as possible in our doctoral programs in Fall 2011, the semester after completion of their undergraduate degrees. Each of our Ph.D. students is fully-funded for 4 years and supported by paid research assistantships with faculty. Academy participation in no way guarantees eventual admission to the University of Pennsylvania. If not at Penn GSE, our larger aim is for all 10 scholars to enroll in highly-selective graduate programs in education at top research universities in Fall 2011.

THIS PROGRAM IS FOR JUNIORS ONLY — those who are starting their junior year of college in Fall 2009 and anticipate earning bachelor’s degrees at the end of Spring 2011. Applications are invited from students across all majors, not just education. However, only those who have intellectual interests that are somehow related to education (the study of teaching and learning, human development, educational psychology and counseling, history of education, K-12 or higher education leadership, sociology or philosophy of education, language and literacy, educational disparities that disadvantage certain populations, education finance, research methodologies applied to education, student affairs and college student development, or K-12 or higher education policy) should apply.

All application materials must be submitted electronically (using the form below) no later than 11:59 p.m. (EST) on Friday, August 21, 2009. Each applicant will receive a decision within four weeks. Please direct all questions to the Grad Prep Academy Co-Directors, Professor Shaun R. Harper (sharper1@upenn.edu) and Penn GSE Dean Andrew C. Porter (andyp@upenn.edu)
Submit An Online Application Now

Image Source: http://www.gse.upenn.edu/system/files/u2/james.jpg

Online Application / Source : http://www.gse.upenn.edu/grad_prep