Vision Circle

CBC Foundation, Katrina, Giving Money

I heard about the CBC raising money for the victims of Katrina.

Lately I've been hearing that the CBC has yet to give out any of the funds. For example, read this

According to Marc Morano it would appear at the time bodies (the allegations being black bodies) were floating in the waters of Hurricane Katrina, the Congressional Black Caucus was floating tax-free charitable donation dollars. (See: "Bush-Bashing Black Charity Sits on Katrina Cash," CNS News, Marc Morano, Dec. 22, 2005).

Morano's investigation found the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation not only has not distributed any of the estimated $400,000 it raised for the black victims of hurricane Katrina, but as Patty Rice, spokesman for the CBCF told Morano, "The distribution of the money would not begin until January or February at the earliest." My guess is that unless shamed into doing so, they will not have dispersed one dollar toward the stated urgent need this time next year, but I digress.

This is quite a haul for CBCF, and if one were inclined to question the integrity of a group that proudly comport itself as what could be construed as available to the highest bidder, it could also be seen as quite a con game – one that should be looked into.

I was ready to slam them.

But I went to the CBCF website and read this:

On December 9, 2005, CBCF issued a $290,000 grant to the New Orleans-based Community of Faith for Economic Empowerment (COFFEE). COFFEE is right on the front lines providing crisis assistance to supplement rental payments for dislocated families and emergency food and clothing assistance. They also offer construction and rehabilitation assistance and loss mitigation counseling among other vital services such as, insurance claim filing assistance and foreclosure abatement assistance for those who have been unable to meet their mortgage payments. For more information on COFFEE, visit their website at www.coffee-neworleans.org.

Help me out here? Are people talking out of their behind or did they give up the money is response to critics?

Well, read this

Bush-Bashing Black Charity Sits on Katrina Cash
By Marc Morano
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
December 22, 2005

(CNSNews.com) -The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, which slammed the Bush administration for its allegedly slow and racially insensitive response to Hurricane Katrina, has yet to spend any of the estimated $400,000 that it raised for the victims of the Aug. 29 storm.

"We are collecting all the way up through the very end of the year and then our board has set aside a committee who is going to administer the funds," Patty Rice, spokeswoman for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF), told Cybercast News Service on Wednesday. The Foundation is an offshoot of the Congressional Black Caucus and was founded in 1976.

...

Ken Boehm, chairman of the conservative National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), a group that monitors charitable giving, was quick to criticize the CBCF.

"It sounds like the CBCF has been stressing the immediacy of the [victims'] needs when they raised the money and yet for some reason when it comes time to dishing it out they can't seem to get organized," Boehm told Cybercast News Service.

:

The author wrote an article near Dec. 22 saying the funds haven't been given. Funds were given on the 9th.

Interesting.

Men of Quality Initiative

More coverage of positive things African-American males do

What happened to the media when 425 young black men from local middle and high schools . . . assembled at the University of Louisville on March 16 for the Men of Quality Initiative's 9th Annual Lifestyle Choices Forum? There were no reporters asking these young men: What is your role in closing the achievement gap? Why is this forum important to you? What did you hear that made you begin to look at things differently from how you have before? How important is this forum to you as a young black man? All these questions were asked at the forum.

No media were there to observe the nine workshops that covered issues concerning health, careers, college life, media influences, money management and investing -- all of which are pertinent issues to these young men. These workshops were presented by volunteers from the business and nonprofit sectors, students, educators and administrators from U of L and Jefferson County Public Schools, all of whom showed they have a personal commitment and investment in the future of these young men.

Teaching Black Teens To Be Men

Teaching black teens to be men
Men of Quality promotes leadership, provides support
By Wayne Tompkins
[email protected]
The Courier-Journal

About 20 African-American teenagers at the Brown School in Louisville sat transfixed as a group of successful black men challenged them to cast aside stereotypes and take a more positive view of themselves and their futures.

The men had too many negative examples themselves when they were young. Now the members of Men of Quality visit Jefferson County schools to help develop youths' leadership and social skills, as well as their self-esteem.

The school visits, which started 10 years ago, don't end after one day. The adult volunteers are available to the students around the clock.

The youths, many of whom are being raised in homes without fathers, may look to the men for help during crises or simply for someone to talk about the turmoil of adolescence.

"Growing up in the West End, we had the same challenges that you have now," Kevin Wigginton, a former college football player now with the American Red Cross, told the students. "I have friends who are not around anymore for various reasons. Some are in jail -- or in the grave."

About 300 Jefferson County middle school and high school students are involved in the program, which has 14 chapters in the district. Organizers hopes to expand the program throughout the system and start chapters in other school districts.

Black Self Help Info Updates

Since I had some long time to myself, I decided to change the look and feel of Black Self Help Info website. I was going to try a new theme, plus put the organizations/websites into categories and have each category selectable.

Well, first I decided to do the "easy" thing and update the theme. It turns out I did something wrong and totally messed up the configuration.

Say it after me ladies and gentlemen: backups are a good thing.

Since I had backups of the information, and since I would have had to uninstall the content management system and install reinstall, I decided to try out a new one. So, I did and I like the look of it right now. So, it's now open to the public.

The "new and improved" Black Self Help Info website: http://blackselfhelp.info/postnuke/html/index.php

It's still being adjusted, but I think it's close to being ready.

It's Human Nature

Human minds serve “fitness” – not “truth”. Since every individual is programmed to pursue personal fitness and lie about intentions, no civilization has ever been able to convince its members to cooperate enough to survive the depletion of the energy resources which gave it birth. When confronted with ever-declining resources, the preservation of civilization requires more-and-more cooperation, but individuals are genetically programmed to reduce cooperation. This genetic program sets up a positive feedback loop: declining common resources cause individuals to reduce cooperation even more, which reduces common resources even faster.

The Red Cross

The Red Cross took in about 1.2 billion dollars for Katrina relief. The Red Cross spent about 2 billion dollars for Katrina relief. Now they want a loan to cover the shortfall.

After the Red Cross was caught hoarding money sent in for 9/11 relief, and accusations of mispending money, is it now safe to say the Red Cross is shady for other than handling blood supplies?

Oh, wait... There's still that HIV tainted blood thing...

Black Energy

Begin VC PSA;
How Do Your Energy Suppliers Help You Give Back?

They don't. You're reading this because you want to improve the odds in Black communities. Our energy co-ops help you do just that. blackEnergy co-ops are only available where energy suppliers are fighting for your business. We negotiate energy deals with suppliers in your area who contribute part of your bills to local nonprofits working on K-12 enrichment, HIV/AIDS education, prison services, entrepreneurship training, adoption services, basic literacy, or economic literacy in Black communities. As a member of your co-op, you help decide which organizations get contributions from the co-op. Also, your rates go down as your co-op grows. That's cooperative economics!

Enter your zip code below to find a co-op near you, then grab your latest power or gas bill and sign up now. You'll find our current offer for your city, including rates, contract length and other terms. Rest assured you're getting the lowest residential rate offered by our suppliers. When you join your local co-op, we'll send you one email to confirm your enrollment and another when your service begins. You don't have to call your current supplier, and we guarantee you won't lose service during the switch. That's all there is to it. There's absolutely no cost to join, and we'll send a piece of your bill each month to organizations working for Black communities. There's simply no easier way to give back.

End VC PSA

Enclosed is CEO of Black Energy, Dr. Sonja Ebron's prescient and profoundly insightful 2.5 year old article On Why African Americans Should Oppose the War in the Black Commentator. This article is suitable for framing and gifting to republicans formerly known as black. It is particularly apropos for those deeply conflicted few - who mendaciously cheerlead the loony, losing, and incompetent neocon buccaneers in their catastrophic away game defeat at the hands of Iraqi irregulars to the incongruous strains of odd turettish noises about nationalism, morality, philosophy and spirituality.

Community Systems Group

Do you and yours have the wherewithal to respond effectively in the event of a natural or man-made disaster?

Do you and yours have the wherewithal to systematically and progressively alter the extent of your dependance on proven unreliable infrastructures?

Do you and yours the weirdos you know who actually trouble themselves to consider what Iraq, Katrina, and Rita signify in terms of reduced net energy and its consequences belong to a community with the adaptive mechanisms necessary to cope with what's in store?

Talk among yourselves..., after making your lists and checking them twice - you will find it necessary to organize a local community systems group. Be sure to be inclusive. It is imperative that you think and act outside your ritual habitual comfort zone.

You are on your own..,

Kunstler keeps it severely real...,

There are two things that the newspapers and TV Cable News outfits are not covering very well. One is that the Port of New Orleans is not functioning, with poor prospects for a quick recovery, and with it will go much of the Midwestern grain harvest. Another thing that has fallen off the radar screen is the damage done to the oil and gas infrastructure around the Gulf Coast, especially the onshore facilities for storing and transporting stuff, and for marshaling the crews and equipment to fix stuff. The US is going to run short of its customary supplies for a long time. The idea that these things will not affect an economy of ceaseless mobility is not realistic.

Blindsided by American Refugees

Invisibility Kills
The infrastructural consequences of Katrina were understood well ahead of time. Municipal emergency response procedures document this fact. Unfunded 2004-2005 New Orleans Corps of Engineers plans for the levees document this fact. Homeland security plans and drills document this fact. Why even a recent made for television mockumentary documents the consequences of a category 4 or 5 hurricane strike on the Gulf Coast to our energy economy. What took America by surprise were the unintended social consequences of a wholly predictable disaster intersecting a previously ignored and effectively invisible populace.