T*mofc. T??*, ,
Rev. Lamomi Williams of The Ministers' Conference of Winston-Salem and Vicinity speaks at the forum,
organized by The Initiative for African American Males.
Black Male
from pmge AT
rate cm the need for change
in the statistics as well as
possible reasons for the
state of African-American
children in the community
"1 just felt the commu
nity really needed to know
what was going on. and we
need to put our resources
together to help change the
outcome for our African
American males." said
Lakeisha Hill, assistant
principal of Main Street
Academy and founder of
l.AAM. She said she was
motivated to organize the
event because she wanted
to go beyond the socio-eco
nomic aspect of the
achievement gap for black
children versus children of
other ethnicities and exam
ine the issue of race as a
factor as well as to not
ignore the data supporting
her coocems.
The Rev. Terrence
Hawkins, associate pastor
of Winston-Salem First
church and community
organizer through Love
Ow Loud said. "I am here
today as a concerned citi
zen. a concerned Christian,
a community organizer and
a parent "
He went on to say.
"There's much work to be
done, unfortunately the
next generation is inherit
ing the problem, but we
have to push on and do as
much as we can so they can
flourish"
Hawkins was also a
panelist at the "Ties that
Bind Protestants in
Conversation" event the
day before.
Tonight, I was initially
frustrated because it seems
as though when we always
come together and have
these types of gatherings or
workshops, they always
bring out these statistics
and numbers that are not
always the reality." said
Nakida McDantel. a con
cerned parent in the crowd.
She wanted to bear what
changes were going to be
made instead of the same
rhetoric sard time after time
at events such as this.
McDaniel also said. "We
have to think outside of the
box with the things we are
doing and address institu
tional racism in the
schools, and we cannot
continue to ignore that."
Came Woods, member
of Through Unity
Reformation is Nevitable
(T.U.R.N.). expressed her
concerns to the audience as
well as introduced her
organization to those who
are in need of tutoring
assistance as well as
enrichment services for
parents and children in the
community
The evening was con
cluded with questions and
comments from the audi
ence. Many provided pos
sible solutions for the Mack
youth of the community in
order to stem the decline of
the black male in the edu
cational system as well as
immediate opportunities
far youth to find education
al assistance such as tutor
ing and subsidized SA.T.
prep courses.
One audience member
summarized the feelings of
many by simply stating "It
does take a village to raise
a child, but what happens
when that village is
designed to break a child."
IAAM forums
The Oct. 19 forum is
Part One in a four-part
series. The dates of the
other forums ate Jan. 25,
201*6; April 18. 2016;
and May 23,2016.
Flit phoao
The Forsyth County Youth Sen-ices Center is now closed and will be replaced by a center for adjudicated
youth in January.
Center
from pagt Al
?
is now in a nominal lease with the
Count), which owns the property, to
turn it into a center for adjudicated
youth, which will be ran by the non
profit Methodist Home for Children
and is scheduled to open in January
Also in the planning stages is the
State turning the former group home
on the property into transitional re
entry housing for juveniles
Assistant County Manager
Damon Sanders-Pratt said that as the
county was looking to end its deten
tion center, the state was looking for
someplace to bouse new juvenile
services.
"As we were talking to the State
about gearing down our program, that
they're no longer sending Forsyth
County youth to our youth detention
center and making other arrange
ments. at the same time the state was
also putting out proposals for this cri
sis bed center for post-adjudicated
juveniles and had an interest in a
transitional facility." he said.
According to Diana Kces. with
the Communications Office of the
N.C "Department of Public Safety , the
new assessment and crisis center will
be for youth who need a temporary
out-of-home placement to stabilize
their behavior. It will have eight beds
for Level 0 and high-risk Level I
adjudicated youth in a 19-county area
of the Piedmont (Level I are misde
meanor level offenses and Level II
are youth with multiple adjudica
ttons).Youth will normally stay there
up to 14 days and can stay a maxi
mum of 30 days.
"The center will provide an
opportunity to determine effective
interventions for each juvenile -
matching their risk and needs with
existing department and community
resources - to reduce further court
involvement, promote stronger fami
lies and to assure safer communities."
Kees said m an email.
Methodist Home for Children is a
Raleigh-based 501(c)(3) that started
m 1899 as a traditional campus-based
orphanage and now provides a multi
tude of services for youth throughout
die state. The organization operates
five multi-purpose and transitional
homes for juveniles in partnership
with the N.C. Department of Public
Safety and will be opening another
assessment and crisis center in
Granville County .
The new center in Forsyth is
expected to have 18 employees.
Methodist Home for Children is cur
rently hiring employees, some of
whom were staff at the detention cen
ter. like Director Sharon Singletary,
who will be the director of the new
center
According to Forsyth County
Human Resources Director Shontell
Robinson, the youth detention center
had 19 employees, seven erf whom
got new jobs with the county . Eleven
were eligible to get severance pack
ages and three left county employ
ment The county doesn't keep track
of if employees found jobs with other
employers.
The move to close the center
prompted four judges who serve in
juvenile court to write a letter to the
county commissioners last year
expressing concern over the move,
including the hardships it puts on par
ents to visit their children in another
county
Atkins
from p*t* A]
Childerv "I'm very proud
of our students as well as
our teachers, and other fac
ulty members. Winning
this award was a real team
effort."
The award was created
in 2014 by the Science
Mathematics and
Technology (SMT) Center
?*? DaLtiok unH
was only given
to 17 schools in
the entiie state.
According
to Kimberly
Marion, pro
gram manager
of magnet and
STEM (science,
technology,
engineering and
?n?tk\ rwvwtromc
luaui/ pivpwiu
for Winston
Salem/Forsyth County
Schools, the award is a
"The process was very
rigorous." Marion said.
"They had to submit an
application, lesson plans,
videos, samples as well as
a letter of recommendation
from a community leader."
"The schools that were
nominated for the award
represent the best magnet
and STEM programs in the
state," she said. She added
that they are models for
other states as well.
?
uana Jones,
chairwoman for
the school board,
said she was proud
of the leadership at
Atkins from the
teachers as well as
the students
"We recently
did a walk through
the school and you
can see the excite
ment, and innova
tion that is happening in
the classroom," said Jones.
"I am proud of the leader
CkiUen
"I'm very proud our
students as well as our
teachers, and other faculty
members. Winning this
award was a real team
effort."
-Joe Childers, Atkins High School
Principal
joint collaboration between
the SMT Center, N.C.
Department of Public
Instruction, the Golden
Leaf Foundation, and the
William and Ida Friday
Center in Chapel Hill.
Before presenting the
award, Marion discussed
the long process Childers
and his faculty had to go
through before being nom
inated. Even before they
were nominated, they had
to submit an application,
lesson plans and a letter of
recommendation among
other things.
ship at Atkins from the
teachers, faculty and
administrators as well as
the students."
Atkins High School
will be honored before the
N.C. State Board of
Education and the state
superintendent during the
scheduled meeting in
November.
"As a former English
teacher, I never thought I'd
be the principal at a STEM
school, but it's a real honor
to be the principal at
Atkins," Childers said.
Corrections
The Chronicle apolo
gizes for some errors made
in a story written by Tevin
Sanson in SportsWeek of
The Chronicle on Oct. 15.
The article, with the head
line "Spats analyst Jalen
Rose hosts first Champion
Day fashion show," stated
that employees had the
chance to win items not
sold in the US. In fact, the
items not sold in the US.
were only fa display. The
article also misquoted
Chyna Broadnax. who is
the manager of communi
cations fa HanesBrands.
She says she did na say
that employees were shop
ping fa themselves and
family na did she give a
quote about raffling items
sold abroad. The
Chronicle regrets any mis
understanding that may
have resulted from the
errors.
Also. The Chronicle
apologizes for some errors
made in a story written by
Tori P. Haynesworth. In
the story titled "Statewide
meeting focuses on
'Women's Power NOW"
on Oct. IS on page A1. the
organization for Gailva
Paliga was incorrect. She
is president of NC NOW.
The theme of the confer
ence was "Focusing
Women's Power NOW"
The NOW Political Action
Committee (PAC) made
endorsements to the
Hillary Clinton campaign
NC NOW has a Political
Action Committee to
endorse in statewide races.
The Chronicle regrets
any misunderstanding that
may have resulted from
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