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Friends throw fundraiser for singer Carlton Blount
Carlton V. Blount’s voice has taken him to New York, Los Angeles and a host of other places he could only dream about when he was growing up in Richmond.
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Black voices and stories celebrated during Richmond’s recent Afrikana film festival
During the The 8th Annual Afrikana Film Festival Sept. 14-17 in Richmond, stories of Black and Brown people were told through a global lens with more than 50 films, several workshops, panel discussions and dining events.
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Rise up
RISC continues mission for housing, safety, well-being
The city of Richmond’s current and potential political leaders committed themselves to more action on affordable housing, mobile home repair and replacement, and discussions on gun violence prevention Tuesday evening, during RISC’s 2024 Nehemiah Action Assembly.
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Bon Secours deal with city crumbles on Westhampton school building
Outgoing Mayor Dwight C. Jones has long complained that he never received proper credit for the deal he crafted with the Bon Secours hospital system that brought the Washington pro football team’s training camp to Richmond.
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Serena’s pregnant!
Tennis superstar Serena Williams is pregnant and taking maternity leave through the rest of 2017, with the baby due this fall, her spokeswoman announced last week.
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The Trump Show
We are disgusted by the rhetoric, lies and blatant disregard for the American people occurring during this week’s “Trump Show” that replaced what should have been a Republican National Convention.
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Officials mum on future of training camp
Will Washington’s pro football team hold a summer training camp in Richmond after 2020? That question is still unanswered as the NFL team returns to Virginia’s capital for the sixth season Thursday to begin a 19-day stay that will be capped by a youth football program on Tuesday, Aug. 14.
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R. Kelly and whether black girls’ lives matter
After viewing “Surviving R. Kelly,” Lifetime’s riveting six-part documentary on the R&B star’s decades of child and sexual abuse allegations, one question rings out to me above all others: Do black girls’ lives matter?
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VUU’s hopes for CIAA title crushed by Bowie State
Amir Hall has rained on Virginia Union University’s parade — “rain” coming in the form of a blizzard of pigskins.
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Trump changes course
President-elect Donald Trump vowed on Wednesday to step back from running his global business empire to avoid conflicts of interest, as concern over his dual role mounts ahead of the Republican’s inauguration on Jan. 20.
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Evicted
Richmond ranks No.2 nationally in displacing people from their homes and apartments by eviction
Marcel Slag has been fighting evictions for 28 years as a lawyer with Central Virginia Legal Aid and its now independent Justice Center.
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Study puts monetary value on good works done by U.S. religious organizations
Religion News Service Religion is worth $1.2 trillion a year to the American economy, according to the first comprehensive study of the question. “In perspective, that would make religion the 15th largest national economy in the world, ahead of 180 other countries in terms of value,” according to the study’s author, Brian J. Grim, president of the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation and an associate scholar at Georgetown University’s Religious Freedom Project. “That would also make American religion larger than the global revenues of the top 10 tech companies, including Apple, Amazon and Google, or the combined annual revenue of the six largest American oil companies,” Dr. Grim said as he released the study Sept. 14 in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington. Dr. Grim understands why the religious and nonreligious alike might look upon the exercise of valuing religion’s contribution to the economy skeptically. To put a value on the work of the nation’s 344,000 religious congregations representing all faiths, Dr. Grim looked at the schools, the soup kitchens, the addiction recovery programs and other activities they run and the programs’ impacts on local economies. He found that congregations and religiously oriented charity groups are responsible for 130,000 alcohol and drug abuse recovery programs; 94,000 programs to support veterans and their families; 26,000 programs to prevent HIV/AIDS and to support people living with the disease; and 121,000 programs to train and support the unemployed. They also operate more than 50,000 schools. He also determined that churches, synagogues, mosques and other houses of worship employ hundreds of thousands of people and buy everything from flowers to computers to snow removal services. He believes the $1.2 trillion figure he came up with is a “conservative” valuation of the annual work of religious organizations in American society. Why crunch the numbers? Dr. Grim believes it is good to know the impact religion has on the nation. Dr. Grim also wants congregations and clergy — and the society that benefits from the charitable work— to appreciate the size of the contribution. In a country where people often hear much more about the evils committed by religious people — from sex abuse scandals to genocide — it’s time for some “balance,” Dr. Grim said. Even clergy often downplay the value of their work, said Ram Cnaan, director of the Program for Religion and Social Policy Research at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Cnaan, who attended the National Press Club presentation to help Dr. Grim unveil his work, said the study would allow the religious to take pride in their contributions. “This is a new day for the people who study congregations,” he said of Dr. Grim’s work, “The Socio-economic Contribution of Religion to American Society: An Empirical Analysis.” “This is the beginning of a national debate — not if religion is important but how much it is important,” Dr. Cnaan said. Dr. Grim said that secular organizations like the Red Cross and the Cancer Society and the host of other nonprofits certainly contribute generously to the social health of the nation. Indeed, he said if the work of the religiously motivated did not exist, “I don’t think we would see all the good of society disappearing. However, I think it would be significantly less.” William A. Galston, a Brookings Institution scholar and a former Clinton administration domestic policy adviser who writes on religion and society, called Dr. Grim’s estimate of $1.2 trillion “a sensible number.” Dr. Grim’s paper, Dr. Galston said, can be used by religious organizations as “a credible calling card to get in the door” of policymakers who have too long undervalued their importance to society.
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Sharon Baptist Church building no longer for sale
Sharon Baptist Church in Jackson Ward is still on the market, according to a major Richmond real estate company’s website.
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Henrico County’s leaf collection starts Nov. 7
Henrico County will begin providing annual leaf collection services starting Monday, Nov. 7, with both free and paid options available for county residents.
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Fifth Street Baptist, Richmond Convention Center free Thanksgiving meal sites
Two free Thanksgiving dinners are being prepared for the Richmond community.
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MJBL to host annual Inner City Classic baseball championship and symposium Aug. 4-8
The Metropolitan Junior Baseball League will host its annual Inner City Classic championship week of activities with a virtual Bobby Bonds Memorial Symposium, an in-person home run derby and nine in-person baseball games at fields around Metro Richmond.
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Applications being accepted for new Dominion Energy Educational Equity Scholarship Program
Applications currently are being accepted for the Dominion Energy Educational Equity Scholarship Program, a new $10 million scholarship fund announced by the energy giant in July to aid African-American, Latino and other young people from under-represented groups seeking a college education or vocational training.
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Richmond’s top tourism promoter to retire
The Richmond area’s biggest cheerleader for tourism is headed for retirement. Known for his energy and enthusiasm for all things Richmond, John F. “Jack” Berry Jr. has announced that he will end his 31 years at the helm of Richmond Regional Tourism on June 30.
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Black women’s hair and chemicals nothing to relax about
In case you have missed this, a major lawsuit is underway to benefit Black women who used chemical hair relaxers and later developed uterine and ovarian cancer.
