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Advocacy groups plan housing, services safety net for foster youths
Janeva Smith has seen many of her friends in foster care suddenly become homeless when they turn 18. They have nowhere to go, few life skills and little hope for the future. “I’ve had many friends who tried to commit suicide,” said Ms. Smith, who was 18 months old when she initially was placed in foster care in Plainfield, N.J. She was 14 when she entered foster care in Virginia, moving between foster families, group homes and shelters.
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Buyer beware
Consumers may flip wig over falsely labeled hair
Unsuspecting women are being ripped off when it comes to buying wigs. They are being induced to pay higher prices for cheaper wigs that are falsely labeled as being a more expensive product. So says Mary J. Harris, a retired Richmond factory worker.
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Dr. LaKeesha Walrond is breaking glass ceilings as new seminary president
Sitting in her office on Manhattan’s far west side, the new president of New York Theological Seminary, Dr. LaKeesha Walrond, recalled how she was reprimanded as a youth for crossing the pulpit area of her church during a choir rehearsal.
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Singer Traci Braxton of ‘Braxton Family Values’ dies at 50
Singer Traci Braxton, who was featured with her family in the reality television series “Braxton Family Values,” died at age 50 on Saturday, March 12, 2022.
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Personality: Shirley H. Scarborough
Spotlight on Cry Loud, Spare Not, Speak Up founder
For the past two years Shirley H. Scarborough has worked, in her own words, to create “Beauty for Ashe,” through her organization Cry Loud, Spare Not, Speak Up.
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Personality: Dawn-Marie Bey
Spotlight on leader of nonprofit that provides free feminine hygiene products to homeless
Stories on the plight of the homeless and marginalized can inspire feelings of sadness, empathy and solidarity. For attorney Dawn-Marie Bey, an article she read on social media sparked her to create Period Patch in 2015, an organization that provides feminine hygiene products to the homeless and displaced “to get them through those monthly rough patches with dignity.”
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Cure the real problem hurting schools, not symptoms
Re: Editorial “Take back our schools,” May 21-23 edition: The first rule in problem solving is to identify the problem by separating it from its symptoms.
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2 City-supported shelters temporarily open for homeless
At 80, Gayle Freeland is struggling to keep a roof over her head.
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A history of abuse, neglect and torture surrounds Black women’s maternity and mortality
For decades, frustrated birth advocates and medical professionals have tried to sound an alarm about the ways medicine has failed Black women. Historians trace that maltreatment to racist medical practices that Black people endured amid and after slavery.
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Funeral Dec. 7 for Richmond Fire Lt. Ashley N. Berry, 33
Final tributes will be paid to Richmond Fire Department Lt. Nicole Ashley Berry at noon Saturday, Dec. 7, at Second Baptist Church of South Richmond, 3300 Broad Rock Blvd.
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Serena Williams not done yet; wins 1st match at U.S. Open
Serena Williams is not ready to say goodbye just yet. Nor, clearly, are her fans.
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Life interrupted: Kitchen fire throws Richmond family into upheaval, uncertainty
Kitchen fire throws Richmond family into upheaval, uncertainty
It just took a small fire on the stove on Aug. 23 to upend the lives of sisters Celieto L. and Janice F. Lewis.
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Richmond’s homeless population deserves better
Thank you for the very detailed information you provided in the Dec. 29-31,2022 edition of the Richmond Free Press concerning the homeless entitled “Why?”
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Richmond native, fashion designer returns for Fashion Design and Art Week
Raymona Thomas has created the career in fashion that she dreamed about growing up in Church Hill. Now known as JustRaymona, she has explored every inch of the fashion world as a seamstress, a model, a clothing merchandiser, a designer for the likes of Mary J. Blige, Busta Rhymes and Lady Gaga and as a star on fashion reality shows such as Lifetime’s “24 Hour Catwalk.”
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Black women’s organizations matter, by Julianne Malveaux
March is Women’s History Month. It is the perfect time to lift Black women’s organizations that make such an essential difference in our lives.
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Making an impact
Dr. Lillie R. Bennett has been caring for Richmond children in her medical practice for nearly 50 years
Joyce Carter happily drives 40 miles from Caroline County to Richmond so her three adopted children can see one doctor.
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David Lee gives behind the scenes look at brother Spike in new book
When David Lee was growing up in Brooklyn, his older brother would drag him out of the house whenever he got the urge to make a film.
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Social gathering takes new shape in era of COVID-19
When the coronavirus threat erupted in March keeping people at home and isolated, it interrupted 20 Richmond sister-friends’ weekly themed gatherings for happy hour, where they socialized and caught up on each other’s lives.
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Powered by faith and family, gospel queen Sheilah Belle triumphs over illnesses
Richmond gospel queen Sheilah Belle is “pressing forward” through the health challenges that have dogged her for six months.
