PRGroup News

Youth Opportunity Program

By Dianne Anderson

For once, the qualifications for getting a job shouldn't be too difficult for Long Beach teens and youths to meet.

The city is looking for very at-risk youths with a bad background, high school dropouts, juvenile hall or even jail. They must be low income, out of school and looking for work to qualify for the city's new Green jobs training program.

“The population we're looking for is exactly that,” said Christopher Morales, program specialist.. “Juvenile or adult records, we have plenty of those who have become participants in the program.”

Volunteers Needed to Help Stop the Hate

By Dianne Anderson

Civil rights leaders are saying they haven’t seen the hostility this thick in decades, but no one will know for sure just how bad it gets until November when the hate crime statistics come around.

One thing is historically certain, there’s a thin line between politics and hate. Following the political framework is usually a good predictor for bias related incidents.

In the past 16 years she’s been doing community work, Danielle Nava said that correlation has stayed true to form.

“When you look at politics, you’ll really start to see where hate crimes tend to spike. Post 9-11 Muslims, anyone perceived to be Middle Eastern, the hate crimes went up. When it was don’t ask don’t tell in the 1990s, gay and lesbian hate crime spiked,” said Nava, director of Programs for the California Conference for Equality and Justice. Read more...

Written by: Precinct Reporter Group

CSULB Science Camp for Homeless Children

For the third consecutive year, homeless children served by the Mary McLeod Bethune Transitional Center at the Villages at Cabrillo in Long Beach can learn about science during a two-week Young Scientists’ Camp funded by a $30,000 grant from the Verizon Foundation.

Organized by the Department of Science Education at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), the camp meets in half-day sessions from July 26-Aug. 6, and is adapted from the highly successful Young Scientists’ Camp offered to the public each summer on the CSULB campus.

New Ultra Lounge for Youths

By Dianne Anderson

Ultra Lounge, the newly renovated cafe across from 1535 Gundry Avenue in Long Beach is the first of its kind for the neighborhood, a cross between Melrose Place and Sunset Blvd. A bit bohemian.

About a decade in the making, the 2,500-foot facility stands like a mirage in the middle of Central Long Beach with water fountains trickling inside down the purple wall backdrop. Outdoors, a large patio with great kickback furniture, and a firepit.

Inside, a sound studio and equipment in the back, along with the plasma and the big screen will lure them in. During playoffs, teens who wouldn't step foot inside a church found themselves drawn to the popping purple, green and orange color combination and minimalist rehabilitation of the once sixties retro decaying building. Read more...

Written by: Precinct Reporter Group

Town Hall Meeting: Fatal Shooting

By Dianne Anderson

The April 25 fatal shooting of Lejoy Grissom, 27, might have gone unnoticed, if not for one star witness, a former Orange County deputy public defender who just happened to see the entire incident from beginning to end, as he was gunned down by a Culver City police officer.

Even then, the case seems cut and dried with a credible criminal defense attorney at the scene, while the district attorney’s office has stated that the shooting appeared justified.

Precinct Reporter News

The Sherrods Tell Black Press Where America Must Go From Here

By Hazel Trice Edney NNPA Editor-in-Chief Former Department of Agriculture Rural Development Director Shirley Sherrod of South West Georgia, still reeli...
read full article

CDC Report: AIDS is a Black – and Poor – Disease

By George E. Curry NNPA Special Contributor Phill Wilson, president and CEO of the Black AIDS Institute, has good reasons for describing AIDS as a Black di...
read full article

In 100th Anniversary Speech: Morial Promises NUL is Here to Stay

By Hazel Trice Edney NNPA Editor-in-Chief The National Urban League, known for its hundreds of affiliates tucked in mostly inner city neighborhoods acros...
read full article

South Africa's Tutu To Retire From Public Life

Associated Press Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu announced recently he is retiring from public life later this year when he turns 79, saying ``the time ...
read full article