By Dianne Anderson Growing up in District 6 in Long Beach, Autrilla “Sheba” Gillis lived next to her grandma and with her mom – both by definition powerhouse sheroes – they always had something good in the works. Likewise, Gillis draws from her community activist roots as the daughter of Sharon McLucas, and granddaughter of ...

By Dianne Anderson Growing up as an at-risk teen, Rakeem Addison couldn’t see anything in his neighborhood to inform, inspire or open his young mind. There were no field trips for him, and like so many others in his parent’s income bracket, he got the leftovers of the bigger payers of society. “It was unfortunate. ...

By Dianne Anderson Growing up, a stint of homelessness didn’t mean helplessness for Ronnie Miller’s mother, who quickly stepped up to protect her eight-member family that was suddenly out on the streets. Out of necessity, she learned to work the system that had worked against them. In the pursuit of local resources, the family overcame ...

By Dianne Anderson Food prices are keeping pace with the soaring cost of rent, making dinner out of reach for many families as they turn to nonprofits for help. But nonprofits are also searching for ways to feed the people, and they turn to Food Finders, which in 2019 rescued 12 million pounds, and in ...

By Dianne Anderson It was a long week for Edward Clarke, who started at 5 a.m. to take his busload of kids campus hopping up north to San Luis Obispo and then off to UC Santa Barbara and CSU Northridge, swinging back around to UCLA, and finally ending with Universal Studios. The kids had energy ...

Long Beach Forward announced it is officially an independent incorporated 501(c)3 nonprofit organization allowing it to deepen its work to develop low income residents and communities of color into leaders and community organizers, in order to make a long lasting impact on growing health and equity needs that will continue to impact generations to come. ...

By Dianne Anderson When it comes to sports, the first thing most boys think about is what it will take to become rich and famous as an NBA, NFL or Major League star, but Everette Glenn knows better. Starting as young as 7th grade, he tries to get them academically ahead of the game by ...

Music Changing Lives (MCL) will host their 5th annual “Ball 4 A Cause,” a celebrity basketball game to support their youth music and arts program while joining thousands of communities rallying nationwide for Lights On Afterschool. The game will take place at the Redlands Community Center, located at 111 W. Lugonia Ave., in Redlands, on ...

By Dianne Anderson When pondering the high demand for Black artistic creative types in Orange County, Debora Wondercheck need not look far. Her recent production, “Once on This Island, Jr.” portrayed a more culturally enlightened version of Hans Christian Anderson’s original, conversely featuring the complexities of how a dark-skinned Haitian girl falls in love with ...

By Dianne Anderson For as much as the National College Resources Foundation has grown over the decades, often drawing 20,000 or more Black students at a time to get what they need in one spot, somehow not everyone knows their name. “We find that every day. People say, oh I wish I had known about ...