Monroe Empowers Young Men

On Wednesday, April 14, Monroe College held a male empowerment event for high school students featuring “The Apprentice” star Kwame Jackson. More than 400 teen boys from a variety of high schools came to the King Hall gym to hear Mr. Jackson talk about how he went from “You’re fired!” to “Inspired!”

“Too many urban young men are being distracted from paths to success,” said Associate Director of Admissions Cecil Wright. “This was our way of illustrating to them how higher education is very much accessible and that people who once were just like them can become role models.”

Mr. Jackson, who holds a Master’s degree from the Harvard Business School, founded Legacy Holdings LLC, an emerging private investment firm focused on real estate, and has developed his own line of executive neckwear.

The high school teens took to him immediately and afterwards besieged him for autographs and advice.

“This event made it clear that young men are eager to see what opportunities are there for them. It just has to presented in a way that captivates them,” said Mr. Wright.

New Financial Literacy Program
Aims to Certify 100,000 Students Each Year

UNCF--the United Negro College Fund--the nation's largest and most effective minority education organization, is marking the occasion by launching its new Financial Literacy Program, aimed at helping high school and college students manage the financial choices they already face as well as those that lie ahead. UNCF's Financial Literacy Program's web-based curriculum uses the latest in new media technologies including 3-D gaming, social networking, animations, video and avatars to bring the financial world to life.

"Young people have to make financial decisions earlier than ever--saving for college, cell-phone plans, student loans, credit cards and many others," said Michael L. Lomax, Ph.D. UNCF president and CEO. "And still ahead of them are choices about home-buying, consumer credit and saving for retirement. It's critical that we help them get on the right financial track as early as possible, so that youthful decisions don't come back to haunt them and so they're prepared to become savvy financial consumers."

Students at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) experience greater financial need and face greater credit challenges. In the 2007-2008 academic year, 90 percent of all HBCU students qualified for need-based financial aid, and low-tomiddle income 18-34 year olds with credit card debt reported an average balance of $8,182. In 1983, median consumer debt for 25-34 year olds was $3,989.

The UNCF Financial Scholars Program, powered by EverFi, is designed to cater to users' skill and experience levels to introduce students to such subjects as personal budgeting, credit scores, stocks and bonds, college savings and student loans, credit cards and debt-management, and the choice between home-ownership and renting. The virtual world and interactive game environment enables students to learn through character improvisation at three different stages of life, enabling students to apply what they've learned. Under the auspices of the UNCF Financial Literacy Program, historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), such as the 39 private HBCUs that are members of UNCF, as well as high schools around the country, will have the opportunity to gain access to the EverFipowered program and earn certification.

High schools in New York, Maryland, Alabama, New Jersey and Louisiana are currently participating in the UNCF Financial Scholars Program. UNCF member-institutions Paul Quinn College in Dallas, Texas, is using the Ever-Fi platform as a first-year student orientation tool.

"All the Paul Quinn University students who participated in the UNCF Financial Scholars Program during their first year of college found it to be a beneficial, rewarding experience," said Paul Quinn College President Michael J. Sorrell. "Being fiscally responsible and understanding the impact of financial choices one makes while one is young is an important step in a student's development and is a foundation that will enable them to make wise financial decisions for the rest of their lives. This foundation will afford them the opportunity to not only manage their personal finances but begin to build wealth and plan for a bright future."

Students who successfully complete the program earn the distinction of being EverFi Certified which provides them with access to a next-generation resume-building tool, creates and exclusive community of EverFi Certified financial literate students with access to employers, grant offices, loan departments, internship coordinators and officials from higher education institutions.

SOLEDAD O’BRIEN RETURNS to York:
SCREENS HAITI DOC

On Friday, April 30, 2010 with an advance look at “Rescued,” a documentary about the children of Haiti, before and after January’s earthquake.

CNN’s Soledad O’Brien returned to the York College Performing Arts Center on Friday, April 30, 2010 with an advance look at “Rescued,” a documentary about the children of Haiti, before and after January’s earthquake.

Led by O’Brien, a panel featuring York’s Ron Daniels then considered the future of Haiti’s littlest earthquake victims and the role they might play in rescuing their country.

President Marcia V. Keizs welcomed O’Brien back to York, where the CNN anchor and special correspondent last year served as host for the college’s fundraising concert featuring Brian Stokes Mitchell and honoring the Tuskegee Airmen. O’Brien thanked the president and the York community for allowing her to bring the preview to the Performing Arts Center, “because I know we’ll have some great conversation” on Haiti.

“Rescued,” looks at the lives of Haiti’s children through the eyes of 6-year-old Cendy Jeune – not an orphan, but abandoned by her parents and brought to the Lighthouse -- and former child slave Marckenson Oliphi, who as a child was sold by his family for the equivalent of $12. Oliphi, now 22, works for the Manasseros.

While the largely white, American Christian missionaries running many of Haiti’s orphanages drew praise for their efforts, the panelists took O’Brien’s stories in other directions.

African-Americans owe the people of Haiti a great debt for their historic role – as the site of the first successful slave revolution and creation of the first republic ruled by people of African descent -- said Daniels, who has been involved with Haiti through the Institute of the Black World 21st Century an the Haiti Support Project. The connection with history requires greater involvement by the community, he said, calling for the sustainable economic development that comes from housing, job training, education and employment.

The production, scheduled to air Saturday at 8 p.m., features the residents and graduates of a Christian orphanage called the Lighthouse, run by American missionaries Bill and Susette Manassero.

And sending Haitian orphans out of the country to adoptions in the U.S. and elsewhere, deprives that redevelopment of its human resources. “We must empower the nation, to help the children stay and make a better Haiti,” he said.