Introducing Chester Hartman – Urban Planner,  nationally known author, and consultant to the Federal Government, states, private organizations and founder of Planners Network.

Thursday, February 16, North Columbus Library 6:00 PM

A  Third Thursday Event – “Conversation On Race” 

This “Conversation On Race” is designed to provide a dialogue setting in which attendees will interact with one of the leading urban planners in America.

Chester Hartman, an urban planner and author, is Director of Research of the Poverty & Race Research Action Council in Washington, DC. Prior to taking his present position, he founded and was President/Executive Director of PRRAC. Before that, he was a Fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, and of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam. He holds a Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from Harvard and served on the faculty there as well as at Yale, the University of North Carolina, Cornell, the University of California-Berkeley, and Columbia University. He is currently serving as an Adjunct Professor of Sociology at George Washington University.

His books Include:

Housing Urban America (Aldine, 1973; rev. ed 1980)
The World of the Urban Working Class (Harvard Univ. Press, 1973)
Yerba Buena: Land Grab and Community Resistance in San Francisco (Glide, 1974)
Housing and Social Policy (Prentice-Hall, 1975)
Displacement: How to Fight It (National Housing Law Project, 1982)
America’s Housing Crisis: What Is To Be Done? (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1983)
The Transformation of San Francisco (Rowman and Allanheld, 1984)
Critical Perspectives on Housing (Temple University Press, 1986)
Winning America: Ideas & Leadership for the 1990s (South End Press, 1988)
Housing Issues of the 1990s (Praeger, 1989)
Paradigms Lost: The Post Cold War Era (Pluto, 1992)
Double Exposure: Poverty and Race in America (M.E. Sharpe, 1997)
Challenges to Equality: Poverty & Race in America (M.E. Sharpe, 2001)
Between Eminence & Notoriety: Four Decades of Radical Urban Planning (Rutgers University Center for Urban Policy Research, 2002)
City for Sale: The Transformation of San Francisco (University of California Press, 2002)
The Right to Housing: Foundation of a New Social Agenda (Temple University Press, 2006)
Poverty & Race in America: The Emerging Agendas (Lexington Books, 2006)
There Is No Such Thing As a Natural Disaster: Race, Class & Hurricane Katrina (Routeledge, 2006) Mandate for Change: Policies and Leadership for 2009 and Beyond (Lexington Books, 2009)
The Integration Debate: Competing Futures for American Cities (with Gregory Squires), (Routledge, 2010)

His articles have appeared in The Nation, Social Work, Virginia Law Review, Journal of the American Planning Association, University of Wisconsin Law Review, Progressive Architecture, The Utne Reader, The Village Voice, Encyclopedia of Social Work, Social Policy, Society, Dissent, Mother Jones, Planning, Yale Law Journal, Journal of Housing, The Progressive, Land Economics, The Gerontologist, Shelterforce, Clearinghouse Review, The Urban Lawyer, Journal of Urban Affairs, Public Welfare, Vanderbilt Law Review, Social Work, Journal of Public Health Policy, Seton Hall Law Review, Housing Policy Debate, University of North Carolina Law Review, The Encyclopedia of Housing, Civil Rights Journal, The Journal of Negro Education, Souls and numerous other academic and popular journals and newspapers.

Dr. Hartman is the founder and former Chair of the Planners Network, a national organization of progressive urban and rural planners and community organizers.

He serves/has served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Urban Affairs, Housing Policy Debate, Urban Affairs Quarterly, Housing Studies, The Journal of Negro Education and is a former Board member/Secretary of the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

He has been a consultant to numerous public and private agencies, including HUD, the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, Stanford Research Institute, Arthur D. Little, California Rural Legal Assistance, the Urban Coalition, the California Department of Housing and Community Development, and the Legal Aid Society of New York.

Contact: Theresa El-Amin  762-821-1107

Saturday, February 18, Fourth Street Baptist Church 10:00 AM

“A Call To Talk” hosts all voter education, voter registration organizations and groups.

“A Call to Talk (ACTT) continues its strong 2012 focus on Voter Registration, Education and Information on Saturday, February 18th at 10′o clock a.m. at 4th Street Missionary Baptist Church, located at the corner of 3rd Avenue and 5th Street, downtown.

As you may be aware, ACTT is working with several partners—hopefully—-you will become one, too, as we strive to do a more focused, organized effort to maximize voter participation this year, at every level. We have a plan to do this. One that will be particularly successful, especially, if you and or your organization will invest in our efforts to form a coalition to carry out out a common plan. Please let everyone know that we want individuals, groups, organizations, churches, sororities, fraternities, etc. to join with us in this effort. If we work together we can bring in several thousand new voters in this area this year alone.

On another note, we expect Sheriff John Darr to speak to us for about 20 minutes at the outset of our deliberations regarding current issues in his office. Also, he will be there to answer any questions we may have. We will follow with our discussion and ongoing implementation of our 2012 election plan.

Spread the word. Join with us with us this Saturday. Let us work together this  year to increase the electorate in a significant way.”

Contact:  Dorothy Williams 706-575-4520

DOWN THE ROAD

Monday, March 19, Columbus Public Library   

A Third Thursday Event – “United Nations Women’s Forum”

Thursday, March 22, University Hall Auditorium, CSU Campus

CSU’s Hunter Lecture Series

The Hunter Lecture Series presents Gayle Tzemach Lemmnon author of The Dressmaker of Khair Khana and Deputy Director of the Council on Foreign Relations’ Women and Foreign Policy Program

Thursday and Friday, March 22 and 23

CSU/One Columbus Regional Conference On Diversity

Featured Presenter:  Dr. Theophus “Thee” Smith, Associate Professor, Department of Religion, Emory University.

Saturday, April 21, Fourth Street Baptist Church 10:30 AM

A Third Thursday Event – “The Poverty Crisis”

Co-Sponsor with Fourth Street’s “A Call To Talk,” a presentation addressing this most pressing issue that faces America in the near future will feature Attorney Morton Harris, Esq. from the law firm of Hatcher Stubbs.    

Commentary

NAACP celebrates 103rd birthday.

For more than a century, Americans have relied on the NAACP to right the nation’s injustices, often against seemingly impossible odds. From ending the barbaric practice of lynching to dismantling segregation to fighting for equality of opportunity for all Americans, the NAACP’s first century changed the world. And our second will be no different...

Founders’ Day has always been a time for reflection and renewal for the NAACP family. We are grounded in our past and focused firmly on the future.

Please join us Wednesday, February 15 for an historic phone briefing hosted by the leadership of the NAACP, as we discuss the next century of NAACP priorities. The call starts at 8:00 PM Eastern/5:00 PM Pacific and space is limited to the first 5,000 callers. Click on the link below to RSVP, and we will send you call-in details on Wednesday afternoon:

http://www.naacp.org/phone-briefing

Thursday, February 16, North Columbus Library 6:00 PM

A  Third Thursday Event – “Conversation On Race” 

This “Conversation On Race” is designed to provide for a dialogue setting in which attendees can interact with community leaders about this important issue. One Columbus co-sponsors this with the Southern Anti-Racism Network.

Contact: Theresa El-Amin  762-821-1107

Saturday, February 18, Fourth Street Baptist Church 10:30 AM

“A Call To Talk” hosts all voter education, voter registration organizations and groups.

Each third Saturday, Fourth Street Missionary Baptist Church sponsors “A Call to Talk” that encourages conversation, dialogue, presentation and discussion about important issues that affect our community.  On February 18, A Called to Talk invites all citizens concerned about voter education and voter registration to come to this activity and bring your friends and neighbors.

Contact:  706-324-2055

DOWN THE ROAD

Monday, March 19, Columbus Public Library   

A Third Thursday Event – “United Nations Women’s Forum”

 Thursday, March 22, University Hall Auditorium, CSU Campus

CSU’s Hunter Lecture Series

The Hunter Lecture Series presents Gayle Tzemach Lemmnon author of The Dressmaker of Khair Khana and Deputy Director of the Council on Foreign Relations’ Women and Foreign Policy Program

Thursday and Friday, March 22 and 23

CSU/One Columbus Regional Conference On Diversity

Featured Presenter:  Dr. Theophus “Thee” Smith, Associate Professor, Department of Religion, Emory University.

Saturday, April 21, Fourth Street Baptist Church 10:30 AM

A Third Thursday Event – “The Poverty Crisis”

Co-Sponsor with Fourth Street’s “A Call To Talk,” a presentation addressing this most pressing issue that faces America in the near future will feature Attorney Morton Harris from the law firm of Hatcher Stubbs.    

Commentary

Black History  Month or just Black History?…

While we are getting there, I thought this might help – although if it  were written recently, it would be ‘people of color‘ rather than ‘Black People.’

Life without Black People

A very humorous and revealing story is told about a group of white people who were fed up with African Americans. So they joined together and wished themselves away.  They passed through a deep dark tunnel and emerged in sort of  twilight zone where there is an America without Black people.

At first these white people breathed a sigh of relief.

‘At last’, they said, ‘no more crime, drugs, violence.  All of the Blacks have gone!’

Then suddenly, reality set in. The ‘NEW AMERICA’ is not America at all – only a barren land.

Ouch!

1. There are very few crops that have flourished because the nation was built on a slave-supported system.

2. There are no cities with tall skyscrapers because Alexander Mils, a Black man, invented the elevator, and without it, one finds great difficulty reaching higher floors.

3. There are few if any cars because Richard Spikes, a Black man, invented the automatic gearshift, Joseph Gambol, also Black, invented the Super Charge System for Internal Combustion Engines, and Garrett A. Morgan, a Black man, invented the Traffic Signals.

4. Furthermore, one could not use the rapid transit system because its procurer was the Electric Trolley, which was invented by another Black man, Albert R. Robinson.

5.  Ever if there were streets on which cars and a rapid transit system could operate, they were cluttered with paper because an African American, Charles Brooks, invented the Street Sweeper.

6. There were few if any newspapers, magazines and books because John Love invented the Pencil Sharpener, William Purveys invented the Fountain Pen, Lee Barrage invented the Type Writing Machine and W. A. Love invented the Advanced Printing Press. They were all, you guessed it, Black.

7. Even if Americans could write their letters, articles and books, they would not have been transported by mail because William Barry invented the Postmarking and Cancelling Machine, William Purveys invented the  Hand Stamp and Phillip Downling invented the Letter Drop.

8. The lawns were brown and wilted because Joseph Smith invented the Lawn Sprinkler and John Burr the Lawn Mower.

9. When they entered their homes, they found them to be poorly ventilated and poorly heated. You see, Frederick Jones invented the Air Conditioner and Alice Parker the Heating Furnace. Their homes were also dim. But of course, Lewis Lattimer later invented the Electric lamp, Michael Harvey invented the Lantern, and Granville T. Woods invented the Automatic Cut off Switch. Their homes were also filthy because Thomas V. Steward invented the Mop and Lloyd P. Ray the Dust Pan.

10. Their children met them at the door-barefooted, shabby, motley and unkempt. But what could one expect? Jan E. Matzelinger invented the Shoe Lasting Machine, Warter Sammons invented the Comb, Sarah Boone invented the Ironing Board, and George T. Samon invented the Clothes Dryer.

11. Finally they were resigned to have dinner amidst an of this turmoil. But here again, the food had spoiled because another Black Man, John Standard invented the Refrigerator.

Now, isn’t that something? What would this country be like without the contributions of Blacks, as African-Americans?

Martin Luther Kings Jr. said, ‘By the time we leave for work, millions of Americans have depended on the invention’s from the minds of Blacks.’

Black history includes more than just slavery, Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King, .Jr., Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey and  W.E.B. Dubois.

Thursday, February 16, 6:00 PM  North Columbus Library 6:00 PM

A  Third Thursday  Event – “Conversation  On Race”  

This “Conversation On Race” is designed to provide for a dialogue setting in which attendees can interact with community leaders about this important issue. One Columbus co-sponsors this with the Southern Anti-Racism Network.

Contact: Theresa El-Amin  762-821-1107

DOWN THE ROAD

Monday, March 19,

A Third Thursday Event – United Nations Women’s Forum

Thursday and Friday, March 22 and 23

CSU/One Columbus Regional Coference On Diversity

Saturday, April 21

A Third Thursday Event – “The Poverty Crisis”

Co-Sponsor with Fourth Street’s “A CAll To TAlk”

Dare To Dream Summit

85 students from eight Muscogee County schools participated in the Dare To Dream Summit for 2012 on Thursday, January 19, 2012 at the Columbus Convention and Trade Center. The program, sponsored by AFLAC, provided an opportunity for sophomores and juniors from these institutions to participate in a dialogue with young community leaders from the Greater Columbus area.

Students from Carver, Columbus, Hardaway, Jordan, Kendrick, Northside, Shaw, Spencer, Early College, and Rose Hill had an opportunity to interact with facilitators about some of the challenges that they face in school, at home, and in the community.

Facilitators for this year’s Summit included Alida Davis-Abdullah, Katonga Wright, David Britt, Lanitra Menefee, James Allen, Curtis Bryant, Jed Tuiolosega, Rashad Hassan, Sergio Montes and Nikia Mapson.

Following the three concurrent workshops replicated so that each of the students had an opportunity to interact with all of the facilitators, a welcome at the luncheon was offered by One Columbus board co-chair Jorge Vega. Superintendent Susan Andrews welcomed the audience and encouraged the students to be attentive to the opportunities which are presented in the Dare To Dream Summits and thanked One Columbus for these kind of motivational experiences for the students in the MCSD.

Revealing the most intimate negative and positive challenges which faced her during her youth, keynote speaker Yvonne Harvey-Williams held the students’ attention with a story told in rapid-fire staccato that kept them mesmerized for the duration of her presentation – an experience that will not soon be forgotten.

Ken Crooks, executive director of One Columbus, thanked the speaker, chair of the Summit Brandi Dawson, MCSD liaison Dr. B. J. McBride, Dr. Susan Andrews, the facilitators, the counselors who made it possible for the students to come, and all those in attendance.

Contact: Brandi Dawson 706-225-9217

Diversity Forum — Another WTVM success

On Thursday evening January 19 beginning at 7 PM, Barbara Gauthier and Jason Dennis served as cohosts for the live WTVM production from the RiverCenter for the Performing Arts. Billed as a live, audience-participating event discussing civility and issues affect youth and their elders, the event featured Shaw high school students addressing issues of civility, bullying and how these and similar challenges affected their lives. From the four consultants on the platform and statements and reactions from the audience, comments about how we raise our children, the influences that they find in their environments, challenges about discipline, church and organizational involvement and some questions about politics provided an evening of both entertainment and learning.

The churches, synagogues, and mosques that sponsored the Diversity Forum in support of One Columbus programs, are thanked for their support.

Contact: Lee Brantley 706-494-5400

Fourth Street’s “A Call to Talk” features The Poverty Crisis

Saturday, February 18 – 9:00 AM

One of America’s impending crises is the rapidly increasing number of individuals and families who are poverty stricken. This crisis, if not addressed, can be America’s downfall says Morton Harris, an attorney at the law firm of Hatcher Stubbs in Columbus.

The Fourth Street Missionary Baptist Church has been sponsoring “A Call to Talk” for many years and presents educational, political, social, and religious programs that are designed to be thought provoking and open to the public. The issue of poverty and its impending stranglehold on America is so important that One Columbus will cosponsor the program on February 18.

Contact: Fourth Street Missionary Baptist Church 706-324-2055

DOWN THE ROAD

One Columbus March Calendar:

Max Roth E Pluribus Unum Lecture Series

A ‘Third Thursday’ Event

A Regional Diversity Conference