Meet the Real Estate Investor Who Owns 18 Properties at 26-Years-Old

Homeownership is a secure way to build wealth. For many Americans, homeownership is an instrumental way of creating generational wealth for their families. For Jamisa McIvor-Bennett, founder and CEO of Rosebud’s Investments, her introduction to ownership began with a conversation with her grandmother which ultimately led her to become a real estate investor at the age of 19.

After a conversation with her guardian about being next in kin to own and manage the family home, Mclvor-Bennett was added to the deed. Months later, her grandmother passed away unexpectedly.

“I took what she said to heart…to be responsible and to help my family because this [family home] is all we had. That kept replaying in my mind over and over again,” says Mclvor-Bennett.

At that time, she worked as a cashier and could not afford home renovations on her own, so she had to make an executive decision.

Related: This Investor Has Raised $165 Million to House Black and Hispanics In Opportunity Zones

“In the back of my mind, I kept hearing my grandmother say, ‘this is all we have’, and one day I asked my myself, ‘why is this all we have?’” and that question led to her selling the house for $152,000. After doing research of her own and speaking with financial advisers, Mclvor-Bennett decided that investing her earnings into real estate would be the best way to never have to work for someone else again.

Building wealth requires a millionaire mindset 

Mclvor-Bennett’s humble beginnings taught her how to be conservative with money and wise in her dealings.

“During that journey, I ran into a guy who was a real estate investor. That was my first time making the differentiation between an investor and a little estate agent,” says Mclvor-Bennett.

Under the tutelage of her mentor’s guidance, she went on to purchase her first home for $6,500 in cash. And she didn’t stop there.

Now 26, McIvor-Bennett is the owner of 18 properties throughout Pennsylvania—and she only has one mortgage. In addition to owning and investing in properties, she also teaches others looking to generate more income and learn the ins and outs about real estate and real estate investing.

Her company, Rosebud’s Investments, caters to people interested in real estate investment but unsure of where and how to get started. The company offers individualized services in investor processes, for both new and seasoned investors who are looking to enhance their knowledge and expertise. Beginning with their individualized investment call, new clients work with a member of the Rosebud’s Investments team to create a blueprint for purchasing property without using credit.

Related: 5 Ways To Earn Money In Real Estate Without A License

Knowledge and mentorship are key

Like many business owners and investors, Mclvor-Bennett has been met with challenges. After purchasing nine properties, she began to hit a wall.

“I was down to $15,000 and some of my properties needed to be rehabbed. I wasn’t educated on the loan process. And keep in mind, I didn’t even have credit cards. These are all things that I had to pretty much learn as I went along. But I do remember playing monopoly as a child—so, I decided I was going to sell a house.”

After selling a few of her properties, she learned more about the business through that process. As a first-generation real estate investor and entrepreneur, Mclvor-Bennett knew that she had to seek the formal training to educate herself so that she could grow her business after buying her properties in cash.

“It was helpful to me to learn the terminology and more about contracts.”

Related: Black Woman Real Estate Developer Felt Unwelcome In the Community So She Built Her Own

Mclvor-Bennett further invested in her education by attending industry seminars and conferences across the country to learn other markets and industry trends.

“That was one of the ways that I would meet new friends and gained a lot of mentors,” says Mclvor-Bennett.

How to make a living off of real estate

With 18 properties in her portfolio, Mclvor-Bennett is currently working on number 19. And, she wants to help you get started.

Here are some tips:

• Know your numbers. Whether you’re buying to hold, flip, or if you’re doing a wholesale deal; the numbers have to add up.
• Save and invest what you can. Be conservative and strategic. Ask yourself, ‘What can I stand to lose?
• Learn your market. That will give you an entry point because then you actually have a goal to work toward.
• Make sure that all deals are done contractually.
• Don’t be afraid to take risks. If your objective is to have a property that produces some type of income on a consistent monthly basis, it’s can be worth it even if the value of the property drops. Every market has its ups and downs.

To learn more about how you can begin your real estate journey with Rosebud’s Investments, click here.

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An engine for game-changing innovation

In 2016, MIT launched The Engine as a new way to fund and support Boston-area entrepreneurs who are using transformative technologies to address the world’s most pressing problems.

By definition, these entrepreneurs’ plans for impact were as ambitious as they were uncertain; each would need to overcome fundamental technical and business challenges as they readied their breakthrough innovations to compete with legacy systems and technologies.

Such uncertainty is often a deal breaker for venture capitalists, who prefer to invest in companies with easer paths to profitability than many startups working with cutting-edge technologies can promise. But The Engine, as MIT President L. Rafael Reif announced, would prioritize “breakthrough ideas over early profit, helping to shorten the time it takes these startups to become ‘VC-ready,’ providing comprehensive support in the meantime, and creating an enthusiastic community of inventors and supporters who share a focus on making a better world.”

In the three years since its inception, The Engine has bridged the gap between “tough tech” companies and venture capital with remarkable success. It has invested in 20 startups to date — companies working on quantum computing, long-term energy storage, cancer therapies, nuclear fusion, and more. Those companies have raised more than $300 million in total venture capital to date and collectively employ more than 280 people.

And much of The Engine’s early success lies beyond these numbers. Even as the firm’s team immerses itself in some of the hardest problems of science and engineering, its main focus remains on people. A core tenet of The Engine’s mission is to turn technical pioneers into leaders. Its emphasis on community and networking is also reflected in the Tough Tech Summit it hosts each year.

Consequently, The Engine’s footprints are all over the world-changing paths its founders are traveling. Now, with its recently announced plans to add 200,000 square feet of work and lab space — enough to accommodate 1,000 entrepreneurs — that footprint is about to get a lot bigger.

“It’s so inspiring to see the transformational innovations coming out of The Engine,” says MIT Executive Vice President and Treasurer Israel Ruiz, who also serves as chair of The Engine’s board of directors. “We’re all excited to see the original expansion plans come to reality, and I can’t wait to see how The Engine and its portfolio companies impact the region and the world.”

Founded around a mission

The Engine provides “patient” funding, mentoring, work and lab space, specialized equipment, and an extensive network to entrepreneurs working on transformative technologies. As a for-profit, public-benefit corporation, it has a unique structure, particularly in academia. But its creation didn’t surprise Katie Rae, who became its CEO and managing partner in 2017.

“MIT is very willing to break new ground and try something unusual if it will tackle a big problem or impact the world,” Rae says.

From the beginning, The Engine has sought out radically different approaches to some of the world’s most intractable problems — the kinds of ideas that might send more risk-averse investors running.

Among the first seven startups The Engine invested in were Form Energy, which is using inexpensive alternatives to lithium to develop a new battery capable of storing energy from renewable sources for months at a time; Analytical Space, which is deploying a network of small satellites in low Earth orbit to improve the tracking of things like agricultural production, industrial assets, and weather; and Kytopen, which is developing an electric cell-engineering tool capable of delivering DNA to bacterial cells up to 10,000 times faster than current methods.

“We want to create really important, breakthrough companies that last 100 years,” Rae says. “They have to be going after really big change, really big markets, and we want to give them an advantage; that’s our infrastructure, that’s our network.”

The approach has allowed many innovators in the Boston area to pursue the full potential of their technologies in an environment that keeps them focused on the real-world problems they’re trying to solve.

“I think a lot of the companies The Engine has invested in would not have been funded, or teams wouldn’t have formed, without significant pre-seed or seed capital,” says Adam Behrens, the CEO of Cambridge Crops, which has developed a natural, edible coating capable of dramatically extending the shelf life of food.

When The Engine made its first financial commitment to the company in 2018, Cambridge Crops consisted of Behrens and co-founder Sezin Yigit dipping pineapples into its coating in the back of a warehouse. This summer, the company raised a $4 million seed round and hopes to earn approvals from the Food and Drug Administration next year.

Cambridge Crops’ progress is not unique. In fact, all seven of The Engine’s first investments have raised additional funding in the form of investments or grants since The Engine’s early support. The companies have used that money to move into their own work spaces, hire local talent, and deploy their technologies in the areas that need them most.

Those technologies are not limited to the physical realm. New approaches in artificial intelligence and other kinds of “deep software” have also featured prominently in The Engine’s investment strategy.

Another one of The Engine’s early investments was iSee, which is developing humanistic AI to advance the capabilities of autonomous vehicles. Co-founders Yibiao Zhao and Chris Baker based the technology on theory of mind, or the ability to infer the intents and beliefs of others. The technology enables vehicles to deal with uncertainty by considering context and discerning the intentions of other drivers.

Zhao, fresh off a postdoctoral research stint in the lab of MIT Professor Josh Tenenbaum, faced a steep learning curve when he began serving as the company’s chief executive in 2017. Since then, iSee has recruited a team of full stack engineers, deployed iSee’s software on roads in pilots with Fortune 400 companies, and, most recently, raised a $15 million funding round led by the well-known VC firm Founders Fund.

Rae thinks the success of The Engine’s portfolio has made tough tech companies more attractive investments for corporations and venture capitalists.

“We've uncovered many very important companies and brought them to market,” Rae says. “We've gathered a phenomenal group of founders, and I think we've excited a lot of people about this area of investment.”

Leveraging its ties across industry, academia, and government, The Engine has also helped facilitate entirely new kinds of collaborations, like the one that formed around Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), a company pursuing what has been called the holy grail of energy.

The company is working to develop a potentially unlimited, carbon-free energy source based on nuclear fusion, the reaction that powers stars like our sun. CFS was launched as part of a collaboration with MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center and with funding from the Italian energy corporation Eni.

“In the very beginning of CFS, there were a lot of people around who really loved the idea and wanted to see it happen, but didn't really want to take the first steps,” CFS co-founder and CEO Bob Mumgaard SM ’15 PhD ’15 says of early 2018, before his company had raised funding. “Those first steps are really hard to get when the idea is really big. It's sort of a standoff; everyone's ready to go, but who will be the first person to move? The Engine was really the first one to say, ‘We're going to jump in,’ and as soon as they did that, it broke the ice. It was so important to have The Engine in the room.”

A pillar for progress

The Engine’s expansion plans, announced in August, will increase its space sevenfold and place it squarely between Kendall Square and MIT’s campus. That should only enhance what is already a deeply collaborative environment.

“It’s a like-minded community that expects excellence from one another,” Behrens says. “We’re all doing really good things, and trying to do big things; that takes diligence and execution, but it also takes support.”

And as The Engine’s companies grow, Rae hopes they’ll become pillars in the greater Boston area’s innovation ecosystem similar to the local biotech industry.

“Sometimes, entrepreneurs’ first decision when they start a company is to move to the [San Francisco] Bay Area,” Zhao says. “The Engine is the type of investor that wants to provide an environment for the founders from Boston to stay here and grow their team here. It’s working hard to be the influencer that makes the Boston area really tech friendly.”

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8 Expert Steps to a Successful TEDx Talk – Plus Three Bonus Tips From Me

The year is winding down and as I take my inventory of goals achieved, abandoned, or rolled over to next year, I’m especially satisfied with one big checked box: I finally did a TEDx Talk.

As someone who does public speaking regularly, you might think the idea of TED was no biggie to me. Just another speech, right? Uh, wrong.

I was deeply intimidated by the idea (1) Because it will live online FOREVER. (2) Because it’s typically LIVE—no notes, no teleprompter. (3) Did I mention … FOREVER? Call me a commitment phobe, but that eternity piece is scary.

Despite my fear, an affiliation with TED offers a sort of seal of approval on your brand, a  bit of credibility you can leverage. If you make any part of your living as a speaker, a lack of TED in your life feels akin to a skills gap.

The good news is, the risks are relatively small and if your talk takes off, it could be the most efficient work you’ll ever do. The most successful TED Talk of all time was a lighthearted riff by a British neuroanatomist, on whether schools kill creativity. To date, it’s been viewed 63,284,949 times.

The distinction for the longest standing ovation in TED conference history goes to civil rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson, who delivered an 18-minute talk in 2012 about the power of identity. To date, more than 6 million viewers have watched it online and Stevenson has said his nonprofit Equal Justice Initiative received about $1 million from those who attended the live speech alone. It may not have been his goal, but almost eight years later, the video continues to serve as a powerful fundraising vehicle for Stevenson’s work.

My “The Power of Belonging” TEDx Talk goals were simple. (1) I wanted to communicate clearly (2) I wanted to move people to embrace the importance of belonging—because, as corny as it sounds, I believe that if we all thought more, cared more, and worked harder to create a world where everyone feels they belong, everything that most divides and conquers progress on a daily basis would change for the better. (3) I wanted to feel good about it when it was over, a.k.a., I didn’t want to mess up and then be able to revisit my embarrassment, forever.

There are books on how to nail a TED Talk. There are even TED Talks on how to give great TED Talks. They all say pretty much the same thing: Attempt to touch people with something unique that they won’t forget. Breaking that down, there are about eight fail-safe steps:

1.      Tap into a topic you’re truly passionate about.

2.      There are sermons, lectures, powerpoint presentations, and straight talks. Your goal is to tell a vivid story.

3.      No matter how serious the topic, be conversational, casual, chill.

4.      Teach something new.

5.      Throw in a surprise or two.

6.      Make ’em laugh.

7.      Be brief (the TED timing sweet spot is 12-18 minutes).

8.      Aim for 360-degree authenticity.

I add this trio of tips that were key to me leading up to my TEDx Talk:

1.      Over-prepare. Weeks ahead, I knew anxiety was my enemy. It was going to keep me up at night, fretting and sweating until I had my talk written out and was fully satisfied. Whatever mode of preparation works for you, be sure of exactly what you plan to say well ahead. I refined, rehearsed, and memorized every word. Did I rigidly stick to my script? No. But I had it down, and that was key.

2.      Phone a friend. TEDx usually assigns a mentor or small group of knowledgeable people—let’s call them TEDdies—who will help you. I gratefully used them and took their advice, but I also leaned on two close, discerning friends of my own. A few times. On the phone and in person. You don’t want to find out in the midst of your big moment that your big joke or reveal is a big, fat fail.

3.      What will you wear? TED is notoriously casual and they offer little advice on the matter other than standard broadcast news fashion tips like don’t wear plaid or busy patterns; don’t wear grey or blindingly bright colors. I was so focused on the speech that I honestly didn’t put much thought into my look—and it shows. If my biggest flubs were in the fashion lane, I can live with that. Until next time!

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Cory Booker still sees “path to victory,” despite not qualifying for debate

Cory Booker still sees a “path to victory” although he won’t be on the Democratic debate stage next Thursday.

Booker hasn’t raised enough money through fundraising and hasn’t reached the 4 percent threshold of people backing him in at least four national polls to qualify to participate in the debate, reports the New York Post.

READ MORE: Cory Booker responds to Mike Bloomberg’s ‘well-spoken’ comments, assures there is ‘no beef’ between friends

The results of a Quinnipiac University poll on Tuesday reveal that Booker only has 1 percent of voter support. In order to qualify to participate in the debate, Dem candidates must reach either the 4 percent support in four national or 6 percent support in two early-polling state polls. Also, there is a requirement that candidates receive donations from least 200,000 unique donors.

Still, the New Jersey senator said he sees a path forward.

“Today is the deadline for the DNC’s December debate qualifying threshold — and while I may not be on the debate stage next Thursday, thanks to the outpouring of support over the past few weeks, we know there’s a path to victory, and we no longer need the debate stage to get there,” the New Jersey senator tweeted.

Today is the deadline for the DNC’s December debate qualifying threshold—and while I may not be on the debate stage next Thursday, thanks to the outpouring of support over the past few weeks, we know there’s a path to victory, and we no longer need the debate stage to get there.

— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) December 12, 2019

Booker then tweeted another message to his supporters, on why he is staying in the race.

“I’m not sticking around for vanity or ego — I’m in this to win it because I believe I’m the best candidate to beat Donald Trump and lead this country to higher ground,” Booker wrote.

I’m not sticking around for vanity or ego—I’m in this to win it because I believe I’m the best candidate to beat Donald Trump and lead this country to higher ground.

— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) December 12, 2019

Although Booker is still far behind the fundraising efforts of frontrunners like Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders, he took in more than $6 million in donations this past quarter.

Addisu Demissie, Booker’s campaign manager, said the focus moving forward would be on President Trump’s impeachment.

READ MORE: Cory Booker announces initiative that would provide almost $100 billion to HBCUs

“We will build our entire campaign around that. We don’t really know how long it’s going to be… so we’re staying flexible in that regard,” Demissie said, according to the AP.

The Dec. 19 debate will be hosted by PBS NewsHour and Politico and will take place at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. In addition to Biden, Warren, and Sanders, Andrew Yang, Amy Klobuchar, Tom Steyer, and Pete Buttigieg qualified to participate.

The post Cory Booker still sees “path to victory,” despite not qualifying for debate appeared first on theGrio.

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10 Best Android Phones You Can Buy (New, Unlocked, Cheap)

Wonder what the absolute best Android phone is right now? We have the answer, and some alternatives from Google, OnePlus, Samsung, LG, Moto, and more.

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Utility Executives Kept Flint's Tainted Water a Secret

Email exchanges show senior employees and Flint officials knew the tap water was poisoned with lead months before the city alerted residents.

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A Sobering Message About the Future at AI's Biggest Party

Leaders in artificial intelligence warn that progress is slowing, big challenges remain, and simply throwing more computers at a problem isn't sustainable.

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Magazine names Regina King as one of the top ‘Entertainers of the Year’

Regina King is having a great year.

In 2019, King won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for If Beale Street Could Talk. She then was selected to direct her first feature film, One Night in Miami. As if that was not enough, she has scored a major buzz in HBO’s Watchmen, where she plays Tulsa police detective Angela Abar, better known as “Sister Night.”

All year long, she has been doing her thing.

READ MORE: Regina King brings four Black icons back together in directorial film debut, ‘One Night in Miami’

Entertainment Weekly interviewed the star about her incredible year and her impressive career – from the early days with cult-classic, Boyz n the Hood, to her voice work on The Boondocks and everything in between. She is it and people are noticing.

King, who has directed for TV episodes on Insecure and This Is Us, was excited at the possibility of getting a big screen directorial debut when her agent called. It was just before the Oscars and King told EW she had just met with producers from One Night in Miami.

The screen version of One Night in Miami is based off of the play by Kemp Powers, a fictional story that’s centered on a very real date – Feb. 25, 1964, the day that Cassius Clay became the World Heavyweight Boxing champion. The play supposes that Clay celebrates his win with friends, Sam Cooke, Malcolm X, and football legend, Jim Brown inside of a segregated hotel in Miami and that after that night, the men vow “a change is gonna come” (of course playing off the legendary song).

“My agent called and said, ‘They’re going to roll with you, they don’t want to see anybody else,’ ” King, 48, told EW. “I can say it now, I was like, ‘If I don’t win the motherf—ing Oscar, that is okay. I’m about to do a film.’ ”

Yaasssss! This confidence and self-love and spice is what we have come to love about King. It’s on full display in Watchmen, from Damon Lindelof.

After acting in The Leftovers, King was already interested in what came next. This is when she received a script from Lindelof.

“[Lindelof] had the script delivered with a lovely note, saying that he sees me as this and would I take this ride with him,” King told EW. “I started reading the pilot and five pages in I was like, ‘Oh, oh, he’s going here? Black Wall Street?’” she says discussing Watchmen’s opening scene showing the 1921 Tulsa massacre. “I had to just sit with that for a second because it had been something that my sister and I, for a long time, had been like, ‘Why hasn’t this story been told?’”

READ MORE: Regina King wins first Oscar for ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’

Balancing all of her projects has kept her busy throughout the year. No… Busy would be the wrong word. It has kept her productive, which would be a better adjective. The work that she has put forth is basically soil, fertile ground for all that is coming next year. And we are here for it.

We never needed Entertainment Weekly to tell us how “bomb” she is. We’ve known since she was Brenda Jenkins in the Black family’s sitcom canon, 227, that she was a force to be reckoned. Dang on shame it has taken the world 35 years to catch up.

The post Magazine names Regina King as one of the top ‘Entertainers of the Year’ appeared first on theGrio.

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The Slow Rollout of Super-Fast 5G

AT&T launches its new next-generation wireless network, but breadth of 5G coverage in the US still lags South Korea and China.

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Gadget Lab Podcast: An Interview With Biologist Laura Boykin

The computational biologist collects cassava DNA with a pocket-sized device in order to fight the pathogens threatening the vital staple crop.

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The Next Nuclear Plants Will Be Small, Svelte, and Safer

A new generation of reactors will start producing power in the next few years. They're comparatively tiny—and may be key to hitting our climate goals. 

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The Future of Sex Work Slams Up Against Big Tech

As influencers peddle more sexually explicit content, Big Tech's biggest platforms—Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter—are increasing restrictions.

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Seattle Joins the Rush to Slow Down Traffic on City Streets

The city plans to lower the speed limit on major roads to 25 mph in hopes of boosting safety, following similar moves in New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. 

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How Facebook's Political Ad System Is Designed to Polarize

Want to reach voters across the aisle online? That’ll cost extra, a new study finds.

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Google Assistant Can Now Translate Languages on Your Phone

Interpreter Mode comes to iOS and Android, making it easier to converse somewhat seamlessly across language barriers

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9 Best Air Purifiers (2019): HEPA, PECO, and More

We tested many HEPA and standard air purifiers to find the right one for your bedroom or home.

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Algeria election: Ex-PM to replace Bouteflika in boycotted poll

Abdelmadjid Tebboune took 58% of the vote in a poll marred by protests and a boycott.

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Nigerian spent eight years awaiting trial before being freed

Babagana Aliyu spent eight years in prison without being convicted of a crime.

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Supporting students in Puerto Rico after a hurricane’s devastation

When Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in September 2017, Héctor De Jesús-Cortés was vacationing on the island with his wife, Edmarie Guzmán-Vélez. “Worst vacation ever, but it actually turned out to be the most important in my life,” says De Jesús-Cortés. In the days immediately after the hurricane, both focused on helping their families get their bearings; after that first week, however, they were itching to do more. That itch would take them to San Juan, Puerto Rico’s capital, where they asked the then-secretary of education a simple question: “How can we help?”

With De Jesús-Cortés’ PhD in neuroscience and Guzmán-Vélez’s PhD in clinical psychology, they soon became involved in an effort led by the Department of Education to help students and school staff, as well as the community at large, troubled by the hurricane. “Everyone was traumatized, so if you bring kids to teachers who are also traumatized, that’s a bad recipe,” explains De Jesús-Cortés.

De Jesús-Cortés and Guzmán-Vélez connected with their friend Rosaura Orengo-Aguayo, a clinical psychologist and assistant professor at the Medical University of South Carolina who studies traumatic stress and Hispanic populations. Working together with the Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, they developed a program to address trauma in schools. The Esperanza, or “promise,” program is ongoing and has already trained hundreds of school staff members on how to manage trauma and anxiety, and to identify these manifestations in students.  

Back in Boston, De Jesús-Cortés has continued his efforts for Puerto Rico, raising funds for micro-entrepreneurs and teaching neuroscience in online classes for undergraduates on the island. Each effort is guided by that same simple question — How can we help? His latest effort along with Guzmán-Vélez is a precollege summer program at MIT that will give Puerto Rican students a taste for scientific research.  

A sense of possibility

For De Jesús-Cortés, teaching is more than just a transfer of knowledge. “I see teaching as mentorship,” he says. “I want students to be exposed to opportunities, because growing up in Puerto Rico, I know how difficult it can be for some students to get those opportunities.”

While De Jesús-Cortés was an undergraduate at the University of Puerto Rico, he participated in Minority Access for Research Careers (MARC), a National Institutes of Health-funded program that supports underrepresented minority undergraduates as they move toward careers in biomedical sciences. “We had workshops every month about applications; they would bring recruiters, and they would also pay for summer internships,” explains De Jesús-Cortés.

MARC allowed De Jesús-Cortés to see a career in science as a possibility, and he envisions that the summer school, whose inaugural class will be in summer 2020, will do something similar. “The idea is to have kids first spend two weeks in Puerto Rico and expose them to research at the undergraduate level,” explains De Jesús-Cortés. The students will be at the Universidad del Sagrado Corazón in Puerto Rico; the university has partnered with De Jesús-Cortés on the project. “Then they travel to Boston and see what research is happening here.” The 15-20 students will spend two weeks in Massachusetts, living in the MIT dorms, visiting labs, and learning how to apply to colleges in the United States.

The MARC program also gave De Jesús-Cortés a community. “To this day, I talk to my MARC fellows,” he says, and that’s something he hopes to replicate with the summer students. “Each student will have a mentor, and I want them to keep talking after the program,” De Jesús-Cortés says.

The summer school will not just give students a taste of scientific research, it will also show that universities like MIT are within their reach. “I was born and raised in Puerto Rico, and my schools didn't have the best resources in STEM,” De Jesús-Cortés says. He hopes that, by seeing researchers in Greater Boston that have the same background, the summer students will see MIT and a career in science as a possibility. “Students need to be exposed to mentors and role models that prove that it can be done,” he says.

Fixing vision

De Jesús-Cortés works on the summer school, and his other efforts for Puerto Rico and the Latino community, in addition to his neuroscience research. As a postdoc in the lab of Mark Bear, the Picower Professor of Neuroscience, he’s trying to use electrophysiology to figure out when neurons in the brain need a little help to communicate.
 
Neurons communicate with one another using both chemical and electrical activity. An action potential, which is electrical, travels down the arms of the neuron, but when it reaches the end of that arm, the synapse, the communication becomes chemical. The electrical signal stimulates the release of neurotransmitters, which reach across the gap between two neurons, stimulating the neighboring neuron to make its own action potential.
Not every neuron is equally capable of producing action potentials. “In a neurodegenerative disorder, before the neuron dies, it’s sick,” says De Jesús-Cortés. “And if it’s sick, it’s not going to communicate electrically very well.” De Jesús-Cortés wants to use this diminished electrical activity as a biomarker for disorders in the brain. “If I can detect that diminished activity with an electrode, then I can intervene with a pharmacological agent that will prevent the death of neurons,” he explains.

To test this, De Jesús-Cortés is focusing on amblyopia, a condition more commonly known as lazy eye. Lazy eye happens when the communication between the visual cortex — a region in the back of the brain where visual information is received and processed — and one of the eyes is impaired, resulting in blurred vision. Electrical activity in the visual cortex that corresponds to the lazy eye is also down, and De Jesús-Cortés can detect that decreased activity using electrodes.  

When amblyopia is caught early on, a combination of surgery and an eye patch can strengthen the once-lazy eye, getting rid of the blurriness. “But, if you catch that condition after 8 years old, the patching doesn’t work as well,” says De Jesús-Cortés. Another postdoc in the Bear Lab, Ming-fai Fong, figured out that tetrodotoxin, which is found in puffer fish, is able to reboot the lazy eye, bringing up electrical activity in the visual cortex and giving mice with amblyopia perfect vision mere hours after receiving a drop of the toxin.

But we don’t actually know how tetrodotoxin is doing this on a molecular level. “Now, putting tetrodotoxin in humans will be a little bit difficult,” says De Jesús-Cortés. Add too much toxin and you could cause a number of new problems. He is investigating what exactly the toxin is doing to sick neurons. Using that information, he then wants to design alternative treatments that have the same or even better effect: “Find neurons that are quiet because they are sick, and reboot them with a pharmacological agent,” he says.

In the future, De Jesús-Cortés wants to look beyond the visual cortex, at other regions of the brain and other conditions like Parkinson, Alzheimer’s, and autism, finding the hurting neurons and giving them a boost.
In both his neuroscience research and his work for Puerto Rico, De Jesús-Cortés is passionate about finding ways to help. But he has also learned that for all these efforts to succeed, he needs to accept help as well. “When you are working on so many projects at the same time, you need a lot of different people that believe in your vision,” he says. “And if you’re helping them, you believe in their vision.” For De Jesús-Cortés, this reciprocity is one of the most important aspects of his work, and it’s a guiding principle in his research and life. “I believe in collaboration like nothing else."

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Teenagers take photo with Black boy and title it, ‘A Ghetto Christmas Carol’

A Black Louisiana mom is questioning why two white high school students took a picture holding her five-year-old child and uploaded it to Instagram under the caption “A Ghetto Christmas Carol.”

KTBS reports the recent incident happened at Byrd High School. Sharon Martin, of Shreveport, said her family was attending a recent Christmas event at the school and was later shocked when she saw the offensive photo caption.

READ MORE: Black Christmas: Kelly Rowland, Ray J, Lala Anthony and more star in holiday films

“Really? Ghetto?” Martin said in an interview with the station. “Why? Because he’s black?”

“I don’t know if they were trying to be funny or what,” Martin added in the KTBS interview. “I don’t get it. Like why would they just write that? They could have left the ghetto part out and I would have been probably okay with it.”

The young boy’s cousin, Danny Martin, also questioned the rationale behind the caption.

“He’s five years old. He doesn’t know what’s going on. He doesn’t know what’s being said,” Danny Martin told the station. “He doesn’t know about all the comments, posts on social media. He doesn’t know that. So it’s my job as his cousin to protect him from seeing that and also to protect any other child that’s affected by this that’s been happening anywhere in Shreveport.”

Sharon Martin said she never gave the school consent to take pictures of her son and had actually instructed them not to – a double whammy in her book.

“I don’t want my kids on any of that,” Martin said, referring to social media. “They’re not old enough to speak for themselves so, no.”

The photo has since been removed from IG, however, the mother of the teenager who posted the caption told KTBS, in a statement, that she is sorry for her son’s actions. The station did not reveal the identity of the mom or her son.

“Our son was referring to the title of a song that is popular among teens,” the mother reportedly says in the statement. “He had no intention of being malicious or hurtful to anyone, especially the child photographed, whom he has already written a letter to apologizing for the whole incident. Although he did not intend to be hurtful toward anyone, his father and I feel that some counseling regarding cultural sensitivity is warranted.”

READ MORE: Lynched Black Barbie found at Chicago high school sparks probe, soul searching

The Caddo Parish School Board also released a statement on the incident.

“The administration of Byrd was made aware of the post and immediately took action, contacting the parents of the student and the student,” the statement read. “The post has been taken down. Caddo Schools does not condone and strongly opposes the comments made by the student. While we cannot speak to individual student disciplinary actions, administration has addressed the situation.”

The post Teenagers take photo with Black boy and title it, ‘A Ghetto Christmas Carol’ appeared first on theGrio.

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Kamille ‘Cupcake’ McKinney’s remains show the toddler was drugged

Kamille “Cupcake” McKinney, the three-year-old girl who was kidnapped and murdered in Birmingham, Alabama, was also drugged. An autopsy has found the girl had methamphetamine and Trazodone in the girl’s remains.

A preliminary hearing in the case was held Tuesday in a Jefferson County courtroom for Patrick Devone Stallworth, 39, one of two suspects charged in the capital murder case. The other suspect charged is Stallworth’s girlfriend, 29-year-old Derick Irisha Brown. Brown’s preliminary hearing will take place on Friday, according to AL.com.

READ MORE: Officials release 3-year-old Kamille ‘Cupcake’ McKinney/s cause of death

Stallworth’s defense attorneys, Derrick Collins and Roderick Walls, said Brown was solely responsible for Kamille’s abduction and murder and said Stallworth initially lied to detectives because he was trying to protect her, reported AL.com.

On the day she was abducted, Kamille attended a birthday party and was last seen by a 10-year-old boy who told detectives that the young girl got into a vehicle with Stallworth and Brown. “She was crying,” Homicide Detective Jonathan Ross testified the boy told him, according to AL.com.

Ross testified that Brown led police to Kamille’s body inside of a dumpster at Parkway Villas. The dumpster was examined by FBI agents and Kamille’s remains were discovered on Oct. 22. The Jefferson County Coroner’s Office performed the autopsy, which found Kamille died from asphyxiation by suffocation. The autopsy also found toxic levels of methamphetamine and Trazodone inside the young girl’s body, AL.com reported.

Ross detailed the chain of events leading to McKinney’s murder to Circuit Judge Clyde Jones, including information that Stallworth had purchased nearly $20 in candy from a Shell station before he was reportedly seen talking to some children in a housing development.

Ross said that Stallworth’s phone records show he was at Tom Brown Village at the time of Kamille’s abduction, and that he also had a prescription for Trazodone. Ross said Stallworth also stopped by a convenience store close to his house on the same night to buy a pill for erectile dysfunction and an energy drink.

While at the housing development, Stallworth and Brown reportedly started chatting with two preteen girls who had just left cheerleading practice. The couple was sitting in a blue SUV, Ross told the court during Stallworth’s preliminary hearing. One of those girls told police that Stallworth said that he was “looking for a girl that looks like you,” before offering to give them candy. The 11-year-old said the woman in the SUV was “dark-skinned” and “chunky.”

The girls sensed something wasn’t right and left. Security video captures the incident, however, it wasn’t close enough to get a picture of the suspects.
Other kids also told police a man driving a blue SUV was handing out candy in the community.

READ MORE: Body of missing Alabama girl, Kamille ‘Cupcake’ McKinney, found; 2 being charged

Judge Jones determined there was enough probable cause against Stallworth to proceed in sending the capital murder case to a grand jury for possible indictment. If Stallworth and Brown are ultimately convicted of capital murder, they face the death penalty.

The post Kamille ‘Cupcake’ McKinney’s remains show the toddler was drugged appeared first on theGrio.

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Ford Partners with HBCUs to Bring the Ford F-150 Truck To Campuses

When it comes to contributing to the education of students attending historically black colleges and universities, some companies just make a donation, which is cool, but, for the likes of Ford Motor, they are actually involved in doing more than just giving money.

I had the opportunity to actually see and experience what goes on when a corporate company commits to an HBCU. The tour made stops at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, Memphis, Tennessee, for the Southern Heritage Classic, the annual rivalry between Jackson State University and Tennessee State University; Panther Stadium at Blackshear Field, Prairie View, Texas, for the Prairie View A&M University Homecoming, where the Panthers took on the Dragons of Virginia University of Lynchburg; and the final stop at O’Kelly-Riddick Stadium, Durham, North Carolina, for the North Carolina Central University Homecoming, where the Eagles went up against the Spartans of Norfolk State University.

I attended the homecoming for North Carolina Central University, where southern hospitality was definitely in full effect. I witnessed and even participated in ‘car karaoke’ but done in a Ford F-150 and there were numerous interactive games people enjoyed and giveaways including Ford ultimate tailgate prize package where someone received a Ford-branded package complete with two padded lounge chairs, two tumblers, and a 45-quart cooler.

For nearly 15 years, Ford has donated more than $2 million to support the Tom Joyner Foundation and continues to do so. “Through its support of the Tom Joyner Foundation, the Ford Motor Company has changed the lives of countless families,” says Tom Joyner. “The scholarship dollars provided by Ford have helped students graduate from HBCUs, relieving them and their families of financial burden and allowing them to pursue careers, especially in the STEAM fields.” For every ride & drive at the homecoming game, Ford donated $20 to the Tom Joyner Foundation.

Related: 5-Year-Old Drummer Receives Full Band Scholarship To HBCU

We attended a brunch where NCCU’s Tymia Atkinson (a junior Social Work major who plans on attending law school to specialize in sexual and domestic violence law after graduating) received Ford’s 2019 Community Service Leader Award and we viewed an “Ode to the Builders” commercial spot, filmed at the Ford River Rouge plant, that was narrated by Angela Bassett. The brunch was hosted by 97.5 radio personality SHOWTIME.

I got the opportunity to speak to Dibrie Guerrero, who is the multicultural marketing manager for Ford Motor Co.

Why is investing in HBCUs an important initiative for Ford Motor Co.?

“Ford Motor Co. touches the lives of people everywhere; globally we are known for making and selling the most technologically advanced, reliable and fun-to-drive vehicles in the world, but we are also dedicated to driving human progress not only through the freedom of movement but within our communities. Education is the foundation for success. It is key to making lives better, creating social change and building strong communities and HBCU’s provide an environment that prepares future generations toward contributing to their communities, builds confidence and gives them the skills they need to cultivate a career. At Ford, we are all about working toward the future together.”

Is there anything you’d like to add about the partnership between the HBCUs and Ford?

“Driven by the F-150 HBCU Truck Tour, our partnership with HBCUs is deep and longstanding. Providing our platform to further educate the world on the importance of HBCUs and the importance of building a strong foundation for a strong future is what continues to drive that passion within us. We believe in leadership and pride and we couldn’t be any prouder than always supporting HBCUs, it’s what makes us Built Ford Proud.”

“Homecoming and ‘classic season’ is the best time to celebrate the history and traditions of our historically black colleges and universities,” Guerrero also states. “Ford is proud to support historically black colleges and universities through this fall’s F-150 Truck Tour.”

Read more about the great work being done at HBCUs.

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Jada Pinkett Smith and Willow talk 2014 investigation on their family

The Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services opened up an investigation into Will and Jada Pinkett Smith’s family in 2014 after a photograph surfaced online of then 14-year-old Willow Smith lying on a bed with 20-year-old actor Moisés Arias.

The revelation came during a Dec. 10 episode of Red Table Talk where Pinkett Smith, her mom, Adrienne Banfield Norris, and Willow allowed viewers to call in with their burning questions and declared “no topic is off-limits.” When one caller asked if Willow ever felt like she needed to protect her parents from false rumors in the press, both she and Banfield Norris said “yeah” and later Willow went into what set the DCFS investigation into motion.

READ MORE: Jada Pinkett Smith says Willow has had to check Will Smith for misinformed comments

“I think it started with that whole Moises thing,” said Willow, who is now 19. “We took a picture and Moises had his shirt off.”

Jada elaborated. “The boys (Moisés and his brother Mateo) basically lived with us, so they’re like her brothers. These boys are always in this house with their shirts off.”

Although Willow says “there was no sexual intonation in that picture whatsoever,” agents wanted to delve deeper. Willow blames the backlash that the photo caused on her being a young Black girl.

“I find that other celebrities, females who aren’t black, who are younger and who do post things that are way more sexual than that, they don’t get any backlash,” she explained. “That said a lot.”

Jada agreed. She said the incident made her “furious” not just because it involved her children, but that “it was just one of those blatant moments when you realize the difference” in how people perceive black skin versus white.

Jada said Willow treated the DCFS investigation “like, ‘Whatever.’ That’s how they treated it. Her and Jaden both, and there was nothing Will and I could do. We were just like, please chill out. And they were like, ‘No. This is stupid and it’s ridiculous.’”

Willow said when the agent dropped in she gave her the stare-down.

“I was looking at the lady, and the whole time I was thinking, you could be helping so many kids right now and you’re wasting your time with a child who has everything that they need,” Willow said on Red Table Talk.

One of the rumors investigators heard was that Jada and Will were starving Willow, so Willow decided to walk into the DCFS interview at 2 p.m. that day with a bowl of cereal and pretend like it was all she had eaten so far that day.

READ MORE: Jada and Will Smith had marital challenges similar to T.I. and Tiny Harris

The family laughs now at the memory of that crazy time, but Jada said they all took away some important lessons.

“That was the moment that I feel like we really locked up together as a family,” Jada said. “The kids got to see for the first time why Will and I had been so protective, be careful who you talk to, be careful who you hang with, watch yourself because people try to hurt you.” And Will and Jada got to see the “soldiers” in their kids.

The post Jada Pinkett Smith and Willow talk 2014 investigation on their family appeared first on theGrio.

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Kehinde Wiley’s Statue of African American Man Unveiled in Response to Confederate Monuments in Richmond

On Tuesday, Dec.10, Kehinde Wiley’s “Rumors of War” statue was permanently installed at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) and unveiled to the public in Richmond, Virginia. Thousands of people were gathered on the grounds of VMFA and in the streets for an unveiling that has the potential to transform the identity of Richmond.

The event kicked off with a performance by Richmond’s All-City High School Marching Band and included remarks by a group of dignitaries including Virginia Governor Ralph Northam and Mayor Levar Stoney in addition to leaders from the VMFA.

“This is a historic moment for all of us,” says Alex Nyerges, director of the VMFA, during his opening remarks. “It’s a positive moment as we think about the inspiration art brings to the world.

Related: Why Investing in Black Women’s Art is a Power Move

Standing more than 27 feet high, the statue represents a young, African American male with dreadlocks and Nike shoes sitting astride a horse. Wiley was inspired to create the statue in direct response to the Confederate statues that are seen along Monument Avenue in Richmond. The statue is modeled after the 15-foot tall equestrian bronze statue of Cavalry Commander Gen. J.E.B. Stuart who is seen striking a heroic pose on a horse that has its right foot raised. It’s one of the most animated statues on Monument Drive. Wiley was determined to create an image of an African American male that defied traditional stereotypes of worthlessness.

“A black man on a horse in all of its regal splendor has never been seen before on this scale,” says Dr. Monroe Hall, VMFA’s president of the Board of Trustees, as he addressed the crowd. “It says that no matter what your background…you are important.”

New-York based artist Kehinde Wiley is best known for painting the portrait of former President Barack Obama that hangs in the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. His work explores the politics of race, representation, gender, and power. Minutes before the unveiling, Wiley shared what this moment means for the future of society.

“I want this picture to be not about an individual but rather about black men and their place in society in a much broader way,” says Wiley as the crowd clapped and cheered him on. “It’s about a society that can include all of us.”

Wiley continues, “I don’t want this to be a boy story. I want all of our young women to feel just as engendered to the power this sculpture represents as well. I think that what this represents is not just a story about race or gender but about openness. It’s a story about America 2.0.

Related: Diddy Pays $21 Million for Painting By Black Artist: Here are 9 Tips On Collecting Art for Average Folks

2019 marks a turning point in the narrative for the state that was the former capital of the Confederacy. Richmond commemorates the 400th year anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans to Virginia and embraces a shift in the winds going forward.

“This monument firmly establishes that our city is not living in the past,” says Mayor Levar Stoney of Richmond, VA. “Today Richmond is embracing a future that is happening right before our eyes.”

Everyone who visits Richmond will have the opportunity to get a glimpse of the evolution of the city through this statue as well as enjoy the resources that BLK RVA has put together to celebrate black culture.

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First Basketball Africa League Combine Was Held in Brooklyn, New York

According to the NBA, there is a new professional league The Basketball Africa League (BAL), which will feature 12 teams from across Africa and scheduled to begin playing in March 2020. This past week they held the first BAL Combine in Brooklyn, New York.

The two-day scouting event featured 50 aspiring players from across Africa, the United States, and other parts of the world. The BAL Combine took place last week at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) Training Center, the Brooklyn Nets official practice facility, in Brooklyn, New York.

Each of the 12 teams that are playing in the upcoming inaugural season of the BAL will have up to 16 players (12 active and four inactive), at minimum, eight of the players will be citizens of their teams’ home country and up to four can be from other countries, with no more than two players per team from outside of Africa.

“Our goal is to establish the Basketball Africa League as a destination for top players with U.S. college, G League and international experience,” said BAL President Amadou Gallo Fall. “Our first BAL Combine will provide teams with the opportunity to evaluate a deeper pool of talent as they fortify their rosters ahead of our first season, which tips off in four months.”

Related: Patrick Rishe Thinks The NBA Should Cut Schedule to 68 Games

The first BAL regular season is scheduled to take place in Cairo (Egypt), Dakar (Senegal), Lagos (Nigeria), Luanda (Angola), Rabat (Morocco) and Monastir (Tunisia). The first BAL Finals will be held in Kigali (Rwanda). NIKE and Jordan Brand will be the exclusive on-court outfitter of the new professional league.

The NBA and FIBA have plans to provide financial support and resources toward the development of Africa’s basketball ecosystem, including training for players, coaches and referees, and an investment toward the infrastructure.

The announcement about the NBA and FIBA’s launch of the BAL, which marks the NBA’s first collaboration with a league outside of North America, was initially made at the NBA All-Star 2019 Africa Luncheon in Charlotte on Saturday, Feb. 16.

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Lauren London Collaborates with Puma to Create the ‘Forever Stronger’ Collection

According to USA Today, actress Lauren London has collaborated with Puma to release her own collection, PUMA x Lauren London “Forever Stronger.”

The collaboration with the sportswear company honors the love and legacy of Ermias Joseph Asghedom aka Nipsey Hussle, who was murdered in front of his Marathon Clothing store, located in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Los Angeles on March 31, 2019.

London began her career by appearing in music videos and later starting acting in movies and television. Her first movie role was in ATL, where she played the character of Erin “New New” Garnett in 2006 and was nominated at the Black Movie Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role. She also appeared in Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family in 2011. From 2013- 2015, she was a series regular for the comedy-drama, The Game playing the character of Kiera Whitaker.

In a YouTube video released by London, the caption reads, “Lauren London is proud to join forces with PUMA to support her on this next chapter of her journey. This piece was a creative vision Lauren wanted to bring to life to signify the continuation of her marathon alongside PUMA. Forever Stronger.”

The death of popular rapper Nipsey Hussle shocked the world; family and fans still mourn his death. On Sept. 5, Puma released the collection the slain rapper was working with the clothing company on at the time of his death. In a greater show of support for the rapper’s work, The Marathon Continues Collection sold out in a day on Puma’s website.

In November, it was announced that the late legend is up for multiple Grammys for Best Rap Performance, Best Rap/Sung Performance, and Best Rap Song for his tracks “Racks In The Middle” and “Higher” with DJ Khaled and John Legend.

There has been no announced release date for the PUMA x Lauren London “Forever Stronger” collection.

 

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Black Queen Magic: Miss Universe & Miss USA are now roommates

Last week, Miss South Africa, Zozibini Tunzi, was crowned 2019’s Miss Universe, making it the first time in history that Miss USA, Miss America, Miss Teen USA and now Miss Universe have all been Black women. Now it appears two of the queens from this list have now become roommates!

According to Because of Them We Can, newly crowned Tunzi, and Miss USA 2019, Cheslie Kryst, took to social media to celebrate their new living situation and fans couldn’t get enough of their supportive excitement.

READ MORE: WATCH – Miss USA 2019 has words for strangers who keep touching her hair

“Congrats to our new Miss Universe, @zozitunzi!!!! You represented us with class and grace and humility and I’m thrilled that I can call you a sister and, now, ROOMMATE!! Swipe for a little #BGM because, you guessed it, Miss Universe, Miss USA, Miss Teen USA, and Miss America are all women of color!!!!!!!” wrote Kryst.

Although South Africa has won this title twice before, Tunzi is the first Black South African in history to be honored with the crown. The excited duo even noted their similar outfits, exclaiming, “Ya’ll we’ve already started matching, this is only day one!”

READ MORE: Mathew Knowles says Beyonce and Kelly Rowland were ‘harassed’ as teens by Jagged Edge members

“Tonight a door was opened and I could not be more grateful to have been the one to have walked through it. May every little girl who witnessed this moment forever believe in the power of her dreams and may they see their faces reflected in mine,” Tunzi wrote on Instagram.

“This moment is historic for our organizations, and we congratulate the Miss Universe Organization on their newest team member,” Mallory Hagan, a Miss America Organization communications representative told Insider, echoing her sentiments. “We believe that representation matters and that seeing smart, diverse, community-driven women of color serving as brand spokespeople for national organizations will broaden the dreams and possibilities of young women, no matter their race, around the world.”

READ MORE: Issa Rae partners to open massive new Inglewood coffee space

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Duo de choc @zozitunzi @chesliekryst ✨ ~ #missusa #missuniverse #misssouthafrica

A post shared by COMPTE ACTUALITÉ SUR LES MISS (@fan_miss_france_univers) on Dec 11, 2019 at 9:43am PST

View this post on Instagram

Tonight a door was opened and I could not be more grateful to have been the one to have walked through it. May every little girl who witnessed this moment forever believe in the power of her dreams and may they see their faces reflected in mine. I proudly state my name Zozibini Tunzi, Miss Universe 2019!

A post shared by Zozibini Tunzi (@zozitunzi) on Dec 8, 2019 at 10:25pm PST

 

 

The post Black Queen Magic: Miss Universe & Miss USA are now roommates appeared first on theGrio.

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Lauren London creates moving video with Puma to honor Nipsey Hussle

Lauren London has partnered with Puma to release a moving video dedicated to her longtime love, Nipsey Hussle.

“There is nothing to hide here,” London’s voice reads in the narration of her new “Forever Strong” video, quoting from a poem written by Nip’s sister, Samantha Smith. “No way to pretend. We relate, we disagree, we disengage. We are running into each other. We are the song that writes itself. The melody replays in the key of elevated living. We forget the words, we never forget the feeling. Glory and divinity conduct our symphony.”

READ MORE: Judge denies motion to drop suspect’s charges in Nipsey Hussle murder

London’s Puma campaign, which was unveiled on Tuesday, pays tribute to Hussle and his legacy. Hussle, 33, was murdered in front of his Marathon Clothing store on March 31.

Nipsey was an ambassador for Puma before he died. As part of that partnership, Puma dropped the PUMA x TMC Collection in September, which Nipsey designed with Puma. Profits from the collection went to the rapper’s Neighborhood “Nip” Foundation, according to USA Today.

London, 35, is continuing the marathon with the company. She was captured in the beautiful video walking around Crenshaw and Slauson, where Nipsey was from, reciting the poem from Smith. “Pain is the light, pain is insight. The body hurts but the spirit grows. The flesh is starving while wisdom overflows. I got a question only Lord knows: Does life birth us twice?”

Puma called the video a “creative vision” that London brought to the sporting apparel company that continues Hussle’s legacy.

READ MORE: Nipsey Hussle’s family granted guardianship of daughter, Lauren London of son

“Lauren London is proud to join forces with PUMA to support her on this next chapter of her journey,” Puma said in words that accompanied the video. “This piece was a creative vision Lauren wanted to bring to life to signify the continuation of her marathon alongside PUMA. Forever Stronger.”

In the video, which was directed by Danny Williams, Lauren proudly displays the ink of Nipsey she had tatted on her right forearm.

The post Lauren London creates moving video with Puma to honor Nipsey Hussle appeared first on theGrio.

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Polling site reopened in rural, Black community thanks to grassroots effort

It took two years but the unified, grassroots efforts of one predominantly Black community in a rural Georgia county caused an elections board to reopen a polling site that officials shut down in 2017.

Black residents of Hazlehurst, Georgia realized that under a Trump presidency, they couldn’t count on the federal government to intervene when the polling site was closed in 2017, so they mobilized and circulated petitions to the Jeff Davis County elections board while advocacy groups threatened lawsuits and packed election board meetings. In the end, the effort paid off, according to NBC News.

READ MORE: Voter suppression: Officials in Georgia county try to shut down Black voting sites

Eventually, the Jeff Davis County elections board reconsidered and reopened the site that is used by most of the Black residents in Hazlehurst, a town located roughly an hour and a half’s drive from Savannah. Many of these residents say they have voted at the polling site for years and couldn’t understand when it closed two years ago and they were reassigned to another polling site that wasn’t as close by during the heat of the hotly contested Georgia gubernatorial contest.

“We couldn’t understand or see why the poll was closed,” Helen Allen told NBC News.

Allen, who is 67, told the station that she had voted at the station for nearly 40 years and that elderly residents, like herself, were concerned that they would no longer be able to get to the new polling site.

Allen said residents talked “about the hardship and how they didn’t want to go all the way across town,” she told NBC.

What happened in Hazlehurst is what has happened, and is happening, at hundreds of polling sites in Black communities across the country. What is unique is the mobilization of advocacy groups and residents that all but forced the elections board’s hand.

In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that Georgia and other states didn’t have to abide by the Voting Rights Act of 1965’s condition that before they shutter a polling site, they had to demonstrate to the federal government that the change wasn’t discriminatory in nature.

READ MORE: Files expose how North Carolina Republican systematically stopped Black people from voting

Julie Houk, managing counsel for election protection for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said when election boards shutter polling sites in disadvantaged communities, it essentially creates a barrier to voting.

“We’ve seen that happen in Georgia time and time again where it’s the minority voter community who are more disadvantaged by these poll closures than anyone else, and that raises serious concerns,” Houk told NBC.

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