Latest news with #MorrisBrownCollege
Black America Web
4 days ago
- Business
- Black America Web
HBCUs Offer Help To Students Affected By Potential Job Corps Closure
Source: Artit_Wongpradu / Getty Job Corps is a government-run program providing low-income and at-risk youth with skills training, housing, and meals, preparing them to enter the workforce and improve their lot in life. Many of these at-risk students were left with no place to go and few options to continue their skills training when the Department of Labor attempted to shut down the program and close all centers in May. There's still hope on the horizon as several HBCUs have stepped up nationwide to assist students affected by the attempted closure. HBCUs such as Morris Brown College in Atlanta have opened their doors to students affected by the potential closure of Job Corps. 'The situation at Job Corps touched me intimately,' Morris Brown College President Dr. Kevin James told Atlanta's Channel 2 News. 'My first job out of college was teaching at Job Corps. I have first-hand experience of how important Job Corps is.' James sent a letter to Job Corps asking students to enroll at the school so they can continue their education. 'We'll sit down with them to talk to them about what their goals and dreams are, and maybe even walk them through considerations of different skills. Here at Morris Brown College, we want them to know that they're not alone,' Dr. James told Channel 2. He added that counselors will help guide potential students through the financial aid process and answer any questions they may have. Morris Brown College is only one of several schools that have offered to help Job Corps students continue their education. Arkansas-based HBCU Shorter College also stepped up to provide opportunities for students affected by the potential closure. 'It started with a small group of five. Now we're up to about 18 to 20 students,' Shorter College president Jeffery Norfleet told KARK. 'We are able to have financial aid, and we want to see them to the finish line with a degree.' While former Job Corps students were able to enroll at Shorter College, it was donations from the Little Rock community that provided the students with food and shelter. 'Coming here and knowing we had something to eat, a place to sleep, it's been beyond words,' Samantha Reyes, a Job Corps student enrolled at Shorter, told KARK. Job Corps students faced uncertainty about their future after the Labor Department released a statement in late May announcing the sudden closure of the skills training program by the end of June. The Labor Department cited budget concerns and unsatisfactory outcomes as the reason for the closure. 'Job Corps was created to help young adults build a pathway to a better life through education, training, and community,' Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said in the statement 'However, a startling number of serious incident reports and our in-depth fiscal analysis reveal the program is no longer achieving the intended outcomes that students deserve.' So they have $150 billion to give to the Cheeto Gestapo ICE, but they simply can't find the coins to invest in our country's most vulnerable youth. Got it. The abrupt closure of Job Corps was surprising, as it historically has had bipartisan support. The fact Chavez-DeRemer wrote a letter in support of the organization only last year made the move more confusing. Students enrolled in Job Corps received some relief in June when a federal judge ruled Job Corps must stay open while a lawsuit against the Labor Department over the attempted closure proceeds. The Trump administration, and everyone who voted for it, have made it abundantly clear that anyone who isn't a cisgender, heterosexual, white male is on their own. Times like these are why community is so important. The moves by these HBCUs are proof that even if nobody else got us, we got us. SEE ALSO: Trump Admin Abruptly Closes Job Corps Centers Nationwide Job Corps 'Pause' Is MAGA's Plan To Eliminate Poor Youth SEE ALSO HBCUs Offer Help To Students Affected By Potential Job Corps Closure was originally published on
Miami Herald
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
This muralist paints about power, liberation and love. See his work in Opa-locka
At age 6, Adonis Parker was gifted a drawing pad, two thick number two pencils and crayons. He let his imagination run wild — drawing Black superheros modeled after ones he saw in the Marvel and D.C. comic books. He kept his drawings hidden from his peers, who were mostly white at that time. He was worried they would tease him for creating a universe of heroes. He created a version of Captain America that looked like him. 'I put a Black man in a flag with muscles. I wanted to see me in a place of power,' he told the Herald. These days, his murals adorn walls and buildings all over Miami, including the 'Thunder and Lightning' mural on the side of the OneUnited Bank Building in Liberty City, where his studio is located. His most recent work is an exhibit at the The ARC in Opa-locka titled Still We Rise: The Art of Addonis Parker, where he celebrates Black culture through large-scale murals. The theme borrows from the famous Maya Angelou poem, 'And Still I Rise.' The exhibit, which runs through August 30, encompasses themes of liberation, power, freedom, love and prophecy, he said. One mural, 'My Soul is An Anchor,' features a Black man draped in an American flag underwater with a chain around his neck. Another one, titled 'The Rise and Fall of Mankind,' features a broken Proud Boy statue with a blue-toned Black man wearing an Uncle Sam hat and a chess piece necklace. That piece, Parker said, is meant to symbolize the constraints imposed on Black men. 'He's a king, but he's restricted by the government,' Parker said. 'You've got something special' Born in Avon Park, Fla., Parker was raised in Ashtabula, Ohio, about 60 miles from Cleveland, where he was a shy little boy immersed in his art world. At 12, Parker and his family moved to Central Florida where he faced bullying for his quiet disposition. 'If the teacher asked me to do something on the board, I would almost collapse,' he said. But art was a refuge. 'I could run to art and create my own worlds where I was brave.' To grow out of his shyness, he took up sports to meet people and make friends, but art remained his comfort, and in many ways kept him fed. He told of a time when he would do fellow classmates' assignments in exchange for food. It would earn him an F in art during his freshman year. '[The teacher] found out because the work was looking similar,' he said with a chuckle. Still, she encouraged him to lean into his gifts and pursue it full time, something Parker said he hadn't been personally interested in. But that all changed when he left Brevard County. In 1991, Parker moved to Georgia where he eventually landing at Morris Brown College, which he credits for helping him explore and understand Black history and his own Blackness. While enrolled at Morris Brown College, Parker said he took classes from the late renowned artist Louis Delsarte, who eventually became a mentor. It was Delsarte who told Parker he had raw talent after looking at his sketchbook and encouraged him to pursue art professionally. 'He said, 'Son, I can't teach you anything but technique. You've got something special,'' Parker recalled, crediting his faith for getting him far.. 'I used to say I was self-taught, but really God-taught me.' Parker left Morris Brown before completing a degree in part to take care of his mother who was sick, but he would lay the foundation for a career in art and art education when he became a counselor and eventual program director of the Butler Street YMCA in Atlanta, where he taught children art. When he arrived in South Florida in 2002, he was recruited to work at Miami nonprofit Art for Learning. That's where he met executive director Sheila Womble, who said Parker had a way of showing the youth how art was essential to them beyond the classroom. 'What stood out about Adonis was his passion and heart to communicate with kids and to teach them not just about the techniques and the how-tos, but to really also embed life lessons,' she said. It's that passion that led him to create his nonprofit organization Art Forever Miami, Inc, where he teaches kids about art while incorporating Black history. 'I wanted them to see themselves in art, but also see themselves in the future,' he said. If you go: What: Still We Rise: The Art of Addonis Parker When: Now through Aug. 30 Where: The ARC in Opa-locka, 675 Alib Baba Way Info:
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Morris Brown president offers help to Job Corps students impacted by federal pause
Days after a judge temporarily blocked the Department of Labor's pause on the Job Corps program, the president of Morris Brown College is suggesting that students enroll at the college. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] 'The situation at Job Corps touched me intimately,' Morris Brown College President Dr. Kevin James told Channel 2's Audrey Washington. 'My first job out of college was teaching at Job Corps. I have first-hand experience of how important Job Corps is.' The labor department cited financial issues as one of the main reasons for the pause on all contractor-led Job Corps centers. 'The Job Corps program has been in a financial crisis for years, creating constant uncertainty for participants and administrators,' the US Department said in a statement sent to Channel 2 Action News. TRENDING STORIES: 2 women critically injured after shooting on I-20 Atlanta Public Schools announces new first day of school, 13 new principals Armed robbers target Gwinnett store with baby inches away, police say 'It was just such a crazy thing to see happen and go, all of a sudden,' said Job Corps student Saebra Grannis. Last week, Job Corps filed a restraining order against the government. A judge granted that order. Now, the pause is temporarily blocked. However, James said he is focused on what the students should do next. 'If you've completed your GED or obtained your high school diploma, consider Morris Brown College,' James said. James sent a letter to Job Corps centers asking students to apply to Morris Brown College in order to continue their education and training. 'We'll sit down with them to talk to them about what their goals and dreams are, and maybe even walk them through considerations of different skills. Here at Morris Brown College, we want them to know that they're not alone,' Dr. James explained. James said counselors will be available to help students with financial aid and other questions. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Commencement speaker donates $100K during Morris Brown College ceremony
Morris Brown College held its 2025 commencement ceremony on Saturday. During the ceremony at Saint Philip AME Church in Southeast Atlanta, 59 graduating seniors heard from Bishop Jakes recently announced he's stepping down as senior pastor of his mega-church in Dallas, Texas. 'It was fight that brought you here, fight that brought you through, fight that birthed you from the womb,' Jakes said. 'It was fight that brought you were you are now and that same fight will take you to wherever you are about to go.' Jakes also presented the college with a $100,000 donation. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] TRENDING STORIES: Johns Creek teen cashes over $545K in fake checks to pay lawyer in separate fraud case, police say 4 identified in apparent murder-suicide in southeast GA 3 men dead, others injured after shooting at GA bar [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
