The Joliet Junior College Child Development (CDEV) program has received a grant from the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) to strengthen and diversify the early childhood workforce. JJC is the only community college in Illinois to receive this grant, which is funded by the federal Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five initiative, in partnership with the Governor’s Office of Early Childhood Development.
opportunity
Posted inTimes Weekly News
Black, brown people may be hardest hit as Pandemic Unemployment ends
Federal unemployment programs, including Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, came to an end on Sept. 4. All those on unemployment will now receive $300 less in weekly benefits and experts said it will likely hurt Black and brown workers the hardest.
Enhanced UI benefits disproportionately support Black and brown workers who have historically been left behind in recoveries. According to Lindsay Owens, executive director for Groundwork Collaborative, “the historic inequities in the labor market will be laid even more bare” after Monday’s benefits cutoff.
After Labor Day, roughly 7.5 million people lost key pandemic-era unemployment benefits established by the March 2020 CARES Act. Dr. Rakeen Mabud, chief economist at Groundwork, reacted to the impending unemployment cliff with the following statement:
Posted inTimes Weekly News
Federal unemployment benefits end
Federal unemployment programs, including Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, came to an end on Sept. 4. All those on unemployment will now receive $300 less in weekly benefits and experts said it will likely hurt Blacks and brown workers the hardest.
Posted inTimes Weekly News
Rialto Square Theatre awarded $1,426,183 Shuttered Venue Operator's Grant
The Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) program was established to assist eligible organizations; local, regional, and national venues, promoters and producers in the effort to reopen after an unprecedented closure due to the pandemic. SVOG is administered by the SBA’s Office of Disaster Assistance, which includes over $16 billion in grants to shuttered venues.
“The WCMEAA Board would like to thank the City of Joliet for their continued financial support of the Rialto Square Theatre’s operating budget in addition to S.T.A.R. Memberships and patrons. Their support positions us to utilize available funds to address long overdue theatre repair and maintenance as well as one-time capital improvement projects,” said Robert Filotto, WCMEAA Board President.
SVOG funds will be allocated to payroll, utility, insurance, repairs and maintenance, and other operating costs incurred during the pandemic while virtually no event revenues materialized. The Rialto Square Theatre is also facing several long overdue major capital improvement projects, which include:
Posted in#NNPA BlackPress, Black Experience, Black History, Commentary, Community, Featured, National, News, NNPA, NNPA Newswire, Op-Ed, Politics
OP-ED: Grassroots Organizers Should Be Celebrated in Georgia’s 95% Voter Registration Rate
NNPA NEWSWIRE — There is a constant dance Georgia organizers must play to make sure that all who want to vote have a full and fair opportunity to do so. The ever-present reality of voter purging, combined with a looming threat that AVR may not always be an option, means that organizers are working overtime to uphold democracy and make sure that the voices and votes of everyday people are heard.
Posted in#NNPA BlackPress, Black History, Books, Business, Community, Family, Latest News, Lifestyle, National, News, NNPA, NNPA Newswire, Press Room
PRESS ROOM: Whataboutourdaughters? — Encouraging the Celebration of Everyday Icons Through Letters, Unity and Service
NNPA NEWSWIRE — Chantél D. Harris’s advocacy for women includes her support of the national initiative Whataboutourdaughters? The organization advances issues for daughters that are motherless, fatherless, homeless, forgotten, or hurting. Harris lost her mother at a young age and says, “After experiencing the loss of my mother and knowing the emptiness that can come from such a loss, Whataboutourdaughters? mission to help motherless daughters is a cause that is very close to my heart.”
