HBCU College Grad Gets 30-year Prison Sentence 6 Days After Graduation

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Olivia Moody, 21, from Chicago graduated from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. Six days later she went to jail to begin a 30-year prison sentence for second-degree murder.

Life changed in an instant for the honor student who worked her way out of Chicago’s crime-ridden Roseland neighborhood to become the first in her immediate family to graduate from college.

In May, less than a week after she received a degree in criminal justice from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, a jury convicted her of killing a 21-year-old mother of two after a senseless altercation over a young man.

Moody claims that she had been bullied by a group of women from the neighborhood and that the shooting was self-defense. The jury decided it was second-degree murder.

Now the young woman born to a prostitute and crack addict who abandoned her at the hospital after birth, a young woman who believed that education would be her ticket “out of the ghetto,” is serving a 30-year sentence in an Arkansas prison.

Read more here

Spelman parent vows to stop support after being locked out of graduation

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Melvin Cox spent more than $1,400 in airfare and accommodations to attend his daughter’s graduation at Spelman College, which took place on Sunday at 3 p.m, but was denied entry and missed out on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Now he vows to stop financially supporting the University.

Watch the video above

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Tuskegee opens new building for agriculture and science

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ribbon-cutting

Tuskegee University recently opened its first science building in 80 years.

The James Henry Meriwether Henderson Hall Agricultural Life Science Teaching, Extension and Research Building will provide labs for teaching introductory courses in animal, plant, soil, and environmental sciences as well as biology and chemistry, according to the school website.

Tuskegee University President Gilbert L. Rochon said the building pays homage to the past and the University’s continuing effort to promote agricultural studies and to improve agribusiness in Alabama’s Black Belt region.

“Although this new facility will house state-of-the-art laboratories and classrooms, it is rooted in the legacy of this institution,” said Rochon.

Read more here

About Tuskegee:

Founded in a one room shanty where thirty adults represented the first class – Dr. Booker T. Washington the first teacher, Tuskegee University is an independent and state-related institution of higher education since 1881. 

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New crowdfunding website BlackStartup.com is brain child of Morehouse Alumni

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As a Morehouse, Berkeley and Harvard-educated man, a world of opportunities has been available to Nathan Bennett Fleming. Instead of starting his career by working on Wall Street or for some prestigious law firm, Fleming and five other partners decided to take a different path.

They are the co-founders of BlackStartup.com, which is a crowdfunding platform for ideas, projects, and causes connected to the African-American community.

Crowdfunding sites, the most famous of which is Kickstarter, allow people to use the power of networks to raise money using online tools for almost any type of project imaginable. Empowering the black community to pool its resources can help African-Americans channel some of its nearly trillion-dollar yearly spending power into sustaining black businesses.

Creating access for black businesses

“Access to resources and capital have been traditional problems to the African-American entrepreneurial community,” Fleming told theGrio. “Crowdfunding is a new technology that democratizes and expands access to capital. We haven’t seen that tool leveraged in a way that creates a significant value proposition in the black community. BlackStartup is an idea to address what we like to call the ‘black entrepreneurial gap,’ which is the fact that black entrepreneurs start businesses at a higher rate than non-minority groups, but we lag behind in owning sustainable operational businesses. Lack of capital is a main reason behind this lag.”

Fleming continued, “BlackStartup also solves the problem of social networks and social interaction. There is a lack of interaction with individuals and institutions that can help fund our businesses. This includes high net worth individuals, angel investors, and venture funds. Furthermore, access to education are causal factors behind the black entrepreneurial gap. On BlackStartup, we will have a knowledge center and will also incorporate a mentorship aspect in the site.”

The potential social impact of solving the undercapitalization of black businesses is what drew Fleming, who has a public policy degree from Harvard and a law degree from University of California, Berkeley, to entrepreneurship.

Full article at thegrio.com

Class of 2013: Your Degree Doesn’t Mean Squat

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Simply having a college degree will not get you hired. We need to break away from this idea. In all reality, most employers could care less about your GPA or where you went to school.

Today, getting hired in entry-level positions requires experience and fine-tuned skills, not a 4.0 GPA. This probably isn’t what most new grads want to hear, but it’s the truth.

Many new college graduates enter their job search with a why-wouldn’t-someone-hire-me mindset. But most employers aren’t going to take on an entry-level hire unless they’re certain they’ll positively impact the company.

So the real question for new graduates to consider is this: What can you bring to the table that makes you worth hiring?

Here’s some food for thought for those entering the workforce:

1. Your degree isn’t a golden ticket. We need to put an end to the “silver spoon complex.” Simply obtaining a degree may only help you out if you’re planning to go the corporate route, where companies have more time and money to invest in training programs. But at my company, I don’t even know which of my employees has a degree or not–it makes no difference to me. I care more about the impact my employees have on my company.

I’d much rather hire someone who has been freelancing as a web developer for three years than someone who has a master’s degree in computer science. They’re bound to be more passionate, driven, and profitable in the long run, as they know what it takes to impact the bottom line.

2. It’s all about experience. I started my company Ciplex when I was 17. Throughout college I ran my business on the side, in addition to working in my college IT department. Today, undertaking one internship isn’t enough to prove your experience to employers. The reason so many college graduates can’t find work is because they lack experience.

One simple way to get more experience within your industry is by taking on freelance work and contracting gigs. These types of experiences will help you learn and grow while developing a sense of independence, responsibility, and drive. All of these traits are highly attractive to employers.

Read more here

About the author:

Ilya Pozin is the founder of Ciplex and a Columnist for Inc, Forbes & LinkedIn. He is listed as one of the “30 Coolest Entrepreneurs Under 30.”

Murder Trial Beginning A Year After VSU Killing

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A little more than a year after a shooting left a Petersburg man dead and a Virginia State University student wounded just off campus, VSU student Ryan Christopher Simms will go on trial today on charges he killed a man in a drug rip-off scheme that went terribly wrong.

The jury trial, which is scheduled to last four days, comes as the VSU community is still grappling with the aftermath of the April 20 deaths of two VSU students who drowned trying to cross the Appomattox River as part of a social club initiation rite.

Nearly 40 witnesses have been subpoenaed to testify at the Simms trial, including a man who was initially charged in the incident. Simms faces charges of first-degree murder, malicious wounding and using a firearm in the commission of a felony in the incident on April 17, 2012.

Simms, who was 19 at the time, is accused of fatally shooting Tyrail H. Hughes, a 2012 graduate of Petersburg High School, after Hughes — waving a gun — confronted Simms and several young men with him, believing they had helped rob him of an ounce of marijuana he was selling for $425, according to testimony at Simms’ preliminary hearing last summer.

Read full article

Why ‘so-so’ students should drop college to pick up plumber trade

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If you are a underachiever in your studies, maybe you ought to skip college and become a plumber instead.

Well at least that is what billionaire and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg advised ‘so-so’ students to do in order to avoid expensive college fees.

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Daily Mail:

New Yorkers are used to Mayor Bloomberg trying to nanny them with laws about soda sizes and smoking but now the billionaire has taken to dishing out career advice.

Speaking on his weekly radio show on Friday, Bloomberg suggested that ‘so-so’ students might want to consider going to trade school and becoming a plumber as a better economic bet than obtaining an expensive undergraduate degree.

‘The people who are going to have the biggest problem are college graduates who aren’t rocket scientists, if you will, not at the top of their class,’ he said.

‘Compare a plumber to going to Harvard College – being a plumber, actually for the average person, probably would be a better deal.’

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Mayor Bloomberg has a point. Who wants to stack up on student loan debt when you can pick up a trade like plumbing or a position in the department store industry?

The average amount of student loan debt for the Class of 2011 was $26,600, and the median expected salary for a typical plumber position in the United States is around $40,00–give or take things like location and experience.

So installing and repairing your own waste disposal system to keep the house tidy is not too shabby over having Sallie Mae as a long-term pimp after graduation, right?

PHOTO: Rain Rain Go Away

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Some students wore ponchos to avoid the rain at Morehouse College. Others were just happy to graduate.
Some students wore ponchos to avoid the rain today at Morehouse College. Others were just happy to graduate.

After four (five, six, etc.) years of college, students at Morehouse College had to tackle one more obstacle at graduation today: the rain.

President Barack Obama, who address the historically black college as Commencement speaker, jokingly told students the unavoidable truth.

“I also have to say you all are going to get wet,” Obama said at graduation.

“I would be out there with you if I could. But Secret Service gets nervous, so I’m going to have to stay here, dry. But know that I’m with you in spirit.”

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Obama Morehouse Speech: President Talks Good Deeds, Race & Manhood At 2013 Commencement

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President Barack Obama at Morehouse College.
President Barack Obama at Morehouse College.

BY DARLENE SUPERVILLE, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

President Barack Obama, in a soaring commencement address on work, sacrifice and opportunity, told graduates of Morehouse College Sunday to seize the power of their example as black men graduating from college and use it to improve people’s lives.

Noting the Atlanta school’s mission to cultivate, not just educate, good men, Obama said graduates should not be so eager to join the chase for wealth and material things, but instead should remember where they came from and not “take your degree and get a fancy job and nice house and nice car and never look back.”

“So yes, go get that law degree. But if you do, ask yourself if the only option is to defend the rich and powerful, or if you can also find time to defend the powerless,” Obama declared. “Sure, go get your MBA, or start that business, we need black businesses out there. But ask yourself what broader purpose your business might serve, in putting people to work, or transforming a neighborhood.”

“The most successful CEOs I know didn’t start out intent on making money – rather, they had a vision of how their product or service would change things, and the money followed,” he said.

For those headed to medical school, Obama said “make sure you heal folks in underserved communities who really need it, too.” He asked those headed to law school to think about defending the poor.

Read more here

About Morehouse:

The only all male historically black institution of higher learning in the United States, Morehouse College is a private, all-male, liberal arts, historically black college located in Atlanta, Georgia.

WATCH: FOTUS Michelle Obama speaks at Bowie State

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Michelle Obama spoke to 600 graduates and thousands of family, friends and supporters at Bowie State University in Maryland on Friday.

FOTUS Obama reminded students in her 21-minute address of struggles blacks faced in the past and the importance of personal responsibility.

“Today, more than 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, more than 50 years after the end of Separate But Equal, when it comes to getting an education too many of our young people just can’t be bothered,” she said.

“Today instead of walking miles every day to school they’re sitting on couches for hours playing video games, watching TV instead of dreaming of being a teacher or lawyer or business leader they’re fantasizing about being a baller or a rapper.”

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HBCU campus queens need your vote

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LU_jbItl1gA

Did you vote for your HBCU campus queen for a chance to be featured in the September issue of Ebony magazine?

The Ebony Campus Queens program honors young women who are role models on and off campus, inspires others to be extraordinary at their work, and embraces their individual beauty–letting the world know black girls rock.

If you want to see you HBCU campus queen win, you have to put in the work, too. The top 10 winners will be this year’s Ebony queens.

(Take a look at past year winners.)

Click here to view and find out more information on the contenders.

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Dr. Dre, business partner give $70M to PWI

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drdre-power106It is nothing but California Love for record producer, rapper and entrepreneur Dr. Dre and his next business move.

Dr. Dre along with longtime friend and business partner Jimmy lovine have donated $70 million to create a new institute at the University of Southern California, according to school officials on Tuesday night.

The Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation will enroll 25 students in the fall of 2014, giving students access to “cutting-edge technology and machinery for the purpose of envisioning and rendering new products, new technologies, art forms and modes, or models, of doing business.”

The Hip-hop mogul, who originally found fame with rap group N.W.A. and his 1992 solo debut The Chronic, is featured in articles like the USA Today and The Los Angeles Times for his good deed, but that is not stopping critics in the black community to speak out.

“Gotta [sic] process this,” said Dillard University President Walter M. Kimbrough, better known as ‘Hip Hop Prez’ on social meida, after discovering the news of the business deal.

Rapper Scarface took to Twitter and told followers “HBCU’s could have really used some of that $70 million,” after also commenting on O.J. Simpson attempt to seek retrial. “I’m just saying,” Scarface added using the # symbol.

One other Twitter user said Let’s be forreal do you honestly think Dr. Dre would give $70 million to a HBCU?

But honestly, with USC’s already $3.3-billion endowment, it is hard not to scratch your head on why Dre invested so much money to a predominately white institutions over a historically black one.

Tell us what you think and comment below.

Follow Tommy Meade on Twitter @tommymeade_

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The Home Depot Awards HBCU Oakwood University With $50,000 Makeover

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Many of the 106 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are in need of major renovations in order to remain competitive and attract top talent. The Home Depot recognized this need, and responded by providing help through a campus-improvement grant program called Retool Your School.

This program, now in its fourth year, provides aid to help historically black colleges and universities upgrade their campuses and facilities. This year, 14 black colleges and universities received a total of $195,000 in grant money. A total of 67 schools participated.

The grand-prize winner is Hunstville, Alabama-based Oakwood University, taking home a $50,000 Tier I grant. The funds will go toward the construction of an outdoor recreational facility, complete with kitchen appliances, fireplaces, and a grill. The school will also use grant funds to cover the costs of installing sprinkler systems for their softball and football fields, as well as re-seeding the fields. Another top winner in this year’s competition, Texas-based Knoxville College, received a $25,000 Campus Pride Grant.

Joy and surprise are two words that best sum up how many in the Oakwood community felt when they received the good news.

“When my cousin called me and said we won, I said “‘you’re joking!’” exclaims Lucy Cort, Oakwood’s proposal development specialist. Cort worked tirelessly to develop the grant proposal that won the top prize.

Last year’s grand prize went to Lincoln University of Pennsylvania. The school used the Tier I Grant of $50,000 to renovate the entryway of Lincoln Hall.

Read more here

Cleveland hero Charles Ramsey is former HBCU student

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcLSI3oyqhs

Charles Ramsey, a local dishwasher in Cleveland, Ohio who helped rescue three woman and a girl from captivity, once attended Central State University for one semester in the fall of 1989.

According to University officials, Ramsey is said to have taken classes like health, mathematics and student orientation as a freshman student at Central State in 1989.

“The university applauds Mr. Ramsey for his courageous efforts to save those young women,” Central State spokeswoman Dr. Gayle Barge said Monday.

Ramsey has since turned into an internet meme after his original account of how he saved the women reached 7 million views on YouTube.

“They keep saying I’m a hero,” said Ramsey when he spoke to Cleveland’s NBC affiliate Tuesday. “Let me tell you something — I’m an American, and I’m a human being.”

“I’m just like you. I work for a living. There was a woman in distress, so why turn your back on that?”

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Random act of kindness sends Howard student back to school

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corey1“If my story doesn’t show that you can do anything in life I don’t know what else does,” said Howard University student Corey Arvinger.

Last Monday Arvinger was busy replying to mentions on his Twitter account where news that mtvU and SALT, a free resource that helps college students and recent alumni take charge of their finances, payed off his debt and got him back to school.

There was a snafu plot before this random act of kindness however. Arvinger owed Howard $14,000 and was placed in a muddled situation that temporarily halted his college education.

Determined not to fall through the cracks, Arvinger worked at Kay Jewelers, coached JV basketball at his old high school and started fundraising by asking “4,000 people to contribute $4” to help him raise money for tuition.

“It wasn’t easy,” Arvinger said on his campaign website 4For1400 about reaching his goal to return back to school.

With a father absent at home Arvinger said his mother taught him and his sister, who also attends college, how to be a fighter and to never give up.

“I owe my mom everything. My mom is my number one supporter,” said Arvinger on his mother Miriam Arvinger. “Growing up in a single parent home she was all I had. I don’t know what I would do without her. She’s amazing.”

Arvinger said he and his mother did not get approve for a loan that ultimately forced him out of school. Arvinger maybe one of many students who had to abandon school because of a PLUS loan problem on HBCU campuses across the nation last year.

But with a sense of confidence on his future Arvinger said he is just happy to be back at “The Best HBCU” Howard.

“Don’t give up. Anything you want to do in life you can do and with God in your corner there is nothing you can’t do,” Arvinger said as advice to other students in similar situations. “All things are possible. Don’t wait for people to help you.”

Click here to watch Corey Arvinger mtvU video

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WATCH: Bill Clinton speaks at Howard University graduation

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Former President Bill Clinton delivered the Commencement address at Howard University on the Upper Quadrangle of the main campus just hours ago.

“Try to do something that will make you happy,” Clinton said to hundreds of graduates from the historically black university.