BLACK CONSUMERS SPEND $2.2 BILLION WITH TOYOTA, YET TOYOTA REFUSES TO THANK BLACK CONSUMERS FOR THEIR SUPPORT

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Vol. 39 No. 5 Website: theaustinvillager.com Email: vil3202@aol.com Phone: 512-476-0082 Fax: 512-476-0179 June 17, 2011

The Austin School District will cut energy costs this summer — and save ap-proximately $471,000 — by reducing its days of opera-tion in the month of July. Two cutbacks will occur:

· All schools and offices will be closed one entire week — Monday, July 4, through Friday, July 8.

· All schools and offices will adopt a four-day week for the weeks of

,

Black Publishers

and National Leaders

Unite Behind NNPA

Chairman Bakewell To

Hold Toyota

Account-able

By Jasmyne A. Cannick, NNPA Nat’l Correspondent

WASHINGTON D.C. – Toyota Motor Sales USA ex-ecutives have angered Na-tional Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) Chair-man Danny Bakewell Sr. and

BLACK CONSUMERS SPEND $2.2 BILLION WITH

TOYOTA, YET TOYOTA REFUSES TO THANK BLACK

CONSUMERS FOR THEIR SUPPORT

America’s preeminent Black newspaper publishers after the troubled carmaker backed out of a multi-million dollar advertising campaign targeting Black consumers. In a letter to Mr. Bakewell and the NNPA, Toyota execu-tives said that Black consum-ers of Toyota products re-ceive their advertising mes-sage from a number of media channels which include mainstream media (white media), thus implying that

advertising in the Black news-papers was unnecessary.

This decision comes af-ter months of meetings be-tween Toyota executives and the NNPA, a network of 200 Black publishers which rep-resents over 19.8 million weekly readers, approxi-mately half of America’s Black population.

“This is disappointing and intolerable behavior from a company who earned $2.2 billion from Black consumers last year and who was all too eager to send us their press releases asking us to write stories and editorials to influ-ence Blacks to remain loyal in their time of trouble,” said Chairman Bakewell. “But now that Toyota’s pain has been eased by a Federal Trans-portation Department and NASA report, once again the Black consumer and the Black press have been forgotten.”

Earlier this year, Toyota’s president and CEO, Mr. Toyoda said, “Everyone at Toyota will continuously

maintain a sense of gratitude to customers…”

Mr. Bakewell said, “Based on Toyota’s actions, it appears that Mr. Toyota’s statement applies to everyone but the Black consumer.”

The issue first sur-faced with Toyota’s unwill-ingness to run “Thank you” ads in Black newspapers. This was after Toyota spent millions advertising in white newspapers with me after last year’s safety recall. “Black people stood by Toyota during their time of crisis to the tune of $2.2 bil-lion,” said Mr. Bakewell. “Where is the thank you to Black consumers for their support and loyalty to Toyota? We just can’t stand by and let Toyota disrespect our people that way.”

NNPA publishers plan to run full page ads in their newspapers begin-ning next week in response to what they feel is another example of Toyota sending a clear and direct message

Randi Shade Kathie Tovo

that Toyota disrespects, un-dervalues and takes the Black consumer for granted. The ads will ask Mr. Toyoda, to stop disrespecting and ex-ploiting Black consumers…their customers. “Toyota insulted us by putting those thank you ads in white newspapers and re-fusing to address Black con-sumers in Black newspa-pers,” said Walter Smith, publisher of the New York Beacon.

“What Toyota is doing is irreprehensible,” com-mented Robert Bogle, pub-lisher of the Philadelphia In-quirer. “If it’s so easy for Toyota to dismiss the Black press, no wonder they have no problem overlooking thanking their Black con-sumer base.”

Even though African-Americans contributed $2.2 billion to Toyota’s annual sales, this was the second time that Black newspapers and Black consumers were not included in Toyota’s ad-vertising campaign, the first being Toyota’s immediate re-sponse to its sticky gas pedal defect which resulted in full page newspaper ads in white newspapers in 25 cities.

According to research from leading automotive mar-keting research firm R.L. Polk & Company, Black consumers represent almost 10 percent of Toyota’s American market share, 15 out of every 100 Black consumers purchased a Toyota. (See Toyota Pg 4)

NNPA Chair Danny Bakewell

Toyoda’s President and CEO, Mr. Toyoda

City Council run-off

election set for Saturday

Austin voters will go to the polls Saturday, June 18, 2011 to elect the final member of the Austin City Council. In-cumbent Randi Shade and challenger Kathie Tovo are fac-ing each other agin after nei-ther could get the necessary 50% plus l vote during the regu-lar election on May 14.

Tovo was the top vote getter with 46.55% of the votes while Shade came in with 32.94%., making it necessary for a runoff. That election was

pre set for June 18.

Voters will again have to make a decision between the two candidates. The win-ner of this election will round out the council and will serve a three year term.

Austin City Council members are elected in stag-gered terms, one year apart. This prevents the city from having a complete new coun-cil at any given time. The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday.

One Week Closure and 4-Day Week —

AISD Schools and Offices’ Reduced

July Schedule to Save on Energy Costs

June 27 through July 25. On Monday through Thursday of those weeks, office hours will be 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., and offices will be closed every Friday. Employees will work a 10-hour day on a flexible schedule.

AISD’s regular five-day week will resume on Monday, August 1. Classes for the 2011-2012 school year will begin on Monday, August 22.

The new Austin School District Public Relations and Multicultural Outreach Director Alex Sanchez (right) talks to Seton Family of Hospitals Advocacy and Community Relations Vice President Ashton Cumberbatch, Jr., at a recent gathering of Austin leaders. Sanchez will officially assume duties on July 1. The California native currently directs Denver Public Schools Multicultural Outreach office. Sanchez says he is committed to: strengthen-ing existstrengthen-ing links between parents, community, and AISD; expandstrengthen-ing outreach efforts to disenfranchised communities; welcoming new partnerships; and nurturing existing part-nerships. Austin School District photo.

Celebrate Juneteenth Saturday

When State Rep. Al

Edwards wrote and passed the bill in 1979 making June 19 a state holiday, Texas became the first state in the union to memoralize the reading of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1865 freeing the slaves in Texas. African Ameri-cans have been celebrating that day as a holiday, unoficially, ever since. the Edwards Bill made the holiday an official one in Texs. since that time, many other staes have passed similar legislation. Currently there is a move on to make June 19 a national holiday. LThis year, most cities

will have theeir celebrations on Saturdsy, June 18. The Juneteenth historical parade will

begin at 10 a.m. at comal and Martin Luther King Blvd. andwill end at Rosewood Park, 2300 Rosewood Avenue. The celebration will begin at the park at 12 noon and will last until 9 p.m.

There will be many other activities associated with Juneteenth held around the city. The Historical Commu-nity Program will be held from 1 - 33 p.m. at Doris Miller Au-ditorium. For more infomation about other Juneteenth events ,go to www.juneteenthcen traltexas.com

State Rep. Al Edwards

Another

Juneteenth!

With the 19th of June (Juneteenth) com-ing around again, it is time to focus on the real reason for the holiday.

On June 19, 1865 when the slaves were freed in Texas, our forefa-thers/mothers knew that it was a day that should be celebrated, not on that day, but for the rest of their lives. As a result, it was instilled in their children that it was a holiday that should be revered over all others.

They even gave up celebrating the 4th of July in favor of Juneteenth. The 4th of July was not a day of freedom for them.

When I was a child, my parents would be happy to give up the cel-ebration of the 4th, but, no respecting Black per-son would work on June 19th, even at the threat of being fired. However, most of the Anglo mer-chants understood that and would let them off without any penalty. In fact in the small town of Stamford, Texas, were I spent my formative years, the local merchants would take this opportunity to say thank you to their employees and would even go so far as to sponsor the celebration. We did not have a parade, but we did play games (baseball, bas-ketball) and do whatever else made us happy on that day.

Texas is the only state in the union to made Juneteenth our holiday. The rest of the country tried to celebrate on January 1, Jubilee Day, but it was over shadowed by the New Years celebra-tion. But as Black Texans migrated to other parts of the country, they took the holiday with them. And others caught the spirit. Today, Juneteenth is cel-ebrated in nearly every state in the union and some foreign countries.

The movement has remain so strong that Juneteenth is not being promoted as a National Holiday. Some states have already followed Texas’ lead to make it a state holiday. It will take a lot of effort to get the billed passed, but the efforts will continue.

In the meantime, lets celebrate in Austin. Start by going to the Travis County celebration on Fri-day, June 17 in Woolridge Park Plaza beginning at 11 am and ending at 2 p.m.. The event is sponsored by Judge Sam Biscoe and Commissioner Ron Davis.

HAPPY JUNETEENTH!

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Page 2/THE VILLAGER/June 17, 2011

EDITORIALS/COMMENTARY

Editorial, Commentary or Letter to the Editor Fax to 512.476.0179 Email to vil3202@aol.com Mail to 1223-A Rosewood Avenue, 78702

By George E. Curry NNPA Columnist By Gary L. Flowers

NNPA Columnist

The NAACP is Right: Public Schools Should Be

Supported

Last month, the Na-tional Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)) filed a lawsuit in New York on be-half of students and their parents. In the words of Benjamin Todd Jealous, President and CEO, the lawsuit was filed because “Students are being grossly mistreated, their parents are being deeply disrespected and the en-tire community stands to suffer.” As a member of the Black Leadership Forum, I fully concur with

NAACP’s educational po-sition in New York.

The issue at hand is whether public school stu-dents in New York (and in other jurisdictions” are be-ing treated as “second-class” students to charter school students).

For starters, and con-trary to charter school ad-vocates, public schools are not equal under the law. Public schools receive funding from the public sector (i.e. federal, state, and local government). Conversely, charter schools receive money from private investors, who profit from the suc-cess of schools.

With such a back-drop, charter school stu-dents in New York seem to be favored over public school students who are stigmatized as “regular students.” For example:

• Charter students are placed in public school

buildings causing extreme challenges for space

• Public students must eat lunch at 10:00 a.m. so that charter stu-dents may eat lunch a 12 noon

• Public schools are restricted to four hours of library time compared to seven hours given to char-ter students

• Public students in some New York schools are forced to learn in basement hallways in order to make room for charter students

In addition to the is-sue of imposing charter schools within public schools the New York Pub-lic School system has failed honor the law by in-forming public school par-ents prior to making changes within the school district such as school clo-sures.

I further agree with the NAACP and Benjamin Jealous when he asserts,

“When one set of students is perceived as getting preferential treatment over another, or the city refuses to work with parents to fix problems at a school before closing it, the inequity leaves all our children suf-fering.” Yet, the educa-tional issue in New York is much deeper.

The United States of America has never fully embraced a strong public school system. When pub-lic schools were estab-lished in 1853, the wealthy elite in many instances opposed public schools. After all, their children were educated in private academies.

Over the years, oppo-sition for public schools has never waned. During the Reconstruction Period, following the American

Civil War, public schools were burned and terror-ized by the Ku Klux Klan on their un-Godly view that African Americans should not be educated. In 1954, southern Whites op-posed the racial desegre-gation order of Brown v. Board of Education by cre-ating private academies that only allowed Whites to attend. Twenty-five years later when the Brown ruling was en-forced with mandatory busing of public school students, mass opposition to public schools reared its ugly head in American cit-ies such as Boston, Massa-chusetts when African Americans and Latinos were bused to mostly White school districts. In each historical era, in this nation’s history, public has been under constant attack.

The broader Ameri-can policy question is

whether all students—gardless of race or re-sources—have a right, rather than a privilege to a high quality education. More particularly, the fed-eral government must take a righteous stand against the privatization of public education by 1) Increasing the federal allotment to public education from the current 9 percent; and 2) Enshrining the right to high quality education for all American students in the U.S. Constitution.

As long as privateers pervert public education via charter schools while the federal government stands idly by, and public students and their parents are inferiorly treated, American education sys-tem is in need for remediation.

Gary L. Flowers is the Executive Director & CEO of the Black Leadership Fo-rum, Inc.

Latest Right-Wing Lie: Obama Made the Economy Worse

Give conservatives credit: They have a loud echo chamber. It usually begins with a lie or, at best, a clever distor-tion, and the rest of the right-wing crowd are immediately off to the races. The most recent ex-ample is the assertion that Presi-dent Obama made the economy worse.

That point was ad-vanced in a Wall Street Journal column by Peggy Noonan, a former speech- writer for Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and, briefly, George W. Bush. She is the author of 10 books, includ-ing When Character was Kinclud-ing: A

Story of Ronald Reagan and The Case Against Hillary Clinton.

In her attempt to make a case against Obama, Noonan wrote in the June 3 Wall Street

Journal: “Two years ago I wrote

of Clare Booth Luce’s observa-tion that all presidents have a sentence: ‘He fought to hold the union together and end slavery.’ ‘He brought America through economic collapse and a world war.’ You didn’t have to be told it was Lincoln or FDR. I said that Mr. Obama didn’t understand his sentence. But Republicans think they know it. “Four words: He made it worse. “Obama in-herited collapse, deficits and debt. He inherited a broken po-litical culture. These things weren’t his fault. But through his decisions, he made them all worse.”

Fox, the network that likes to blame all bad things on Obama all the time, was quick to amplify what is certain to be a GOP campaign theme in 2012. Con servative columnist Charles Kraut- hammer said during a June 7 Fox News’

Spe-cial Report with Bret Baier, “…And

I think you can argue strongly that the Obama administration made it worse. In the midterm election last year, the idea that Republicans ran on was that he’s a left liberal. What they’re going to run on in 2012 is he’s a failure. He tried all of this stuff. He promised us we’d get im-provement, and it hasn’t worked. It was a huge Keynesian experi-ment, and it hasn’t panned out.” Bill O’Reilly, host of The

O’Reilly Factor on Fox, argued

Peggy Noonan’s point against resident liberal Alan Colmes [June 7]. O”REILLY: … For you to sit there and say the Obama administration has not made it worse — COLMES: They made it better. O’REILLY: — is for you to just ignore the statistics. Clearly, Bill O’Reilly is the one ignoring the statistics. The nonpartisan Con-gressional Budget Office (CBO), in a report issued last month on the effectiveness of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, noted that President Obama’s economic stimulus plan had

helped local and state govern-ments by raising federal match-ing funds under Medicaid and increased funding for transpor-tation projects. The stimulus pro-gram also provided tax relief for individuals and businesses, in-creased business write-offs and helped people in need by extend-ing and expandextend-ing unemploy-ment benefits as well as increas-ing benefits under the Supple-mental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as the Food Stamps program.

According to the CBO, the stimulus program had the fol-lowing effects in the first quarter of 2011:

· Raised real (inflation-ad-justed) gross domestic product (GDP) between 1.1 percent and 3.1 percent · Lowered the unem-ployment rate between 0.6 per-centage points and 1.8 percent-age points·

Increased the number of people employed between 1.2 million and 3.4 million · Increased the number of full-time equivalent jobs by 1.6

mil-lion to 4.6 milmil-lion compared with what would have hap-pened otherwise The Center on Policy and Budget Priorities, an inde-pendent think tank in Washing-ton, noted that economic activ-ity as measured by inflation-ad-justed gross domestic product (GDP) was contracting when the financial stabilization bill known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and the American Re-covery and Reinvestment Act were enacted. Since then, how-ever, the economy has grown for seven straight quarters.

Media Matters, the watch-dog group, observed: “Econo-mists also agreed that the stimu-lus was effective. A March 2010 study in the Wall Street Journal found that 70 percent of econo-mists surveyed said the stimu-lus ‘boosted growth and miti-gated job losses.’ ABC News re-ported on February 18, 2010, that most of the economists on its panel thought the economy ‘would be worse today without the big aid package.’ And a

Feb-ruary 2010 survey of 203 mem-bers of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) found that ‘eighty-three percent believe that GDP is currently higher than it would have been without the 2009 stimulus pack-age.” Those are the statistics that Bill O’Reilly chooses to ignore. None of this campaign to blame Obama for everything wrong in America should be sur-prising. It is part of a pattern by conservatives: Make up an out-rageous lie – such as the Presi-dent was not born in the United States and is therefore unquali-fied to hold office – keep repeat-ing that lie over and over until a large segment of ill-informed people believe it and even when the lie is proven to be a lie, con-tinue claiming it is the truth while you make up yet another lie.

Perhaps we should send O’Reilly and the folks at Fox News the lyrics to Sunshine Anderson’s

Heard it all Before: “Heard

it all before. All of ya lies…But your lies ain’t working now.

By Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. NNPA Columnist

Hip-Hop Summit Action Network: Decade of

Progress

By. Marc H. Morial NNPA Columnist

Hip-hop is a global cul-tural phenomenon that contin-ues to evolve in many different music and art forms, languages, dialects, and creative formats throughout the world. As we look back over the last 30 years or more, it is important to under-stand that hip-hop continues to help shape the consciousness and aspirational values of hun-dreds of millions of young people. In fact, I would strongly posit that hip-hop as a transcen-dent and transformative cultural force has helped to irreversibly change the world into a better

place.

Young people today in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Eu-rope, South America, the Carib-bean and yes here in North America are less patient with poverty, injustice and the status quo. They want change not only in their poetry and lyrics, but also young people yearn and cry out for a better quality of life now in their lifetime. They are de-manding change, and young people today are making change a socioeconomic and political reality. Just two years ago, it was here in the United States that young voters made the critical difference in the out-come of the election of President Barack H. Obama. No one should ever ignore or forget the fact that it was the unprec-edented youth voter turnout in 2008 in North Carolina, Vir-ginia, Pennsylvania, and in Ohio as well as in the other “swing states” that helped to bring current “political change” to America. Millions of young voters registered and went to the

polls for the first or second time in their lives.

This week marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN). For three days, June 12-14, 2001, inside the New York City Hilton, hip-hop artists from every region of the nation, managers, promoters, recording industry executives, media pub-lishers, civil rights and commu-nity leaders, grassroots activists, academic and spiritual leaders, and members of the U.S. Con-gress all gathered together to par-ticipate in the pivotal and his-toric summit meeting under the theme of “Taking back responsi-bility.”

As a result of the success of the summit, Russell Simmons and I co-founded the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network to har-ness the cultural relevance of hip-hop music to serve as a catalyst for education advocacy and other socioeconomic and politi-cal concerns fundamental to the empowerment of youth. In other words, HSAN was founded to

carry out and to fulfill the com-mitments made at the 2001 sum-mit and to organize and mobi-lize the growing hip-hop con-stituency to be agents and lead-ers for fundamental change in our communities across America.

From 2001 to 2010, HSAN has sponsored more than 75 Hip-Hop Summits in cities in the states of New York, California, Texas, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Louisiana, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., Vir-ginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Missouri, Kansas, Mas-sachusetts, Connecticut, and Mississippi. We also convened Hip-Hop Summits in Toronto, Canada; Kinston, Jamaica; and in Johannesburg, South Africa. HSAN continues to be a non-profit, non-partisan interna-tional coalition of hip-hop art-ists, entertainment industry lead-ers, education advocates, civil

and human rights proponents, and youth leaders united in the belief that hip-hop is an enor-mously influential agent for so-cial change which must be re-sponsibly and proactively uti-lized to fight the war on poverty and injustice.

From Jay Z to Eminem, from Naz to Erykah-Badu, from Beyonce to Master P, from Snoop Dog to Busta Rhymes, from Will Smith to Kanye West, from Dougie Fresh to Foxy Brown, from Jim Jones to Julez Santana, from Chris Brown to Fat Joe, from Tego Calderon to Don Omar, and from Missy Elliot to TI along with more than 300 other artists all of whom gave of their time, energy, money and support to help HSAN make a positive dif-ference. Whether it was “Get Your Vote Right” to “Get Your Money Right” to “Get Your House Right,” or successfully challenging the repressive Rockefeller Drug Laws or rally-ing to restore $300 million to the NYC public school budget, the hip-hop community always rose

to the agenda with direct action and support.

But the best way to cel-ebrate the 10th anniversary of the Hip-Hop Summit Network is to continue to raise more awareness and involvement of young people in every state in the U.S. and in every nation in the global com-munity to demand more “pro-gressive” change. There are strong winds of repression now blowing from those who want to deny the future advancement of humanity. 2012 is fast approach-ing in the United States and the Tea Party is gearing up to take America backward. HSAN along with the Hip-Hop Caucus and other organizations will have to mobilize once again. The Demo-cratic National Committee (DNC) and the Republican National Committee should both be chal-lenged to ensure a large youth voter turnout in 2012. If we have learned anything during the past 10 years, all of us should be will-ing to give more, do more to in-sure freedom, justice, equality, and empowerment for all.

BEEP Prepares African American College

Students for Jobs in Corporate America

Last week, June 8-11, more than 450 attendees, including 132 HBCU students, came to-gether in Orlando, Florida for the National Urban League’s 42nd annual Black Executive

Ex-change Program (BEEP) Lead-ership Conference. BEEP, the National Urban League’s long-est running direct service pro-gram, is a partnership involving the business community, gov-ernment, and non-profit institu-tions which places African American executives in class-rooms at more than 80 HBCUs as visiting professors and role models. The idea behind the program is that by exposing Black college students to African American executive role models and their real-world experi-ences, we can better prepare the next generation for effective cor-porate leadership. The program also provides a unique

oppor-tunity for professionals and cor-porations to give back t their communities while helping Af-rican AmeAf-rican college students achieve their goals.

The theme for this year’s conference was “Jobs, Jobs, Jobs.” With African American unem-ployment at 16.2 percent and the jobless rate for Black teens ap-proaching 40 percent, it is more important than ever to equip young people with the tools for 21st century jobs and effective leadership in whatever field they pursue. Our conference offered three days of workshops,

discus-sions, and networking to help HBCU students both sharpen their job search skills and suc-ceed once they get in the door. Executives and students ex-plored the different aspects of leadership, from communica-tion to vision, from service to ex-cellence and focused on the im-portance of developing the skills needed to be successful corpo-rate executives.

One of the most inspira-tional speakers was Lucas Boyce, whose amazing story of rising from a life of hardship and poverty is chronicled in his new

memoir, “Living Proof: From Foster Care to the White House and the NBA.” Boyce overcame tremendous odds to earn his de-gree from the University of Cen-tral Missouri, serve in the White House and become a major front-office executive with the Orlando Magic basketball team. In his comments at the confer-ence and in his book, Boyce shared, “It is my earnest hope that everyone will come away believing that no matter the cir-cumstance, they, too, can prove that when hard work, determi-nation and grace meet

opportu-nity … anything can happen.” That is what BEEP is all about – giving young people who may come from challenging back-grounds the opportunity to dream big and achieve their goals. As I told those who at-tended the closing awards din-ner, the participation of corpora-tions, their executives in BEEP is an important way to beat back the jobs crisis, especially in ur-ban America. The training, in-ternships, jobs that result from this partnership are making a real difference in the lives of young people. BEEP is a great ex-ample of what America can achieve when we put politics aside and come together.

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JOSHUA CHAPEL CHRISTIAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH

1006 Yeager Lane, Suite 102-A Austin, Texas

Sunday Services

Sunday School 10:00 A.M. Worship Service 11:00 A.M. WEDNESDAY Bible Study 6:30 P.M.

SATURDAY New

Member Assimilation 10:00 A.M.

Agape Baptist Church

In “The Centre” Bldg. F-15 7801 N. Lamar Blvd. (SE Corner of N Lamar and 183)

AGAPE is a chuch for all people. “Where Jesus Christ is Magnified and the love He exhibited is Exemplified.” Come, receive God’s unconditional lovefor you. For there is no greater love!

Church Services

Sunday School 9:30 AM Sunday Worship 11:00 AM

Mid-Week Service

Thursday: Praise, Prayer and Bible Study 7:00 PM Call 454-1547 for Transporation Website www.agapebcaustintx.org

St. Peter’s United Methodist Church 4509 Springdale Road Austin, Tx 78723 Office 512- 926-1686 Fax 512-929-7281 Christian Web Site-stpetersaustintx.ning.com stpetersaustintx@att.net

THE PLACE WHERE WE STEP OUT ON FAITH. COME AND STEP OUT ON FAITH WITH US

Sunday School 8:45 a.m. Praise and Worship 10:15 a.m. Wednesday Bible Study 12:00 p.m. and Praise /Bible Study 6:30 p.m.

(to include Children’s Choir Rehersaland Bible Study with age appropiate Activities)

Rev. Jack C. Gause

Pastor

Imani Community Church

Davis Elementray Auditorium 5214 West Duval Road

Sunday School 9:00 A.M. Worship Service 10:00 A.M. •Power Hour Bible Life Group 6:00 P.M.

Imani Complex & Office,

11800 Mustang at Duval Austin, Texas 78727 Visit:imanichurch.com

Office: 512-343-9300

Rev. Dr. Jacquelyn Donald-Mims

Ebenezer Baptist Church

1010 East 10th Street 512-478-1875 Fax: 512-478-1892

Radio Ministry (KIXI 970 AM 9:00 A.M. TV Ministry (ACTV. Ch 32) 9:00 A.M. Bus Ministry Call 512-478-1875

Sunday Services

Worship Service 8:00 A.M. Sunday School 9:00 A.M. Discipleship Training 10:00 A.M. Worship Service 11:00 A.M.

Wednesday

Midweek Prayer Service 7:00 P.M. Child Development Center Ages 0-5 years (Daily) 512-478-6709

Rev. Marvin C. Griffin

Pastor

Rev. H. Ed Calahan

Pastor

June 17, 2011/The Villager/Page 3

St Annie A.M.E. Church 1711 Newton Street Austin, Texas 78704 Voice mail (512) 444-4509

E-mail: saamechurch@peoplepc.com

Church School 9:30 A.M. Sun Morning Worship 10:45 A.M. Sun

Bible Study 7:30 P.M. Sun. Rev. Derwin D. Gipson, Pastor

AFRICAN ASSEMBLIES of GOD

CHURCH

A growing church ministering to African American and other nationals

Come worship with us

Sunday Worship 11:30 A.M.

Wednesday Prayer Meeting 6:45 P.M. Place of Worship

The Church of Glad Tidings 2700 Northland Dr. Austin, TX 78756 For more information, contact Pastor Jonah Ghartey

512-873-8103 www.allnationschurch@yahoo.com

DOUBLE “R” GROCERY

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2115 E. MLK Blvd.

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www.PHRX.Net

Open Mon-Fri 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. Sat 9 a.m. - Noon

HOSPITAL PHARMACY

Rosewood Avenue Missionary Baptist Church

1820 Rosewood Avenue, Austin, Texas 78702 (512) 476-8201 Fax (512) 476-5693

Weekly Services Sunday School 9:30 a.m. Sunday Worship 11:00 a.m. Wed. Night Bible Fellowship 6:30 p.m.

Rev. Coby Shorter, III Pastor

The Spencer & Ora Lee Nobles “Hope Center” (512) 476-6722

We b s i t e :

www.rosewoodbaptistchurch.org “Divine Enpowerment for Bold Ministries”

Mount Sinai Missionary Baptist Church

5900 Cameron Road Austin, Texas 78723-1843 (512) 451-0808 (512) 302-4575 Fax

Web Site - www.themount.net

WORSHIP SERVICES

Sunday Worship - 7:45 a.m. & 11 a.m. Church School - 9:45 a.m.

Bible Studies - Mon, 6:30 p.m. & Wed., 12 noon Wednesday Night Worship - 7 p.m.

“Ministries For Mankind” Luke 4:18

A.W.. Anthony Mays, Senior Pastor

Rev. Lois Hayes, Pastor

Advancing the Ministry -Expanding the Church

David Chapel

Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Chruch

1701 Chestnut Avenue Austin, TX 78702 Church Phone (512) 476-0838

Morning Worship Service @ 11 a.m. Sundays @ 9:00a.m.- Sunday school Sunday @ 10:00am Bible Study Monday @ 6:30 pm Bible Study Mid-Week Service each Wednesday evening at 6:30 p.m., where there is Prayer, Praising, and Preaching going on. Come and worship with us!!!

Rev. Ralph H. Daniels, Pastor

Nappy Edges

FREE HAIR Relaxers, Styles, Cuts, Braids, Tree Braids, Sewed Weaves and Much More

Call 499-8969 or go to the website:

nappyedgesudu.com

Church news?,

If so, send to vil3202 @ aol

.com or call

476-0082. To have your

church included on this page

just call.

BRAIDER NEEDED

TUNICA, MISSIS-SIPPI (June 9, 2011) — “If you believe, they will come,” is Gary Boyd’s motto. Boyd is the Director of the Believe Crusade organization that will be hosting their national event in Tunica September 1-5, 2011, at Harrah’s Mid-South Convention Center.

”The Believe Cru-sade is a combination of praise and motivational speakers to help families wor-ship together, and the Missis-sippi Family and Friends’ Reunion is to bring people who hail from Mississippi back to Mississippi,” Boyd said.

Events will include: A

golf tournament to raise

money for philanthropy and provide aid to the recent tor-nado victims in the south; a

Day of Giving Back; Nightly

Inspirational Crusade,

Gos-pel Musicals and Worship Services; Saturday afternoon

Car Show; Daily Family

Re-union Picnics with headline entertainment and live music that will benefit area flood vic-tims. All of which will allow families to spend quality time together.

Weekend Chair, Judge

Mabelean Ephriam, FoxTV

-”Divorce Court,” BET Gospel

Top African-American Leaders, Speakers,

Recording Artists and Television Personalities

going to Tunica for The Believe Crusade

Featuring: The Mississippi Family & Friends’

Reunion

Hour’s, Dr. Bobby Jones and Merdean Gales, and Petri Byrd from TV show “Judge Judy” will be joined by reli-gious leaders: Bishop Drew Sheard, Prophet Todd Hall, Elder Shane Perry; Gospel Artists: Lemmie Battle,

Dorinda Clark Cole, Karen Clark-Sheard, Leanne Faine, Melvin Williams, Castro

Coleman & Highly Favored and Tim Rogers & the Fellas; along with R&B Vocalists:

Cherrelle (“I Didn’t Mean to Turn You On” and “Saturday Love”), David Dee (“Goin Fishin”), the Fabulous

Motown Review and others! The Host Pastor and Church for the weekend will be: Pastor Evelyn Hubbard -Commerce Boulevard Chris-tian Church; Host Choir: Tu-nica Gospel Choir; Host Mu-sical Trio: The Voices of Har-mony

Boyd says, “We chose Tunica, Mississippi, and Harrah’s Convention Center in Tunica, because the resort location had the best enter-tainment venues, luxury ac-commodations and event planning services at afford-able rates for groups.”

”We are looking for-ward to hosting this event at Harrah’s Tunica and

wel-coming the Believe Crusade attendees from across the U.S.,” said R. Scott Barber, Harrah’s Mid-South regional president. “This is an historic event for Mississippi, and we will be working to make it the best experience possible for all involved.”

Church leaders and families are encouraged to book rooms and register for the conference now. The Believe Crusade is open to the public and reservations can be made by going to www.The Believe

Crusade.com <http:/www.

TheBelieve Crusade.com> Located 30 minutes south of Memphis, Tunica is

The South’s Casino Capital.

“Live It Up - Just Down the Road” at the nine world-class casinos, 6,000 luxurious hotel rooms, fine dining restaurants and buffets, headline enter-tainers, championship golf and tennis, award-winning museums, lavish spas, and outlet/antique shopping. Come see why everyone is say-ing, “Live It Up - Just Down the Road” in Tunica! Call 1-888-4TUNICA to request a value-packed Winner’s Guide, or visit www.tunicatravel.com

<http://www. tunica travel. com/>; for travel information.

The Pilgrim Rest Primi-tive Baptist Church Of Aus-tin, Texas Celebrates its Ninety-First Anniversary Sunday, June 26, 2011.

SPECIAL GUEST for 11:00 A.M.service is Reverend Shawn Williams, Associate Minister of Mt. Zion Mission-ary Baptist Church Austin, Texas, Reverend G..W. Clark, Pastor.

At 3:30 P.M. Rever-end Richard Carter Senior Pastor, Mt. Olivet Missionary Baptist Church Austin, Texas will be the Guest Speaker.

THEME:

“The Church Prevailing to Restore Unity” Thematic Scriptures: 2 Timothy 2:15, Ephesians4:3, Proverbs 10:11-12 and Psalms 133:1 Sister Jewel S. Bradley- Anni-versary Chairperson Mother Mary Alexander-Church Clerk, Elder William J. Whit-ley, Pastor .

Shiloh Primitive Baptist Church, 385 FM 20, Bastrop, TX., Elder Larry Washington, Pastor, cordially invites each and everyone to their vacation bible school, Monday -Wednesday, June 27th-29th, 6:00pm - 8:00pm nightly.

Theme:”Jesus to the Rescue”

All ages are welcome to attend.

Providence Primitive Baptist District Association will begin their chorus re-hearsal for the annual ses-sion in August.

Everyone is being asked to come out and be a part of the chorus.

The rehearsals will be, Saturday, July 16th, @ 11:00 AM, @ Providence District Tabernacle, 120 North Gaines Road, Cedar Creek, TX.

Saturday, July 23, @ 11:00 AM,@Willie Chapel Primitive Baptist Church, 1906 Chestnut Ave., Austin, TX.

Saturday, July 30, @ 2:00 PM, @ Providence Dis-trict Tabernacle, 120 North Gaines Road, Cedar Creek, TX.

The chorus will be open up on Monday, August 1st, @ 7:00 PM @ Providence District Tabernacle.

For more information contact Deacon Roderick Emanuel @ 512-303-7651.

Chorus

Rehearsals

open to all

for

Association

meeting

Shilo Bible School open to all

For more information contact Sister Doris Howard @ 512-928-3734.

Pilgrim Rest

to observe 91st

Anniversary

The Austin School District will offer tuition-supported prekindergarten classes for four-year-olds for the first time this fall. Children who are four years old on or before September 1, and who do not qualify for ei-ther the Preschool Program for Children with Disabilities or the state-mandated prekindergarten program, are eligible.

The program will offer students a six-hour day of quality educational program-ming led by certified teachers who are specifically trained to work with young children. Tu-ition-supported pre kindergar-ten will be offered at the fol-lowing schools:

Allison, Baldwin, Becker, Boone, Brentwood,

Austin Schools Offer Tuition-Supported

Prekindergarten

Casey, Casis, Davis, Dawson, Govalle, Gullett, Hill, Kocurek, Mills, Odom, Palm, Perez, Ridgetop, Summitt, Sunset Valley, Travis Heights and Zilker.

Parents may choose to send their student to any tu-ition-supported campus in AISD but parents must pro-vide their own transportation if the campus selected is not their designated home school. When applying for the program, parents must bring the child’s official birth certifi-cate, photo identification of the parent/guardian who is enrolling the student, social security card of the child (if available), proof of residency in AISD (such as a current

electric bill or lease), and a cur-rent immunization record signed by a physician.

The annual tuition is $4,656 per student. A $50 non-refundable application fee (payable by check or money order only) will be collected with the application. A $100 non-refundable supply and materials fee will be collected at the time of notification of placement in the program. Par-ents will be notified by June 30 if their student has been placed in the program.

For additional informa-tion about the Austin School District’s prekindergarten pro-gram, parents may call the of-fice of Early Childhood Edu-cation at 414-4790.

Stretch your ad budget! Call 476-0082

(4)

BLACK CONSUMERS SPEND $2.2

BILLION WITH TOYOTA, YET TOYOTA

REFUSES TO THANK BLACK

CONSUMERS FOR THEIR SUPPORT

(fr pag 1)

Page 4/THE VILLAGER/June 17, 2011

Battle of the bands _MYEC

Last week, Toyota’s Vice-President of Product Communications Mr. James Colon left a phone message for Mr. Bakewell instructing him that he planned to reach out directly to NNPA’s publish-ers in an effort to bypass the organization’s leadership and speak directly to the organization’s member news-papers, an unprecedented move which clearly violates protocol.

In an attempt to defend the letter Mike Michels, Toyota spokesperson stated, “We communicate with ad-vertising media directly all of the time, so a communication to a variety of news media one kind or another I don’t think is unusual. The discussion with NNPA chairman and his negotiating team hasn’t had a satisfactory outcome certainly for NNPA. And so the purpose of the communi-cation was to express our commitment to the African-American community and to reiterate that while it’s being said that we don’t have a commitment we do indeed. Long story short, we wanted the members to know our side of the story.”

Mr. Bakewell re-sponded, “I wish him good luck but I don’t think that our publishers will break rank with me, after all we’re smarter than that. That’s what Toyota executives don’t give us credit for. We know all too well the history of the Willie Lynch syndrome to di-vide and conquer.”

Peggy Hunt, publisher of the Tri-County Sentry in California said that she was very offended by Mr. Colon’s suggestion that she break rank and not follow the strong and unwavering leadership of NNPA’s Chairman Mr. Bakewell.

“Mr. Colon wouldn’t and isn’t going to get us to break rank and support Toyota,” commented Hunt. “I was in the meeting when Mr. Colon committed to a partner-ship with NNPA and he has clearly broken his word. For Mr. Colon to then come back to the table with a drastically different proposal offering us less than what we agreed upon while excluding prior conversations regarding an annual advertising schedule with Black newspapers di-rected towards Black con-sumers shows that he and Toyota are taking the Black press for granted.”

“I am not surprised at Toyota’s lack of commit-ment,” commented Walter Smith. “Toyota has a long his-tory of insulting and ignoring African-Americans. In 1985, the Prime Minister of Japan Yasuhiro Nakasone said that Japan was more intelligent than countries like the United States because they didn’t have a lot of Blacks, Puerto

Ricans, and Mexicans. He felt that ethnic minorities were low level and brought the in-telligence quota down, an unforgiveable statement. So what Toyota is doing with the NNPA is of no surprise to me.”

Currently, Toyota’s spends $1.6 billion annually advertising in America of which $20 million is spent in total in Black media, includ-ing radio, print, television, and digital advertising. However, Mr. Bakewell pointed out, the media Toyota uses to reach Black people is not always Black owned even though Toyota claims to spend $20 million with Black owned media.

Burrell Communica-tions, Toyota’s advertising agency of record for the Afri-can-American market has re-peatedly claimed that Toyota’s commitment to di-versity is reflected in their partnerships with many highly respected minority or-ganizations throughout the country.

And while calls to Burrell’s Co-CEO Fay Ferguson were not returned, Toyota’s James Colon was quick to point out in his letter to NNPA’s publishers that through partnerships with Black organizations, Toyota has demonstrated their com-mitment to Black people.

Mr. Bakewell says that given the $2.2 billion spent with by Black consumers with Toyota, he’s issuing a challenge to Toyota regard-ing the amount of money they spend with national Black civil rights organizations in-cluding the NAACP, Rain-bow PUSH, National Action Network, National Urban League, UNCF, NCNW and others. A good start from Toyota would be to give each of these organizations $3 mil-lion annually. They do the business of defending and enhancing the quality of life for African Americans and our communities and they shouldn’t have to do that on a shoestring budget.

Ben Jealous, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Col-ored People said, “The NAACP supports Chairman Bakewell and the NNPA. We hope Toyota will see the value in partnering with the Black press every year. They are our most trusted publications.”

Many of NNPA’s pub-lishers were shocked at the audacity of Toyota to bypass their elected chairman and leader, a move many say il-lustrates the disrespect that Toyota has for African-Ameri-cans.

“It was very disrespect-ful to contact our membership directly and not go through our leadership which he [Mr. Colon] had been in constant contact with,” said Michael

House, Publisher of the Chi-cago Defender and Chair of the NNPA Marketing Com-mittee. “For him to disregard our leadership and our chair-man and try to go to our pub-lishers directly was disre-spectful in the sense that it speaks to the old ‘divide and conquer’. Trying to reach to our membership individually was wrong, especially after our elected leadership had already spoken for our mem-bers.

“NNPA is unified,” commented Mollie Belt, pub-lisher of the Dallas Examiner. “We communicate with 20 million Black people every week. We have the trust and respect of the Black commu-nity. We are the voice of Black people and for Toyota to go around our elected leadership directly to our members shows a huge sign of disre-spect. That would be like NNPA going over Toyota’s American representatives di-rectly to Mr. Toyoda in Ja-pan.”

NNPA chairman Mr. Bakewell says that he plans to call on the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus to request hearings regarding Toyota’s relationship and business practices with the African-American commu-nity.

“And we will attempt to get a meeting with Toyota’s Chairman,” said Mr. Bakewell. “…including going to Japan if necessary.” So if Jim Colon wants to play that game we can play it too. We will ask the Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus to lead a delegation of Black newspaper publishers and leaders to Japan so that we can speak directly to Toyota’s leadership.”

“Black newspapers are tried, true, and trusted when it comes to Black people in America,” commented Mr. Bakewell. “We are the gatekeepers for reaching Black people. Ford and GM understand that, as do other corporations like AT&T and Wells Fargo. When corpora-tions want and need to reach the African-American con-sumer they see Black newspa-pers as the vehicle through which to reach Black people. Toyota needs to stop trivializing the power the of the Black press and under-stand that all we want is for Toyota to give Black people the same kind of respect and reciprocity that they give their white consumers.”

“We will not let up or relent until Toyota does right by our people and I am not alone. I am 200 Black news-paper publishers strong, with the support of 19.8 million weekly readers throughout America, “stated Chairman Bakewell on behalf of the NNPA.

Special Report by Sandra Crenshaw, Austin,

Texas

While sitting in the public hearings of the both the house and the senate, I re-flected on the battle cry of the Republicans while they stood behind their drastic budget cuts to education and health care. “The voters of Texas asked to balance the budget with no new taxes. “ No new taxes has been described as the key philosophical differ-ence that has colored this year’s budget debate. I kept wondering why do the Black and Hispanic population of Texas have to threaten court action to get the fair represen-tation that They ask for. Are we not Texans, too?

The GOP controlled lawmakers adopted a new map that includes four new congressional districts, but not without a fight. The pro-posal brings the total to 36 seats that Texas was awarded due to the massive growth in the Hispanic population. Democrats went to war be-cause the map is short of a South Texas Hispanic dis-tricts, Tarrant County is split among five Republican dis-tricts, creating an Arlington based congressional district and because the most contro-versial proposed central Texas district held by Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin since 1995, was sliced and diced leaving Travis County split among five districts, none anchored in Travis.

Oh, but in a world in which turn around is fair play, did the Democratic law-makers join the voters from throughout the state “slice and dice” the Republicans to the same degree with commit-ments to make good on their threats to take the battle to the

Senator Royce West

Washington.

The plan gives Re-publicans 72% of the 36 dis-tricts when generally only 55% of the 25 million Texans vote Republican. The maps are not lined with the state’s growing diversity, the League of Women Voters testified. Senator Judith Zaffinrini from Laredo grilled the Texas capi-tol lawyers to determine if they had reviewed the map for voting rights act violations, making it obvious that the re-sponses to her legal question would go on the record to present to the Judge.

Dallas lawyer and former state representative, Domingo Garcia was on the hill to speak against the map. Garcia said that North Texas has the largest Hispanic population in the country without an Hispanic con-gressperson. “How is it fair that Anglos make up only 45% of our state population but they control 72% of our population”, Sen. Eddie Lucio, (D-Brownsville) asked. High school students from Austin questioned how were they to get congressional in-ternships when under the proposed map there would be no Austin based congres-sional offices.

North Texas hero,

DEMOCRATS ATTACK STATE

REDISTRICTING MAPS

Senator West Offers “Fair Texas Plan”

Dallas County Senator Royce West offered an alternative “Fair Texas” plan as an amendment. While speaking, Senator West referred to his colleagues as the “red jerseys and the blue jerseys” refer-ring to Democrats and Re-publicans and acknowl-edged that the Republicans had the ball, but politics like football had rules to ensure that the game is fair. West complained that “this is the most closed process I have witnessed. No minorities or Democrats were consulted when the plan was being drafted.” The West amend-ment was tabled.

Sen. Kel Seilger (R-Amarillo) the Republicans chief map maker politely dis-missed the court threats and basically told the angry Texas citizens “Bring it on.” In defense of his map, Selifer responded “It’s going to the courts anyway. The courts have drawn all or part of ev-ery map that we’ve had since 1971. I am confident that this proposed map will sustain all of your legal challenges.” The Senate approved the map 18-12 with same West vote: along party lines

Under the Voting Rights Act, the US Depart-ment of Justice or a Wash-ington, DC federal court panel must review Texas re-districting plans and verify that minority voting is not diluted by the new bound-aries. If the maps are ap-proved by both chambers of the legislature, and then signed by the Governor. Texas must send its propos-als to the Department of Jus-tice for pre-clearance. Again since any Texas citizen can go before the DOJ and op-pose these maps, why can’t we just get justice in Austin?

3rd Annual ProArts Collective

”It

”It’’’’’s a TEA!”honoring

s a TEA!”honoring

Ada Anderson

2011 Boyd Vance Award Recipient for the

Ad-2011 Boyd Vance Award Recipient for the Ad-

2011 Boyd Vance Award Recipient for the

Ad-2011 Boyd Vance Award Recipient for the Ad-

2011 Boyd Vance Award Recipient for the

Ad-vancement of the Arts

vancement of the Arts

vancement of the Arts ~ ~ ~ A Benefit for

Austin Community College Scholarship

Students

Thursday, June 23, 2011

at the historic

Green Pastures Restaurant

811 West Live Oak Street - Austin, Texas

11:30 am to 1:00 pm

Hats are welcomed and encouraged.

By Akwasi Evans

On Saturday, June 18 most of the major annual Juneteenth celebration activ-ity will take place in East Austin. On Sunday, Juneteenth, NOKO is hosting its NOKOA’s Juneteenth Gentrification Bicycle Ride.

Riders will assemble in the parking lot of the Millen-nium Youth Entertainment Center located on the corner of Rosewood and Hargrave. Participants are asked to use the Walnut Street entrance of the campus to park their ve-hicles.

Riders will have to

pro-vide their own bikes and hel-mets for this ride and helhel-mets are required equipment. Bik-ers are asked to assemble in the Millennium parking lot at 8:00 a.m. and the ride will be-gin around 8:15 a.m. The route through Central East Austin will cover approximately five miles and will include a couple of rest stops at historic sites and amazing McMansions. Everyone is welcome to participate and everyone will be reminded to think safety first.

Juneteenth was de-scribed in Wikipedia as “Black people’s 4th_{of July,”}

NOKOA’s Juneteenth Gentrification Ride

and NOKOA can think of no better way to celebrate the free-dom of citizens to live any-where their money allows them than a Juneteenth Gentrification Bicycle ride through historic Central East Austin. If you ride a bike, please come out and join us. You will still have time to make it home, shower with-out missing your favorite pastor’s sermon. To partici-pate in the NOKOA’s Juneteenth Gentrification Ride please email us at akwasievans@gmail.com or call our office at (512) 499-8713.

The Austin School District will hold a community meeting to discuss the fu-ture Performing Arts Center to be lo-cated in the Mueller redevelopment, along Mueller Boulevard between East

51st_{Street and Barbara Jordan} Boule-vard.

The meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 21, at Reagan High School, 7104 Berkman Dr., and will

begin at 6:30 p.m.

In April, the AISD Board of Trustees approved the purchase of land in the Mueller redevelopment for the site of the districtwide Performing Arts Center (PAC). This land acquisition — and the future construction of the PAC — are fully funded through the bond package approved by Austin voters in 2008.

The community is invited to learn about the project, and to provide input on the planning for the PAC at this early stage in the process, including transportation and circulation; design process and site orientation; and ele-ments of connectivity and activity. The meeting structure will likely include a

Community Invited to Share Ideas About New Performing Arts Center

brief presentation followed by breakout tables for group discussions and input. Co-hosting the meeting will be representatives of Catellus, master de-veloper of the Mueller redevelopment project.

(5)

June 17, 2011/The Villager/Page 5

By Shernay Williams Special to the NNPA from the AFRO-American newspapers

It’s a crisis that in 2010, President Barack Obama declared cannot be accepted or ignored—high school dropout rates. Roughly 1.2 million stu-dents renounce school every year, the White House re-ported, and about half of the dropouts are Black or Latino.

O b a m a vowed to pour $900 million worth of grants into states and school districts that undergo sweeping reforms to address the issue, and two alternative public high schools in Balti-more City plan to do just that.

The schools may not have ties to Obama’s grant ini-tiative, but this fall, Reginald F. Lewis and W.E.B. DuBois high schools in East Baltimore are launching a joint, acceler-ated program that will cater to older students that are roughly two or more years behind their peers in academic credits.

The goal is to put the “over-aged and under-cred-ited” students on a faster and more accommodating pace to-ward graduation—offering flexible bell schedules, com-bined classes, and non-tradi-tional classrooms.

“If we do nothing, it’s a high probability that they will drop out,” said Reginald F. Lewis Principal Barney Wil-son, who is working with W.E.B. DuBois Principal Delores Berry Binder on the endeavor.

The school officials have identified 170 students that qualify for the voluntary pro-gram. Earlier this year, Wilson said, the principals were ap-proached by school district leaders to develop an innova-tive plan to encourage stu-dents that are truant or fall-ing behind academically to re-main in school.

“We have to decide as a system to be educational lead-ers or followlead-ers and the city has decided to be leaders,” Wilson said.

THE VILLAGER

HAS MOVED!!

AFTER BEING AT OUR PREVIOUS LOCATION

FOR MORE THAN 25 YEARS, WE HAVE MOVED

TO A NEW LOCATION. OUR NEW ADDRESS IS:

1213 N.I-H 35

(1 BLOCK NORTH OF E. 12

TH

STREET)

THIS IS THE OLD DR. BUD DRYDEN BLDG.

AUSTIN, TX 78702

THE VILLAGER HAS BEEN SERVING THE

AUSTIN COMMUNITY AND SURROUNDING

AREAS SINCE 1973 AND WILL CONTINUE TO

BE LOCATED IN CENTRAL EAST AUSTIN.

ALL OF OUR OTHER INFORMATION WILL

REMAIN THE SAME.

WE INVITE THE COMMUNITY TO STOP IN AND

VISIT US.

FOR INFORMATION AND DIRECTIONS

CALL (512) 476-0082

PUBLISHER T. L. WYATT

AND THE VILLAGER STAFF

LOOK FORWARD TO SERVING THE AUSTIN

COMMUNITY FOR ANOTHER 38 YEARS.

EMPLOYMENT/BIDS/

PROPOSALS/

PUBLIC INFORMATION/

FOR SALE /FOR RENT /MISC

Employment

New Jobs for the Week of 6/10/2011

Specialist, Financial Aid Highland Business Center

Monday- Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. This position may have occasional evening and Saturday hours.

$2,611-$3,264/Monthly Job# 1104027 Technician, Computer Support

Northridge Campus

Tuesday – Friday, 12:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. Saturdays 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

$2,879 - $3,599/Monthly Job# 1106004

Specialist, Media Technology-Part-Time (50%) Highland Business Center

Monday- Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. $1,306-$1,632/Monthly

Job# 1106003

Apply at HR

5930 Middle Fiskville Rd., 6th Floor, Austin, TX 78752 Job Line (512) 223-5621hhtp://www/austincc.ed

EEO/AA/M/F/D/V

Program to Fast Track Students,

Reduce Dropout Rate

High school officials traveled to New York to visit schools with like-minded pro-grams and held focus groups with targeted students and their families to ask what would motivate them to stay in school and earn their di-ploma. The students “over-whelmingly” said they would attend the accelerated pro-gram, Wilson said, if classes were held in a non-traditional setting and were more engag-ing.

“In their hearts, they do want to graduate and they do want to succeed,” he said. “And they have ideas; it’s just that no one ever asked them.” Wilson adds that school officials are serious about considering student in-put for many aspects of the new program including its fu-ture name, mascot, and colors. Accelerated students will take classes in a separate wing of the W.E.B. DuBois and Reginald F. Lewis’s shared school building. Construction for that division is scheduled for this summer.

Instead of a two semes-ter structure with four or six classes at a time, as is custom-ary, accelerated students could have trimester or even five se-mester grading periods and enroll in seven or eight classes at a time.

Classes would also be interdisciplinary; courses such as world literature and history would be combined—not only allowing students to earn more credits, but gain a deeper un-derstanding of the content, of-ficials say.

The classroom structure would also be nontradi-tional—chair rows would be eliminated, students would work in groups more fre-quently and portfolios and projects would be considered as varying means of measur-ing student progress.

Participating students would choose whether to be-gin their school day in the morning or afternoon, giving

them the opportunity to have a set work schedule.

Wilson said it will take “out-of-the-box thinking” to successfully tackle the dropout rate.

“We keep using models that we observed and imitated in our own upbringing with-out taking the time to reinvent and modernize education,” he said. “If what we had in place worked, we wouldn’t have to do this.” Re-searchers say varying factors impede teenagers from earn-ing their diploma includearn-ing the need to work to support their families, fear of walking through troubled neighbor-hoods to get to school, embar-rassment about learning dis-abilities or behavioral prob-lems, and some might even have criminal records and re-strictions on when they can leave their home.

Cameroon E. Miles, founder and director of Mentoring Male Teens in the Hood, who’s worked with young adults at Reginald F. Lewis High School, said that’s why schools can’t approach school with the “one-size-fits-all” mentality.

“Anything the schools can do to help young people get through and get their di-ploma to move on is a positive thing,” Miles said.

He’s pleased, he added, that Reginald F. Lewis and W.E.B. DuBois leaders are working closely with teens to formulate the accelerated pro-gram.

“Too many times we cre-ate a program for young people and we haven’t asked them what they want, especially in the juvenile justice system,” he said. The program is still in the development stages as school of-ficials plan for the fall and search for a program director.

A spokeswoman for the Baltimore City Public School System confirmed the program, and said district leaders will be “putting the finishing touches on it” within the next few weeks.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), today joined Mike Crapo (R-ID), Mike Enzi (R-WY), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Jim Risch (R-ID), and Pat Toomey (R-PA), today to cosponsor Senator Portman’s (R-OH) bill to reduce excessive unfunded government mandates on job creators, giving them greater freedom to invest in their com-panies and hire new workers. “While Washington continues to add thousands of pages of regulations on the backs of America’s job cre-ators, Texas has managed to be a leader when it comes to job creation because of its job-friendly, common-sense regu-latory system,” said Sen. Cornyn. “I’m proud to co-sponsor a bill that helps Washington become more like Texas by curbing government overreach to help clear a path for economic growth across the country.”

“At a time when Ameri-can employers are struggling to expand and grow jobs, the federal government should not be imposing unnecessary costs on the private sector,” said Portman. “With 9.1 per-cent unemployment, we should be pursuing policies that make it easier, not harder to hire. This legislation will help job creators compete glo-bally rather than be held back by stifling government man-dates.”

The new legislation would strengthen the Un-funded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (UMRA), for which Portman was a lead co-spon-sor in the 104th_Congress.

UMRA was a bipartisan effort to prevent Congress and fed-eral regulators from blindly imposing major economic burdens on the private sector and on state, local and tribal

Senators Introduce Legislation to Reduce Onerous

Government Regulations on Job Creators

governments without weigh-ing the costs and benefits.

“The small businesses are the creative engines of job growth and the private sector is where solid economic re-covery begins. For far too long, government regulations and mandates indifferent to economic consequence have stifled entrepreneurship, and this legislation helps promote fuller decision-making and transparency to see how gov-ernment mandates affect job creation,” said Sen. Crapo. “In addition to needed improve-ments to our tax and finan-cial policies, regulatory re-form will help promote job creation and allow our busi-ness leaders to be more com-petitive and dynamic in the marketplace.”

“It is unfortunate that a majority of folks running this country have never run a small business so they don’t understand the harm some rules and regulations can cause,” said Sen. Enzi. “This bill will give small businesses a better chance to succeed by forcing govern-ment agencies to think twice and consider the real world effects before passing down a regulation.”

“With our unemploy-ment topping nine percent, Washington needs to stop pushing more mandates and costs onto the backs of

our nation’s small busi-nesses and job creators,” said Sen. Hatch. “More regula-tions and mandates is the wrong prescription to jump starting our economy. This legislation makes sense and gets Washington out of the way so businesses can get back in the business of hir-ing.”

“Government’s top pri-ority should be the economy and jobs, not creating new layers of bureaucracy. This bill helps accomplish that by ensuring regulations are lim-ited and promote free market-based solutions wherever possible,” said Sen. Risch.

“I am supporting UMRA because limiting costly and burdensome regu-lations will help our economy grow, create jobs, and give small businesses the flexibil-ity they need to thrive,” Sen. Toomey said. “In Pennsylva-nia, many job creators and small businesses are strug-gling under the heavy weight of unnecessary government mandates. This legislation will offer much needed regu-latory relief by encouraging government agencies to con-sider the negative and unin-tended consequences of new regulations.”

Among other mea-sures, the legislation would require agencies to specifi-cally assess the potential ef-fects of new regulation on job creation or job loss; con-sider market-based and non-government alterna-tives to regulation; require agencies to choose the least burdensome regulatory op-tion that achieves the policy goal set out by Congress; extend UMRA to indepen-dent agencies; and permit courts to review an agency’s economic impact analysis under UMRA.

Senator John Cornyn

Travis County, TX — Travis County Commission-ers Court was presented in-formation June 14, 2011 re-garding the imminent threat of wildfire in Travis County. A local disaster declaration is required to prohibit the sale and use of fireworks.

Commissioners Court considered the following items in making their deci-sion:

· June 11, 2011 - Texas Governor Rick Perry renewed his disaster proclamation for the sixth time since it was originally issued on Decem-ber 21, 2010, due to the ex-treme fire hazard that contin-ues to threaten disaster for the people in the State of Texas.

Travis County is listed in the “Exceptional” Drought Category by the US Drought Monitor. Exceptional is the highest category of drought.

· Travis County has been under a burn ban since December 14, 2010.

· Warmer than normal and drier than normal condi-tions are forecast for Travis County in the long term fore-cast. We are entering into what is typically the “dry sea-son” for Travis County.

· April 2011 – Pin-nacle Fire – 100 acre fire de-stroyed 11 homes and dam-aged another 10 in Southwest Travis County.

· June 2011, Lake Travis Fire and Rescue and neighboring fire departments responded to a transformer fire on a utility pole that re-sulted in a brush fire approxi-mately 200 acres in size. The fire was located near Hamilton Pool Park.

· Historical data shows that the number of out-door fires in Travis County increases during the times consumers can purchase fire-works with a spike in the number of fires in the last 24 hours of fireworks sales sea-son. When the vegetation is

dry, the temperature is high, humidity is low and the wind is blowing, the number of out-door fires increases dramati-cally, as was the case in De-cember 2007. During the 2007 December fireworks season there were 623 outdoor fires reported in Travis County. 393 of those fires were re-ported during the last 12 hours of the fireworks season. The continued lack of rain has created conditions that could allow a fire to quickly devastate large areas. The dry vegetation and fre-quent windy days could spread wildfires quickly and make them extremely difficult to extinguish.

Celebrating Indepen-dence Day with fireworks is a long standing tradition in the United States. We as a nation are very proud to be free and independent from foreign control. However, the uncontrolled use of fireworks, in our current and forecast conditions, poses a hazard to the citizens and property of Travis County that is too great a risk to bear.

We would like to thank the public for their under-standing during these ex-treme conditions, and their continued support to protect life and property in Travis County.