Performers Rehearse For Kwanzaa Festival

Members of the Creative Outlet Dance Theatre of Brooklyn perform during a press preview of the “Kwanzaa 2004: We Are Family” festival at the American Museum of Natural History December 22, 2004 in New York City. The festival will take place December 26 and will include traditional African dance, spoken word, drumming and live musical performances.

Kwanzaa is a unique African American celebration with focus on the traditional African values of family, community responsibility, commerce, and self-improvement.

(Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Fat Joe Donates 20 Hip-e Computers To His Grammar School

Recording artist Fat Joe (aka Joseph Cartagena) and students pose in the multimedia room in P.S. 146 in the Bronx after donating 20 Hip-e computers December 21, 2004 in New York City. The multimedia room was also renamed after Joe’s late sister Lisa Cartagena who passed away during childbirth.

Fat Joe rose to fame from a string of recent hits which includes the Hip Hop anthem of the year – “Lean Back”. Fat Joe can also be seen in Def Jam Fight For New York, a video game in which he stars (virtually) with a host of other heavy hip hop recording artists.

(Photo by Fernando Leon/Getty Images)

Kwame Jackson Is Still On The Scene

Kwame Jackson from “The Apprentice 1″ takes part in a Trader Monthly photo shoot with models in front of Trinity Church December 20, 2004 in New York City.

Kwame was a runner up on Donald Trump’s hit show “The Apprentice”. He earned a B.S. in Business Administration from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and MBA from Harvard. He is also a member of Kappa Alpha Psi, a professional and social fraternal organization for high acheiving African American men.

On The Web: http://www.kwamejackson.com

(Photo by Paul Hawthorne/Getty Images)

Nelly and Jermaine Dupri Give Kids A Happier Christmas

Rapper Cornell “Nelly” Haynes Jr. (L) and producer Jermaine Dupri of So So Def, give away toys to underpriviledged children at a community center December 16, 2004 in Atlanta, Georgia. Nelly and Dupri collectively purchase approximately $10,000 worth of Christmas toys for donation. Other sponsors donated additional toys and pizza for more than 1,200 needy children.

Nelly is currently set to appear in the upcoming movie ‘The Longest Yard’ starring Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, and Burt Reynolds.

Jermaine Dupri was recently tapped by legend Quincy Jones to create an updated version of “We Are The World”. Dupri expects to coordinate the effort on the same night as the Grammy Awards.

(Photo by Erik S. Lesser/Getty Images)

Eva Is America’s Next Top Model

America’s Next Top Model winner Eva Pigford arrives at the Finale Party for UPN’s “America’s Next Top Model” on December 15, 2004 at The Ivar in Hollywood, California.

Eva was rewarded with a $100,000 contract with CoverGirl, a spread in Elle magazine and a contract with Ford Models.

Her win makes her the first ethnic model to win the popular reality show contest.

(Photo by Matthew Simmons/Getty Images)

Christopher & Dana Reeve Paralysis Resource Center Announces Actor Daryl ‘Chill’ Mitchell to Be Spokesperson

The Christopher & Dana Reeve Paralysis Resource Center (PRC) announced that actor Daryl “Chill” Mitchell has agreed to serve as a spokesperson for the Center and its recently-launched Minority Communities Outreach Campaign.

“As a paraplegic, I have first-hand knowledge of the challenges faced daily by people living with paralysis,” said Chill. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned since my accident, it’s that you need to use every resource available to you, to continue with your life. I particularly want to encourage African-Americans and those living in minority communities to improve their quality of life by using the PRC’s services.”

“Chill was close to Christopher, and is still a good friend of Dana, and the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation,” said Joe Canose, Director of the PRC. “As a spokesperson for the PRC, his lively personality and indomitable spirit will surely be an inspiration to the millions of Americans living with paralysis.”

Chill first came to the public’s attention as a member of the rap group Groove B. Chill. In 1990, the rappers were cast in the feature film “House Party”, which led to the start of Chill’s acting career. Some of his films include “Galaxy Quest”, “Lucky Numbers”, “Black Knight”, and Disney’s “The Country Bears.” On television, Chill has appeared on “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” and “Law & Order”, and has been a series regular on “The John Larroquette Show” and “Veronica’s Closet.”

Chill was injured in a motorcycle accident in November 2001, which left him paralyzed from the waist down. Soon after rehabilitation, Chill went back to work and was seen as a regular on the NBC series “Ed.”

The Minority Communities Outreach Campaign is a new public awareness initiative of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Paralysis Resource Center (PRC), a program of the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, formed through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This campaign aims to increase awareness of, and access to, the PRC and its services among the Hispanic, African-American, Asian-American/Pacific Islander and Native American communities in the United States, and to promote informed health care decisions and active and independent living among these minority groups, thus positively impacting their quality of life. The PRC provides information services to people and their families nationwide who are living with paralysis. For more information on the PRC, please visit
http://www.paralysis.org.

BellSouth is One of ‘America’s Top Corporations for Multicultural Business Opportunities’

BellSouth Corporation (NYSE: BLS) has been selected one of “America’s Top Organizations for Multicultural Business Opportunities 2004.” This is the third straight year that BellSouth has made the list.

BellSouth is ranked 6th, making it the highest-ranking telecommunications company on the list. Also known as the Div 50, this fifth annual listing produced by DiversityBusiness.com, ranks top corporations for promoting business opportunities for woman- and minority owned firms. In 2002, BellSouth debuted at #29 and last year, moved up to #10.

“We are extremely proud to again receive this recognition,” said Tim Houghton, BellSouth vice president and chief procurement executive. DiversityBusiness.com solicited over 350,000 minority and woman entrepreneurs for this poll. The voting business owners based their decisions on such factors as the volume, consistency, and quality of business opportunities granted to women and minority-owned companies.

“It makes us especially proud to know that we received this honor as a result of a voting process by business owners,” Houghton added.

The development of minority-, woman-, and disabled veteran owned business enterprises (MWDVBE) is a major piece of BellSouth’s overall inclusion and diversity strategy. The corporation’s supplier diversity program was initiated in 1984 to ensure that it included small, minority and woman owned businesses in the procurement process. Between 2000 and 2003, BellSouth spent over $2 billion with MWDVBE suppliers, who saw their “market share” of the company’s procurement budget increase by 82%.

“BellSouth believes that fostering MWDVBE suppliers helps build prosperous communities, which in turn, helps build a stronger BellSouth,” said BellSouth Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer Valencia Adams.

BellSouth and the other winning companies will be honored at a special awards ceremony at DiversityBusiness.com’s 5th Annual Multicultural Business Conference, taking place March 30 – April 1, 2005 at the Foxwoods Resort in Mashantucket, Connecticut.

BellSouth has received numerous awards this year in the area of supplier diversity including Corporation of the Year in Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi; Executive of the Year in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi; and the Crystal award in Georgia. These were all honors awarded by affiliate councils of the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC). Deberah Stone, corporate supplier diversity manager, was honored as national MBE Coordinator of the Year by the NMSDC. BellSouth also received the Corporation of the Year and Advocate of the Year awards from the Georgia Women’s Business Council.

For more information on supplier diversity at BellSouth,
visit http://www.bellsouth.com/suppliers.

Hip Hop Slang Among Latest Additions to The Oxford English Dictionary

When the members of the Philological Society of London began the project they called A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles in 1857, they appealed to the English-speaking public for help in identifying the earliest usage of new words. Today that book is known as the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary, and Oxford lexicographers continue to cite new usage from a variety of sources-including rap songs by Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, McDonald’s commercials, and Rolling Stone. On December 9, 2004 a new sense of the noun “Benjamin” became one of more than 2,000 new and revised entries that were added to the online edition of The Oxford English Dictionary (http://www.OED.com). The new entry, which features illustrative quotations from The New Yorker and GQ Magazine as well as the song One More Chance, written by Sean Combs and performed by The Notorious
B.I.G.:

Benjamin, n.(4)
U.S. slang.

A one-hundred-dollar bill. Also more generally (in pl.): large sums of money.

“For most of the last century, African-American vernacular has been the driving force in American slang,” explains Jesse Sheidlower, Principal North American Editor of the Oxford English Dictionary. “We put in words that have currency. If the word is slang, it doesn’t matter. If that word is being used, our responsibility is to put it in.” This is reflected in the new entries for such informal or slang terms as crack ho, hoochie, fanfic, po’ boy, beat down, hairy eyeball, and Joe Schmo.

Users of The Oxford English Dictionary Online may rest assured that it is free from spyware (”software that enables information to be gathered covertly about a person’s computer activities, passwords”), although that definition has been added in this latest quarterly update.

A complete list of the new words and their definitions is available online at http://www.oed.com/help/updates/latest-additions.html

Hey Hey Hey – Fat Albert Premieres

Cast members of “Fat Albert” (L-R) Aaron Frazier, Kyla Pratt, Alphonso McAuley, Shedrack Anderson, Kenan Thompson, Keith Robinson, Dania Ramirez, and Jermaine Williams arrived at the Philadelphia Premiere of Fat Albert at the Liacouras Center of Temple University on December 12, 2004 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Premiering on CBS in 1972, the Emmy nominated “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids” aired for 12 consecutive years, earning its place as one of the longest-running Saturday morning programs in television history. The series chronicled a group of young friends growing up in a Philadelphia neighborhood. In “Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids,” real-life situations were adapted into impactful educational cartoons which humorously explored a wide array of adolescent issues, from family problems to drug addiction. The series first aired in September 1972 and signed off in August 1984.

A dvd and collectors set is also being released to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the landmark characters’ first television broadcast.

Click Here To See More Pics From The Premiere

(Photo by William Thomas Cain/Getty Images)

Alicia Keys And Other Celebrities Turn Out To “Keep A Child Alive”

Lenny Kravitz, Anthony Hamilton, Carina Pasan, Alicia Keys, Babyface, President and CEO of Keep A Child Alive Leigh Blake-Sebastian, Common, Creative Director, Diffa Anneliese Estrada and Mos Def pose backstage at “The Pusher’s Ball” to benefit the “Keep A Child Alive” charity at The Angel Orensanz Foundation Center for the Arts December 1, 2004 in New York City.

The Angel Orensanz Foundation for the Arts was established in 1992 by a group of artists who were inspired by the work of sculptor Angel Orensanz.

In a short period of time it has affirmed itself as a strong anchor of the visual and performing arts in New York. (Source: Official Website)

(Photo by Peter Kramer/Getty Images)
On The Net: http://www.orensanz.org

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