November 20, 2014
City News Service
The University of Southern California announced on Wednesday November 19, a $100,000-per-year grant for the Los Angeles Police Department’s cadet program, which offers mentorship, volunteer opportunities and leadership lessons to a growing number of young people aged 13-20. USC President C.L. Max Nikias said the school plans to provide the annual support for “many, many years to come.” The grant “speaks to USC’s confidence in these young women and men in our share commitment, along with LAPD, to our community and its youth,” Nikias said.
“These cadets are our future.” LAPD Sgt. Albert Gonzalez said no end date was set for the grant. Assistant Chief Earl Paysinger said the LAPD is “deeply grateful” for USC’s annual commitment, which will help the department “hold to our pledge of allowing cadets to participate and learn free-of-charge.”
The more than 50-year-old program has undergone a “seismic growth” in recent years, Paysinger said, and as a result, “the need for enhanced monetary support to fuel this crusade has never been any greater.”
The program is set to graduate 750 cadets this Saturday, the largest number in its history, during which more than 6,000 young people have participated, he said. There are now cadet posts at all 21 police stations, as well as with the SWAT team, communications and traffic divisions, and airport police force, he said. Paysinger said the program’s “primary objective” is not to “cultivate just police officers,” but to give young people tools “to be whoever they want to be and whatever they choose to be in life.”
Chief Cadet Laura Mendoza joined the Hollywood cadet post in 2010, at a time when she found herself surrounded by “gang activity, drug use and poverty.”
“That was the reality I lived in, but that reality didn’t have to be my future,” she said.
Mendoza, 19, graduated from Hollywood High School with a 4.1 GPA and now studies communications at Cal State Los Angeles. Mendoza said she benefited from the encouragement of her fellow cadets and public speaking activities that helped her grow out of being a “shy little girl.”
“They helped me motivate myself and decide what I wanted to become in the future,” she said.
November 13, 2014
The city needs to find ways to rein in ballooning tree-trimming costs, which have more than doubled in the last five years, a Los Angeles councilman said. The city spent $121 for each tree that was trimmed last year, up from $55 per tree in fiscal year 2009-10, according to Councilman Paul Krekorian.
“We need to get to the bottom of these costs and find out why they've spiked so much,” he said. “What the city pays its contractors has to reflect actual market prices and should not be subject to abusive practices.”
The cost of tree-trimming climbed $1 in 2010-11 to $56 per tree, then jumped to $70 in the following two years before rising to $121 in fiscal year 2013-14, according to a motion introduced by Krekorian, who wants city Bureau of Street Services officials to report back with ideas to lower tree-trimming costs. His motion also asks that the City Attorney’s Office examine its tree- trimming contracts and explore protections against any abusive business practices that might affect costs. Public Works Department officials said the rising costs are due to cutbacks to the city’s in-house tree-trimming crews, which weakened the city’s ability to negotiate lower rates from contractors, according to Krekorian's motion.
The lack of competition among the few firms seeking city tree-trimming contracts was also blamed, he said. The issue will initially go before the City Council’s Public Works and Gang Reduction Committee.
November 06, 2014
By Lynette Holloway
Special to the NNPA from the Houston Forward-Times
It’s no secret that African Americans face unique challenges to their financial security that are unlike those of white households.An estimated 42 percent of African American households use credit for basic expenses, such as rent, groceries and utilities, according to The Challenge of Credit Card Debt for the African American Middle Class, (pdf), a report released last year by the NAACP. Moreover, 99 percent of blacks, who started new businesses using credit, are struggling to pay off those expenses, compared to just 80 percent of whites, the report says.
The good news is that it’s never too late to overhaul your financial situation. One of the first steps is changing your attitude toward money, according to Sabrina Lamb, founder and CEO of the WorldofMoney.org, an organization dedicated to the financial education of youth in the Tri-State New York area.
“There are three types of people,” she told NewsOne. “There are consumers, producers and investors. Most African Americans go through their lives in the consumer lane. But if you’re always in that lane, how will you grow your money or get it to work for you? You begin by changing your attitude toward money.”
Lamb is author of Do I Look Like An ATM? A Parent’s Guide To Raising Financially Educated African-American Children, which was nominated this year for an NAACP Image Awards for outstanding literary work-instructional. She suggests 10 ways to make your money work for you:
1. Examine your “money-logue”
Review your inner dialogue about money: how you think, believe and speak about it to yourself. Eliminate words that reflect lack or loss. Examine if your financial behaviors lean toward asset or liability accumulation and make a change. Use your current financial situation as a pathway to prosperity to help overcome shame and regret.
2. Make “saving” culturally cool
Examine your family’s culture as it relates to money management. Move the healthy and empowering discussion of personal finance front and center in family life and make it a goal-setting team activity.
3. Shop for quality financial services
Instead of choosing financial institutions with the best commercials, research bankrate.com for the financial institutions that provide the highest compound interest rate for investments in your city or online; or perhaps the lowest mortgage rate.
4. Pay yourself first
Seriously. Examine whether you believe that your life is worth saving and that you alone have an emergency fund for when “life happens,” or you encounter hardship. That fund should cover at least 4 months’ worth of expenses.
5. Watch your credit
Your credit report should be your bestseller. Review it for errors, including names, addresses, incorrect claims and violations of statute of limitations. The U.S. government makes a free report available at annualcreditreport.com.
6. Monitor your social media reputation
Examine your online reputation. People of color are already targeted by toxic sub-prime loans, high interest rates and sub-par financial services. Social media conversations and posts provide financial institutions with a treasure trove of information for a data repository—collecting, storing, and analyzing data—to determine a person’s credit worthiness.
7. Invest in what you know
Clueless as to which stock or mutual fund to own? Look around your home and list the products and services of publicly traded companies to which you are already loyal. Use low-cost sites such as sharebuilder.com that allow you to invest in companies with a modest investment.
8. Just say, “no.” Cash is king
In exchange for a discount, companies try to recruit new customers with “point-of-sale” high interest, high late fee credit cards. Just say no. One debit card is all one needs using the tried but true axiom: “If you don’t have the cash, don’t buy it.”
9. Sight unseen: Direct deposit
Open a direct deposit CD or IRA account, which provide higher interest rates than traditional savings accounts. Determine that a percentage of your income is automatically withdrawn.
10. Start now
Money attracts money. Your path to financial liberation may seem lonely at first, especially if family and friends choose not to join you. However, avoid having a money-logue only when experiencing an emergency or it’s New Year’s Eve. Becoming financially secure and financially educated is the only way that your money can grow.
October 26, 2023
LAWT News Service
Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center is partnering with local law enforcement to provide a safe, convenient and responsible way to dispose of unwanted prescription medications with no questions asked — and free of charge.
The public will have the opportunity to drive up to the pharmacy turnaround at the medical center, 6041 Cadillac Ave., Los Angeles, to drop off unwanted, unused or expired medications. from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 28, as part of “National Prescription Drug Take Back Day.” A pharmacist will also be on hand to answer any questions individuals may have about the medications that they have.
“At Kaiser Permanente, we care about the total health of our Southern California community, and we believe it’s our duty to educate residents about the importance of the proper and safe disposal of prescription drugs, “said Rhonda Polchak, vice president of Pharmacy Operations and Services for Kaiser Permanente Southern California.
Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. continue to be high, as is the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to prescription drugs. According to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) that is partnering with Kaiser Permanente for this event, more people start down the path of addiction through the misuse of opioid prescription drugs. Also, each year, high amounts of opioids are being turned in at Drug Take Back Day events locally and across the nation.
Additionally, unused or expired medications that are flushed or thrown out with trash can end up polluting the environment.
People unable to participate on Oct. 28 can properly dispose of medications at drug disposal kiosks at Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles pharmacy facilities at the Cadillac, Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw and La Brea/Inglewood pharmacy locations. A listing of additional drop-off locations can be found on the federal DEA website (https://apps.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/pubdispsearch/spring/main?execution=e1s1).