Positive Young Black Male News: Urban Prep Does It Again

Tony Moseley, 18, a Posse Scholar, center, is congratulated by friends James Cole, 18, left and Cedric Hakeem, 17, as he steps to the front of the auditorium to be recognized for his accomplishments during an assembly at Urban Prep on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2011. Every senior at Urban Prep Academy in Chicago has been accepted to a four year college and the school held an assembly.
----Nancy Stone/ Chicago Tribune
from The Chicago Tribune:

Urban Prep charter school again beats the odds
All seniors accepted to college for second year in row
By Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah, Tribune reporter
9:32 p.m. CST, February 16, 2011

Fire broke out in Cedric Abdul-Hakeem's Englewood home Dec. 31. After making sure everyone was out safely, the 17-year-old re-entered the smoke-filled home to retrieve his laptop.

"My laptop had all my applications, and most college applications are due Jan. 1," explained Abdul-Hakeem. "I figured if my laptop burns, I'm through."

He got his laptop. He got the applications in on time. And so far, he's been accepted to half a dozen colleges, including Grinnell College in Iowa, where most of his tuition will be paid through scholarships and grants.

Abdul-Hakeem is yet another Urban Prep success story. For the second consecutive year, every single senior in Chicago's only public all-male, all-African-American high school has been accepted to a four-year college or university.


In all, the 104 members of the 2011 graduating class have been accepted to 103 colleges, including some of the country's most selective schools. With many acceptance letters still anticipated, the charter school, which has campuses in the Englewood, South Shore and East Garfield Park neighborhoods, is hoping at least one of its students this year will land an Ivy League invitation.

"We would never advocate that anybody run into a burning building to get a computer or essay or application, but what (Abdul-Hakeem's story) speaks to is how much our students are dedicated and focused on getting into college," said Urban Prep's founder and CEO, Tim King. "They recognize that with college they will have very different lives that will be transformative for them and their communities."

On Wednesday, Urban Prep Academy for Young Men celebrated its repeat with a tie-exchanging ritual in which the final three seniors to receive acceptance letters exchanged their red uniform ties for red-and-gold ones as the other seniors did before them. Mayor Richard Daley and Chicago Public Schools' interim chief education officer Charles Payne were on hand. So was alum Israel Wilson, a freshman at Morehouse College in Atlanta, who said he has earned a 3.3 GPA and made the dean's list his first semester.

Skeptics last year had questioned whether grads would actually attend college and be able to succeed in higher ed programs. One of the school's missions is to ensure students earn that bachelor's degree, so King and his staff have helped secure money for plane tickets, driven students to college campuses, held workshops for alumni in the summer and winter, and checked up on them. Of the 107 seniors in 2010—the school's first graduating class—101 enrolled in college, King said. Three went into the military and another three joined the work force.

Just some good news this morning. Many blessings in the future for these young men.

Bishop Arthur M. Brazier passed away at the age of 89

When a whole lotta Negroes were scared of upsetting King Richard Daley I, and turned their backs on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. when he came to Chicago, Brazier was not one of them. He welcomed Dr. King and marched with him proudly.

It was Brazier's Apostolic C.O.G.I.C. where then candidate Barack Obama came to deliver his Father's Day speech in 2008, after the whole Rev. Wright fiasco.

from the Chicago Tribune:

Bishop Arthur M. Brazier, 1921-2010
Civil rights legend, founder of The Woodlawn Organization
By Margaret Ramirez, Tribune reporter
9:00 p.m. CDT, October 22, 2010

In the 1960s, Bishop Arthur M. Brazier marched through the streets of Chicago alongside the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in the struggle against segregation in housing and schools.

He helped start The Woodlawn Organization to shepherd his South Side community through racial unrest and neighborhood upheaval. A spiritual leader as well, Bishop Brazier was Pentecostal pastor of the Apostolic Church of God in Woodlawn for more than 48 years, building a congregation of nearly 20,000 members before handing church leadership over to his son, the Rev. Bryon Brazier, in 2008.

Bishop Brazier, 89, who influenced generations of pastors and parishioners and who was praised by President Barack Obama as "one of our nation's leading moral lights," died Friday, Oct. 22, at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, after a five-year struggle with prostate cancer, his family said.
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For decades, Bishop Brazier fought gangs and crime and pushed for more affordable homes and better schools. As founding president of The Woodlawn Organization, he opposed plans by the nearby University of Chicago to expand, which would have displaced residents and use land he hoped to develop for low-income housing.

While he refused to preach politics from the pulpit, his wide influence made the Apostolic Church of God an obligatory campaign stop for politicians.

On Father's Day in 2008, presidential candidate Obama delivered a key campaign speech on the importance of family in Bishop Brazier's church. The president issued a statement Friday saying he and the first lady were "deeply saddened to learn of the passing of our dear friend, a stalwart of the city of Chicago."

"Bishop Brazier … promoted spiritual empowerment and economic development through his pastorate of Apostolic Church of God and leadership of numerous community organizations and charitable efforts," Obama said.

rest of obituary at link above.

Video: Making a Difference - American High School Kids From Chicago Helping Casablanca Poor

From Denny: This is a wonderful story about people helping other people clear across the world. Chicago's sister city is Casablanca in Morocco and has been for over 25 years. These are high school kids who want to work against poverty.

They visited Casablanca and met an astounding local man who is revered by many for his work among the poor. What is most impressive is how much support he has given to young women to get educated and succeed. Now that's not something you expect out of an Islamic culture. As it stands now, the most recent stats have just been released, regardless of religion, that 30% of women worldwide are abused. That's billions of people suffering. The figures are much higher in Islamic countries. To see a man devote so much of his life and resources to helping young women develop warms the heart.

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