The Feb. 5 announcement by President Barack Obama of the White House Office of Faith Based Initiative and Neighborhood Partnerships offers potential hope for real change, especially for the Black Church.
Despite President Obama's incredible national and global popularity, Black Church leaders may do well to ask a critical question. Will President Obama's Faith Based Office seek to silence outspoken Black Church leaders through the enticement of social service grants? . . .

"Walking-tour" podcasts that guide listeners through these neighborhoods' seemingly mundane street corners, swing sets, and benches, and communicate the rich, emotional history that make up our surroundings.... So please take a moment to think about your experiences in and around these neighborhoods and try to think of your happiest memories, your saddest memories, funny memories, and any other momentous occasions . . .

. . . But after she signed the papers, she realized – too late — she had been tricked. Her punishment ... was an 11-percent interest rate, $350 more a month than she should have paid. Mrs. Weaver is like hundreds of thousands of people, disproportionately African American, who had decent credit, owned their homes and were tricked into a predatory loan. . . .

A general consensus is that it was a deadly mix of panic, rage, and frustration that caused Lovelle Mixon to snap. His shocking murderous rampage left four Oakland police officers dead and a city and police agencies in deep soul search about what went so terribly wrong. Though Mixon's killing spree is a horrible aberration, his plight as an unemployed, ex-felon isn't. There are tens of thousands like him on America's streets. . . .

. . . Washington state lawmakers in 2008 established targets for how many miles you can drive each year. It's called VMT – Vehicle Miles Traveled. Aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the legislation calls for cutting the number of miles we drive 18 percent by 2020, 30 percent by 2035 and 50 percent by 2050. This session, lawmakers are proposing to have regional transportation planning organizations figure out how to reach the VMT targets. . . .

The disclosure that more than 4 percent of Blacks in the District of Columbia have HIV, matching San Francisco's citywide rate at the height of the epidemic in 1992, is but one example of how the disease is devastating the Black community. D.C. health officials made public a report Monday that showed the overall HIV/AIDS city rate of 3 percent is three times the level considered a "generalized and severe" epidemic. . . .

The most frustrating aspect of cervical cancer is that it is almost completely preventable. Experts know that it is caused by "high-risk" types of a common infection – the human papillomavirus, or HPV. And we now have available preventive technologies, including the Pap test, the HPV test and the HPV vaccine, to help stop this disease in its tracks.
Despite these advances, why are so many women still dying? There are two key problems.
First, women need access to screening. In the U.S., approximately half of all cervical cancer cases are in women who have never been screened. Minority women and those with lower incomes are less likely to have access to screening programs and consequently, are affected by cervical cancer at higher rates. . . .

When the full story is finally told, and though not likely freely admitted by many, deep within the spiritual thinking of numerous African Americans, an emotional candle will be lit in the memory of Lovelle Mixon, the man who, in a horrific shootout in which he was finally killed, shot five Oakland police officers, four of whom have died. They will then say to themselves, "But for the grace of God I could have been he." . . .

Today, there are about 38 million Americans over the age of 65. In just 20 years, thanks to the rapidly aging baby boomer generation, that number will double.
That's why long-term services and support must be a fundamental part of healthcare reform. The structure of our current system makes caring for seniors and disabled adults fragmented, difficult and expensive. . . .

As the whole world witnessed, we have made history with the swearing in of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States of America. But this election was about more than the significant and historic act of electing the first African American to the highest office of the land. It was about average citizens taking back the political process from the Washington elites. . . .