Alicia Keys and her mom arriving for the Black Ball Redux Keep A Child Alive last month. Harel Rintzler/PatrickMcMullan.com/Sipa USA (Sipa via AP Images)

Well-known organizations such as the NAACP, Rainbow Push Coalition, National Urban League, National Action Network, and the United Negro College Fund have given back across the country. But here are nine other nonprofits that also support African-Americans. Check them out!

Image: Photodisc

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has released a report showing that 25.1 percent of black homes were food insecure in 2011. Food insecurity comes about when there isn’t sufficient access to food because of a lack of resources, including money.

Overall, 85.1 percent of the U.S. population was food secure while 14.9 percent of the population have trouble providing adequate levels of food for themselves and their families. So the black population exceeds the level of food insecurity for the general population by about 10 percentage points.

The percentage of food insecure only went up by a small amount (from 14.1 percent in 2011), so the USDA says it’s not “statistically significant.” Nearly six percent of the population had very low food security, meaning they went without meals for a few days at some point over the course of seven months during the year.

“For households with incomes near or below the Federal poverty line, households with children headed by single women or single men, and Black and Hispanic households, rates of food insecurity were substantially higher than the national average,” the report says. Hispanic households experienced food insecurity at a rate of 26.2 percent.

With a quarter of black houses experiencing problems simply keeping enough food on the table, the problem is critical. According to reporting from the Washington Informer, if not for government food programs the number would be even higher, a very scary thought.

“African-Americans continue to be disproportionately impacted by unemployment and poverty, and there is a strong correlation to food insecurity rates,” Rev. Derrick Boykin told the paper. Another source, Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, called it a “moral obligation” for Congress to keep these food programs away from budget cuts.

The Senate has already passed a plan in June that would lower the funding for food stamps. The use of food stamps reached a record level that month; 46.7 million people were using food stamps. Spending on food stamp programs also reached a record $75.7 billion. As far as we’re concerned, this is money well spent.

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Ephren Taylor Jr. was a business success story. He was lauded by everyone for his gifted abilities in business and commitment to empower those in the black community. He prided himself on reaching millionaire status as a teenager and retired at 19 after starting a dot-com company worth millions. But even after this accomplishment, he went on to work and become the youngest African American CEO of a public company. His story was told in three books, on countless media outlets and on his website.

Now, as he approaches 30, his story of honor has turned to one of shame.  According to the Kansas City Star, he stands accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission of “a Ponzi scheme to swindle more than $11 million, primarily from African-American churchgoers.”

But how was he able to swindle so much money for so long from the people that respected him the most? The Kansas City Star notes that it wasn’t just his long list of accolades. Taylor was a preacher’s kid, and people felt comfortable knowing that their money was invested with one of their own. He pitched himself as a person you could trust, someone who made it rich and could help you do the same in a socially responsible way.

“He sold himself as an African-American success story,” Kevin Berger, a Kansas City attorney for three local investors who have a $266,000 judgment against him said to Kansas City Star. “Rags to riches. ‘I’m good, made it to the big time through my hard work and enterprise and faith-filled community outreach.’ ”

His success story was a mix of truth and exaggeration. It’s true that he started his first business, Flame Software, at 12. In high school he later went on to found GoFerretGo.com, a job posting website for young adults with a high school friend and was featured in Forbes as having reached seven figures at 16. But the company never gained much ground and shut down in 2002, two years after he graduated from high school.

“I don’t think he ever was (a teenage millionaire),” Cathy Lerman, the Florida lawyer who filed a North Carolina lawsuit that was recently refiled in California, seeking class-action status said to the Kansas City Star.

Taylor continued to launch several businesses. Along the way he started to pick up fraud allegations, but managed to keep a clean, trustworthy reputation. His scheme began to gain ground in 2009 when he hired a PR agent and made several media appearances promoting his financial success. From 2008-mid 2010, Taylor and his company City Capital had raised $7 million from investors, most of which went to his lavish lifestyle, promoting his books and his wife’s music career.

“He appeared to be very spiritual, religious, and he sold to the religious community, which appealed to us,” Bill Lee, a NC resident who lost most of his retirement fund to Taylor’s schemes said. “It kind of makes you more upset because he was using the name of God to help him in this mess.”

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Last week the Detroit 300 announced that they had declared war on the city’s crime element. This declaration came as a response to the accidental shooting of a 9-month-old child in Detroit earlier in the week.  Donned in all black, with some of the 300 wearing ski masks, the group held a press conference, in which they said that they are planning to organize unafraid men all over this city to run the undesirables away.

Rapheal B. Johnson, president of the crime fighting organization said, “We don’t care what gang, crew or clique you claim. When you kill babies in this city, you are our enemy. There is nothing to talk about…We are not going to host prayer gatherings for you or hold a candlelight vigil for your transgressions against the community. We are going to hunt you down and bring you to justice.”

According to its website, the Detroit 300 was founded in 2010 by Angelo B. Henderson, Pulitzer Prize winner, and Minister Malik Shabazz, a 25 year community activist, as a response to the city’s frustration with perpetual neighborhood crimes. Working with a coalition of area businesses and community groups, members of the Detroit 300 will engage in neighborhood patrols, focusing their efforts on sectors identified as high crime areas by Detroit Police crime analysis reports.

I definitely love the spirit of these brothers.  As much as we hold symposiums and anti-violence marches and rallies, we can no longer have time for the hand wringing or apprehension about what to do about the dire straits of the Black community.  As a community, we are in crisis.  The reality is that Young Black males have the worst grades, the lowest test scores, and the highest dropout rates of all students in the country. Homicides among African American males ages 15-19 years of age represent one of the leading causes of death. In education, employment, economics, incarceration, health, housing, and parenting, we are falling behind and in the process, losing an entire generation of young Black folks, particularly young black men to poverty, despair and death. It is time for folks to intervene and take their rightful place as leaders and wise elders in our community.  But I’m not certain that this declaration of war on street crime by the Detroit 300 truly gets to the heart of what’s wrong in our community.

For one, guys who dress in all black and ski masks do nothing to inspire confidence that their aim is to be that different from the very street gangs and thugs they are fighting against.  And while, yes, we need mobilization in our community, action bereft of sincere analysis of the nature of our problem is just as ineffective and reactionary as the candlelight vigils, anti-violence marches and symposiums we say we are tired of.

As much as we hate the gangbangers and the street thugs, these gangbangers and street thugs did not materialize out of nowhere. Much of their presence is in response to the neglect created by the elder generation, particularly the elder men.  Sure they mobilize after a few murders and rapes and robberies have already occurred but where were they in their families’ marriage nuptials?  Why were they missing from high school graduations and on college campuses? And why hadn’t they made their presence felt prior to their communities falling into shambles?

by Ramona X

When someone always brings something up, you know it’s a sore spot. Like your friend who is sensitive about other people mentioning their ivy league degrees. Yeah, you know she’s always bringing it up for a reason. On another somewhat related note, I don’t trust rappers who make a point of making a song about the beauty of dark women (ahem, ahem Mos Def). The point is if it’s not an issue, why talk about it all the time? Although differences in shade is a sensitive subject in the Black community, the way to get over it is to be conscious of keeping an open mind to all people. Right?

While the following celebrities may be coping with their hangups by talking about their sensitivity to colorism, we think they’re trying to communicate something different.

(Chicago Tribune) – Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has signed a bill creating a commission aimed at researching disparities in the African-American community.  The commission will study social and economic issues including health services, employment and education.

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Maybe she’s your hilarious aunt, your lovable mother, your loyal friend or maybe she’s you.

Judging by the sheer number of African American women who suffer from being overweight or obese there’s no doubt that you know at least one of them.

While you may have visually noticed this problem, the actual numbers may alarm you.

According to the Office of Minority Health, African American women have the highest rates of being overweight or obese compared to other groups in the United States.

The numbers go on to say that for every five African American women, about four of them are overweight or obese.

That’s alarming.

We all know the catalysts that contribute to this condition, generations of poor eating habits, the cultural acceptance of the rounder frame, even the fear that we’ll mess up our freshly relaxed hair contribute to this cultural epidemic.

Now please know this is not about an aesthetic preference. If you could be overweight and perfectly healthy, there would be no need for this conversation. But being overweight or obese leads to countless health concerns including:

•    Heart disease
•    Type 2 diabetes
•    High blood pressure
•    Stroke
•    Breathing problems
•    Arthritis
•    Gallbladder disease
•    Sleep apnea
•    Some cancers (Minority Women’s Health)

You may have already been aware of this list, but seeing it once more can either encourage you to keep up the good fight in maintaining your health or serve as a warning of  what could happen if you continue to live the way you do.

This week we’ll be examining our battle with obesity and the ways we can combat it.

Every year on December 26th, the first day of Kwanzaa begins. Did you know that? Do you care?  Do you celebrate Kwanzaa?

Kwanzaa is perhaps one of the most misunderstood/controversial celebrations of the holiday season. Some dismiss it as not being a “real religion” (ummm, it was never presented as a religion) and some think it is only for crazy militant types (no blood shed required in the seven principles).

So what is Kwanzaa? It must be something other than the basis for countless plays and presentations in inner-city schools, right?

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(USA Today) — The more America shuns LeBron, the more Black America retreats to his corner. In fact, as America hates LeBron more and more, Black America’s collective hug embraces LeBron tighter and tighter. It’s called black protectionism.

…What makes LeBron even more ripe for protectionism is the fact that he hasn’t been charged with a crime or accused of an ethical violation. Nah, he just angered a bunch of sports fans with a wack decision and an even wacker “Decision,” and now half of America thinks he’s either a punk or a jerk.

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This week alone, Paris Hilton was arrested (again) for drug possession and Lindsay Lohan shuffled home after she’d finished serving two weeks of her 90-day jail sentence, as well as in-patient residency in rehab. As a society, we’ve become numb to these kinds of occurrences. Another day, another celebrity arrest, right?

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