URL Weekly 02/23

Next-level reporting. Innovative Black & Brown publishers.

Friday, February 23, 2024

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Today is Friday, and we’re highlighting stories from across the URL Media network about the dire need for a comprehensive housing solution in NYC, must-see documentaries for 2024, and how Native women are working to end the MMIW crisis.

In tomorrow’s newsletter, we’re diving into the importance of hair in BIPOC cultures and the ways in which communities stand together to protect one another. — Alicia Ramirez

Uplift. 🙌🏼 Respect. 💯 Love. 💛

🏛 Supreme Court refuses to hear race-neutral admissions case: The Supreme Court this week declined to hear a challenge to a race-neutral admissions policy at a highly selective Virginia public high school. Linn Washington Jr., journalism professor at Temple University, recently joined WURD Radio to discuss the case. 🎧 Listen to the full interview here.

🏠 A real housing plan can’t fit on a slogan: As of last year, there were almost no affordable apartments available for rent in New York City, according to preliminary results from the Housing and Vacancy Survey. But to address the city’s housing crisis, elected officials are going to have to take a comprehensive approach. Epicenter-NYC has the story here.

More: In Detroit’s housing market, rentals may be outpacing owner-occupied properties (Outlier Media)

🏳️‍⚧️ New Ga. bill would erase legal recognition for trans people: Georgia legislators have introduced a bill that opponents are calling “mandated discrimination,” which calls for ending all legal recognition of transgender people by redefining biological sex. Prism has the story here.

🗽 NYC shelter evictions keep migrant youth from vital resources: Advocates say unaccompanied minors are falling through the cracks, unable to access the programs meant to assist them once they arrive in the U.S. Documented has the story here.

Join us in celebrating the launch of URL Media’s new hub for independent journalism by Black and Brown publishers! Discover the stories and perspectives that matter. Check it out here.

🚔 N.C. lawmakers insist on anti-immigrant law, and this time they could get it: In late January, about 70 legislators and Republican leaders, led by the president of the state House of Representatives, issued a letter asking Gov. Roy Cooper to issue a law for law enforcement agencies throughout North Carolina to cooperate with ICE. La Noticia has the story here.

🏫 Okla. schools boss says no teacher pay increases: State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters is doubling down on a decision to deny Oklahoma teachers’ pay raises, though several lawmakers have already introduced separate bills to increase teacher pay and change the budget proposal. The Oklahoma Eagle has the story here.

🇭🇹 4 Haitians’ journeys in the US so far: Nearly a year into the program, the Biden Administration’s humanitarian parole program has helped at least 112,000 Haitian nationals enter the United States. The Haitian Times spoke with four Haitians who shared their stories. Read more here.

👏🏽 Minn. interfaith group steps up to help house surge in families from Central America: A St. Paul, Minnesota-based nonprofit is launching a mobile shelter program in partnership with Twin Cities houses of worship to accommodate a growing number of families arriving from the U.S. Southern border. Sahan Journal has the story here.

🚨 DC’s viral new ‘public safety’ bill concerns activists: Earlier this month, the D.C. Council voted to advance the Secure DC Omnibus Amendment Act of 2024 to address an uptick in crime in the nation’s capital, but key provisions of the bill are causing concern among activists. PushBlack has more here.

🛑 Lead in the water, the walls, and the soil: Historically, lead has been an issue in East Trenton, N.J. The neighborhood was once one of the world’s largest pottery manufacturers. More recently, EPA officials alongside Mayor Reed Gusciora announced that the soil for Ulysses S. Grant Intermediate School’s playground tested positive for high lead levels. The Trenton Journal has the story here.

✊🏽 A reflection on Black history, Black present and Black future: “Within our very DNA we carry this wisdom, a wisdom of generations,” S.E. Williams writes in this essay for Black Voice News. “We only need to examine the patterns of our broader history in ways that help us better understand what our forebears brought with them from the Motherland–those intangible attributes, the whispers of the ancestors, passed from generation to generation like the texture of our hair, the melanin in our skin, our height, our hips, our noses and our lips.” Read the full piece here.

🥘 The food mashup: Immigrantly host Saadia Khan hears from Chef Jesus Diaz about his journey from starting in a Florida sushi spot to becoming a household name on Despierta America with a cookbook, cooking attire line, two Emmy wins, and a dance show victory under his belt. 🎧 Listen to the full interview here.

🎬 Must-see documentaries this year: Good documentaries can provide truthful insight on an unfamiliar topic, and help us understand the world around us a bit better. This list of must-see documentaries from Black Girl Times won’t disappoint. Read more here.

🎙 How this media exec’s lived experience informs her political analysis and storytelling: Natasha Alford, The Grio’s VP of digital content and senior correspondent and CNN political analyst, recently joined Latina to Latina to talk about blending memoir and cultural analysis in her new book, American Negra. 🎧 Listen to the full interview here.

🪶 How Native women are working to end the MMIW crisis: This special episode of Our Body Politic, produced in partnership with Level Forward, highlights the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women’s (MMIW) crisis and the work Native women are doing to raise awareness, own their narrative and arm themselves with information and tools to defend themselves. 🎧 Listen to the full episode here.

More: FCC chair proposes new alert code for missing and endangered persons (Native News Online)

🧒🏽 Why is Latina representation in toys so important?: The media and toy industries have a huge responsibility in showing the actual diversity of our world. Therefore, when a young Latina girl sees a character or doll that looks and talks like her and reflects her culture, it can have a huge impact on her self-esteem. Luz Media has the story here.

💕 Healing after a layoff: In last week’s issue of URL Media’s The Intersection, we talked about why people should care about mass media layoffs. In this piece for palabra., journalist Mónica Ortiz Uribe talks about her experience after being laid off from her job at the El Paso Times in 2022. Read more here.

♟ This 8-year-old is the youngest to defeat a chess grandmaster: Ashwath Kaushik, a Singaporean child chess prodigy, set a new record when he took down a 37-year-old grandmaster on Sunday. AsAmNews has the story here.

📻 WURD Radio to broadcast live from the White House grounds

URL Media partner WURD Radio is set to kick off its 2024 presidential election coverage on Monday with a special live broadcast from the grounds of the White House. WURD Radio hosts Solomon Jones, Tonya Pendleton and Brother Shomari will be on location to speak with cabinet secretaries and high-ranking administration officials and discuss pressing issues while interrogating the administration’s record of supporting Black Americans. They will also pose questions culled from the WURD Radio audience. Find out how you can listen here.

Sara Lomax-Reese, CEO of WURD Radio, media entrepreneur for almost 30 years, served as Program Lead for the inaugural Facebook BIPOC Sustainability Accelerator and is a former John S. Knight Fellow.

S. Mitra Kalita, former SVP at CNN Digital, current CEO & Publisher at Kalita Mukul Creative Inc., which publishes Epicenter-NYC, The Unmuted and The Escape Home has worked at The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The LA Times, and has launched brands like Mint and Quartz.

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