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Friday, October 6, 2023
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Today is Friday, and we’re highlighting stories from across the URL Media network about a New York City program that inspired better access to healthcare for immigrants, voter apathy in North Carolina, and diversity in Hispanic Heritage Month celebrations.
Be on the lookout for tomorrow’s newsletter where we dive into the legacy of the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein. — Alicia Ramirez
Uplift. 🙌🏼 Respect. 💯 Love. 💛
Uplifting our Communities
🧑🏽💻 Can predictive technology help more students of color graduate? This university thinks so: At Georgia State University in Atlanta, a predictive analytics program aims to keep students on track by providing tailored support about their coursework and performance, but concerns about the technology's potential downside are mounting. palabra. has the story here.
🇺🇳 UN calls on global community to consider reparations: UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called on countries involved in transatlantic slavery to consider reparations for descendants of enslaved Africans, saying that no country has accounted for the legacy of mass enslavement of African people for more than 400 years. PushBlack has more here.
🏛 Kevin McCarthy ousted as speaker of the House: Rep. Kevin McCarthy made history Tuesday as the first speaker to be removed by House vote. The removal, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz, has left Congress in chaos. Rep. Dwight Evans (D-PA), recently appeared on WURD Radio to talk about what happened. 🎧 Listen to the full interview here.
More: Unpack last week’s GOP primary debate with Our Body Politic. 🎧 Listen to the full episode here.
✊🏽 Mutual aid strengthens Atlanta’s abolitionist organizing work: Mutual aid has been at the heart of the “Stop Cop City” movement since the beginning. From acupuncture to mental health support to free groceries and temporary shelter, activists have shown up and made a difference. Scalawag has more here.
More: In charging “Stop Cop City” activists, prosecutors have started criminalizing basic acts of protest, movement-building, and solidarity while continuing to stigmatize anarchism using outdated propaganda. Read more here from Prism.
👩🏽⚕️ This NYC program has inspired better healthcare access for migrants: ActionHealthNYC, which ran from May 2016 to June 2017, helped arrange medical appointments for 2,428 low-income undocumented immigrants as part of an experiment aimed at making it easier to access “safety net care.” So why did the program end? Epicenter-NYC has that and more here.
More: In recent weeks, the campaign to discourage migrants from coming to New York City has intensified, but that hasn’t stopped the recent influx. Read more here from Documented.
💉 How Black fraternity/sorority members can help those with sickle cell disease: More than 100,000 people in the U.S. battle with sickle cell disease – the majority of whom are of African descent, giving Black fraternity and sorority members a chance to make a real impact by promoting blood donation within their networks. Watch The Yard has more 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.
🏟 Haitian soccer players scramble for venue ahead of sports competition: Haiti’s national soccer team was still looking for a country to host its 2023 Concacaf matches on Sunday, after deciding not to play in the Dominican Republic due to the country’s ongoing canal conflict with its neighbor. Failure to find a new venue could lead to sanctions against Haiti. The Haitian Times has the story here.
More: Star players of the Haitian women's national soccer team have taken to social media to express support for the canal. Read more here from The Haitian Times.
🗳 Addressing low primary voter turnout in N.C.: Fewer than 5% of nearly half a million registered voters in Charlotte, North Carolina, turned out last month for the city’s local primary election. What can be done to address voter apathy? La Noticia has more here.
👨🏽🏫 Staffing cuts on the horizon for Minn.’s public schools: As federal COVID aid runs out, Minneapolis Public Schools says it will need to cut expenses — and that will mean reducing staff in an already understaffed district. Sahan Journal has the story here.
Respecting & Honoring Arts & Culture
📺 Indian Country says goodbye to ‘Reservation Dogs’: Last week, the groundbreaking FX series “Reservation Dogs” came to an end. The series, which followed the lives of four Native American teenagers living in rural Oklahoma, was an immediate hit among critics and audiences when it premiered in 2021. Native News Online has more here.
Centering Love
🤎 Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month by centering diversity: California State University, San Bernardino’s Anthropology Museum recently opened its latest exhibit Afróntalo, an educational and eye-opening showcase that tells the intricate histories of Afrodescendant communities in Mexico and beyond. Black Voice News has the story here.
More: In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, Immigrantly host Saadia Khan dives deep into the impact of storytelling while centering Latine voices. 🎧 Listen to the full episode here.
What We're Loving This Week From Our Partners
🎺 The fight to save a piece of Detroit jazz history: Earlier this month nonprofit Detroit Sound Conservancy raised $400,000 to begin renovating The Blue Bird Inn, once a jazz venue that hosted legends like Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Outlier Media has more here.
The URLs on URL
💻 URL Media unveils new website
This week, URL Media, a network of media organizations that serve, support and center communities of color and whose leadership, staff and vendors represent these populations, unveiled its new website as part of its unwavering commitment to its partners ahead of the country’s upcoming presidential election and beyond. Read more here.
🏆 URL Media partners win big at 2023 LION Local Journalism Awards
LION Publishers, an organization dedicated to helping its members run sustainable news businesses in North America, recognized several URL Media partners at its annual awards competition this week: Outlier Media won LION Business of the Year in the large tier category; Epicenter-NYC was named a co-winner for the Public Service Award in the small revenue tier category, and La Noticia won Collaboration of the Year award in the medium revenue tier category. Read more here.
Our Founders
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.
Our Partners
