URL Weekly 9/8

Next-level reporting. Innovative Black & Brown publishers.

Friday, September 8, 2023

Reading this from an email forward or elsewhere on the internet?

Subscribe.

Today is Friday, and we’re highlighting stories from across the URL Media network about the work that still needs to be done to prevent overdose deaths, how profitability is put before rehabilitation in American prisons, and how a lack of oversight in tax auctions puts properties in the hands of speculators who still owe taxes on other properties.Keep an eye on your inbox tomorrow for an essay centering the nation’s first East African magnet elementary school in Minnesota. — Alicia Ramirez

Uplift. 🙌🏼 Respect. 💯 Love. 💛

💰 NAACP commits to helping Black borrowers tackle student loan debt: The NAACP has not only partnered with national organizations to spread the word about the U.S. Department of Education’s new repayment plans, but it is also working to find innovative ways to support Black borrowers. Black Voice News has more here.

⛓️ Rehabilitation program takes a back seat to prison labor: Building Blocks, a faith-based program built by and for prisoners to heal from past and ongoing traumas, was helping to establish a sense of community in jails after the isolation from the pandemic. But the Department of Corrections canceled the program after prison staff complained it interfered with prisoners’ jobs. Scalawag has more here.

Dig deeper: Often left out of workers’ rights efforts, incarcerated laborers are vastly underpaid, underprotected and unable to save for a life beyond bars. Read more here from Prism.

🐎 Wage theft plagues the immigrants of New York’s horse racing industry: In a workforce with just a few thousand workers, an analysis by Documented found that more than 1,800 workers in horse racing were victims of more than $4 million in wage theft. Read more here.

🌿 Republican congressman wants to defund tribes that legalize cannabis: Last week, North Carolina Congressman Chuck Edwards (R-NC) introduced the Stop Pot Act, which would withhold federal funds from tribes that legalize recreational marijuana on their lands. Read more here from Native News Online.

💊 Despite millions of investments in overdose prevention, more needs to be done: Last Thursday was International Overdose Awareness Day, the world’s largest annual campaign to end overdoses. To address the issue in New York state, Gov. Kathy Hochul last week pledged $8 million in new harm reduction programs and $28 million for existing programs from the state’s Opioid Settlement Fund. Get the story here from Epicenter-NYC.

🎒 Fla. school reinforces carceral system as punishment for low test scores: Black students at Bunnell Elementary in Florida were recently pulled out of class for an assembly shaming them for their low test scores, leaving many frightened after being told that they could end up dead or in jail if they continued to perform poorly on standardized tests. PushBlack has more here.

🏛️ Pa. congresswoman calls for stronger gun policy: Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA) recently joined Wake Up With WURD with Solomon Jones to talk about her and a group of democrats proposed federal ban on assault weapons. 🎧 Listen to the full interview here.

🇵🇷 Feminist group calls for an end to displacement in Puerto Rico: La Colectiva Feminista en Construcción (The Feminist Collective in Construction) is calling for an end to policies and laws that they say intentionally create housing shortages and displacement on the island. Read the latest here from palabra.

🪖 Haitians weigh in on armed forces amid country's crisis: Following Kenya’s recent assessment trip in Haiti, the United Nations Security Council is once again poised to either approve or reject sending a multinational force, though whether the people of Haiti want this remains. The Haitian Times has more here.

🏠 Lack of oversight plagues Detroit tax auctions: Wayne County, which includes Detroit, is gearing up for its annual tax auction, but a failure of the county to enforce its own rules has allowed real estate speculators to continue to scoop up properties despite owing taxes and racking up blight tickets. Outlier Media has more here.

🎻 Can BIPOC musicians shape the future of classical music?: Our Body Politic guest host Celeste Headlee speaks with City University of New York at Hunter College professor Philip Ewell, professor and harpist Ashley Jackson, and concert pianist and host of the NPR video series “Amplify” Lara Downes to discuss whether the world of classical music can become more inclusive given its history.

🎧

Listen to the full episode here

.

💌 Decoding love in the South Asian diaspora: Immigrantly host Saadia Khan and Dubai-based writer and journalist Mansi Choksi explore the cultural nuances, societal pressures, and personal anecdotes that shape the South Asian community’s perceptions of love, marriage and autonomy. 🎧 Listen to the full episode here.

👩🏿‍🦱 Minn. hospitals now provide culturally appropriate hair and skin products: Some hospitals throughout Minnesota have started to provide hair and skin products for Black and Brown patients after nurses began asking for and stocking commonly-requested items such as bonnets, shampoos for textured hair, shea butter, and hijabs. Sahan Journal has the story here.

🗳️ URL Media secures $1M to strengthen operations ahead of the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election

URL Media recently secured a $1M investment from the Knight Foundation to strengthen revenue generation, audience development and content amplification operations for its growing BIPOC network ahead of next year's presidential election. Read the full press release 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.

Share