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District 14 Brought the Holiday Cheer to the Students and Staff at Crestmore Elementary School

BLOOMINGTON, CA— On December 14th, San Bernardino County Fifth District Supervisor Joe Baca, Jr. will be hosting a food truck and toy giveaway for all the students and staff at Crestmore Elementary School in Bloomington, California. Supervisor Joe Baca, Jr.  has partnered with California Highway Patrol, San Bernardino County Probation, Sheriff’s, Code Enforcement and Fire Department for this event and will be serving The Habit Burger Grill to the students and hosting the toy giveaway. The young students will be able to choose a toy of their liking right in time for the holidays.

“As Fifth District Supervisor, I believe that no student and school should ever be left behind. Every student deserves the same privileges and services to assist in shaping their futures, as these children are our future. Crestmore Elementary School is home to some of our most underserved population and I believe small things such as hosting a food and toy giveaway can really brighten the holidays for our youth. The time is now to help our local educators and children, and events like this can and will set them on the right track to stay optimistic to their goals. We are looking forward to this event!”  -Supervisor Joe Baca, Jr.

Four Trustees Sworn Into San Bernardino City Unified Board Of Education

SAN BERNARDINO, CA—- Four trustees, two of them newly elected, were sworn into the San Bernardino City Unified School District Board of Education on December 13.

Former trustees Dr. Gwendolyn Dowdy-Rodgers and Dr. Barbara Flores were thanked for their service and leadership and were presented special framed resolutions, photo collages, and a commemorative trophy.

In November Dowdy-Rodgers was elected to represent Area D on the San Bernardino County Board of Education.

The Board welcomed newly elected trustees Mikki Cichocki and Mary Ellen Abilez Grande. Bursts of applause followed as returning Board members Danny Tillman and Abigail Rosales-Medina were sworn in and took their seats on the dais. The two newcomers, as well as Tillman and Rosales-Medina, were elected in November.

An hour-long reception attended by more than 100 people preceded the swearing in.

The Board also held its annual organizational meeting Tuesday, re-electing Dr. Scott Wyatt to his second year as Board president and Tillman as vice president.

Although new to the Board, the new trustees are very familiar with SBCUSD, having dedicated their educational careers to teaching the children of San Bernardino and Highland for decades.

Cichocki recently retired from SBCUSD after a long and successful career in and out of the classroom. A former elementary school teacher and graduate of the District, Cichocki most recently worked for the Positive Youth Development Department as a member of the District’s student Attendance Review Board and was part of pioneering work to reduce bullying and expand restorative justice practices.

Grande, a graduate of San Bernardino Valley College and Cal State San Bernardino, also taught in the District, working with older special education students at Anderson School. Her three daughters graduated from District schools.

Proud to be “someone with actual on-the-ground, in-the-classroom experience with students and parents day in and day out,” Grande is a proponent of community-centered schools and increased parent engagement, believing that “parents in San Bernardino would benefit from exposure to opportunities in training, internships, and even apprenticeships in the skilled trades, just like our high school students do.”

The 55th Miss Black Awareness Has Been Crowned

SAN BERNARDINO, CA—- On Saturday, December 17, Miss Black Awareness Liyah Blevins was crowned by Mrs. California USA Tee Lee. Members of the 2022-23 court are Teen Princess Si’Yae Pernell, Jr., Teen Miss Princess Chardonna Dixon, Jr. Teen Miss Duchess Serenity Tim’s, Young Miss Princess Sencerity Tim’s, and Young Miss Duchess Kylee Brown.  The Royal party was started. Their first engagement is January 16, 2023, in the San Bernardino Martin Luther King Parade.

San Bernardino School District Holiday Schedule

SAN BERNARDINO, CA—- Winter Break began Friday, December 16, 2022, for the vast majority of San Bernardino City Unified School District (SBCUSD) students. Students return to class on Monday, January 9, 2023.

The district’s non-school-based offices are open with limited hours December 19–22, 2022. Visitors may be required to make an appointment before in-person visits to District offices the week of December 19.

All SBCUSD schools and offices will be closed Friday, December 23, 2022, through Monday, January 2, 2023. The district is asking the public to help keep schools safe during the winter break. If you See Something, Say Something by calling our hotline at (909) 388-6043 to report suspicious activity, crimes, or safety concerns at our schools. All tips are anonymous.

District offices will reopen on Tuesday, January 3, 2023. Inland Career Education Center (ICEC) reopens Wednesday, January 4, 2023. TK–12 students return to school Monday, January 9. SBCUSD is encouraging students and staff to take an over the counter COVID test the weekend before returning to school or work. Anyone who tests positive is asked to stay home.

Phil Yeh’s Art On Exhibit At The Garcia Center For The Arts

SAN BERNARDINO, CA— The Garcia Center for the Arts in San Bernardino will be hosting an exhibit of local artist Phil Yeh’s work this month. The show will include watercolors, giclee prints, and oil paintings, many of which are from pages featured in his graphic novels and books. Several pieces are from his newest book, Places, a book of 126 watercolors of places he has been during his 37-year world tour.

One of the images in the book is “San Bernardino”, depicting the mural that Yeh has been working on since 2012, on the museum at the site of the original McDonald’s on 14th & E Streets. The mural on the south side of the building features some of the people who have made San Bernardino unique.

Phil Yeh has written and illustrated more than 90 books, comics, and graphic novels. He published one of the first American graphic novels in 1977 and is known as the ‘Godfather of the Modern American Graphic Novel’.

In addition, Yeh founded “Cartoonists across America & The World” in 1985 to promote literacy, creativity, and the arts through mural painting events, school and library workshops on comics and his series of non-violent and humorous books. Yeh and his band of fellow artists have painted more than 1,800 colorful murals promoting literacy in more than 15 countries.

Yeh’s work has had solo shows in galleries in San Francisco, Carmel, and New York City and has been a part of group shows in Hawaii, Arizona, and California.  His reading dinosaurs were featured in a five-month art exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History in 2006 and in many campaigns promoting reading and recycling all over the world, including a national postage stamp in Hungary in 1990.

Yeh was honored in the White House by former First Lady Barbara Bush, who also painted a mural with him in The Library of Congress. He has received numerous awards around the country, including an Alphie Award from the Los Angeles County Library Foundation at Sony Pictures Studios along with actor Edward James Olmos and Imperial Toy Company CEO Dr. Fred Kort.

The opening day of the exhibit is December 10, during the Garcia Center’s 2nd annual Cosmic Comic Fest. Phil will present a “Meet the Artist” talk at 4:00 PM that day.  The show will run through December 31, 2022. He will have books available for purchase in addition to his art.

For more about Phil Yeh and his work visit https://www.wingedtiger.com/fine-art

The Garcia Center for the Arts is located at 536 W. 11th Street in San Bernardino. https://www.facebook.com/sanbernardinoart

Covid Treatments Readily Available, But Access Disparities Still Huge

By Sunita Sohrabji

“Test and treat, and you can beat COVID!”

As Californians brace for a winter surge of COVID infections, that’s the message of Dr. Rita Nguyen, speaking at an online news conference on behalf of the California Department of Public Health’s COVID 19 Treatments Task Force.

Her message was echoed by four frontline medical practitioners serving some of the most vulnerable populations in the state.

“We are in the winter surge,” said Dr. Nguyen, who directs the Population Health Division of CDPH. “We are already seeing increases in hospitalization rates for COVID. Rates are increasing and we expect to see even more as we head through December.”

But there is a unique opportunity to address the crisis head-on, Nguyen emphasized. “This is the first winter surge of a three-year pandemic where we actually have treatments that are highly effective, readily available, and free to anyone over the age of 12.”

The challenge, Nguyen noted, is that most people aren’t accessing the treatments.

Paxlovid, or its alternative Molnupiravir, are antivirals and they are free to everyone, even those who lack health insurance or are undocumented. Remdesivir, which is given via infusions, is not free: costs vary with the level of insurance coverage. All three treatments are time sensitive. Paxlovid or Molnupiravir, must be started within the first five days after symptoms start; remdesivir must be started within seven days

Timely treatment can prevent the severity of the infection by 50% to 88%. Even among those who are vaccinated, it decreases risk of long-term COVID, by 45% to 50%. Paxlovid treatment in 2022 alone averted an estimated 16,000 – 48,000 severe hospitalizations in California, and an estimated 10,000 deaths, according to Nguyen.

But while treatment supplies are plentiful, access challenges remain huge.

The digital divide Dr. Daniel Turner-Lloveras, executive director of the Latino Coalition for Health Equity, believes lack of internet access and digital skills may be the biggest obstacle.
He cited the case of his mother who recently tested positive for COVID-19. She had phoned her clinic to try to get a doctor but had been waiting all day for a return phone call. Turner Lloveras also called his mother’s clinic, but was forced to leave a voice mail which was not returned.

“As a physician, I am very aware of the benefits of getting early treatment with Paxlovid,” he said. When he sent a message to the clinic’s online patient portal, he got a call back within an hour. “It made me realize that almost every social determinant of health now is enveloped by the need to have internet access and the ability to navigate the World Wide Web.”

More than 35% of Latino workers have no digital skills, and 20% have just limited digital skills, Turner-Lloveras added, noting that digital inclusion now impacts most factors in modern society, including the ability to get a job and support a family.

“Without digital literacy and digital skills, you’re offering gas to a family that has no car. Telehealth is a valuable resource but cannot be used without those skills.”

Dr. Oliver Brooks, chief medical officer of the Watts Healthcare Corporation in Los Angeles, concurred with Turner-Lloveras. He noted that 1 out of 5 Black households have no internet access, limiting their ability to access healthcare in a timely manner. He stressed the importance of testing as soon as any symptom appears: runny nose, cough, gastric distress, fever, and other conditions.

The Black community has much lower rates of treatment, not because it wasn’t accessible, but because it isn’t offered to them, said Brooks. “Treatment doesn’t work if you don’t take it or get offered it. So as a person you need to advocate, you need to know about treatments and then say, ‘I tested positive. Do I take this pill? Do I take something?’”

According to new data from the CDPH shared by Dr. Nguyen, 37% of White patients who presented with COVID symptoms received treatment, while only 20% of Black people got access to care.

Treatment for older adults, rural communities One of the most vulnerable populations are adults who are 65 years and older and account for nearly 90% of COVID deaths.

Dr. Wynnelena Canio, who specializes in geriatric medicine at Kaiser Permanente in Petaluma, Ca., and is an advisor with the California Department of Aging, noted that “as people age, we accumulate chronic conditions that cause us to have decreased reserves with which to compensate or recover from stressors such as infection.

“A lot of older adults become more frail, losing more muscle mass and becoming more dependent on others after hospitalization. That in turn leads to more disability and possible institutionalization.”

Early treatment of any conditions in older adults has proven to have better outcomes, Canio emphasized. That includes especially getting the new updated boosters, which only 12% of Americans overall have received.

Dr. Jasmeet Kaur Bains, a family physician from Kern County in California’s Central Valley, who was just elected to the California State Assembly, spoke about the challenges in accessing health care for rural residents.

Bains, who grew up in the county, said when she was a child, a pediatrician could usually be seen within a day. Today, it can take two to three months.

The pandemic brought accelerated rates of retirement for doctors and skyrocketing unemployment rates. As people lost their jobs, they also lost health insurance coverage, Bains noted. Language barriers added to the access challenges. Many resources were not available in Spanish or Punjabi, two commonly spoken languages in Kern County. Added to this, issues like poor air quality and resulting lung disease led to high levels of hospitalization and deaths in her region.

“The lens needs to be focused here. The surge is real, it’s happening and it’s at the detriment of areas like rural California.”

Access issues notwithstanding, all five physicians agreed that getting tested and treated early is the message underserved communities need to hear.

“Don’t wait till the illness gets worse,” said Nguyen. “If you start feeling a runny nose, cough, or generally not like yourself, act fast and take a COVID test. If you test positive, seek treatment right away.”

Sacramento: Black Caucus Welcomes New Members, Installs Leaders

By Antonio Ray Harvey | California Black Media

On December 5, Asssemblymember Dr. Corey Jackson (D-Riverside) was sworn in at the State Capitol on the first day of the 2022-23 Legislative session.

Right after taking the oath of office to represent California’s 60th Assembly District, Jackson appeared to be in awe when he walked into his new role — and into his brand new, empty state office two blocks away to a desk, chair, an empty bookshelf, an American flag, and a California State Flag.

“Now it’s time to go work,” he said, smiling, to his staff and visiting constituents who attended the swearing-in ceremony. “I came here (to Sacramento) to talk because my business is to talk about issues and how to fix them.”

Jackson’s district includes Moreno Valley, Perris, a large part of Riverside, Hemet, and San Jacinto.

The first Black openly LGBTQ+ person elected to the State Assembly, Jackson is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of SBX Youth and Family Services. He is former member of the Riverside County Board of Education and a graduate of California Baptist University where he received Master and Doctor of Social Work degrees.

Jackson is one of the new faces in the last 16 months to join the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC). Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (D-Los Angeles), Tina McKinnor (D-Inglewood), Mia Bonta (D-Alameda), and Lori Wilson (D-Suisun City) are the newest members of CLBC’s coalition of 12 Black lawmakers.

Smallwood-Cuevas represents the 28th Senate District. She is the only Black woman in the Senate. A graduate of California State University at Hayward (now called CSU-East Bay), she is an educator, labor organizer, community advocate, researcher, and journalist.

Smallwood-Cuevas replaces Sydney Kamlager who was elected to the U.S. Congress seat held by Karen Bass. Last month, Bass was elected the first Black woman to be mayor of Los Angeles.

Smallwood-Cuevas’ district includes the communities of Ladera Heights, View Park, Baldwin Hills, Crenshaw, Downtown Los Angeles, Leimert Park, Mar Vista, Mid City, South Los Angeles, University Park, West Adams, and Culver City.

“I am the 63rd woman ever to be sworn into this illustrious body and one of a handful of dynamic Black women leaders to grace this chamber with their excellence,” Smallwood-Cuevas posted on her Facebook page last week.

In a special election to replace Autumn Burke who resigned in January, McKinnor (D-Inglewood) was elected to represent the 62nd Assembly District, which includes Gardena, Hawthorne, Inglewood, Lawndale, Lenox, Los Angeles, Marina del Rey, Venice, West Athens, Westchester and Westmont in Los Angeles County.

In November, due to redistricting McKinnor was elected to represent the 61st Assembly District which contains many of the same communities as the previous 62nd District.

“Today (Dec. 5) I was sworn in for my first term in the California State Assembly,” McKinnor posted on her Facebook page. “I am proud to represent Assembly District 61.”

In August, Bonta won a special election to represent the 18th Assembly District. She replaced her husband Rob Bonta, who was appointed California’s Attorney General last year by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Bonta’s district covers the East Bay area of Northern California. It includes a large portion of the City of Oakland and the cities of San Leandro and Alameda.

Bonta, who self-identifies as a Black Latina, holds a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Yale University, a Master of Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a Juris Doctorate from Yale Law School.

Assemblymember Lori Wilson represents California’s 11th Assembly district. She assumed office on April 6 after winning the seat vacated by former Assemblymember Jim Frazier.

As mayor of Suisun City, Wilson was the first Black woman mayor to serve in Solano County. She is a graduate of California State University, Sacramento with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Accountancy

The CLBC elected Wilson and Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Gardena) to serve as its Chair and Vice-Chair for the 2023-2024 legislative session.

Assemblymember Akilah Weber (D-San Diego) was elected secretary and Assemblymember Isaac G. Bryan (D-Los Angeles) was elected treasurer. The newly elected officers’ two-year terms began this month.

“I look forward to working with my colleagues to uplift over two million Black residents living in California,” Wilson said in an August written statement.

Two CLBC members will not be returning. Outgoing Assemblymember Jim Cooper (D-Elk Grove) was elected as Sheriff of Sacramento County in June, and Kamlager will begin serving in the U.S. House of Representatives in January 2023.

CLBC members make up 10% of the Assembly and 5% of the Senate. California’s Black population is about 6.5% according to the US Census.

Veteran Assemblymembers Chris Holden (D-Pasadena), Reggie Jones Sawyer (D-Los Angeles), Mike Gipson (D-Carson), and Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento) are the returning CLBC members.

The CLBC, founded in 1967 under the leadership of Sen. Mervyn Dymally, describes itself as a bipartisan and bicameral body of Black lawmakers committed to eliminating existing racial and social disparities and inequities for Black Americans.

The current and former members of CLBC believe that a “caucus representing concerns of the African American community” would furnish political influence and visibility far beyond their numbers, according to their mission statement.

CBLC Vice-Chair Bradford was recently awarded the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) Lifetime Achievement Award. NBCSL is the nation’s premier organization representing and serving the interests of African American State legislators.

“I am humbled beyond words,” Bradford said as he received the award. “I know that I’m only able to do the work I’m doing because of the people that have come before me. I stand on their shoulders and hope that one day others will reach even greater heights. I graciously accept this award and commit to continuing my work to promote equity, equal justice, and opportunity in every region of California.”

Holiday Cheer for Our Seniors Is What It Do!

By Lue Dowdy | LUE Productions

LUE Productions Community Umbrella services in collaboration with the African American Health Coalition and the Northwest Project Area committee presents, “Christmas Carols for Seniors,” on Friday, December 23, 2022, from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. The event is sponsored by Youth Build Inland Empire and the Southern California Black Chamber of Commerce.

We are still looking for singers. If you are interested, please text LUE Productions at (909) 567-1000. The next rehearsal date is Tuesday, December 20 at 7 p.m. at 555 N. Arrowhead Avenue in San Bernardino. No experience needed and all ages are welcome.

San Bernardino City Manager Robert Field to Depart January 17

SAN BERNARDINO, CA – The City of San Bernardino has announced that City Manager Robert Field will be leaving his post on January 17, 2023. The announcement was made by Mayor John Valdivia at the start of the City Council meeting on Wednesday, December 7.

The Mayor and City Council will discuss a process to replace Field at a special meeting tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, December 14 at 6:00 pm.

“The City Council and I wish Rob Field the best in his future endeavors,” said Mayor Valdivia. “Our city experienced positive direction in the region and advanced capital investment projects forward under his leadership these past two and a half years.”

Field was named City Manager in September of 2020.

As City Manager, Field worked with the Mayor and Council to finalize San Bernardino’s Bankruptcy, enabling the city to re-invest in its parks, streets, libraries, police, and code enforcement. With a focus on economic development, a record number of building permits were issued in 2022.

His efforts at the state level helped to prevent sales tax revenue generated at San Bernardino’s fulfillment centers from being diverted elsewhere in the state, preserving millions of dollars in revenue per year.

Remembering “Big D”

The memorial services for Demetrius “Big D” Mayo will be as follows:

  • Viewing: Tuesday, December 20, 2022, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Community Memorial Chapel located at 738 E. Highland Avenue in San Bernardino.
  • Funeral service: Wednesday, December 21, 2022, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. at Ecclesia Christian Fellowship Church located at 1314 Date Street in San Bernardino.

Following the funeral services, everyone will proceed to Corona Sunnyslope Cemetery located at 1125 Rimpau Avenue in Corona at 1:30 p.m. A Repast Dinner will be held at the church after the burial.

Please RSVP if you would like to attend to teliece12nv@yahoo.com.