Local

This course is an intense 4 hour per day airmen knowledge base training for students wishing to earn their FAA Certified Airmen Certificate with a sUAS rating and become Professional UAS Pilots.  The training will be held each Saturday for eight weeks.

This sUAS Student Pilot Prep course is designed to provide a skill set necessary to safely and effectively operate as the Pilot in Command (PIC) of a small Unmanned Aerial System (sUAS) in the national airspace; and to provide sUAS student pilots with a better than working knowledge of 14 CFR Part 107;preparing them to take and pass the Airmen Knowledge Base Test necessary to earn the FAA Certified Pilots Certificate with a sUAS rating.

The course will include both simulated and practical applications and 16 additional hours of hands on flight training; a total of 56 Training Hours.

This is a high paying career of the future. Become a professional Unmanned Aerial Systems Pilot and earn big. Don’t procrastinate and Don’t let this opportunity pass you by. If you enjoy flying drone or are the least bit curious and, looking for a career of the future.

Call them today at (909) 353-2477 to request more info and to register. Your future in UAS Aviation  is waiting for you.

By Wallace Allen IV

SAN BERNARDINO, CA- Experts say that reading to babies and toddlers improves their learning potential. San Bernardino County’s First 5 Program added talking and singing to the formula at last Saturday’s “Talk, Read, Sing Fest” at the Highland Library. At least 100 children visited the event and received access to a variety of activities.

They received free books and piggy banks (No they were not full of money). There was also face painting, a magic show, plus a short concert! In addition to the fun stuff, there was a resource fair that provided valuable information to the many parents in attendance.

The free event was from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call First 5 for information regarding upcoming events being scheduled for young children at (909) 386-7706.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, CA- On Friday, November 4, Lifeway Church in Rancho Cucamonga held a well-attended public meeting. The meeting was scheduled in order to publicize and offer involvement in a planned effort to bring Inland Empire residents together to discuss Economic Empowerment within the Black community.

McDonalds Restaurant franchisee and community leader, Reggie Webb and Lifeway Church Pastor, Chris Esteves presented and co-led the discussion. The proposed solution that the Economic Empowerment Movement came up with was business acquisition, ownership and operation.

Newly retired, Deborah Robertson drove around Rialto and quickly decided what she would do with all that “free time.” She put all her efforts in running for mayor.

Four years later and one term as mayor, Mayor Robertson is still working to keep Rialto moving in the right direction. During her first term, which began in 2012, economic opportunities went up while crime went down. Her collaboration with neighboring cities along the Interstate 10 corridor will result in better traffic flow, even as more industrial jobs take root in the area.

“I feel the role of mayor is a calling, not just a title,” said Mayor Robertson, who was a three-term city councilwoman before her first term as mayor. “When I took office, my goals were to stabilize our financial future, improve the economic and business development in Rialto, create greater job opportunities, hire the local workforce and make Rialto a safe place to live, work and play.”

“Today, our businesses are on the rise, a greater number of residents are part of the local workforce, crime statistics are down and we as a community have made a tremendous commitment to improving our streets and roads.”
In working on the needs of the city, Mayor Robertson leaned on her vast experience. A native Californian, Mayor Robertson holds an undergraduate degree in Urban Planning and a master’s degree in Public Administration. Before retiring, she was the Deputy District Director of External

Affairs for the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). Partnering with the cities of Fontana, Colton and San Bernardino, the focus has been on economic development and the creation of jobs in the fields of technology, transportation along with commercial endeavors.

“A major accomplishment has been attracting businesses to this city and the surrounding communities,” Mayor Robertson said. “We focus on where we are (geographically). The footprint has been cast. Anything that goes from the ports to the rest of the United States – 90 percent of it has to pass through the Inland Empire. We need to see the technology of moving goods and make sure the skill sets for these jobs are transferred into our community so our people are competitive.”
The biggest project for the city is the Renaissance at the north end of Rialto, formerly Rialto Airport. Through legislation, the city was able to redirect aviation activity to San Bernardino International Airport (Formerly Norton Air Force Base). More than 1,500 acres are being redeveloped into housing, commercial, industrial and entertainment areas, also bringing tax revenue and jobs.

“Rialto is the jewel of the Inland Empire,” Mayor Robertson said. “I have a plan and I want to continue to execute the plan to move Rialto forward.”

For more information about Mayor Deborah Robertson go to www.DeborahRobertson.org.

About Rialto Mayor Deborah Robertson

Deborah Robertson was elected Mayor of Rialto in November 2012 – the latest achievement in a distinguished public service career that has included 12 years on the Rialto City Council, leadership positions at the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), the San Bernardino Associated Governments (SANBAG), and more than 20 years with the California Department of Transportation. Under Mayor Robertson’s leadership, Rialto has gained regional and national recognition for innovation in the areas of public-private partnerships, business development and job creation. The City’s refinancing and restructuring of its water and wastewater operations has become a model for other communities in California, pumping millions of dollars into the local economy.

Mayor Robertson retired from Caltrans in 2011, as Deputy District Director of External Affairs. A native Californian, she holds an undergraduate degree in Urban Planning from the University of California, San Diego, a Masters Degree in Public Administration from the City University of New York Bernard Baruch College and is a National Urban Fellows recipient. She is also a scholarship recipient and past participant of the Southern California Leadership Network.
Mayor Robertson has two children and six grandchildren, that are the joy of her life.

The fifth annual Community Gathering for Excellence will bring together about 1,000 people representing diverse agencies to use collective impact principals to develop a plan that will help today’s youth and young adults compete in tomorrow’s job market.

The gathering, held at the National Orange Show Events Center in San Bernardino, will set a course of action for how local government, higher education, and community partners can help local youth succeed beyond high school. Key partners include the University of California, Riverside; California State University, San Bernardino; Loma Linda University; San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools; San Bernardino Valley College; San Bernardino County; and the City of San Bernardino.

These organizations are already working together to lay the groundwork for a skilled regional workforce that will bring about a thriving and adaptable economy. During the gathering, keynote speaker Jim Clifton, CEO of Gallup <http://www.gallup.com/home.aspx> , will address the coming jobs war. Clifton believes that with the increasingly global economy, when today’s students are ready to enter the workforce, they will be competing against people from across the country and the world for the best jobs. As technology improves, work and collaboration are less and less restricted by physical location, especially in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields, which offer high-paying jobs. That means obtaining a good job will be less about where you live and more about what you know.

SBCUSD and its partners believe the best way to prepare students is to increase the graduation rate  and the college preparation rate, as well as make sure all students are on a pathway towards a viable career <http://ca-sanbernardinoschools.civicplus.com/index.aspx?NID=639> . An example of this is the Academy of Manufacturing and Product Development at Indian Springs High School where students apply the math, technology, and business skills they learn in class to design and create products using industry-approved software, including CNC (Computer Numerically Controlled) machining devices. Salaries in the high-tech manufacturing industry are competitive with salaries in many fields that require a four-year degree.

San Bernardino City Unified School District (SBCUSD) Superintendent Dr. Dale Marsden launched the Gathering for Excellence in 2012 as a way to engage parents, employees, and community members in meaningful dialogue about local educational reforms. Among the ways education and instruction has evolved in SBCUSD since then has been a focus on Linked Learning, which provides opportunities for students to explore careers from manufacturing to medical that are integrated with their academic lessons.

“We are stronger when working in unison rather than in isolation,” Marsden said. “The power of collaboration allows us to have a greater impact that will benefit members of our community for generation to come.

“Developing a shared vision means we have a greater collective impact that leverages the best that each of our partners has to offer. When we engage in mutually reinforcing activities, our entire community reaps the benefits,” Marsden added.

Spots at the Community Gathering for Excellence are still available for members of the community who want to contribute their ideas. Attendance is free, but you must register by October 31 at http://bit.ly/2bq526s. Doors open at 8 a.m. on November 10 for a continental breakfast. The program is from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

“The SBCUSD Gathering of Excellence has focused in on the fact that education is the path to success for our youth,” said San Bernardino Mayor R. Carey Davis. “The partnerships forged in developing this program have benefitted our students by creating a network of support for our students.”

If you plan to attend and require reasonable accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act, please contact the SBCUSD Affirmative Action Office at (909) 381-1122 or mike.medina@sbcusd.com at least 10 business days before the Community Gathering for Excellence.

Spanish interpretation will be provided during the event. Daycare will not be provided.

By McKenzie Jackson | California Black Media

Seventeen-year-old Ariel Parker has looked beyond Instagram, Snapchat and “Juju On That Beat” and envisions being a leader one day.

The Fresno County teenager isn’t sure what type of leader she wants to be when she gets older, but the Clovis North High School senior sees a national landscape that features African-American students struggling in school, and black people being gunned down by the police, and wants there to be change.

Parker said if she and other young, black millennials feel a call to incite change, they should heed it—especially with cognizance of the injustices that take place.

“We are looking for opportunities to change things,” she said. “We are always talking about possibilities to bring awareness to situations like Black Lives Matter.”

Black Students of California United (BSCU) held three Senatorial District Leadership Forums this month, and will hold one more in November. BSCU envisions African-American youth receiving quality education, training, tools and experiences to become engaged participants in California’s civic and economic life.

Fresno County Office of Education Coordinator Angie Barfield, one of BSCU’s founders, said the three-month-old group’s forums are being held to bring youth leaders together to talk about issues they are experiencing and form solutions.

“Our black students are not satisfied with how things are in our schools, communities,” she said. “The idea of the forums is to talk these things out – student union issues, school district issues – and come up with plans to deliver back to their authority figures to progress things.”

Barfield, Dr. Angelo Williams, retired educator Jacky McFadden and California Alliance of African American Educators Founder, and Executive Director Debra Watkins founded BSCU in August. The group’s values include instilling excellence and self-determination, independence and perseverance, critical cultural consciousness and active mental and physical health maintenance habits and practices in black youth.

The idea for BSCU sprang from an African-American youth rally earlier this year, and since its beginnings the group has established links with African-American clubs and student unions in various parts of the state.

Williams said BSCU wants to teach black students about advocacy and civic engagement.

“Youth are facing significant challenges in education and economically, but they are organizing,” the college professor said of some black youth. “They are one of the most active groups that I have seen. The beautiful thing is these young people are fired up and ready to go.”

The Oct. 29 forums were held in Stockton, Sacramento and Fresno. The fourth event, Nov. 19, will be from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Santa Teresa High School in San Jose.

The discussions on what is working right for black youth in their communities and schools and what is going wrong. There will be a guest speaker and a lunch.

Parker, the Clovis student who wants to attend Pepperdine University in Malibu or Baylor University in Texas, is a member of BSCU’s student advisory board and a forum attendee —along with student’s affiliated with the program from schools in Sacramento, San Jose, Stockton, Oakland and Los Angeles.

She said anything she learns at the event will be beneficial.

“It’s very important for black kids my age to want to be leaders because we are such a powerful people,” Parker said. “We have such influence in everything – music, art. Black people have so much power, so black kids should strive to be leaders in the community and eventually on the national level.”

Barfield said the African-American community can’t have excuses to address economic, education, and civic issues.

“We don’t want another generation of disengaged, uninformed youth,” she said. “We are going to allow the students to formulate their voices and go after elected officials and board members and let them know these kids have a voice and hear is your solution.”

Williams said in a year BSCU hopes to have expanded to more students across the state and have an annual civic engagement program running.

“We want to have students in the 40 Senatorial Districts across the state,” Williams said. “We are trying to produce future leaders. We want them to study those districts, so if they decide they want to be an official they are starting early in getting that knowledge.”

The student Parker said learning leadership is important and bringing her generation of black millennials together is a part of that.

“There seems to be a lot of division in our generation,” she said. “We need to come together.”

Around 60 students will be admitted to each event.

RSVP is required for the Senatorial District Leadership Forum in San Jose.. . Contact Watkins at 408-829-0590 to register.

For more information, email blackstudentscaliforniaunited@gmail.com.

Abigail Medina, school teacher, member of the San Bernardino School Board, and candidate for election to the 40th Assembly District of the California State Assembly (representing greater San Bernardino)  hosted a reception on Sunday, October 23,  for Kamala Harris, JD, California Attorney General, (California’s Chief Legal Officer), and current candidate for election as the United States Senator, representing California.

SAN BERNARDINO, CA- The League of Women Voters provided a review and discussion of California’s seventeen voter initiatives last Saturday, October 30, at the Ingrahm Community Center in San Bernardino. The forum was organized by the Northwest Redevelopment Project Area Committee. The 9 a.m. to noon meeting was attended by committee members as well as the general public. Each proposition was discussed as well as the San Bernardino Measures. Though no recommendations were made, the general consensus was that the event and information was very helpful. For more information about the NWPAC, call (909) 913-0831.

Tammy Martin-Ryles

RIVERSIDE, CA- Extraordinary leaders and community programs will be recognized and awarded at the Theta Pi Sigma Inland Empire alumnae chapter observance of the 94th Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc. Founders’ Day on Saturday, November 12, 1 p.m., at the Christ’s Church of the Valley’s Etiwanda Gardens in Etiwanda. It is co-sponsored this year by Children’s Resources Inc. and the Turn It Around Foundation.

Tonia Causey-Bush

To be honored at the event are: Tonia Causey-Bush, Ph.D., a 23-year public education veteran and president/CEO and founder of Sacred SISTAHS (Sisters in Solidarity Teaching And Healing our Spirits) Inc.; Gwendolyn Lorraine Dowdy-Rodgers, a 20-year finance management professional, serving as a Community Development Specialist Civic/Government Relations for Uplift Family Services and a member of the San Bernardino City Unified‘s Board of Education; Cynthia “The Tech Diva” Frazier, a 25-year master of the power of creative thinking and business development and a leader and author in the area of STEaM and Digital programming and instruction for youth and teens; Tammy Martin-Ryles, president and CEO and a founding member of the Black Chamber of Commerce of the Inland Empire, as well as an educator with the Corona-Norco Unified School District. Each of this year’s honorees has established impactful local community movements geared toward equipping and inspiring women and youth to dream more, learn more,

Gwendolyn Lorraine Dowdy-Rodgers

do more and become more.

“As an international organization, we believe that authentic leadership is evidenced through work that is

Cynthia Frazier

intentional, impactful and measurable,” says Deborah Moore, president of the Theta Pi Sigma Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho. “And the achievements of each of these honorees speaks volumes to their standing as authentic leaders in the Inland Empire.”

Tickets are $55 each for the Founders’ Day observance and can be purchased through Eventbrite.com by entering “Faith & Fashion”; by contacting the chapter at thetapisigma1922@yahoo.com or 951.777.4148; or by contacting any of the chapter members directly. Proceeds will help fund scholarships for Inland Empire youth. Donations can be made via Eventbrite as well.

The festive event will also feature Minister Larry E. Lowe as emcee and songstress Pamela R. Olivia. Fashions are by Casonna.

SAN BERNARDINO — Twenty-two veterans — who served in the military during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, as well as had their high school completion interrupted — will receive their diplomas during a ceremony organized by the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools.

This will be the eighth graduation class for the Operation Recognition Veterans Diploma Project, which is held in partnership with the County Department of Veterans Affairs. This year’s ceremony will be held at Serrano High School in the Snowline Joint Unified School District on Nov. 9 at 4:30 p.m. The school is located at 9292 Sheep Creek Road in Phelan.

Veterans in this year’s graduating class are:

• Louis Avilez of San Bernardino, World War II, Marines (posthumous);
• James Bezenah of Phelan, Vietnam War, Navy;
• Shelvere Black of Colton, Vietnam War, Marines;
• Edward Cervantes of Victorville, Vietnam War, Army;
• George Cervantes of Loma Linda, Vietnam War, Marines (posthumous);
• Leonardo Contreras of Hinkley, Vietnam War, Marines;
• Allen Cronk of Apple Valley, Vietnam War, Marines;
• Lewis Gayle of Highland, Korean War, Air Force;
• Jacob Hall of Landers, Vietnam War, Army;
• Carlos Holguin of Rancho Cucamonga, World War II, Army;
• Stephen Jacobs of Hesperia, Vietnam War, Navy;
• Melvin Larsen of Phelan, Korean War, Navy;
• Jerry Martin of Phelan, Vietnam War, Marines and Navy
• Allen Miller of Apple Valley, Vietnam War, Marines
• John Miller of Yucca Valley, Vietnam War, Marines;
• Wilburn Milligan of Fontana, World War II, Marines;
• Stephen Morrow of Hesperia, Vietnam War, Marines;
• Ricky Reyes of Yucca Valley, Vietnam War, Army;
• John Rivera of Wrightwood, Vietnam War, Army;
• Fred Romero of Hesperia, Korean War, Navy;
• Roy Rubio Jr. of Upland, Vietnam War, Marines;
• David Villafana of Barstow, Korean War, Army.

Following the graduation ceremony, veterans and their guests will be honored at the 22nd annual Veterans Dinner taking place in the Serrano High School gymnasium. The dinner will be hosted by the Snowline Joint Unified School District and the Tri-Community Kiwanis Club.

Operation Recognition Veterans Diploma Project provides veterans and internees, who were unable to complete high school due to military service or internment, the opportunity to receive a high school diploma, according to the state education code. Veterans who served in and received an honorable discharge from World War II, the Korean War or the Vietnam War; or individuals who were interned in a Japanese American relocation camp and are San Bernardino County residents are eligible to participate.

For more information, contact County Schools at (909) 386-2412.