NEWS AND UPDATES
YBPC RECEIVES $14,000 DONATION FROM HALLOWEN CHARITY BALL
The Young Black Professionals Coalition would like to thank the Halloween Charity Ball for their recent donation to YBPC. On, Monday November 13, the organization which is dedicated to providing for the needs of local not -for- profit organizations that help individuals in our community, held a private ceremony and check presentation for YBPC and the Akron Snow Angels.
"What an honor to receive such a blessing, to be able to provide programs for the community, activities for our members and events for Akron, said YBPC President Eric Fletcher. YBPC plans to use the money in 2017 to expand on its community outreach programs, create new initiatives and collaborative efforts in the city and the University of Akron and launch it's scholarship program. For more information on the Halloween Charity Ball visit halloweencharityball.com Basketball clinic teaches local youths to embrace nonviolence
Eleven-year-old Jordan Huling gave up sleeping in on Presidents Day to play basketball.
“I just came to have some fun and learn some new basketball skills, but it’s called ‘Shoot Basketballs Not People,’ so I was thinking they want us to play more basketball and not kill people,” said Jordan, a fifth-grader at Akron’s Case Elementary School. “It makes sense because if you’re occupied doing something positive, it keeps you from doing things that are wrong. Basketball takes a team effort, so it teaches you how to get along with other people and work together.” Shoot Basketballs Not People is a Philadelphia-based nonprofit organization that aims to do exactly what Jordan discerned — teach fundamental basketball skills while promoting healthy lifestyle choices. It also works to increase participation in sports and to help parents support children in sports and in the classroom. CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING MORE Source: Akron Beacon Journal (February 16, 2016) Abreu wants to return to University of Akron basketball team
Alex Abreu wants to play college basketball again.
And he wants to play at the University of Akron. He’s just not sure if that plan will work out. “Hopefully I’ll go back to Akron,” Abreu said Monday, nearly a year after the star point guard was busted on marijuana trafficking charges and kicked off the team. “That’s the goal and the dream. I would love to come back.” If not at Akron, then maybe at another Division I school, he said, or he could turn pro. He made the comments before speaking in front of more than 80 elementary school kids, parents and volunteers gathered at the John R. Buchtel Community Learning Center as part of the second annual Shoot Basketballs Not People clinic. CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING MORE Source: Akron Beacon Journal (Feb 18, 2014) Young black professionals return to Akron to give back
They are not royalty on the basketball court or stars of the big screen. It’s possible you’ve never even heard their names. Raised in Akron, they’ve left to pursue careers elsewhere.
But that doesn’t mean they’ve forgotten the people in this city who once kissed their skinned knees, guided them as teenagers and instilled the importance of a good education. They’re so appreciative that they return often to give back to the city they love and the townspeople who shaped their lives. Eric R. Jones Fletcher II and Steve King graduated 10 years ago from Akron’s Buchtel and Garfield high schools, respectively. Both were academically gifted and received college scholarships. Two years ago, as successful scholars and businessmen, they founded the Young Black Professionals Coalition (YBPC), a nonprofit organization that focuses on the development of future leaders. CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING MORE Source: Akron Beacon Journal (August 13, 2012) |
"I Know I Can" Back To School Drive provides school supplies, haircuts and more.Source: Socially Good TV (SGTV)
Outreach effort serves food, encouragement to area homeless
Every day, Gail Rebovich calls a different place home.
“We’re pretty much going from place to place — a tent, abandoned houses, any place we can go,” she said. Rebovich, 31, was gathered with a dozen or so fellow homeless under Akron’s Y-bridge at noon Sunday when volunteers arrived to pass out free bagged lunches and words of encouragement. The outreach was part of the region’s first #HashtagLunchbag, a nationwide effort to feed and inspire the homeless population. Akron’s Young Black Professionals Coalition helped organize the local event, which kicked off Sunday morning with about 50 volunteers packing more than 200 lunches at the Akron Urban League. CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING MORE Source: Akron Beacon Journal (June 22, 2014) Akron natives return home with purpose and bookbags
Steve King came home.
So did his boyhood friend, Eric Fletcher. Their return to Akron didn’t bring ESPN cameras or gushing broadcasters. There was no Twitter frenzy or billboards. There were, however, tons of hugs for the two former Akron men, who returned to their roots Sunday with their small army of volunteers for a seventh year. Their mission: Get as many kids ready for school as possible. And during the seventh annual “I Know I Can” back-to-school drive and fair on East Tallmadge Avenue, as many as 500 schoolkids were getting backpacks loaded with supplies. CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING MORE Source: Akron Beacon Journal (August 24, 2014) Clinic prompts kids to equate shooting only with basketballs
Steve King isn’t happy with the violence in his hometown.
Shootings and murders are getting more frequent in Akron, he said, and the thugs and their victims are getting younger. So the 28-year-old King, who now lives in Columbus, helped organize Shoot Basketballs Not People, a free basketball clinic for kids Monday. The event, held at Innes Community Learning Center in the city’s Kenmore neighborhood, was designed to teach participants as much about getting along with each other as it was to hone their basketball skills. It attracted about 200 kids ranging in age from elementary school to high school. CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING MORE Source: Akron Beacon Journal (February 19, 2013) |
