Staff and Wire Reports
LOS ANGELES — “Success Post-COVID-19: Navigating Our New Next” is this year’s theme for the Los Angeles Black Business Expo.
Hundreds of the community’s most influential business leaders, business owners and consumers will join the Expo online from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 12.
The event will feature more than 40 speakers and more than 60 businesses including George Fraser, founder of the largest African-American networking conference for people of African-descent, The Power Networking Conference; Les Brown, internationally renown motivational speaker and best-selling author; and more than 30 high-impact educational and informative workshops and seminars.
“In the face of COVID-19 and its devastating impact on communities of color, now more than ever, it is imperative to continue our mission of promoting and empowering Black-owned businesses in the Greater Los Angeles region and beyond,” said Barbara Lindsey, who began the expo in 1989.
For additional event information, call Tracy Brown at (310) 346-9857. For technical assistance or additional information, call Ronald Miller at (909) 565-0224.
FAA provides noise
mitigation grants
LOS ANGELES – U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, chair of the House Financial Services Committee, has announced that the Federal Aviation Administration has provided $17.5 million in grants for residential noise mitigation for individuals and families who live near LAX. The grants were funded by the CARES Act, a $2 trillion economic security package that included several provisions drafted by Waters.
“These grants will help individuals and families in more than 1,000 local residences mitigate the impact of airport noise in their homes,” Waters said.
About $10 million will go to the Los Angeles County Development Authority for approximately 230 residences in the unincorporated communities of Lennox and Athens. Another $3.75 million will go to the city of Inglewood for approximately 700 Inglewood residences and $3.75 million will be used for approximately 185 residences in El Segundo.
Inglewood residents who want to learn more about residential noise mitigation can contact Bettye Griffith, the director of the city of Inglewood’s Residential Sound Insulation Program at (310) 412-5289.
Operation Love offers
free food, diapers
SOUTH LOS ANGELES — Nearly 500 South Los Angeles foster families with young children and college-age youth received free meals, groceries and diapers at an Operation Love event held last week at Los Angeles Southwest College. The event also was open to local residents who are need of critical supplies. Operation Love is a series of food and diaper distribution events in South Los Angeles.
During the giveaway, families received bags of groceries that were supplied by the Los Angeles Food Bank as well as boxes of diapers that were donated by the Good+Foundation. Virtual school supplies also were handed out to families during the giveaway.
Operation Love events are coordinated by Faith Foster Families Network (3FN) to provide life sustaining resources for those impacted by the child welfare system.
“We feel it is crucial that the faith community partners with both public and private sector organizations to support those in need in our community at this difficult time,” said 3FN Executive Director Nancy Harris. “Through our collaborative partnerships, we are able to assist many more than any one of us could do on our own.”
The event was sponsored by the office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, Kilroy Realty and Blue Shield Promise Health.
Drew University gets
Bloomberg donation
SOUTH LOS ANGELES — Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science has received a $7.7 million gift from Bloomberg Philanthropies to help address the shortage of Black doctors in underserved communities.
The donation will allow the university to provide scholarships of up to $100,000 to nearly 50% of medical students currently enrolled and receiving financial aid over the next four years, according to the school.
Drew University received the grant as part of the first investment of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Greenwood Initiative, an effort to accelerate the pace of Black wealth accumulation and address systemic under-investment in Black communities.
“COVID-19 has been especially devastating for the Black community, and the scarcity of Black doctors practicing in Black communities is one reason for it,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and Bloomberg LP, and three-term mayor of New York City. “More Black doctors will mean more Black lives saved and fewer health problems that limit economic opportunity. But right now, the burden of student debt and lack of financial aid means that the shortage of Black doctors could get even worse.”
The award is part of a $100 million commitment to the nation’s four historically Black medical colleges. The other colleges receiving grants are Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, D.C., Meharry Medical College in Nashville and Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta.
L.A. Digest is designed to help promote events, activities and initiatives that are serving the interests of residents in L.A. To submit an item, send emails to newsroom@wavepublication.com.
