Construction underway for Youngstown parks and playgrounds projects

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — If you've taken a drive past some of Youngstown's parks and playgrounds recently, you may have noticed a lot of activity.
The old Bortz Field on the city's west side is one of 18 projects that are now underway or in the planning stages all around the city. There's work being done at Crandall Park on the north side as well as Homestead and Pemberton Parks on the south side.
'We're going to have the new batting cages over there, also infield turf and all brand new lighting,' said Youngstown Parks and Recreation Director Clement Franklin.
The city is investing more than $10 million into its parks and playgrounds this spring and summer, with nearly $6 million of that coming from Youngstown's share of federal American Rescue Plan funds.
'There were some add-ons from each council. There were some specialized pieces that we added, and then we had some private investments as well,' said Youngstown Mayor Tito Brown.
The improvements include new playground equipment as well as picnic tables and grills to replace what, in many cases, had been worn out or broken. There will also be new landscaping and sidewalks as well as lighting and security cameras.
Brown said without the availability of the ARP funds, many of the upgrades would have taken years to install as funding became available.
'I'm excited to see what the new parks will look like, and the citizens in the neighborhood can enjoy them,' Brown said.
Some city parks where nothing is taking place now could see improvements if there is money left over from other projects.
Brown says residents will be able to start using the new facilities this summer, and most of the work should be completed this fall.
While it was too cold to swim for many, the mayor on Monday was also taking his annual ceremonial first dive at the Northside Pool on Belmont Avenue. As a former lifeguard there many years ago, he had a message to remind residents about water safety this summer.
'Before we open the pool, I want to make sure I give them a spiel, make sure they know how to swim. Their parents should know how to swim. If not, let Parks and Rec help them learn water safety and swimming,' Brown said.
The Northside Pool is also getting a new concession stand this summer that should be open by mid-June. It'll also be getting some improvements to the front entrance to the pool building and the bath house changing area. Weather permitting, the pool will be open through Sept. 1.
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Hamilton Spectator

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• Hamilton Spectator

Brampton mayor ‘cautiously optimistic' about Bishnoi gang terrorist designation

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Black America Web

a day ago

• Black America Web

Celebrating Juneteenth Amid Resurging Fascism 160 Years Later

Source: MARK FELIX / Getty Juneteenth offers a time of celebration and reflection as we consider what it means to be free amid resurgent fascism in America. While the current political moment may feel unprecedented to some people, 160 years after the Black people in Galveston, Texas, learned of emancipation, Black Americans are still fighting for freedom, liberation, and self-determination. This year's Juneteenth celebrations take place against the backdrop of a federal government covered in fascism and hostile toward these core tenets of a free society. Despite the persisting attacks on multiple fronts, Black organizers and communities see opportunity in celebrating this moment as we continue to push onward. Brianna Brown, co-director of the Texas Organizing Project (TOP), noted that Juneteenth serves as a poignant reminder of Black resistance and resilience. 'Celebrating freedom 160 years after General Order No. 3 signifies our commitment to a legacy of resistance and vision,' Brown said. 'It reminds us that liberation didn't arrive solely because Union soldiers came to Galveston. It came because enslaved Black people never stopped dreaming, resisting, and moving toward freedom.' Brown said that Juneteenth offers an opportunity for Black Americans to write a new chapter, even as we combat re-emerging forms of white supremacy, such as book bans, state violence, voter suppression, and anti-Black curriculum, to name a few. Akinyele Umoja, an African American Studies professor at Georgia State, echoed Brown's sentiment about the importance of recognizing the role enslaved Black people played in their emancipation. Umoja pointed to what W.E.B. Dubois called the general strike of enslaved Black people, which in part led to emancipation. 'I understand and appreciate folks in Texas really embracing it as emancipation or Jubilee day, because I do think that was an important mark for our people coming out of chattel slavery,' Umoja said. 'Particularly recognizing in the role that our ancestors played in that, whether it was what Dubois called the great general strike when Black people refused to work or escape after the Emancipation Proclamation over the Union line.' Reflecting on the legacy of Juneteenth and independence, he noted the small community in Mexico that has celebrated Juneteenth since the news spread 160 years ago. Source: The Washington Post / Getty 'I found out a few years ago that some Juneteenth is celebrated in Mexico amongst descendants of Black Seminoles who escaped over into Mexico to escape enslavement once Texas became a white settler state,' he said. 'So, it gave me even more significance. I see it as an important mark of that struggle that our ancestors had.' During the interview, Umoja drew a throughline from settler colonialism, slavery, and apartheid in the United States as a part of the foundation of American fascism to the current attacks on justice and equity by the Trump administration and broader MAGA movement. For Umoja, commemorating Juneteenth—and the critical struggle of our ancestors and compounding harms over the 160 years post-end of American chattel slavery—offers another opportunity to discuss reparations and restitution for generational harm endured by Black Americans who are descendants of enslaved people in North America. 'For us now, what's important is for us to have a free discussion in our community about what freedom is, what liberation is,' he said. 'It might be tied to questions like, what type of health care we receive, and the economic system we want to have? What does education look like? What does the curriculum look like? All of these different questions should come up in our community. 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Brown described solidarity as a practice that requires courage and commitment—a necessity for communities impacted by systemic oppression to survive, thrive, and ultimately win. 'The solidarity we build isn't about feel-good moments,' she said. 'It's forged in the trenches of struggle, through strategic collaboration, and in the understanding that our liberation is interconnected. We name anti-Blackness and anti-Latino racism.' Source: Kayla Oaddams / Getty As Brown notes, solidarity doesn't require grinning and being silent. Organizations like TOP recognize that multiple issues often affect our communities at the same time. Survival and self-determination require a focus on creating a world that is not only suitable for ourselves but also for our friends, neighbors, and the broader community. 'We balance it by refusing to treat our lives like policy silos,' Brown said. 'At TOP, we understand our people don't wake up saying, 'Today I care about democracy. Tomorrow, maybe healthcare.' Our folks live lives that are profoundly connected and intersectional. That's why we fight with both people power and political power on issues that put food on the table and protect our right to shape the future.' The emancipation of formerly enslaved Black people 160 years ago set the stage for generations of discourse about how we collectively challenge fascism and tyranny in any form. But all the collective proclamations and orders issued during and after the Civil War, as well as the Reconstruction era amendments, failed to secure our place in this country. And yet, as we witness the chaos and cruelty of the current administration—from targeted ICE actions on communities to the planned robbery of our social safety net to enrich the broligarchy—some wonder whether this is a time for Black people just to fall back and let others handle the fight. But American fascism and state violence have never let us live in peace. To quote the late organizer and movement steward Ella Baker, 'we who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes.' Freedom and liberation require more than words, orders, and proclamations. Each moment of joy and success has required a sustained endurance and committed resistance that refused to accept the white supremacist status quo. 'Joy is both our inheritance and our fuel,' Brown said. 'Systems of oppression try to make us small, exhausted, and forgetful of our worth. Joy reminds us that we are worthy of more. It tells us we belong. Joy shows us that freedom isn't just about tearing down walls, it's also about building lives filled with dignity.' SEE ALSO: Survivors Remember Emanuel AME Church Massacre Victims On 10th Anniversary Kendrick Sampson's BLD PWR Teams Up With SisterSong And GBEF For Houston Juneteenth Event SEE ALSO Celebrating Juneteenth Amid Resurging Fascism 160 Years Later was originally published on

Time​ Magazine

2 days ago

• Time​ Magazine

What Building Black Power Could Mean for Workplaces

By Ahead of Juneteenth, we spoke with Andre M. Perry, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and author of the recent book, Black Power Scorecard: Measuring the Racial Gap and What We Can Do to Close it. He told us that the goal of Black Power Scorecard was to 'find out the factors that we must address in order to create vibrant, thriving communities.' In it, he argues that Black power movements seek to 'remove privileges based on race,' a process that would 'advance democracy, benefiting all racial groups.' We asked him about employers' role in working towards that vision, given the attacks on corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs on the federal level. Here are excerpts from our conversation, edited for length and clarity: In Black Power Scorecard, you write that 'the concepts, strategies, and objectives of Black power have never been fully encapsulated by [corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)] programs.' Where has DEI fallen short? I wrote the book before Trump was elected, but I still feel that my position holds up in that the goal of DEI and affirmative action have never been the goals of the Civil Rights Movement. It's always been to have mainstream access to capital markets, mainstream access to higher educational institutions. And in many ways, DEI programs—not the values—are consolation prizes that have been offered in the face of not providing access. In one of my favorite studies, we scraped all the Yelp data from businesses across the country and found that Black-, Brown-, and Asian-owned firms actually score higher on Yelp than their white counterparts. That research shows empirically what elders used to say all the time, that our ice is just as cold, meaning that our businesses and entrepreneurs are just as worthy of investment. No one wants to be a consolation prize. No one wants to be a set aside. We don't want workarounds. Communities need investment like everyone else, and so to me, the goal is to create policy both in the public and private sectors that recognize the strength of people and that Black, Brown, and Asian folks are not a set aside. We don't want special programs. We just want mainstream access. One of my favorite quotes comes from Thich Nhat Han, a Vietnamese philosopher, who used to say, 'When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don't blame the lettuce.' You look to see if the soil's enriched. You look to see if it's getting proper rain water or sunlight. But when things aren't growing in black communities, we constantly blame the lettuce. I want for us to recognize that when there's a lack of growth it's because of a lack of investment, but also that we have strength in black communities, but that strength is devalued. And I don't necessarily promote the furtherance of devaluation through policies that aren't truly providing the investments that they deserve. So it's incumbent upon corporate America, upon government, upon American citizens to say, 'Hey, we want policies that work for all of us.' What should employers be doing instead to realize the goals of Black power, or as you write, 'create environments that maximize human potential?' When it comes to employers in particular, I do emphasize the role of income. Income is one of the top predictors [of life expectancy in Black communities]. What employers should be mindful of is that pay is a major factor in the quality of life for individuals. No surprises there. When people have adequate pay, they invest in their lives and their communities' lives. We always need to check our pay against cost of living increases because what has happened over the decades is that the cost of living in many markets has outpaced the increase in pay. And if we're not mindful, we can really make it hard on families overall to have a good quality of life. Another avenue could be workforce housing, which may be difficult in tight housing markets but can be a viable goal to create thriving communities. Because of those tight markets, we have not seen widespread employer-housing benefits, but if firefighters and teachers and other municipal employees can get access to home ownership, it helps stabilize their lives as well as the lives of others in the community. In the book, I talk a lot about how we must look for collective means to solve these problems. Unionization is one critical institution or practice for employees if their employers are not providing the incomes that encourage longevity. I'm also interested in employee-owned firms and other ways that employees can have a stake in the growth of a business. Employers shouldn't interfere with employees' efforts to organize and mobilize. That may be hard to hear, but for an employer, it does come with certain tensions that are ultimately healthy in a democracy. You want employees to have some say in how resources are distributed because their work matters and in many cases, they are a primary reason why the business is seeing profits. It only makes sense that there is some kind of mechanism for employers to recognize the contributions of workers. What are you seeing that gives you hope and keeps you engaged in this kind of work? When I did the research, it was clear that there are lots of places that are thriving and that we see growth in a lot of areas. What happens at the national level often masks the real growth at the local level. Things are changing at a local level in spite of what's happening at the federal level. I point to the growth in Black-owned employer firms, for instance, or firms with more than one employee. Black people represent about 14% of the population. In 2017, Black-owned firms were about 2.3% of employer firms. That number has actually increased by 50% since 2017. And that was through the first Trump administration, a pandemic, and then the Biden administration. In spite of everything, we're seeing growth on a local level, and so I'm encouraged by that. Certainly, there are threats that can thwart those advancements, but I know there's strength that has been created during these periods, and we can't lose sight of that growth because it really will mask the innovation, the dignity, the strength of the people who are doing the good work and winning.