MBE's in the Nati

Iraq De-escalation Act 2007

2007-02-01T14:59:00.000-05:00

Dear Nubian Oracle,

Today, we sadly find ourselves at the very point in Iraq I feared most when I opposed giving the President the open-ended authority to wage this war in 2002 – an occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences in the midst of a country torn by civil war.

We have waited and we have been patient. We have given chance after chance for a resolution that has not come, and, more importantly, watched with horror and grief the tragic loss of thousands of brave young Americans.

The time for waiting in Iraq is over. The days of our open-ended commitment must come to a close. And the need to bring this war to an end is here.

That is why today, I’m introducing the Iraq War De-escalation Act of 2007. This plan would not only place a cap on the number of troops in Iraq and stop the escalation, it would begin a phased redeployment of U.S. forces with the goal of removing of all U.S. combat forces from Iraq by March 31st, 2008 – consistent with the recommendations of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group that the President ignored.

The redeployment of troops to the United States , Afghanistan , and elsewhere in the region would begin no later than May 1st of this year, toward the end of the timeframe I first proposed in a speech more than two months ago. In a civil war where no military solution exists, this redeployment remains our best leverage to pressure the Iraqi government to achieve the political settlement between its warring factions that can slow the bloodshed and promote stability.

The U.S. military has performed valiantly and brilliantly in Iraq . Our troops have done all we have asked them to do and more. But no amount of American soldiers can solve the political differences at the heart of somebody else’s civil war, nor settle the grievances in the hearts of the combatants.

When it comes to the war in Iraq, the time for promises and assurances, for waiting and patience, is over. Too many lives have been lost and too many billions have been spent for us to trust the President on another tried and failed policy opposed by generals and experts, Democrats and Republicans, Americans and even the Iraqis themselves.

It is time to change our policy.

It is time to give Iraqis their country back.

And it is time to refocus America ’s efforts on the challenges we face at home and the wider struggle against terror yet to be won.

Sincerely,

U.S. Senator Barack Obama

Churches Can Change Cincinnati NOW will be the grassroots action agency for Christian faith based organizations who want to join our (Cincinnati Change) vision of Cincinnati. Churches Can Change Cincinnati NOW will create the momentum to end the boycott through economic development by bringing over 20 major faith based events to Cincinnati starting with the sponsoring an upcoming Southern Christian Leadership Conference convention. We will start lobbying this year for 2008. The same group of faith based leadership that joins the Cincinnati SCLC will also help establish a spin off from Cincinnati Change called The Nati Action Association. Its theme is to be the African American Social and Human Services Agency of Hamilton County. The initial project we will do is to care for the ex-felons in our community. Over 4,000 people are released from jail or prison a year in Greater Cincinnati. When Cincinnati Change formed as an organization, we looked for you to be its Chairman as you are highest ranking person in the church world that is associated with Cincinnati Change. Churches Can Change Cincinnati Now will partner with the Nati Action Association and other non-governmental organizations along with government agencies and professionals to provide and coordinate services. C4N will have members from a broad range of Christian faith based organizations and service providers who have programs who serve this population. C4N will become the faith based grassroots licensee from Global Change, a for profit subsidiary of my organization. Churches Can Change Cincinnati NOW will be a state of Ohio registered subsidiary of Cincinnati Change who received its charter on June 19, 2005. Churches Can Change Cincinnati NOW Membership is to be open to everyone as an individual and/or as an organization who believe that we are One Nation, with many faiths. Through C4N, Cincinnati Change will partner with non-governmental organizations and professionals along with a broad range of faith based organizations such as Churches, Synagogues and Masjids to deliver a regional social and human services infrastructure that builds on already established faith based operations. Through Churches Can Change Cincinnati NOW, Cincinnati Change will provide training, technical assistance and will work to attract grants to faith and community-based organizations serving their neighbors in need. The organization will concentrate its efforts in proving access to capital, leadership development, research on issues of local importance and creating a regional initiative to assist Greater Cincinnati's grass-roots, faith and community-based organizations so they may increase their effectiveness, enhance their ability to provide social services and create collaborations to better serve those in need through the creation of a mutual fund. This fund would be owned, in part, by Cincinnati Change, C4N, OIC Cincinnati and the Nati Action Association. This effort to develop financial instruments for change was led by me with the assistance of Irvin Henderson. Recently, you met with Mr. Henderson who is a board member of a NYSE mutual fund that has over $600M to begin your briefing as a board member of Cincinnati Change.

The American Dream

2006-09-13T00:34:00.000-05:00

Martin Luther King invoked the American Dream in what is perhaps his most famous speech: "Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends. And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American Dream."

The American Dream is the belief that in the United States of America, hard work and determination can lead to a better life, usually through the earning of money. These were values held by many early European settlers, and have been passed on to the newer generations - including African Americans. The United States remains a magnet for immigrants today, receiving 1 million legal entrants annually — the largest influx in the world.

We ask this question, "If the U.S. becomes something along the lines of Mexico, do we all stand to lose something?"

As the Anglo-Euro population diminishes, why would people, who would under some peoples plans become voting American citisens, from alien cultures subscribe to the prescriptions of a Thomas Jefferson, or care about the legacy of Magna Carta? The Magna Carta is often a symbol for the first time the citizens of England were granted rights against an absolute king.

We will speak over the coming days of all those jobs that "Americans won't do". We take the position that these jobs were being done as recently as 15 years prior by Americans who worked as roofers, framers, drywallers, body, fender repairmen, truck drivers and janitors. Prior to the mass deluge, native-born minority citizens dominated these occupations and were able to sustain their families on their salaries.

9/11

2006-09-11T07:57:00.000-05:00

This WAR is for REAL !

Who we at War with in totality is not yet clear, but to get out of a difficulty, one usually must go through it. The war in Iraq is a very large battle front. Even the War on Terror now is just a battlefront.

Cincinnati Change believes that the United States of America, our country, is now facing the most serious threat to its existence, as we know it.

This War will be as bloody as the Civil War and as great a challenge as the Second World War.

We are in World War IV whether we like it or not, or whether we know it or like it. We cannot appease our out of this, the other side wants to win.

The deadly seriousness is greatly compounded by the fact that there are very few of us who think we can possibly lose this war and even fewer who realize what losing really means.

First, let’s examine a few basics:

1. When did the threat to us start?

Many will say September 11, 2001. The answer as far as the United States is concerned is 1979, 22 years prior to September 2001, with the following attacks on us:

* Iran Embassy Hostages, 1979;
* Beirut, Lebanon Embassy 1983;
* Beirut, Lebanon Marine Barracks 1983;
* Leon Klinghoffer October , 1985
* Lockerbie, Scotland Pan-Am flight to New York 1988;
* First New York World Trade Center attack 1993;
* Dhahran, Saudi Arabia Khobar Towers Military complex 1996;
* Nairobi, Kenya US Embassy 1998;
* Dares Salaam, Tanzania US Embassy 1998;
* Aden, Yemen USS Cole 2000;
* New York World Trade Center 2001;
* Pentagon 2001.

WE WILL NEVER FORGET
(Note that during the period from 1981 to 2001 there were 7,581 terrorist attacks worldwide).

What we want our government to do with illegal invaders

2006-09-06T16:26:00.000-05:00

CINCINNATI CHANGE believes that one of crucial root causes of crime is poverty and that we can change the conditions from which crime takes root. It is a mission of Cincinnati Change to change the conditions in which children live so that they can grow up and become adults in a nurturing and supportive community environment.

The War on Terrorism and the hope for Democracy has a problem illegal invaders in the country.

Cincinnati Change has what it believes is an example of a practical approach to the illegal invader problem.

We use the term illegal invader because that is who this solution is aimed at. If you have not broken the laws of the United States of America then the term does not apply to you. If it does we hope to create an example in Cincinnati that can provide for more secure borders within 150 days from a administrative and training headquarters located in Cleveland, Ohio.

Cincinnati Change will propose a A-76 Contract to provide totally secure borders within three years using the full resources of the federal government combined with state and local governments in cooperation to this vital national goal with a coalition of 300 corporate partners, 1,000 small business enterprises and 10,000 non governmental and faith based change agent partners.

We support a 20 year sunset law granting 50 million visas allowing foreigners legal immigrants status. This would allow them to work for 20 years in the United States at a cost of $50,000. This would include support of family unification by not subtracting the visas given to immediate relatives of U.S. citizens from visas available to all family immigrants. thereby the Illegal Invaders in this country could apply for up to 20 to 30 million visas over the next three years - they would have to sign and or their country a $50,000 Individual American Citizenship performance Bond;

Cincinnati Change will build in support for agricultural workers that builds on current law and regulation as an example while working to provide a path to legal, permanent residency and citizenship for college age students and or those in service to the federal government;

Cincinnati Change supports the application of due process rights for the illegal invaders who are facing deportation, including access to fair, humane and follow established legal procedures such as a speedy trials through remote court operations, and the creation of a pool of adequate counsel and will work in greater Cincinnati to create such an infrastructure using our patent license;

Cincinnati Change is a non governmental organization who is not a 501 C 3 organization who supports efforts to penalize anyone for providing humanitarian assistance to illegal invaders by providing American citizens in need with assistance determined by a local faith based lead coalition of community service providers at the local level such as what we will look to assemble in Cincinnati. In addition, we support our fellow human beings in their native countries in need of help. To that end we will team up with Ammons United Methodist Church and their operations to create economic and community development infrastructure through the co development of infrastructure for the 20 to 30 million illegal invaders in the United States of America, that in turns finances development in their home country and works to stop their migration;

We support efforts to require, encourage and/or deputize state and or local police to enforce federal immigration laws with oversight through the US State department;

We support the mandatory detention of undocumented invaders. Cincinnati Change will support the Department of Homeland Security by providing for the detention of up to 100,000 individuals indefinitely. This will happen within 150 days from acceptance of our A-76 proposal to DHS from an Network Operations Center located at 2439 Auburn and growing to include over 4 million sq. ft. of mixed use development in support of the network facilities that will house a million undocumented invaders. Most of these will be faith based run but overseen by the coalition created by Cincinnati Change in Cincinnati, Ohio and;

Cincinnati Change will create an A-76 Coalition to creates a contract with the US Government to create a low-level Citizenship and Immigration Digital Support Service that supports personnel exercising legal authority to judge the good moral character of an applicant for citizenship complete with thorough identity background checks and judge which type of facility that individual will go to.

We believe that the new phase the war is going in that it will have even a longer term affect on us as citizens of the United States of America. Our job is to make sure that the 8 trillion dollars spent since September 11th 2001 was spent as the 1st Phase as we rebuild America over the next five years.

Cincinnati Change will propose that we, Citizens of the United States and the 50 million people who want to become citizens spend $10 trillion dollars worldwide to bring about democracy, safe communities and peacefull coexistence with the coalition created by the United States of America and it's allies in the War.

Cincinnati Change will be one of the co-founders of a business that is majority African American owned and will be a Professional Military Corporation. One that serves clients from around the world but for Cincinnati Change will implement it's A-76 proposal through a stratagic partnership with 1,300 companies and 10,000 non governmental organizations and faith driven organizations.

At Cincinnati Change we believe that our nation can stand as a shining example to all the world of freedom and democracy, a unique honor that comes with a responsibility to lead. First we must make our streets safe and our communities secure. In Cincinnati we can create an example that can be used throughout the United States and the world.

We can and have to win the War on Terror in Cincinnati, first with Peace in the Hood with Jobs in the Hood.

We don't have all the answers but through the net we hope to bring about change in greater Cincinnati that is, in part, coordinated through a public private faith based partnership called Nati Action Agency. This organization will be formed on 17 September 2006 by Cincinnati Change and partners

Illegal Invaders, time for a change.

2006-09-04T22:10:00.000-05:00

We will work to change Cincinnati as a national example of the issue of Illegal Invaders. Our changes will provide the means to provide national change. Each illegal invader will be responsible for a payment of $50,000 under our proposal. They would join those who are allowed legally in the country over the next 20 years.

100 Days of action

2006-07-30T00:43:00.000-05:00

The Lloyd Daniels Daniels Development Group will create a trust for a Pew Pastor Ministry of Ammons United Methodist Church under the leadership of Wanda Lloyd Daniels. The pastor the Ammons, Vera Cole, has provided leadership to a group of Cincinnati churches that after one year are continuing to mobilize their men to bring about change not only in their neighborhoods, but also to the people who live there.

The 100 Male March Ministries was launched one year ago on a 5th Sunday with a walk in a troubled Walnut Hills neighborhood from Peoples Corner to Ammons United Methodist Church. They will gather this Sunday the 30th of July 2006 to celebrate one year of action at 934 E. McMillan St. and march to Ammons United Methodist Church. Each man is asked to bring a boy to mentor. Call 513.545.7905 for more information.

According to Melvin Williams, president of the Cincinnati District United Methodist Men and manager of the CVS Pharmacy on East McMillan Street at Pebbles Corner, "We're trying to put a human face on Christianity from the male point of view."

LDG created Cincinnati Change to encourages increased economic activity in Hamilton County with faith based partners like Ammons. LDG will create companies that support the ministry like Hughes Electronics did the Hughes Medical Institute through trusts setup by each company that supports our youth. Over the next 100 days we will impliment a program that effects 20,000 households, 50,000 people in the region and supports 1,000 businesses.

Through Cincinnati Change LDG is proposing to create with Ammons United Methodist Church a Cincinnati Company called Churches Can Change Cincinnati NOW, Inc. (C4N) that over the next 100 days would impliment a plan of action to impliment a continium of care for young men and boys.

This company will also provide consulting, homeland safety and security infrastructure management, design and construction from our headquarters in Cincinnati as a faith based enterprise that is owned in part by the ministries of the churches involved and the companies created as church affiliated companies who will pay their taxes on unrelated business income and use the rest to support the needs of young men and boys.

During 2007, more than $500 billion dollars is being allocated for and through the federal, state and local government units in the United States and our for profit businesses will take advantage of these contracts with it's faith based sponsors in the following areas -:

Peace in the Hood, Jobs in the Hood Initiative
Veterans Assistance program operation
Creative Class Workforce and Network Development Program
Third Frontier Workforce Development Program
Housing program to build a million homes for young men and their families
ReEntry of Young Men into society
Preparing for and responding to future catastrophes
Immigration & Secure Boarders
U.S. Gulf Coast Reconstruction
Regional National Energy Policy Partnership Demostration Program

Cincinnati Change has created a program that serve the nation through and it's partner The American Academy of Distance Learning and Training, Inc.(AADLT) who has joined with Beauchamp Tower Corporation, Inc. and it's partners to support their proposal called Operation Enduring Service (OES) which will the basis for the creation of a program to employ over 1,000 of countys young men in 2007 through the 100 male March Ministry of Ammons United Methodist Church.

BREAKING NEWS: Activist Kabaka Oba Dies Of Injuries

2006-04-16T04:08:00.000-05:00

Cincinnati Change Media Statement

From Chairman of Cincinnati Change Fred Hargrove, Sr., PE, MBA

For Immediate Release: April 15, 2006

Contact: Nubian Oracle nubianoracle@cincinnatichange.com

From the Cincinnati Change headquarters Fred Hargrove, Sr., Cincinnati Changes Chairman and Chief Engineer issues the following statement on the passing of Michael Bailey [ General Kabaka Oba]."I hereby express my deepest sympathy and condolences to the family of Michael Bailey as Chairman of Cincinnati Change. Michael Bailey, 47, who was also known as General Kabaka Oba is dead.

I did not know Michael Bailey for many years and was introduced to him through Cincinnati Change's support for some of the ideals of the Millions More Movement.

Even though he was controversial in some circles, some of the ideals that he talked about like economic inclusion and justice cannot be disputed and should be embraced by us all.

We hereby pick up the challenge before us in this my hometown."

Cincinnati Change & Hispanics

2006-04-05T11:31:00.005-05:00

This nation's civil rights movement of the 1960s broke the back of overt white supremacy that prevented black Americans (who were citizens) from enjoying the rights guaranteed to them under the Constitution. Undeniably, the freedoms codified by civil rights-era legislation have made life better for all Americans — regardless of skin color, gender or national origin.

The Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965 (also known as the Hart-Celler Act or the INS Act of 1965) abolished the national-origin quotas that had been in place in the United States since the Immigration Act of 1924. It was proposed by Emanuel Celler and heavily supported by Senator Ted Kennedy. In the two decades that followed, along with millions of legal immigrants, the U.S. attracted a huge, mainly Hispanic, illegal population -- roughly 3 million of whom received amnesty from Ronald Reagan in 1986.

Illegal immigration describes migration across national borders without complying with the legal requirements.

As of July 1, 2004, Hispanics accounted for 14.1% of the population [including the 11 million illegals]) or about 41.3 million people. Hispanic growth rate over the July 1, 2003 to July 1, 2004 period was of 3.6 %, higher than any other ethnic group in the United States, and in fact, more than three times the rate of the nation's total population (at 1.0%).

The projected Hispanic population of the United States for July 1, 2050, is 102.6 million people. According to this projection, Hispanics will then make up 24% of the nation’s total population. [2]

At the same time, the black population is projected to rise from 35.8 million to 61.4 million by 2050, an increase of about 26 million or 71 percent. That would raise their share of the country’s population from 12.7 percent to 14.6 percent.

``This is the defining moment for the Republican Party,'' Graham, of South Carolina, said on the ``Fox News Sunday'' program. With Hispanics the fastest-growing group in the U.S., Republicans ``will lose our majority'' if Congress passes harsh penalties for illegal immigrants and fails to create a way of addressing the estimated 11 million undocumented workers already in the U.S., he said.

No matter how you look at it, it is the United State of America not the United States of the Americas. If Mexicans and other foreigners want to make it here legally, more power to them. Let them use the legal means. Let them earn the rights and citizenship not just have it handed to them because they are here.

Hispanic, as used in the United States, is one of several terms used to categorize persons whose ancestry hails either from Spain, the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America, or the original settlers of the traditionally Spanish-held Southwestern United States. The term is used as a broad form of classification in the U.S. census, local and federal employment, and numerous business market researches.

In Spanish speaking America, when speaking of any given nation's Hispanic population, those who are implied include criollos, mestizos, and mulattos, but excludes indigenous Amerindians, the unmixed descendants of black African slaves, and other more recent non-Spanish immigrants which may now reside in Latin America. In this context, regardless of whether the excluded groups now use Spanish as their first and only language. As is the case with all blacks, most Amerindians and the great majority of immigrants do not qualify for Hispanicity,

We disagree with many immigrant-rights organizers [seemingly only Hispanic Latino] and their sympathizers who seem to be saying that there is some inherent right to enter the United States, thumb their noses at the law [it is against the law to cross the border without permission, even for Citizens] and at the same time make fools out of those who wait patiently in foreign lands for visas to come to the United States.

Roughly 60% of the illegal alien populationare undocumented aliens and 40% are nonimmigrant overstayers. The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States found that the government inadequately tracked those with expired tourist or student visas.

Crossing the border without authorization is a misdemeanor for the first offense and a felony for subsequent violations. Immigrants who are caught illegally trespassing U.S. territory are fingerprinted and immediately returned, unless they are a repeat offender, in which case they may be criminally prosecuted. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) made the hiring of an illegal alien an offense for the first time. American businesses hire well over 10 million illegal aliens per year.

A 2005 Pew Hispanic Center survey on attitudes toward immigration, conducted in part in Mexico, found that an estimated 70 million adults in Mexico would come to the U.S. if they had the means and the opportunity.

About half of those said they would be willing to move to and work in this country illegally. The study also found that 35% of Mexican college graduates want to come to the U.S., even if that means they would have to work at a job below their qualifications — and many also said they'd be willing to come illegallyImmigrant-rights groups will have to acknowledge that an unchecked flow of unskilled labor drives [over a million a year] down wages for entry-level jobs, rendering all poor Americans, including millions of teenage workers, less competitive. The reality is that most Americans won't do entry-level labor for the meager wages often offered to undocumented workers.

Those of us in Cincinnati Change who are Americans who came to America by slavery, have paid the dues, not the over 11 million illegals who broke the laws of this country and the over 5 million children they have had in America. We acknowledge that they have rights as human beings and believe that they should exercise those rights in their own country. On the other hand, in our country we should have a plan if they don't want to leave America.

Cincinnati Change Chairman Fred Hargrove Sr. said: "Our nation’s immigration policy must be consistent with humanitarian values that take in consideration the needs of America’s disadvanted and with the need to treat all individuals with respect and dignity who obey our laws. We must move away from the politics of ostracizing immigrants and instead look at how we can work to meet the needs of our nation"

Cincinnati Change is calling for Congress to enact comprehensive immigration reform with a focus on the enforcement approach in which the United States immigration policies must be consistent with our humanitarian values as expressed in our laws. As public policy, such legislation must address genuine immigration reform that should include proposals that would allow people to earn the right of citizenship through hard work, the commitment of several years, learning english and meeting several security and related requirements.

We also propose a monetary solution whereas they will pay the United States $250 Billion Dollars over the next 5 years to be used in those areas with the most unemployed Americans. This money would be used to address the larger economic needs of the nation such as the creation of job training programs and small business programs, as well as federal education assistance to those in areas already identified as in need of help through HUD so that all Americans can have enhanced opportunities.

When this is on the table, then we will look to create an alliance with these people. If not then what global solidarity to us have they shown? Are they going to align with the needs of a America at war, no matter how we got there?

We also feel employers employing those who break the immigration law should be prosecuted as should public officials and religious leaders who aid them.

The Internet

2006-02-16T23:15:00.003-05:00

Young Chinese use computers at an Internet cafe in Beijing. More than 100 million people in the country are online, second only to the United States, with 135 million. The net population is near 950 million by the end of January 2006.

Small Business Administration

2006-02-07T18:27:00.002-05:00

There is nothing small about small business - there are 25 million of them. The [SBA's] Office of Advocacy estimates that small business produces 52% of the gross output of the economy, so 52% of all products and services come from small business.

Ninety-eight percent of all companies have less than 100 employees, 89% have less than 20, and the average American business has 10 to 12 employees. That is why Congress passed the Small Business Act after the Korean War, to direct government contracts to where Americans work.

Cincinnati Change believes that small business is one of the engines that fuels the economy, another is housing (mostly small businesses). We support programs of the Small Business Adminstration (SBA) and look forward to expanding them in the region.

Cincinnati Change believes that the numbers don't lie, and since the beginning of the Bush Administration the things that the SBA is doing are at historic levels. A third of SBA loans go to minority businesses, and minority businesses represent 15% of all businesses.

The mission of SBA is to maintain and strengthen the Nation’s economy by enabling the establishment and viability of small businesses and by assisting in the economic recovery of communities after disasters.

To fulfill this mission, the SBA has three programmatic Strategic Goals that broadly define what the Agency and its programs are trying to accomplish. A fourth Strategic Goal defines the responsibility of the Agency’s executive leadership and support functions to help accomplish the programmatic goals.

SBA Strategic Goals:
1. Improve the economic environment for small businesses.
2. Increase small business success by bridging competitive opportunity gaps facing entrepreneurs.
3. Restore homes and business affected by disaster.
4. Ensure that all SBA programs operate at maximum efficiency and effectiveness by providing them with high quality executive leadership and support services.

President Bush has said, “The role of government is not to create wealth, but to create an environment where entrepreneurs can thrive, flourish, take risks and achieve the American Dream.”

According to SBA Administrator Hector Barreto, "When this Administration started, the SBA was doing $9.5 billion in loan guarantees, and we did 50,000 loans. Last year, the SBA and it's partners did over 100,000 loans and over $20 billion in loan guarantees."

Futhermore Mr. Barreto said, "One-third went to the fastest-growing areas of women and minorities.When we started four and a half years ago, the SBA was training 1.4 million businesses; last year 2.6 million got access to technology and educational assistance. Lastly, four and a half years ago the federal government bought $50 billion worth of goods and services from small businesses; last year they bought $69 billion. That is almost a 40% increase."

[In regard to Katrina loans, the SBA Adminstrator had this to say], we did $1 billion worth of loans to small businesses affected in the Gulf areas and we've done over $3 billion to victims throughout the area. We will surpass $4 billion in loans.

Mr. Baretto has said, "We're still not satisfied. We are producing $70 million in loans a day. We are working seven days a week in two shifts. The bottom line is that this is the biggest response that the U.S. has ever [undertaken]."

"[In terms of the budget], nothing is further from the truth[the story about the Bush adminstration wanting to shut down the SBA]. We have the 2006 budget in place, and I am already working on the 2007 budget and after that the 2008 budget. "

The SBA submitted request for funding for section 502 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, during fiscal year 2006 commitments to guarantee loans under section 503 of the Small Business Investment Act of 1958, shall not exceed $5,500,000,000: Provided, That during fiscal year 2006 commitments for general business loans authorized under section 7(a) of the Small Business Act, shall not exceed $16,500,000,000: Provided further, That during fiscal year 2006 commitments to guarantee loans for debentures under section 303(b) of the Small Business Investment Act of 1958, shall not exceed $3,000,000,000: Provided further, That during fiscal year 2006 guarantees of trust certificates authorized by section 5(g) of the Small Business Act shall not exceed a principle amount of $12,000,000,000

Cincinnati Change plans to take advanatage of the the statutory authority for the SBA to enter into cooperative agreements with any coalition of private or public entities to: (1) expand business to business relationships; and (2) provide businesses with online information and a database of companies that are interested in mentor-protégé programs or community-based, statewide, or local business development programs.

Working with this as a base of possiable federal SBA lending Cincinnati Change is working to create 1,000 greater Cincinnati based companies in co-operation with partners.

Mrs. Martin Luther King

2006-02-07T18:27:00.001-05:00

Sell the Cincinnati Water Works?

2006-02-05T03:20:00.000-05:00

The Greater Cincinnati Water Works has been a municipally owned and operated utility since it was purchased by the City of Cincinnati in 1839. We believe the future mission of this city owned organization whose revenues are over 90 million dollars year is to be sold.

It provides about 136 million gallons of water a day through 3,000 miles of water mains to most of Hamilton County and parts of Butler and Warren Counties in Ohio, and to Boone County in Kentucky.

The net profits should go to housing in the city, supporting business development, public saftey and health along with improving public infrastructure so that it is the residents of the city who it will be helping first.

After that we like the rest of the region will share in the cost of the water we drink.

Cincinnati Change thinks it is worth $400M and will hire an engineer to find out.

What Did Julian Bond Say?

2006-02-03T17:35:00.000-05:00

Let us state for the record that we support the concept of a coalition of schools to provide for the education of those who identify themselves as African Americans that has sunset provistions - lets say 40 years.

We believe that Fayetteville State University (FSU) who was cited as one of 20 schools nationwide that create a campus culture that fosters student success is such a school and has made the transition into a school that does a good job of educating students.

It was featured in a listing of colleges appeared in the August 29 edition of USA Today.

Fayetteville State University is a constituent institution of the University of North Carolina and the second-oldest public institution of higher education in the state.

Founded in 1867 as the Howard School for the education of African Americans, today FSU serves a growing student body of more than 5,300 and ranks among the nation’s most diverse campus communities. Enrollment is projected to grow to 6,000 by 2008, and a $45.5-million campus construction and renovation campaign is underway to accommodate additional students.

The university offers 39 undergraduate and 20 master’s degree programs in the arts and sciences, business and economics, and education. New degree programs also have been established, including FSU's first doctoral program in Educational Leadership. And leadership is where our questions start. This was recently posted on the schools web site:

2005-2006 Chancellor's Distinguished Speaker and Fine Arts Series

Chancellor T.J Bryan and the Department of Performing and Fine Arts at Fayetteville State University (FSU), announce its 2005-06 Chancellor's Distinguished Speaker and Fine Arts Series.

All events for the Chancellor's Distinguished Speaker and Fine Arts Series are free and open to the public. For information concerning the Fine Arts Series, contact Dr. Marvin Curtis at (910) 672-1276. For information regarding the Chancellor's Distinguished Speaker Series, please call (910) 672-1474.

Julian Bond
February 1 at 7:00 p.m.

Seabrook Auditorium

Chairman of the NAACP, Julian Bond will be guest speaker on February 1, 2006 to coincide with the Black History Month Kick-off. Mr. Bond was a founder in 1960 of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) while a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta.

In 1965, he was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives but was prevented from taking his seat by members who objected to his opposition to the Vietnam War. He was re-elected to his own vacant seat only to be un-seated again and eventually seated after a third election and a unanimous decision of the United States Supreme Court.

He was co-chair of a challenge delegation from Georgia to the 1968 Democratic Convention which led to the successful unseating of Georgia's regular Democrats. He became the first Black to be nominated for Vice-President by any major political party but declined because he was too young.

He is a commentator on America's Black Forum and has narrated documentaries including the Academy Award-winning A Time for Justice and the prize-winning acclaimed series Eyes on the Prize.

and recently

Press Release

02/03/06

Fayetteville State University Responds to Speaker's Comments
Julian Bond, Civil Rights Activist and chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), denied comments attributed to him during a speech made at Fayetteville State University (FSU).

Bond was the guest speaker during the Chancellor's Distinguished Speaker Series Feb. 1 in J.W. Seabrook Auditorium. The following day, nationwide media reported that Bond equated the Republican Party with the Nazi Party, and referred to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and her predecessor, Colin Powell, as "tokens".

"I didn't say these things I'm alleged to have said," Bond told FSU. "There is no one in the audience who can say I said them. The reporter from the Fayetteville newspaper did not report I said them. I have denied I said them and refuse to engage in a back and forth about what I did say. This is an irresponsible attack by a right-wing blog - a partisan blog - and these kinds of attacks should be expected and dismissed for what they are."

FSU officials reviewed a tape of Bond's speech to verify the alleged comments. Based on the review, it was determined that nowhere during Bond's speech was reference made to the Nazi Party, nor was the word "token" used.

"We received numerous calls and emails from concerned individuals about Mr. Bond's presentation, so we felt compelled to review the tape in an effort to address their concerns," said Jeffery Womble, director of public relations at Fayetteville State University. "After a close review, we have concluded that the comments attributed to Mr. Bond about the Republican Party, Dr. Rice, and Mr. Colin Powell were not made."

Fayetteville State University is a member institution of The University of North Carolina, which says it is committed to equality of educational opportunity and does not discriminate against applicants, students, or employees based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, or disability."

Proposal to Develop Vendor Relationships

2006-01-23T20:35:00.000-05:00

Billion Dollar Riverfront Development

We are proposing building 20,000 homes over the next 5 years in greater Cincinnati. We will start in the core and work our way out. The center is located at 2439 Auburn Avenue. By the time we are through helping rebuild the south we have the potential to earn over 10 billion dollars for Ohio. Our Cincinnati Change Change Agent Vendors will employee over 8,000 people.

Cincinnati Change needs people, organizations, schools, churches, businesses and governmental agent's to step to the plate and help our subsidiary Queen City Development Group to level the playing field in regional major projects, rebuilding the Gulf and from there the world.

Our AEC team are developing the designs, financing, bid documents and are sending negotiated invitations to bid. These include a reference to the appropriate building policies that will meet our purchasing goals for the particular category that the purchasing request applies to.

In general 60% of the employees must live in the Empowerment Zone. Fifty percent of contracts must go to African Americans and 25% to members of the regions minority purchasing council who is a Cincinnati Change Agent organizational supporter of the Cincinnati Change Corporate Diversity Roundtable.

All vendors must be Cincinnati Change Agents and 25% must be women owned businesses, 25% must by owned by young adults under 35, 19% must be owned by our seniors and not for profit organizations that service the poor will own 10% through Nati Action Agency.

Fred Hargrove PE can assist you with the specs, bid language and/or the diversity partnerships and or investments a Change Agent partners will need.

Cincinnati Change believes that Change Agent vendor relationships are critically important as we step to the plate with over 1,000 MBE's, SBE's DBE's, FBE's and companies owned by veterans and peoples with disabilities .

Keep in mind that these Cincinnati Change Agent Vendors will work with our development partners to support products and or services to build 20,000 homes in greater Cincinnati while keeping 80% of the jobs in the City and 95% in the OKI region.Cincinnati Change through incorporate Diversity Roundtable can intervene with Queen City Development Group as its contracted diversity managers.

In this roles we can help all parties to an transaction carryout the goal to make a profit, increase revenues for all parties concerned, deliverer homes and buildings for 20,000 households, improve the lives of over 9,000 employees and create an environment that we would want to live in for people at all levels of the community.

MBE's United for Change

2006-01-23T16:37:00.000-05:00

Cincinnati Change is creating a coalition of companies from Ohio, over 1,000 who will look to build 40,000 homes in the Gulf over the next ten years. In Hamilton & Cuyahoga County they would also build 20,000 homes, each. Minority Businesses Enterprtises will lead this effort.

The headquarters for each will be located in that county's Empowerment Zone. The first headquarters is at 2439 Auburn Avenue. We are having a meeting on this starting on 27 January 2006. Call 513.257.2552 for details and or email us at admin@cincinnatichange.com.

They would become members of Cincinnati Change's Change Agent Business Partners and own a % of the holding company developer of the 40,000 homes to be built in Ohio.

As a Cincinnati or Cleveland Change Change Agent Business Partner they would receive work based not only on their current capacity but on their projected 5 year capacity.

As a Cincinnati Change Agent Business Partner they would receive access to bid information on local, national and international as an individual contractor. They will also have the chance to be part of our group bid, to be the lead 5th wheel in the $200B rebuilding in the Gulf.

Cincinnati Change starts partnering at Music Hall with MLK

2006-01-11T04:48:00.000-05:00

On 16 January 2006 at 11:30 Cincinnati Change is creating a limited liability company called Queen City Development Group at Washington Park right across from Music Hall. Then we will walk in for the FREE 12:00 Martin Luther King Day event with Bishop E. Lynn Brown, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, Second District, Cincinnati.

E. Lynn Brown was elected the 46th bishop of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in 1986 in Birmingham, AL. He was born April 2, 1936. As a native of Jackson, Tennessee, Bishop Brown joins the sainted Bishop Isaac Lane as one of the only two bishops of the church born in Madison County, Tennessee, the birthplace of the CME Church. According to family lore, in 1870 his great grandmother was the cook for one of the bishops of the M.E. Church, South, during the organization of the CME Church. Thus, his nurture in the church from the "incipiency of his being" all the way through college on the very grounds where Christian Methodism originated is unique.

Bishop Brown's elementary and secondary education was from the public schools of Madison County, TN. He matriculated at Lane College in Jackson where he came under the directing influence of Chester A. Kirkendoll, the 35th bishop, who was the president. He earned the BA degree from Lane. His theological training was at Phillips School of Theology at The Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, GA which he entered as the recipient of a Fellowship Grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. He earned the M.Div. degree. Several honorary degrees have been conferred upon him. He has taught at the Lemoyne-Owen College in Memphis, lectured extensively, and has earned a national reputation as a preacher.

The hallmark of the entire ministry of Bishop E. Lynn Brown has been his community activism. He has been at the forefront in the struggle for justice. He received the Outstanding Community Service Award. As a bishop he has served as Chair of the Department of Lay Activities and has served as Chair of the Department of Evangelism, Missions, and Human Concerns.

He serves on the National Board of Directors of SCLC and the Board of Directors of the National Congress of Black Churches (NCBC). The NCBC repersent denominations with 65,000 churches and membership of over 20-million. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Phillips School of Theology.

Bishop Brown is married to Gladys (nee Stephens) Brown, and is the father of Alonzo Victor and Cheronda Patrice. His office and residence are in Cincinnati. Bishop E. Lynn Brown, is also the Chairman of the Board of The Center for Closing the Health Gap.

This year he leads the celebration of the Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. as it's Chairman. This day is offen called Martin Luther King Day and is on Monday January 16, 2006 at the Cincinnati Music Hall for a free concert starting at noon.

The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr, Ph.D. (January 15, 1929 Â April 4, 1968) was a Baptist minister and political activist who was the most famous leader of the American civil rights movement. King won the Nobel Peace Prize and Presidential Medal of Freedom before being assassinated in 1968. For his promotion of non-violence and racial equality, King is considered a peacemaker and martyr by many people around the world. Martin Luther King Day was established in his honor.

We have established Cincinnati Change to adhere to many of the principles that he stood for.

Besides winning the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize, in 1965 the American Jewish Committee presented the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with the American Liberties Medallion for his "exceptional advancement of the principles of human liberty." Reverend King said in his acceptance remarks, "Freedom is one thing. You have it all or you are not free."r King Jr.,

Martin Luther king was aregisteredd Republican and may have supported affirmative action.

Among his comments:

"Whenever this issue [compensatory treatment] is raised, some of our friends recoil in horror. The Negro should be granted equality, they agree, but should ask for nothing more. On the surface, this appears reasonable, but is not realistic. For it is obvious that if a man enters the starting line of a race three hundred years after another man, the first would have to perform some incredible feat in order to catch up."

"A society that has done something special against the Negro for hundreds of years must now do something special for him, to equip him to compete on a just and equal basis. "

"... for two centuries the Negro was enslaved and robbed of any wages and potential accrued wealth which would have been the legacy of his descendants. All of America's wealth today could not adequately compensate its Negroes for his centuries of exploitation and humiliation. It is an economic fact that a program such as I propose would certainly cost far less than any computation of two centuries of unpaid wages plus accumulated interest. In any case, I do not intend that this program of economic aid should apply only to the Negro: it should benefit the disadvantaged of all races."

"You can't talk about solving the economic problem of the Negro without talking about billions of dollars. You can't talk about ending the slums without first saying profit must be taken out of slums. You're really tampering and getting on dangerous ground because you are messing with folk then. You are messing with captains of industry.... Now this means that we are treading in difficult water...."

On April 3, 1968, King prophetically told a euphoric crowd:

"It really doesn't matter what happens now.... some began to... talk about the threats that were out -- what would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers.... Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place, but I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. And so I'm happy tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."

King was assassinated the next evening, April 4, 1968, at 6:01 PM, on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, while preparing to lead a local march in support of the heavily black Memphis sanitation workers' union which was on strike at the time.

Over the next 5 years Queen City Development Group will create in the south over 2,000 acres of real estate developments that will serve as relief centers, under contracts, for a million people by 2010 with 1,000 Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana businesses lead by Fred Hargrove P.E., MBA whose Engineering Company is taking the point in a joint venture that will tread in thdangerousus waters of rebuilding the south and being ready when this happens again.

We will partnership with an Inter Faith Based Leadership lead by Pastor Wanda Lloyd-Daniels, of Ammons United Methodist Church who is also a journeywoman of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, owner of Lloyds General & Electrical Contractors, a Ohio company that is 20 plus years old general contracting and technology company that is a FBE/MBE/SBE and she is the head of the Cincinnati Hamilton County Black Republican Forum.

This company will create on Tuesday, 17 January 2006 a proposal to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) a proposal for less than $100M in an IDIQ contract to care for 7,000 households and their facilities in the Gulf. Under the contract the federal government is paying the bill over 5 years ($100M or less) with companies drawn from around the nation, a 30% preference given to team like ours that located in the affected areas and are SBA 8A firms. The contract starts in March 2006.

Over the next five years we will recruit over 10,000 businesses and 100,000 people in the Gulf to pick up the bill afterwards, either through their representative government and constitutional right to redress grievances to the government and or direct contracts with our subsidiary Queen City Development Group and it's affiliate Gulf Change through the business process developed by Hershel Daniels, Junior.

Gulf Change will perform basadministrativeive functions as a contractor with Union workers through Lloyds General and Electrical Contractors, Inc., if we conclude a Cincinnati based planned labor agreement whereas we get access to pension funds to -

1 build homes for 100,000 people over next ten years; promote the establishment of substantial autonomy and self-government in communities through the use of fiber to the home enable community access technology master territory licensee's who use our patent in communications as their competitive advantage in the Gulf states demonstration;

2 facilitate a political process at a neighborhood level through the internet to determine regions future based on development from 16 Jan. 2006 till 19 June 2006 of a plan to house and rehabilitate the lives of 100,000 people and from then to create the financial and technical ability to implement the plan by December 31, 2006;

3 create 10 centers in the Gulf to provide for the coordinate humanitarian and disaster relief of all international agencies for a million people in the America's and as part of a internal effort lead by AID and Gulf Change, first headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio for a 18 month staff training period; Fred Hargrove Sr. and partner companies, educational institutions and governmental agencies who will support the reconstruction of key infrastructure with over 100 companies who will invest in the redevelopment including foreign companies who operate key urban infrastructure including phone systems, water works and sewage plants;

4 maintain civil law and order thought eh creation of a private military company that in Cincinnati has the public police powers empowered to them through the city of Cincinnati under it's laws, and;

5 promote human and civil rights for Americans and create a environment whereas American citizens can live safe and secure lives; and assure the safe and unimpeded return of all displaced persons to their homes in the Gulf.

Gulf Change is to be created on a model created by Hershel Daniels, Junior that e think is a business process that created a master holding company called Gulf Change as a for profit Business that is divided into nine holding companies which it calls "Change Agent Commands".

These Change Area Commands are:

CAC I: Public Safety and Security including NBC, Justice, Public Safety and Fire Protection

CAC II: Contract Civil Administration and Metropolitan Assets Utilization

CAC III: Neighborhood Democratization, Institution Building and Community Development

CAC IV: Reconstruction and Economic Development

CAC V: Public Private Partnership Agreement Monitoring Team

CAC VI: Lifelong Education and PLA Workforce Development

CAC VII: Health Services and Support including assisted living faculties

CAC VIII: Faith Based Leadership and Family Support & Development

CAC IX: Professional Services Support

MLK Birthday in the Nati at Music Hall

2006-01-10T02:20:00.000-05:00

A celebration of the Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., often called Martin Luther King Day in on Monday January 16, 2006 at the Cincinnati Music Hll. for a free concert starting at 11:30 AM.

It is a United States federal and state of Ohio holiday honoring the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and is observed on the third Monday of January each year, around the time of King's birthday, this year that is January 16, a day after his birth.

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday celebrates the life and legacy of a man who brought hope and healing to America.

We will commemorate at Cincinnati Music Hall the timeless values he taught us through his example -- the values of courage, truth, justice, compassion, dignity, humility and service that so radiantly defined Dr. King’s character and empowered his leadership, which we need in the Nati NOW.

In 2001, the founders of Cincinnati Change submitted a request to the Cincinnati Empowerment Corporation (CEC) that they set out procedures to issue $100M of revenue bonds. The request was updated in 2002 and again in 2003. In 2004, the CEC set the procedures to issue the bonds through the Cincinnati Hamilton County Port Authority.

In 2005, Cincinnati Change assembled a team to meet its organizational objectives through creation of a mutual fund to fund its mission to Change Cincinnati NOW. On June 19th, 2005 Cincinnati Change received its charter from the State of Ohio and stands ready to change Cincinnati NOW.

On 16 January 2006 Cincinnati Change is creating a limited liability company called Queen City Development Group.

Lou Rawls is Dead

2006-01-07T00:42:00.000-05:00

Music legend Lou Rawls has died at age 72 in a Los Angeles hospital, after suffering for months with lung and brain cancer. Rawls has long been known for his distinctive deep voice that graced songs ranging from Gospel to Disco over his nearly 50 year career. He also served for several years as the TV spokesman for Budweiser. However, he will perhaps best be remembered for his charitable work, particularly his annual telethon for the United Negro College Fund

The City of Cincinnati Law & Public Safety Committee will meet Friday

2005-12-28T23:07:00.000-05:00

NOTICE – SPECIAL MEETING LAW & PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE

The Law & Public Safety Committee will meet
Friday, December 30, 2005 at 10:00 a.m.

in Committee Room B (Room 312, City Hall)
801 Plum Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202

The committee will meet to review the shooting incident that occurred on Christmas Eve in the Roselawn community, which resulted in the death of one young woman and the wounding of another youth.

Committee Members:
Cecil Thomas, Chair
Leslie Ghiz, Vice-Chair
Jeff Berding, Member
John Cranley, Member
Chris Monzel, Member
Jim Tarbell, Member

Abigail Imn

Clerk to Committee

_______________________________________________

The Story.... so far

The story includes "Security slim at teen dance, owners say" in the Cincinnati Enquirer. The promoter of the Christmas Eve teen dance that turned into a deadly shooting on the street about a block away, failed to provide the adequate security promised in his contract with The Legacy, said an attorney for the Roselawn banquet and conference center Tuesday.
"It's unfortunate the promoter dropped the ball here," said attorney Richard Goldberg.

Not only should the promoter of the Christmas Eve dance party that turned deadly at The Legacy be question but all others releated to this. Where is the CCA? When the "dance" turned rowdy it resulted in the death of 19 year-old Chanel Jordan.

2005-12-28T22:47:00.000-05:00

The Ohio Civil Rights Commission

2005-12-18T20:02:00.000-05:00

Ohio, the 17th state to join the Union in 1803, a century and half later became the 16th State to enact Fair Employment Practices Legislation to prohibit unlawful racial discrimination. The law, Section 4112.01 of the Ohio Revised Code, was enacted by the state legislature and signed into law by Governor Michael V. DiSalle, on July 29, 1959.

It created a Fair Employment Practices Commission for Ohio. In 1961 the Legislature changed the agency’s name to The Ohio Civil Rights Commission. While primarily concerned with discrimination in employment, the Legislature directed the Commission to carry out a number of other important duties, and in addition granted discretionary authority to study, advise and issue statements regarding all civil rights matters.

The statute was later amended to protect equal opportunity in places of public accommodations (1961), housing (1965), credit (1976) and in institutions of higher education (1984) without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, ancestry, age or familial status (housing only).

As a quasi-judicial, administrative agency of the state, the general powers and duties of the Commission are to receive, investigate, render formal determinations, and conciliate charges of unlawful discrimination in the areas of employment, housing, public accommodations, credit and institutions of higher education.

The Commission is also mandated to “prepare a comprehensive educational program for the students of the public schools…and for other residents of this state, designed to eliminate prejudice, its harmful effects and its incompatibility with American principles of equality and fair play.”

Discrimantion in Public Accommodation is defined as any building, office store, tavern, restaurant, club, or other structure whose privileges and facilities are open to the public. It is unlawful for any proprietor or any employee, keeper, or manger of a place of public accommodation to deny any person the full enjoyment of the accommodations, advantages, facilities, or privileges based on the bases of race, sex, color, religion, age, marital status, national origin, disability, or ancestry.

2005-12-08T04:21:00.000-05:00

When the Nazis arrested the Communists, I said nothing; after all, I was not a Communist. When they locked up the Social Democrats, I said nothing; after all, I was not a Social Democrat. When they arrested the trade unionists, I said nothing; after all, I was not a trade unionist. When they arrested the Jews, I said nothing; after all, I was not a Jew.

When they arrested me, there was no longer anyone who could protest.

Cincinnati Change Proclamation on December 7th as Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

2005-12-07T23:29:00.000-05:00

National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, 2005

A Proclamation by the Chairman of Cincinnati Change. On this day we celebrate a national remembrance for those lost on December 7, 1941 at Pearl Harbor. We at Cincinnati Change honor the courage of a generation of Americans who devoted themselves to one of the great missions in our country's history – global democracy and freedom.

After the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor took more than 2,400 American lives, millions of our citizens answered the call to defend our liberty, and the world witnessed the power of freedom to overcome tyranny.

During this global fight for survival America's ultimate triumph was far from clear in the early days of World War II. When our country was attacked at Pearl Harbor as in Asia and Europe, country after country had fallen before the armies of militaristic tyrants. However, the brave and determined men and women of our Nation maintained their faith in the power of God to support our freedom and spread democracy.

They fought and won a world war against two of the most ruthless regimes the world has ever known. In the years since those victories, the power of freedom and democracy has transformed America's enemies in World War II into close friends. This is the greatness of America the ability to reach out it's hand in friendship to those who are our today our enimies as our friends tomorrow. Witness Japan and Germany.

Cincinnati Change is dedicated to the spread freedom and democracy around the world. We are a organization dedicated to secure a more peaceful world for our children and grandchildren. We are grateful to the men and women who are defending our flag and our freedom in the first war of the 21st century. We look forward to the days of peace like our forefathers have done in the past.

These patriots are protecting our country and our way of life by upholding the tradition of honor, bravery, and integrity demonstrated by those who fought for our Nation in World War II and that is continued to this day by our military.

The Congress, by Public Law 103-308, as amended, has designated December 7 of each year as "National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day." The service and sacrifice of our World War II veterans continue to inspire people across our country and set an example of sacrifice. Cincinnati Change remains deeply grateful for all that these heroes have done for the cause of freedom.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this Seventh Day of December , in the year of our Lord two thousand five, and of the two hundred and thirtieth year in the Independence of the United States of America.

FREDERICK HARGROVE SENIOR
PE, MBA
Chairman of Cincinnati Change

MBE's and the New Mayor 1 December 2005

2005-12-02T16:50:00.000-05:00

Mayor and City Council in Cincinnati

Our plan is based on this speech by the new mayor for development in the Nati.

Good Evening Cincinnati.
I want to thank everyone for joining me here at the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal this evening to share this momentous occasion.

I want to start by thanking the people of Cincinnati for placing their trust in me to be their Mayor. I am honored and humbled by that trust and I will work hard to make you proud.

I would also like to thank (the categories on the back of the program).

I want to thank my staff.
And, I want to thank the countless volunteers who devoted so much of their time to our efforts to bring change to the city. I would not be here today without them.

Finally, I would like to thank my wonderful family for their support and sacrifice throughout the exhausting campaign. My entire family has been dedicated to public service, and they serve as my inspiration for all that I do.

The city of Cincinnati was named after the Society of the Cincinnati, a fellowship organization for Army officers. However, the top priority of the society was to take care of the members of the society and their families.

Their motto was “He abandons everything to serve his country.” Thus our city is founded on the ideals of taking care of each other and selfless service to the city.
I believe that these founding principles should serve as the basis for how we conduct our everyday lives.

Over the last year, as I visited every neighborhood in this City, I was always impressed by the sense of hope around the city.

Everywhere, people would share their feeling that things needed to get better, and how they truly believed things would get better.

The fantastic thing about living in a democracy is that citizens are able to let their opinions be heard and make changes if they think that we can do better.

Elections are an excellent opportunity to start fresh and set a new course for our city. On Election Day, Cincinnati called for a change in the way that business is done in our city.

The citizens selected four new City Council Members and elected me the first Mayor not to come from Council since the 1930s.
We have the opportunity to have the fresh start that our city has desperately needed for a while. We have the opportunity to turn away from our past and chart a course for a new future.

This is a great city. We need to seize this unique opportunity for a fresh start and recommit ourselves to the founding principles of our city: taking care of each other and selfless service to the city.

We have the power and ability to create the change that we all know our city needs.

We share that sense that we are all part of the same brotherhood. In order to make that feeling of brotherhood stronger, we need to focus on the issues that unite us as one Cincinnati.

The desire for nice, safe neighborhoods.
The desire for good schools and opportunities for our children.
The desire for good jobs with quality benefits
The desire for a vibrant city where we can all have fun.

If we focus on these issues of commonality, it will allow us to put aside our lesser differences and work together to improve our city for everybody.

I believe that we have all felt the enthusiasm in the community. There is a sense that we are about to turn a corner and once again move forward.

People are optimistic that the time is right for a major change in this city. People are ready for that change and they believe that it can and will happen.

I share this belief. I think that in the next few years, we have an incredible opportunity to transform our city for the better and set in motion the type of progress that will once again make Cincinnati a city that is admired across the country.

But, we cannot passively sit and wait for change, we must control our destiny. If we truly want to see change then we must actively make that change happen.

Our city has taken the first step. We have elected an excellent group of talented and motivated Council Members to help us take begin down the road of change.

From my discussions with the Council Members, I can tell you that they are deeply committed to doing what is necessary to turn this city around.

Now we must turn this positive energy and commitments into accomplishments.

Change is sometimes difficult but it is absolutely necessary. This Administration will make decisions that are in the best interest of the common good.

We must seize the opportunity that we have been given a make a fresh start. It is only through our hard work that we can make that change happen.

I am dedicated to creating a team on City Council that will come together to put the best interest of the city ahead of all else. The common element that unites all of the Council Members is that we love our city and we want very badly to make it better. Much better.

Now, I would like to recognize our next City Council.
Vice Mayor Jim Tarbell
Jeff Berding
Chris Bortz
Laketa Cole
John Cranley
David Crowley
Leslie Ghiz
Chris Monzel
Cecil Thomas

This leadership team you have entrusted to turn our city around. We are going to capitalize on the energy in this room and across the city and make the necessary changes to turn our city around and make it better.

You are looking at the future of the City of Cincinnati. I am completely confident that this team will do great things for all of us in the city of Cincinnati.

But we cannot do it along. You, the citizens of Cincinnati, are part of this team as well. If we are going to truly change our city for the better, we need your help as well. We can only make this city better if we work as a team, from the Mayor’s Office all the way down to very last citizen. All working to move the city forward.

So, I want to make a challenge to you. My challenge is to get involved and be an ambassador to the city.

You must ask yourself…
What are you going to do to turn Cincinnati around?
What are you going to do to make our city better?

We are on the verge of a great turn around in the City. By working together as a team, Mayor to Council to the city departments to the neighborhoods, and not letting anything get in our way, we can create the type of change and improvement that we all know that Cincinnati is ready for.

The 10 of us standing in front of you will work hard for you everyday. I ask you to commit yourself to also working hard. Together, I know that Cincinnati will live up to its amazing potential and become the city that our country looks up to once again.

I want to thank you all for coming. Good night and God Bless Our City

Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory's Inaugural Address

English is to be the national language.

2005-11-04T00:48:00.000-05:00

English is to be the national language, but the language of business in universal.

We have to get around how we deal with Public Safety is more police.

2005-11-03T23:35:00.000-05:00

We have to get around how we deal with Public Safety is more police. We need to deal with the root causes of crime in the African American community that deal with a history that is based on over 300 years of slavery, 100 years of government as your foe at all levels and 40 years of finding your way through integration.

Background: CINCINNATI CHANGE understands the Tri-state is politically fragmented and segregated by race and class. Many poor Cincinnati residents have a high degree of desperation and hopelessness along with the belief that things cannot change. Cincinnati Change was created to “change this perception” by taking action to change Cincinnati NOW on June 19th 2000 and took it's first action at the 2000 Black Family Reunion.

In 2001, the founders of Cincinnati Change submitted a request to the Cincinnati Empowerment Corporation (CEC) that they set out procedures to issue $100M of revenue bonds. The request was updated in 2002 and 2003. In 2004, the CEC set the procedures to issue the bonds through the Cincinnati Hamilton County Port Authority.

Background: CINCINNATI CHANGE understands the Tri-state is politically fragmented and segregated by race and class. Many poor Cincinnati residents have a high degree of desperation and hopelessness along with the belief that things cannot change. Cincinnati Change was created to “change this perception” by taking action to change Cincinnati NOW on June 19th, 2000 and took its first action at the 2000 Black Family Reunion.

In 2001, the founders of Cincinnati Change submitted a request to the Cincinnati Empowerment Corporation (CEC) that they set out procedures to issue $100M of revenue bonds. The request was updated in 2002 and again in 2003. In 2004, the CEC set the procedures to issue the bonds through the Cincinnati Hamilton County Port Authority.

All citizens of the city of Cincinnati, Ohio should read Independent Monitor's Eleventh Quarterly Report, Sept. 30, 2005.

Current Plan: In 2005, Cincinnati Change assembled a team to meet its organizational objectives through creation of a mutual fund to fund its mission to Change Cincinnati NOW. On June 19th, 2005 Cincinnati Change received its charter from the State of Ohio and stands ready to change Cincinnati NOW.

Cincinnati Change is creating a limited liability company called Uptown Security. This company will implement the Cincinnati Change vision as the lead developer of safe neighborhoods in 20 Communities in the city of Cincinnati.

Lloyd Daniels Development Group Inc. (“LDG”) a majority minority owned company located in Mt Auburn at 2439 Auburn Avenue, Cincinnati Ohio 45219 will licensee to Uptown Security, a company who will create a new security, safety and support holding company. It will be a global communications, computing and professional services operation that is to be a high technology real estate development company for a million homes in the Americas and a million around the world.

It will provide distance learning, facility security monitoring, total media management system for audio, video, digital entertainment, and communications related technology. The company will sell over 10,000 SKU security equipment sales partnership with eBay and security and safety built into buildings as a professional engineer. It will do this through a tiered sales force that uses established communications networks to sell products and services to a potential global market of over 500 million people by 2009.

Mission: CINCINNATI CHANGE has adopted a mission that encourages increased economic stability in Hamilton County along with the development of an third frontier creative class information highway infrastructure.

Cincinnati Change will create memberships that which will provide jobs through the acquisition, and development of businesses, intellectual property and real estate properties through this lead developer of a private security forces which will provide to corporate partners with 100,000 employee's in the region an security, safety and support organization including remote security with companies like Tyco, Microsoft, CISCO, Lucent, Samsung, Sprint, Motorola, GE and overseen by a joint venture between Lloyd Daniels Development Group (LDG) and IBM.

Purpose: CINCINNATI CHANGE will implement a licensed business process from LDG and a patent license from MDDG LLC that will create a service that will provide security services to a market of 500 million people and a million businesses. We will develop a workforce that will number over 4,000 who are employed and empowered by developing the following objectives:

Schools - Working with the Cincinnati Public Schools and Wilson Military Academy will create a school infrastructure for the 20,000 disenfranchised school students from Ohio. The county will save over a million dollars a year starting in the 2006/7 school year with a focus on youth in Hamilton County needing this service.

By 2014 we will serve a global student population in military schools through a alliance with already established schools in Ohio. We will build facilities that will house over 100,000 Ohio students and a million students around the world.

Businesses - To create a community business development program with the SBA, private sector, non-profit organizations, and government agencies to support over 100 small and medium businesses that will employ students who go to and or graduate from our schools. Included will be guard services, digital security services, remote security, patrol and cab services, fire school, HRT training center, custom command and control vehicles, NBC Command Center Construction, Urban Emergency Command Center Network, AEC Hargrove Williams Daniels & Hefley lbo fund, and other services that will oversee the education of one million students in franchised public schools.

The first phase business model is based on the creation or acquisition of buildings that will house technology that is under contract to our company for at least ten years in 20 communities in Cincinnati that by 2014 is to cover the whole city. LDG will make money as the developer of the buildings, the supplier of the technology built into the buildings and the services used by the users of the buildings. LDG will prove our business model in Cincinnati that will serve as a global prototype. Here we will develop the infrastructure model that’s needed to reach a market of over 500 million people.

The Uptown Security MAM Global Total Media Management System goal is to consolidate by 2009 all of the information resources that touch a media project property during its life cycle through a partnership with companies producing over 100 million SKU for sale by our network and employees over 200 million people.

Uptown Security will at its core the complete digital control of the various assets associated with the media property, be they episodes of broadcast television, Internet based distribution, marketing key art, magazine articles, publicity stills of recording artists, concert access, ticket sales, video on demand, and HDTV displays. The MAM Global Total Media Management System is much more than digital ingest and archiving, it will be a universal secure network and facilities that will be managed from a world headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The Uptown Security MAM Global Total Media Management System will drive customers to chose us as one of the company’s major objectives is the synchronization and collaboration of all departments security. Through IBM and 39 other partners we will create a strategically invaluable profile of each of all of our clients media properties (and their ancillary properties such as sequels, soundtracks, and cross-promotions) across the full sweep of distribution platforms, formats, and outlets.

By providing a real-time snapshot of a media property, The Uptown Security MAM Global Total Media Management System will allow media managers, licensee’s, franchisees and affiliates to make the best short- and long-term decisions, which ultimately affect their investments in development, production, licensing, programming, and marketing.

Homes - To create 20,000 homes in Greater Cincinnati with a focus on developing 12,000 homes for low and moderate-income households whose children will attend our schools along with homes for those who work, build and or teach in them. these homes will generate over 2 million dollars a year in revenue for 30 years. Each home is a camera site with over 70% being wired to monitor their community.

Each home will be HDTV based systems whereas the 16:9 display is backed up by a Microsoft IBM Fiber network with Hitachi, Sharp and Samsung technologies. We will use Dolby technologies and a adjustable 5:1 sound system through nuTECH. nuTECH is built into homes as our application of established patents.

Each home will be able to earn money through a variety of channels with over 2 Gigi bytes worth of bandwidth. We will oversee the creation of over two million homes across the globe for first responders based on the development of housing for the employees of Uptown Security.

Jobs - To create over 9,000 jobs in distance learning on jobs n public saftey, private securty and as a first responder along with high school education, first responder health care, seceiruty and saftey technology, hospitality security, entertainment and personal seciruty, real estate development and construction through partnerships with businesses that serve the public saftey and homeland security marketplace through Uptown Security and it's Empowerment Zone business, Renewal City business, MBE, DBE, FBE and HUB zone partners.

A primary job generator will be the 20,000 homes built that Uptown Security will monitor. we will also provide security to over 40 million square feet of retail, food service and mixed use space including a regional entertainment security zone that reaches into other states.

Uptown Security will work with Nati Action Agency to create training opportunities for over 1,000 uptown kids a year by 2007 through a alliance with the Cincinnati Public Schools. We will do that by creating a military school at the Riverfront, Uptown and in Bond Hill. By 2009 this infratsructure will employ over 4,000.

Capital: In the newest report on Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) agreements, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) finds that $4.2 trillion dollars have been infused into minority and lower income neighborhoods since CRA passed in 1977. Banks have committed to 430 CRA agreements, instituting multi-year programs covering loans, investments and banking services to communities in need.

LDG will implement a business model under the CRA IDIQ Business Process developed by Hershel Daniels, Junior starting at 2439 Auburn Avenue. From a lot on 2439 Auburn Uptown Security will build a urban prototype of our NEBS Sigma Six Quality Secure, Environmentally Safe and Life Supportive personal dwelling - each to cost no less than $330,000 and up to millions.

Uptown Security will enter into a agreement to be the implementation agent to start a military school in Cincinnati in January 2006 at 444 West Third Street that is to open in September 2006. Till then the school will rent space at an authorized building.

Uptown Security Cincinnati will create affiliates of Uptown Security in over 250 Empowerment Zones and Renewal Communities domestically and in over 250 foreign locations. Over 100 locations with company equity will be in operation within the next five years as master territory licenses - Uptown Security (city name).

Each with equity based on already IRS established revenue bonds, which are not volume capped – in the case of Cincinnati that is a multi million dollar investment by the end of 2005 in Uptown Security Cincinnati.

We would create Uptown Security with equity held in trust for the residents of the Uptown Alliance whereas Cincinnati Change would be the implementing agent. By 2010 we expect that over 4,000 staffers would provide education to over 1,000,000 students in military schools around the world.

In Cincinnati we have the resources to do this. Join us in Changing Cincinnati NOW.

Copyright 2005 Hershel Daniels, Junior

Cincinnati Change is committed to the creation of Gulf Change

2005-11-01T03:11:00.000-05:00

For Immediate Release

Contact: Fred Hargrove, Sr., PE, MBA
Cincinnati Change
2439 Auburn Avenue
Cincinnati, Ohio 45219
Phone: (513) 381-5111 Ext 3
E-mail: admin@cincinnatichange.com

Organizational Blog - http://gulfchange.blogspot.com/

Cincinnati Change is committed to the creation of Gulf Change that will support the rebuilding of over 20,000 people's lives in the Gulf over the next two years. Cincinnati Change will do this through a program called Churches Can Change Cincinnati NOW and a newly established Gulf Change organization going to aid people in the Gulf, with a focus on Port Arthur, Texas.

In the past week Cincinnati Change has hosted over 1,000 teens in the second Annual Cincinnati Hip Hop Summit and Educational Institute at Jordons Crossing. We tied these students to helping those in need in the Gulf in cooperation with HUD.

Now, Cincinnati Change will bring about a faith based youth leadership in aid to those in the Nati along with those in Gulf who will be living here for the next 18 months.

Cincinnati Change Board of Directors has decided our course of action in meeting the estimated requirements for assistance under the Stafford Act. We have chose our primary contractors and subcontractors who can supply to support 40,000 people in greater Port Arthur, New Orleans and other Gulf areas affected with companies from Ohio. We will have a focus on young people under 35 and peoples with disabilities.

MISSION AUTHORITY

On June 19th 2005 Cincinnati Change received its charter from the State of Ohio and stands ready to change Cincinnati NOW as an example of Global Change a business process owned by Lloyd Daniels Development Group that meets national emergencies in cooperation with those who want to change the world.

Federal Emergency Declaration

A federal emergency declaration allows the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to exercise its power to deal with emergency situations; federal assistance also become available to areas that are declared to be in a state of emergency. For FEMA, emergency declarations are different from the more common disaster declarations done for hurricanes and floods.

In the United States, the chief executive is typically empowered to declare a State of Emergency. Typically, a state of emergency empowers the executive to name coordinating officials to deal with the emergency and to override normal administrative processes regarding the passage of administrative rules. Currently this rests in the hands of Vice President of the United States.

White House Statement on Extension of Federal Assistance for Texas from Hurricane Rita

The President of the United States on September 27, 2005 amended the major disaster declaration issued on September 24, 2005, for Hurricane Rita for the State of Texas. Under the President's order today, the time period for 100 percent Federal funding for debris removal and emergency protective measures, including direct Federal assistance, is extended for a total of 34 days, through and including October 27, 2005.

The President of the United States, a governor of a state, or even a local mayor may declare a State of Emergency within his or her jurisdiction. This is relatively rare at the federal level, but quite common at the state level in response to natural disasters.

The courts in the United States are often very lenient in allowing almost any action to be taken in the case of such a declared emergency, if it is reasonably related. For example, habeas corpus is the right to challenge an arrest in court. The U.S. Constitution says, "The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it."

Habeas corpus was suspended on April 27, 1861 during the American Civil War by Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican President, in parts of midwestern states, including southern Indiana. He did so in response to demands by generals to set up military courts to rein in "copperheads", or those in the Union who supported the Confederate cause. Lambdin Milligan and four others were accused of planning to steal Union weapons and invade Union prisoner-of-war camps and were sentenced to hang by a military court in 1864.

However, their execution was not set until May 1865, so they were able to argue the case after the Civil War. It was decided in the Supreme Court case Ex Parte Milligan 71 US 2 1866 that the suspension was unconstitutional because civilian courts were still operating, and the Constitution (according to the Court) only provided for suspension of habeas corpus if these courts are actually forced closed.

The International Emergency Economic Powers Act allows presidents to declare national emergencies for the purpose of freezing assets in which a foreign party has an interest, but these national emergencies are not states of emergency. President Franklin Roosevelt declared such an emergency with respect to gold in 1933, which apparently remained in force until 1978.

The Supreme Court ruling in Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer established that presidents may not act arbitrarily during an emergency.

On Saturday August 27th 2005, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D) did request that President Bush "declare an emergency for the State of Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina." The White House responded to Governor Blanco's request that same day (Saturday) by declaring the emergency and authorizing FEMA "to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency."

Executive Board of Cincinnati Change Board of Directors will meet on October 8th to decide our course of action based on the below estimated requirements for assistance under the Stafford Act which we and our contractors can supply to support 40,000 people in greater Port Arthur, New Orleans and others areas affected with a focus on young people under 35 and peoples with disabilities:

Coordination
Technical and advisory assistance
Debris removal
Emergency protective measures
Individuals and Households Program (IHP)
Distribution of emergency supplies
Other (specify)

"Our goal is to use existing resources in an innovative way to help all displaced individuals and families move from temporary shelters to more stable, safe and sufficient housing," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. "Through this coordinated effort, the Federal government is taking quick and immediate action to cut through red tape and deliver immediate assistance to evacuees."

"Today we are offering residents more than just a roof over their head," said HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson. "This is an opportunity for thousands of the victims of Hurricane Katrina to get back on their feet as they pick up the pieces and start anew. This Administration remains committed to filling the housing void in the Gulf Coast region and we will continue to work with our partners to help reunite families and provide hope and healing to those who need it most."

More details will follow.

Through FEMA's Individual and Households Program (IHP), DHS will process expedited transitional housing assistance for qualified homeowners and renters displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Because not all evacuees are eligible for assistance through the IHP program, displaced families, including formerly HUD assisted evacuees and those homeless prior to Hurricane Katrina will qualify for HUD's Housing Assistance Program.

Evacuees eligible for housing assistance through IHP will receive an initial three month rental assistance payment in the form of check or electronic fund transfer in the amount of $2,358. This initial payment is calculated based on the average fair market rent rate for a two-bedroom unit nationwide.

This payment is portable and may be applied to transitional housing costs for any location an evacuee determines. In addition to payment, eligible households will receive a letter describing specific program rules and guidelines on eligible uses of funds. IHP recipients have a legal obligation to meet document reporting requirements (such as submission of rental receipts) and each must comply with Federal program audit requirements. During the recertification process, FEMA may adjust the relevant fair market rate for the location and family size of each eligible household.

Housing assistance provided through the HUD's Katrina Disaster Housing Assistance Program will be administered through the established network of local public housing authorities (PHAs) across the country. Hargrove Engineering in a consultant the the PHA in Hamilton County Ohio. Through this program, relocation specialists will be on hand to assist individuals and families in locating a rental unit based on the needs of the family.

Eligible individuals and households may contact local housing authorities nationwide to participate in this program. Participants will receive housing assistance that can be redeemed for housing units in any community at the discretion of the participant. Rents will be calculated at 100 percent of the fair market rate in the community the evacuee chooses to relocate.

We plan to bring 100 families back to the uptown to live for the next 18 months and establish a domestic sister city relationship with them and their communities.

Yours in Christ

/s/ Hershel Daniels Junior

Hershel Daniels, Junior
Cincinnati Change
Executive Director

Willie Lynch document is a fake.

2005-10-04T14:19:00.000-05:00

After careful reading on the net and more than a few phone calls we find there are many problems with this Willie Lynch document that led us to believe the fact that it is a fake.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Lynch
http://archive.blackvoices.com/articles/daily/ht20030929lynch.asp

Our mistake and and from now on will check sources better. But, the effects of slavery from 1565 to 2005 is a issue that we must face up to.

The founders of Cincinnati Change believe that we can change Cincinnati, as a example to the nation, so that we can change the condition in which our children and grandchildren grow up in.

NCRC Documents Trillions of CRA Dollars in Communities since 1977

2005-09-22T09:49:00.000-05:00

INFORMATION

NCRC Documents Trillions of CRA Dollars in Communities since 1977

Washington, DC - In the newest report on Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) agreements, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) finds that $4.2 trillion dollars have been infused into minority and lower income neighborhoods since CRA passed in 1977. Banks have committed to 430 CRA agreements, instituting multi-year programs covering loans, investments and banking services to communities in need.

John Taylor, President and CEO of NCRC, states, â€œWe applaud the commitment of banks who have negotiated serious and substantial CRA agreements with NCRC member organizations over the years. CRA is about safe and sound lending bringing capitalism and increasing wealth-building opportunities to minority and working class communities. The success of CRA commitments and increased lending and investing in traditionally under served communities illustrates that expanding CRA to independent mortgage companies, credit unions, and other financial companies will further benefit communities and the financial industry.â€

As impressive as the progress is, it is not uniform or consistent. As banks merge and become national level lenders, they are increasingly making unilateral pledges in the tens or hundreds of billion of dollars. In contrast, banks and community groups often negotiated and signed agreements during the mid- to late 1990â€™s. The newer unilateral pledges make it difficult for community groups and the general public to monitor and verify CRA agreements. Large agreements often do not have the detailed reporting that make it possible for community groups to assess if lenders are meeting targeted goals, especially to minorities and lower income consumers. The unilateral pledges also account for a fluctuation in the dollar amounts promised annually as many of these pledges occur during years of mega-merger activity such as 1998 and 2004.

Overall, CRA agreements continue to reinforce the effectiveness of the Community Reinvestment Act, often paving the way to profitable, safe and sound lending to traditionally under served communities. NCRC member organizations will continue to seek partnerships with lenders in order to develop rigorous CRA agreements, and bolster the effectiveness and accountability of CRA agreements.

ACTION

In 2005, Cincinnati Change assembled a team to meet its organizational objectives through creation of a mutual fund to fund its mission to Change Cincinnati NOW. On June 19th 2005 Cincinnati Change received its charter from the State of Ohio and stands ready to change Cincinnati NOW.

Founded June 19th 2000, incorporated June 19th 2005

Chairman of the Board
Frederick Hargrove Sr. PE., M. B. A.
1st Vice Chairman
Minister Wanda Lloyd Daniels(IBEW)
2nd Vice Chairman and Commanding General
Brig. Gen Dillard (MD)
Treasurer
Irvin Henderson, President, Henderson & Assoc.
Secretary
Robert Arany, President, MAM
Managing Director of Education
Dr. Janet Perry

Cincinnati Change is creating a limited liability company called Queen City Development Group. This company, Queen City Development Group, will implement the Cincinnati Change vision as the lead developer in the service of developing a global security services infrastructure headquartered in Cincinnati and operating out of Cleveland.

Mission: CINCINNATI CHANGE encourages increased economic stability in Hamilton County along with the development of an thrid frontier creative class information highway infrastructure, which will provide jobs through the acquisition, and development of businesses, intellectual property and real estate properties through service to a market of 100,000 Americans over the next two years through CRA investments in 20 American states through Queen City Development Group.

Purpose: CINCINNATI CHANGE will implement a licensed business process from Lloyd Daniels Development Group Inc.and a patent license from MDDG LLC that will create citizens who are educated, employed and empowered by developing the following objectives with CRA Investment Partners:

Schools - To create a school infrastructure for the 20,000 disenfranchised school students with a focus on youth in Hamilton County needing this service by 2014 through a alliance with already established schools in greater Cincinnati Cleveland and over 200 American cities.

Businesses - To create a community business development program with the SBA, private sector, non-profit organizations, and government agencies to support over 1,000 small and medium businesses that will employ students who go to and or graduate from our schools that will grow into a network of over 20,000 business from all over the USA by 2007.

Homes - To create 20,000 homes in Greater Cincinnati with a focus on developing 12,000 homes for low and moderate-income households whose children will attend our schools along with homes for those who work, build and or teach in them. This would serve as the model for 100,000 kids and their families as we remove, rebuild and redevelop communities devastated by natural disasters.

Jobs - To create over 9,000 jobs in education, health care, technology, hospitality, entertainment, real estate development and construction through partnerships with businesses and non-profit organizations as part of our focus on workforce development in the African American community that is based on creating an education and Creative Class Third Frontier infrastructure

It will serve as primary job generator in the rebuilding on over 10 square miles of space in the urban south while developing construction work throughout the Midwest and beyond by an American workforce of over 5,000 professionals and tradespeople.

2005-09-18T11:40:00.000-05:00

"I've done 458 campaigns in 25 years, and this is the damnest one I've ever seen," said Bethel Nathan, a Texas-based political consultant that Winburn brought in to help with his campaign.

"When it gets right down to it, I don't think white Republicans voted for him," he said. "They walked in the booth, and they couldn't pull the lever for Charlie Winburn. I don't call it racism. I just call it not being able to change the status quo."

2005-09-16T09:02:00.000-05:00

BUSH: Good evening. I am speaking to you from the city of New Orleans, nearly empty, still partly underwater, and waiting for life and hope to return. Eastward from Lake Pontchartrain, across the Mississippi coast, to Alabama and into Florida, millions of lives were changed in a day by a cruel and wasteful storm.

In the aftermath, we have seen fellow citizens left stunned and uprooted, searching for loved ones, and grieving for the dead and looking for meaning in a tragedy that seems so blind and random. We have also witnessed the kind of desperation no citizen of this great and generous nation should ever have to know - fellow Americans calling out for food and water, vulnerable people left at the mercy of criminals who had no mercy, and the bodies of the dead lying uncovered and untended in the street.

These days of sorrow and outrage have also been marked by acts of courage and kindness that make all Americans proud. Coast Guard and other personnel rescued tens of thousands of people from flooded neighborhoods. Religious congregations and families have welcomed strangers as brothers and sisters and neighbors.

In the community of Chalmette, when two men tried to break into a home, the owner invited them to stay and took in 15 other people who had no place to go. At Tulane Hospital for Children, doctors and nurses didn't eat for days so patients could have food, and eventually carried the patients on their backs up eight flights of stairs to helicopters.

Many first responders were victims themselves - wounded healers, with a sense of duty greater than their own suffering. When I met Steve Scott of the Biloxi Fire Department, he and his colleagues were conducting a house-to-house search for survivors. Steve told me this: "I lost my house and I lost my cars, but I still got my family ... and I still got my spirit."

Across the Gulf Coast, among people who have lost much and suffered much and given to the limit of their power, we are seeing that same spirit: a core of strength that survives all hurt, a faith in God no storm can take away and a powerful American determination to clear the ruins and build better than before.

Tonight so many victims of the hurricane and the flood are far from home and friends and familiar things. You need to know that our whole nation cares about you, and in the journey ahead, you are not alone. To all who carry a burden of loss, I extend the deepest sympathy of our country. To every person who has served and sacrificed in this emergency, I offer the gratitude of our country.

And tonight I also offer this pledge of the American people: Throughout the area hit by the hurricane, we will do what it takes. We will stay as long as it takes to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives. And all who question the future of the Crescent City need to know: There is no way to imagine America without New Orleans, and this great city will rise again.

The work of rescue is largely finished; the work of recovery is moving forward. In nearly all of Mississippi, electric power has been restored. Trade is starting to return to the Port of New Orleans, and agricultural shipments are moving down the Mississippi River. All major gasoline pipelines are now in operation, preventing the supply disruptions that many feared.

The breaks in the levees have been closed, the pumps are running, and the water here in New Orleans is receding by the hour. Environmental officials are on the ground, taking water samples, identifying and dealing with hazardous debris, and working to get drinking water and wastewater treatment systems operating again. And some very sad duties are being carried out by professionals who gather the dead, treat them with respect and prepare them for their rest.

In the task of recovery and rebuilding, some of the hardest work is still ahead and it will require the creative skill and generosity of a united country.

Our first commitment is to meet the immediate needs of those who had to flee their homes and leave all their possessions behind. For these Americans, every night brings uncertainty, every day requires new courage and the months to come will bring more than their fair share of struggles.

The Department of Homeland Security is registering evacuees who are now in shelters, churches or private homes, whether in the Gulf region or far away. I have signed an order providing immediate assistance to people from the disaster area. As of today, more than 500 thousand evacuee families have gotten emergency help to pay for food, clothing and other essentials.

Evacuees who have not yet registered should contact FEMA or the Red Cross. We need to know who you are, because many of you will also be eligible for broader assistance in the future. Many families were separated during the evacuation, and we are working to help you reunite. Please call 1-877-568-3317 - that's 1-877-568-3317 - and we will work to bring your family back together, and pay for your travel to reach them.

In addition, we are taking steps to ensure that evacuees don't have to travel great distances or navigate bureaucracies to get the benefits that are there for them. The Department of Health and Human Services has sent more than 15 hundred health professionals, along with over 50 tons of medical supplies, including vaccines, antibiotics and medicines, for people with chronic conditions such as diabetes. The Social Security Administration is delivering checks. The Department of Labor is helping displaced persons apply for temporary jobs and unemployment benefits. And the Postal Service is registering new addresses so that people can get their mail.

To carry out the first stages of the relief effort and begin the rebuilding at once, I have asked for, and the Congress has provided, more than $60 billion. This is an unprecedented response to an unprecedented crisis, which demonstrates the compassion and resolve of our nation.

Our second commitment is to help the citizens of the Gulf Coast to overcome this disaster, put their lives back together and rebuild their communities. Along this coast, for mile after mile, the wind and water swept the land clean. In Mississippi, many thousands of houses were damaged or destroyed. In New Orleans and surrounding parishes, more than a quarter million houses are no longer safe to live in. Hundreds of thousands of people from across this region will need to find longer-term housing.

Our goal is to get people out of shelters by the middle of October. So we are providing direct assistance to evacuees that allows them to rent apartments, and many already are moving into places of their own. A number of states have taken in evacuees and shown them great compassion, admitting children to school and providing health care. So I will work with Congress to ensure that states are reimbursed for these extra expenses.

In the disaster area and in cities that have received huge numbers of displaced people we are beginning to bring in mobile homes and trailers for temporary use. To relieve the burden on local health care facilities in the region, we are sending extra doctors and nurses to these areas. We are also providing money that can be used to cover overtime pay for police and fire departments while cities and towns rebuild.

Near New Orleans, Biloxi and other cities, housing is urgently needed for police and firefighters, other service providers and the many workers who are going to rebuild those cities. Right now, many are sleeping on ships we have brought to the Port of New Orleans, and more ships are on their way to the region. And we will provide mobile homes and supply them with basic services, as close to the construction areas as possible, so the rebuilding process can go forward as quickly as possible.

And the federal government will undertake a close partnership with the states of Louisiana and Mississippi, the city of New Orleans and other Gulf Coast cities so they can rebuild in a sensible, well planned way. Federal funds will cover the great majority of the costs of repairing public infrastructure in the disaster zone, from roads and bridges to schools and water systems. Our goal is to get the work done quickly. And taxpayers expect this work to be done honestly and wisely, so we will have a team of inspectors general reviewing all expenditures.

In the rebuilding process, there will be many important decisions and many details to resolve, yet we are moving forward according to some clear principles. The federal government will be fully engaged in the mission, but Governor Barbour, Governor Blanco, Mayor Nagin and other state and local leaders will have the primary role in planning for their own future. Clearly, communities will need to move decisively to change zoning laws and building codes, in order to avoid a repeat of what we have seen. And in the work of rebuilding, as many jobs as possible should go to men and women who live in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

Our third commitment is this: When communities are rebuilt, they must be even better and stronger than before the storm. Within the Gulf region are some of the most beautiful and historic places in America. As all of us saw on television, there is also some deep, persistent poverty in this region as well. And that poverty has roots in a history of racial discrimination, which cut off generations from the opportunity of America. We have a duty to confront this poverty with bold action. So let us restore all that we have cherished from yesterday, and let us rise above the legacy of inequality.

When the streets are rebuilt, there should be many new businesses, including minority-owned businesses, along those streets. When the houses are rebuilt, more families should own, not rent, those houses. When the regional economy revives, local people should be prepared for the jobs being created. Americans want the Gulf Coast not just to survive, but to thrive, not just to cope, but to overcome. We want evacuees to come home for the best of reasons, because they have a real chance at a better life in a place they love.

When one resident of this city who lost his home was asked by a reporter if he would relocate, he said, "Naw, I will rebuild but I'll build higher." That is our vision of the future, in this city and beyond: We will not just rebuild, we will build higher and better.

To meet this goal, I will listen to good ideas from Congress, state and local officials, and the private sector. I believe we should start with three initiatives that the Congress should pass.

Tonight I propose the creation of a Gulf Opportunity Zone, encompassing the region of the disaster in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Within this zone, we should provide immediate incentives for job-creating, investment tax relief for small businesses, incentives to companies that create jobs, and loans and loan guarantees for small businesses, including minority-owned enterprises, to get them up and running again. It is entrepreneurship that creates jobs and opportunity, it is entrepreneurship that helps break the cycle of poverty and we will take the side of entrepreneurs as they lead the economic revival of the Gulf region.

I propose the creation of Worker Recovery Accounts to help those evacuees who need extra help finding work. Under this plan, the federal government would provide accounts of up to $5,000, which these evacuees could draw upon for job training and education to help them get a good job and for child care expenses during their job search.

To help lower-income citizens in the hurricane region build new and better lives, I also propose that Congress pass an Urban Homesteading Act. Under this approach, we will identify property in the region owned by the federal government, and provide building sites to low-income citizens free of charge, through a lottery. In return, they would pledge to build on the lot, with either a mortgage or help from a charitable organization like Habitat for Humanity. Homeownership is one of the great strengths of any community, and it must be a central part of our vision for the revival of this region.

In the long run, the New Orleans area has a particular challenge, because much of the city lies below sea level. The people who call it home need to have reassurance that their lives will be safer in the years to come. Protecting a city that sits lower than the water around it is not easy, but it can and has been done. City and parish officials in New Orleans and state officials in Louisiana will have a large part in the engineering decisions to come, and the Army Corps of Engineers will work at their side to make the flood protection system stronger than it has ever been.

The work that has begun in the Gulf Coast region will be one of the largest reconstruction efforts the world has ever seen. When that job is done, all Americans will have something to be very proud of, and all Americans are needed in this common effort. It is the armies of compassion - charities and houses of worship and idealistic men and women - that give our reconstruction effort its humanity. They offer to those who hurt a friendly face, an arm around the shoulder and the reassurance that in hard times, they can count on someone who cares. By land, by sea and by air, good people wanting to make a difference deployed to the Gulf Coast, and they have been working around the clock ever since.

The cash needed to support the armies of compassion is great, and Americans have given generously. For example, the private fundraising effort led by former Presidents Bush and Clinton has already received pledges of more than $100 million. Some of that money is going to governors, to be used for immediate needs within their states. A portion will also be sent to local houses of worship, to help reimburse them for the expense of helping others. This evening the need is still urgent, and I ask the American people to continue donating to the Salvation Army, the Red Cross, other good charities and religious congregations in the region.

It is also essential for the many organizations of our country to reach out to your fellow citizens in the Gulf area. So I have asked USA Freedom Corps to create an information clearinghouse, available at usafreedomcorps.gov, so that families anywhere in the country can find opportunities to help families in the region or a school can support a school. And I challenge existing organizations - churches, Scout troops or labor union locals - to get in touch with their counterparts in Mississippi, Louisiana or Alabama, and learn what they can do to help. In this great national enterprise, important work can be done by everyone, and everyone should find their role and do their part.

The government of this nation will do its part as well. Our cities must have clear and up-to-date plans for responding to natural disasters, disease outbreaks or terrorist attack, for evacuating large numbers of people in an emergency and for providing the food, water and security they would need. In a time of terror threats and weapons of mass destruction, the danger to our citizens reaches much wider than a fault line or a flood plain. I consider detailed emergency planning to be a national security priority. Therefore, I have ordered the Department of Homeland Security to undertake an immediate review, in cooperation with local counterparts, of emergency plans in every major city in America.

I also want to know all the facts about the government response to Hurricane Katrina. The storm involved a massive flood, a major supply and security operation, and an evacuation order affecting more than a million people. It was not a normal hurricane and the normal disaster relief system was not equal to it. Many of the men and women of the Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the United States military, the National Guard, Homeland Security and state and local governments performed skillfully under the worst conditions. Yet the system, at every level of government, was not well coordinated and was overwhelmed in the first few days. It is now clear that a challenge on this scale requires greater federal authority and a broader role for the armed forces, the institution of our government most capable of massive logistical operations on a moment's notice.

Four years after the frightening experience of September 11th, Americans have every right to expect a more effective response in a time of emergency. When the federal government fails to meet such an obligation, I, as President, am responsible for the problem, and for the solution. So I have ordered every Cabinet secretary to participate in a comprehensive review of the government response to the hurricane. This government will learn the lessons of Hurricane Katrina. We are going to review every action and make necessary changes, so that we are better prepared for any challenge of nature, or act of evil men, that could threaten our people.

The United States Congress also has an important oversight function to perform. Congress is preparing an investigation, and I will work with members of both parties to make sure this effort is thorough.

In the life of this nation, we have often been reminded that nature is an awesome force, and that all life is fragile. We are the heirs of men and women who lived through those first terrible winters at Jamestown and Plymouth, who rebuilt Chicago after a great fire, and San Francisco after a great earthquake, who reclaimed the prairie from the dust bowl of the 1930s. Every time, the people of this land have come back from fire, flood and storm to build anew and to build better than what we had before. Americans have never left our destiny to the whims of nature and we will not start now.

These trials have also reminded us that we are often stronger than we know, with the help of grace and one another. They remind us of a hope beyond all pain and death, a God who welcomes the lost to a house not made with hands. And they remind us that we are tied together in this life, in this nation, and that the despair of any touches us all.

I know that when you sit on the steps of a porch where a home once stood or sleep on a cot in a crowded shelter it is hard to imagine a bright future. But that future will come. The streets of Biloxi and Gulfport will again be filled with lovely homes and the sound of children playing. The churches of Alabama will have their broken steeples mended and their congregations whole. And here in New Orleans, the streetcars will once again rumble down St. Charles, and the passionate soul of a great city will return.

In this place, there is a custom for the funerals of jazz musicians. The funeral procession parades slowly through the streets, followed by a band playing a mournful dirge as it moves to the cemetery. Once the casket has been laid in place, the band breaks into a joyful "second line" symbolizing the triumph of the spirit over death. Tonight the Gulf Coast is still coming through the dirge, yet we will live to see the second line.

Thank you, and may God bless America.

2005-09-11T21:48:00.000-05:00

Opening Day of the
Cincinnati Hamilton County Black Republican Forum Plan of Action in Support for the Americans Most Affected by Katrina

The start of a plan of action

By Hershel Daniels Junior

Copyright 2005 ã Hershel Daniels, Junior

All rights reserved to Lloyd Daniels Development Group

Out partnership is with a method is based on the faith in God and a business process created and licensed for development as Queen City Development Group. Cincinnati Change will host at its headquarters a Pastoral Leadership Conference that will bring together partners for a $2.76 Billion Federal state local contract for two years for 20,000 people. Over 50,000 church members can benefit from this as we create for them a electronic commerce network to support American relief efforts to the people of the south. This effort will be lead by Frederick Hargrove PE and Tashio Jenner, AIA. It will built by a team lead by general Contractor Wanda Lloyd Daniels.

These partners would be trained by a coalition lead by a member of the international brotherhood of electricians and is a Pew pastor in Ammonds United Methodist Church. She will lead under my leadership 200 NGO's like the National Community Reinvestment Coalition to be part of the workforce that renews, rehabs and re-establish neighborhoods of Ownership within a ten mile radius from ground zero and or other location in New Orleans in cooperation with Frederick Hargrove PE, MBA in alliance with AUMC. INC.

Fred Hargrove Sr.

PE, UC; MBA, Hood

Chairman of Cincinnati Change

http://www.Cintinnatichange.com

2005-08-04T02:51:00.000-05:00

Affirmative action means to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment the same, without regard to their race. That means this 2005 is the 40th year from when America recognized that since 1565 African Americans needed to have past wrongs addressed. In 1565 the colony of Saint Augustine in Florida became the first permanent settlement in North America and included a number of African slaves.

Cincinnati Change is a not for profit organization that believes African American businesses have the same right.

Cincinnati Change will work with those businesses, organizations and public officials (current and future) who will work with us to make this change happen in the Nati

2005-07-28T04:55:00.000-05:00

A little background on our experience in der Nati. We had interest in a nightclub, Karma, at 1120 Jackson Street and during the 2001 rebellion we, and our white partners, couldn't get any help from the city, although we filled out the forms they or their contractors lost them twice. We had to close for a variety of reasons not the least the third dead body within blocks of the club.

My partner and myself worked on the Over the Rhine plan and have gotten grants from the Empowerment Zone for youth. Although not from here we started in 1996, at the 5th and Race Street Tower, to work and develop our company and organization here. We are an Architectural, Engineering, Construction Management and Business Consulting firm partnered with a female general contractor who started out as an IBEW journeyman.

What most people don't realize about their African American neighbors is that we are the result of a 400 year breeding experiment, that worked. For those who don’t know -slavery in America started in Florida in 1565

In this experiment the first 300 years the US government, when it was formed, had laws that keep blacks as uneducated as possible, except for those who built the infrastructure that whites used. The custom was codified in many ways but a speech that was delivered by Willie Lynch on the bank of the James River in the colony of Virginia in 1712 says it best, in our minds at least. Lynch was a British slave owner in the West Indies. He was invited to the colony of Virginia in 1712 to teach his methods to slave owners there. The term "lynching" is derived from his last name. The speech in whole is quoted here:

"Gentlemen. I greet you here on the bank of the James River in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and twelve. First, I shall thank you, the gentlemen of the Colony of Virginia, for bringing me here. I am here to help you solve some of your problems with slaves. Your invitation reached me on my modest plantation in the West Indies, where I have experimented with some of the newest and still the oldest methods for control of slaves. Ancient Rome's would envy us if my program is implemented.

As our boat sailed south on the James River, named for our illustrious King, whose version of the Bible we Cherish, I saw enough to know that your problem is not unique. While Rome used cords of wood as crosses for standing human bodies along its highways in great numbers, you are here using the tree and the rope on occasions. I caught the whiff of a dead slave hanging from a tree, a couple miles back. You are not only losing valuable stock by hangings, you are having uprisings, slaves are running away, your crops are sometimes left in the fields too long for maximum profit, You suffer occasional fires, your animals are killed.

Gentlemen, you know what your problems are; I do not need to elaborate. I am not here to enumerate your problems, I am here to introduce you to a method of solving them. In my bag here, I HAVE A FULL PROOF METHOD FOR CONTROLLING YOUR BLACK SLAVES. I guarantee every one of you that if installed correctly IT WILL CONTROL THE SLAVES FOR AT LEAST 300 HUNDREDS YEARS[1792+300=2092].

My method is simple. Any member of your family or your overseer can use it. I HAVE OUTLINED A NUMBER OF DIFFERENCES AMONG THE SLAVES; AND I TAKE THESE DIFFERENCES AND MAKE THEM BIGGER. I USE FEAR, DISTRUST AND ENVY FOR CONTROL PURPOSES. These methods have worked on my modest plantation in the West Indies and it will work throughout the South. Take this simple little list of differences and think about them.

On top of my list is "AGE" but it's there only because it starts with an "A." The second is "COLOR" or shade, there is INTELLIGENCE, SIZE, SEX, SIZES OF PLANTATIONS, STATUS on plantations, ATTITUDE of owners, whether the slaves live in the valley, on a hill, East, West, North, South, have fine hair, course hair, or is tall or short.

Now that you have a list of differences, I shall give you a outline of action, but before that, I shall assure you that DISTRUST IS STRONGER THAN TRUST AND ENVY STRONGER THAN ADULATION, RESPECT OR ADMIRATION. The Black slaves after receiving this indoctrination shall carry on and will become self refueling and self generating for HUNDREDS of years, maybe THOUSANDS.

Don't forget you must pitch the OLD black Male vs. the YOUNG black Male, and the YOUNG black Male against the OLD black male. You must use the DARK skin slaves vs. the LIGHT skin slaves, and the LIGHT skin slaves vs. the DARK skin slaves. You must use the FEMALE vs. the MALE. And the MALE vs. the FEMALE.

You must also have you white servants and over- seers distrust all Blacks. But it is NECESSARY THAT YOUR SLAVES TRUST AND DEPEND ON US. THEY MUST LOVE, RESPECT AND TRUST ONLY US. Gentlemen, these kits are your keys to control. Use them. Have your wives and children use them, never miss an opportunity. IF USED INTENSELY FOR ONE YEAR, THE SLAVES THEMSELVES WILL REMAIN PERPETUALLY DISTRUSTFUL

This was the mostly white manner of the Spanish, British and American slavery in the Americas. It was a plan that has succeeded. Now we must address the results of the breakdown.

In this city we have the resources:

We, the residents of the city of Cincinnati, own a rails road that pays us $16M a year;

we own a water works system that is worth over $400M dollars;

we own the Blue Ash Airport and its 200 developable acres;

we are designated a Empowerment Zone with over $100M locked up in it;

our city has the ability to issue up to $300M in revenue bonds to create employment for its residents;

our city has the only fully vested pension fund for city workers in the state of Ohio, in a major city, some 2 billion dollars, that is not invested in real estate here rather 50% or more is in stock on the New York Stock Exchange, and;

we have a plan in development for using these and the other resources at our disposal including creating a new police force that would be accountable directly to the residents of the communities it serves and ending the boycott based on the five point agenda set forth in Dr. Daniels report Executive Summary and Recommendations and his Executive Summary and Recommendations both are adobe PDF files.

Lets use it and Change Cincinnati NOW.

We start on Sunday in Walnut Hills at Peeples corner. We will join in with a group of African-American pastors from Methodist churches here is launching an outreach ministry [although our organization itself is not a faith based organization we do sponsor one and support this ministry] for men and boys to address violence that threatens city neighborhoods.

"We're trying to put a human face on Christianity from the male point of view - to show that you can be macho and a Christian," said Melvin Williams, president of the Cincinnati District United Methodist Men. "We're determined that we're going to bring in the white brothers from the suburbs," said the Rev. Dr. Fred Heath, pastor of Ammons United Methodist Church.

The pastors are inviting men from churches of all denominations - including white congregations in the suburbs - to join them at 9 a.m. Sunday. They will gather at 934 E. McMillan St. and march to Ammons United Methodist Church on Gilbert Avenue and McMillan. Each man is asked to bring a boy to mentor. Social service agencies such as Big Brothers-Big Sisters and Prisoners Helping Prisoners will set up booths at the church. The event is expected to last a little more than an hour.

Later that day at 5pm on at 2439 Auburn on the corner of McMillan and Auburn at the former Mt. Auburn United Methodist Church there will be a rally to plan about changing the city. Included will be a plan of action to redevelop OTR through revenue bonds, collateralized mortgage obligations and other financial instruments along with development and or support for over 100 businesses in OTR.

2005-07-26T03:37:00.000-05:00

An affirmative action program (see entry AAP refers to Affirmative Action Program".

An AAP is a management tool designed to ensure equal opportunity in recruiting, hiring, training, promoting, and compensating individuals so that we all can live the American dream. A good affirmative action program is a diagnostic tool that evaluates the composition of the workforce and compares it with the composition of the relevant labor pool and then includes practical steps addressing under utilization of specific groups.

The federal Kerner Commission report on racial disorders, prompted by the riots of the 1960s, provided ample documentation of American institutional discrimination against blacks. The commission presented its findings in 1968, concluding that urban violence reflected the profound frustration of inner-city blacks and that racism was deeply embedded in American society. The report's most famous passage warned that the United States was "moving toward two societies, one black, one white — separate and unequal."

The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., pronounced the report a "physician's warning of approaching death, with a prescription for life."

This happened just three years after the US Constitution was amended in January 1964, by the leadership of Republicans and Democrats, to prevent any local authority from using poll tax registration as a means of preventing any person from registering as a voter. Finally in 1965, a comprehensive Civil Rights Act, more correctly called the Voting Rights Act, was signed into law by President Johnson: this gave legislative enforcement to the constitutional amendment.

The law also suspended (and amendments later banned) the use of literacy tests for voters. The final abolition of the last literacy tests allowed high numbers of African Americans, who where previously denied the right to vote, to gain access to the vote. Remember this was just 40 years ago.

Now a federal commision reported that unless conditions were remedied, the country faced a “system of ’apartheid’” in its major cities. The Kerner report delivered an indictment of “white society” for isolating and neglecting African Americans and urged legislation to promote racial integration and to enrich slums—primarily through the creation of jobs, job training programs, and decent housing.

Excerpted passages from the Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (the Kerner Commission) -

Segregation and poverty have created in the racial ghetto a destructive environment totally unknown to most white Americans. What white Americans have never fully understood - but what the Negro can never forget - is that white society is deeply implicated in the ghetto. White institutions created it, white institutions maintain it, and white society condones it.

The black ghettos where segregation and poverty converge on the young to destroy opportunity and enforce failure. Crime, drug addiction, dependency on welfare, and bitterness and resentment against society in general and white society in particular are the result. At the same time, most whites and some Negroes outside the ghetto have prospered to a degree unparalleled in the history of civilization. Through television and other media, this affluence has been flaunted before the eyes of the negro poor and the jobless ghetto youth.

Frustrated hopes are the residue of the unfulfilled expectations aroused by the great judicial and legislative victories of the Civil Rights Movement and the dramatic struggle for equal rights in the South.

The police are not merely a "spark" factor. To some Negroes police have come to symbolize white power, white racism and white repression. And the fact is that many police do reflect and express these white attitudes. The atmosphere of hostility and cynicism is reinforced by a widespread belief among Negroes in the existence of police brutality and in a "double standard" of justice and protection - one for Negroes and one for whites.

President Johnson, however, rejected the recommendations. In April 1968, one month after the release of the Kerner report, rioting broke out in more than 100 cities following the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.

By the election of 1968, Richard M. Nixon had gained the presidency through a conservative white backlash that insured that the Kerner Report's recommendations.

Also Roger Wilkins in his Racism Has Its Privileges: The Case For Affirmative Action provides the rationale for affirmative action. In general affirmative action requires institutions to search for qualified candidates in places beyond their ordinary searches or businesses.

Cincinnati Change believes that in Cincinnati we must address these issues, while we still have the time and resouces, or we will be revisiting the Kerner report on a local basis.

2005-07-26T02:51:00.000-05:00

"AAP" refers to Affirmative Action Program; and "OFCCP," to the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (Department of Labor).

A. Introduction

1.The OFCCP is part of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment Standards Administration. It has a national network of six regional offices, each with district and area offices in major metropolitan centers. OFFCP enforces, among other things, Executive Order 11246. Executive Order 11246 prohibits discrimination in hiring or employment decisions on the basis of race, color, gender, religion, and national origin. It applies to all nonexempt government contractors and subcontractors and Federally assisted construction contracts and subcontracts in excess of $10,000.

2.Under Executive Order 11246, contractors and subcontractors with a Federal contract of $50,000 or more and 50 or more employees are required to develop a written affirmative action program that sets forth specific and result-oriented procedures to which a contractor commits itself to apply every good faith effort.

3.On November 13, 2000, only a few days after the Presidential election, the OFCCP issued important amendments to the regulations implementing Executive Order 11246, 41 C.F.R. Parts 60-1 and 60-2, 65 Fed. Reg. 68022 (Nov. 13, 2000). The amendments will change the way AAPs are written.

4.The regulations became effective December 13, 2000, and AAPs written after that date will have to conform to these new regulations.

B. The Contents of AAPs

1.Organizational Display or Workforce Analysis. Under 41 C.F.R. §60-2.11 (2001), non-construction contractors must prepare an "organizational profile." This consists of either the new "organizational display" or the older workforce analysis, which existed under the old regulations.

Organizational Display

The purpose of the organizational profile, like the workforce analysis, is to provide a depiction of the contractor’s workforce. However, the introduction of the organizational display, which eliminates the itemization of job titles and the reporting of gender, race, or salary information by job title, is intended to make this section of the AAP less burdensome for contractors to produce.

The organizational display is essentially an organizational chart annotated with race and gender incumbency numbers. The regulations define an organizational display as a detailed graphical or tabular chart, text, spreadsheet, or similar presentation of the contractor’s organization structure" that must:

Identify each organizational unit in the establishment; and show the relationship of each organizational unit to the other organizational units in the establishment. 41 C.F.R. §60-2.11(b).

An organizational unit is any component that is part of the contractor’s corporate structure.

In a more traditional organization, an organizational unit might be a department, division, section, branch, group, or similar component.

In a less traditional organization, an organizational unit might be a project team, job family, or similar component.

The term includes an umbrella unit (such as a department) that contains a number of
subordinate units, and it separately includes each of the subordinate units (such as sections or branches). 41 C.F.R. §60-2.11(b)(2).

The organizational display must include:

The name of the unit;
The job title, gender, race, and ethnicity of the unit supervisor (if the unit has a supervisor);
The total number of male and female incumbents; and
The total number of male and female incumbents in each of the following groups: Blacks, Hispanics, Asians/Pacific Islanders, and American Indians/Alaskan Natives. 41 C.F.R. §60-2.11(b)(3).
Alternatively, the contractor may use a "workforce analysis." 41 C.F.R. §60-2.11(c)".

A workforce analysis is a listing of each job title as it appears in applicable collective bargaining agreements or payroll records ranked from the lowest paid to the highest paid within each department or other similar organizational unit including departmental or unit supervision.

If there are separate work units or lines of progression within a department, a separate list must be provided for each such work unit, or line, including unit supervisors. For lines of progression there must be indicated the order of jobs in the line through which an employee could move to the top of the line.

Where there are no formal progression lines or usual promotional sequences, job titles should be listed by department, job families, or disciplines, in order of wage rates or salary ranges.

For each job title, the total number of incumbents, the total number of male and female incumbents, and the total number of male and female incumbents in each of the following groups must be given: Blacks, Hispanics, Asians/Pacific Islanders, and American Indians/Alaskan Natives. The wage rate or salary range for each job title must be given. All job titles, including all managerial job titles, must be listed."

Job Group Analysis.

Under 41 C.F.R. §60-2.12 non-construction contractors must also prepare a "job group analysis" as a first step in the contractor’s comparison of the representation of minorities and women in its workforce with the estimated availability of minorities and women qualified to be employed:

In the job group analysis, jobs at the establishment with similar content, wage rates, and opportunities, must be combined to form job groups.
Similarity of content refers to the duties and responsibilities of the job titles which make up the job group.
Similarity of opportunities refers to training, transfers, promotions, pay, mobility, and other career enhancement opportunities offered by the jobs within the job group. 41 C.F.R. §60-2.12(b).
The job group analysis must include a list of the job titles that comprise each job group. If, under sections 60-2.12(d) and (e) the job group analysis contains jobs that are located at another establishment, the job group analysis must be annotated to identify the actual location of those jobs. If the establishment at which the jobs actually are located maintains an affirmative action program, the job group analysis of that program must be annotated to identify the program in which the jobs are included. 41 C.F.R. §60-2.12(c).

Although all jobs at each establishment must be included in the job group analysis under the new regulations, if a contractor has a total workforce of fewer than 150 employees, the contractor may prepare a job group analysis that uses EEO-1 categories as job groups. EEO-1 categories refers to the nine occupational groups used in the Standard Form 100, the Employer Information EEO-1 Survey: officials and managers, professionals, technicians, sales, office and clerical, craft workers (skilled), operatives (semiskilled), laborers (unskilled), and service workers. 41 C.F.R. §60-2.12(e).

The contractor must separately state the percentage of minorities and the percentage of women it employs in each job group. 41 C.F.R. §60-2.13.

Availability Analysis.

The new regulations still require contractors to determine the availability of minorities and women for jobs in their establishments, compare incumbency to availability, declare underutilization and establish goals to eliminate the underutilization.

What is different is that instead of the unwieldy "8 factor analysis" formerly required, the new standard for availability includes only the consideration of:

Those with requisite skills; and
Those in the contractor workforce who are "promotable," "transferable," or "trainable."
Specifically, the regulations only require a two-factor analysis:
"The percentage of minorities and women with requisite skills in the reasonable recruitment area." 41 C.F.R. §60-2.14(c)(1); and
"The percentage of minorities and women among those promotable, transferable and trainable within the contractor’s organization." 41 C.F.R. §60-2.14(c)(2).
The reasonable recruitment area is defined as the geographical area from which the contractor usually seeks or reasonably could seek workers to fill the positions in question. 41 C.F.R. §60-2.14(c)(1). The starting point is a zip code analysis of incumbents or applicants for each job title, which is a pretty good indicator of a reasonable recruitment area. This will normally show shorter distances for lower skills and broader scope for higher level positions. In urban locations, Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas may be appropriate for lower level jobs. But executive-level jobs may be recruited nationwide.
"The contractor may not draw its reasonable recruitment area in such a way as to have the effect of excluding minorities or women. For each job group, the reasonable recruitment area must be identified, with a brief explanation of the rationale for selection of that recruitment area." 41 C.F.R. §60-2.14(e).
"The contractor may not define the pool of promotable, transferable, and trainable employees in such a way as to have the effect of excluding minorities or women. For each job group, the pool of promotable, transferable, and trainable employees must be identified with a brief explanation of the rationale for the selection of that pool." 41 C.F.R. §60-2.14(f).
In general, historical promotional patterns will guide the promotable analysis.

Then the contractors must determine availability of minorities and women for each job group using the most current and discrete statistical information available to derive availability figures. Examples of such information include census data, data from local job service offices, and data from colleges or other training institutions.

But the most confusing requirement occurs when a job group is composed of job titles with different availability rates. Under these circumstances, the regulations demand that "a composite availability figure must be calculated." 41 C.F.R. §60-2.14(g). The composite availability figure represents a weighted average of the availability estimates for all the job titles in the job group.

To compute the composite availability figure, the contractor must separately determine the availability for each job title within the job group and must determine the proportion of job group incumbents employed in each job title. The contractor must weigh the availability for each job title by the proportion of job group incumbents employed in that job group. The sum of the weighted availability estimates for all job titles in the job group equals the composite availability for the job group.

This suggests that it may be better to limit groups to those with the same job titles.

Underutilization.

Availability is then compared to incumbency and if the percentage of minorities or women is lower than the availability – "less than would reasonably be expected given their availability percentage in that particular job group" the contractor must establish a "placement goal" (41 C.F.R. §60-2.15), i.e., the contractor must set placement goals to correct the underutilization.

Placement goals are described in 41 C.F.R. §60.2-16 with a fanfare of exculpatory language:

"Placement goals serve as objectives or targets reasonably attainable by means of applying every good faith effort to make all aspects of the entire affirmative action program work. Placement goals also are used to measure progress toward achieving equal employment opportunity." 41 C.F.R. §60.2-16(a).

"A contractor’s determination under section 60-2.15 that a placement goal is required constitutes neither a finding nor an admission of discrimination." 41 C.F.R. §60.2-16(b).

"Placement goals may not be rigid and inflexible quotas, which must be met, nor are they to be considered as either a ceiling or a floor for the employment of particular groups. Quotas are expressly forbidden." 41 C.F.R. §60.2-16(e)(1).

"In all employment decisions, the contractor must make selections in a nondiscriminatory manner. Placement goals do not provide the contractor with a justification to extend a preference to any individual, select an individual, or adversely affect an individual’s employment status, on the basis of that person’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin." 41 C.F.R. §60.2-16(e)(2).

"Placement goals do not create set-asides for specific groups, nor are they intended to achieve proportional representation or equal results." 41 C.F.R. §60.2-16(e)(3).

"Placement goals may not be used to supersede merit selection principles. Affirmative action programs prescribed by the regulations in this part do not require a contractor to hire a person who lacks qualifications to perform the job successfully, or hire a less qualified person in preference to a more qualified one." 41 C.F.R. §60-2.16(e)(4)).

"A contractor near an Indian Reservation can express an employment preference for American Indians living at or near an Indian Reservation." 41 C.F.R. §60-2.16(f).

The Bottom Line

The placement goal must be set at an annual percentage rate equal to the availability figure for women or minorities.

41 C.F.R. §60-2.16(c).

The regulations contemplate "a single goal for all minorities," but if there is a substantial disparity in the utilization of a particular minority group, the contractor may be required to establish separate goals for each group. 41 C.F.R. §60-2.16(d).

Other Required Contents for an AAP. Section 60-2.17 sets forth additional requirements that are only a little different than the old rules as follows:

Designation of responsibility. The contractor must provide for the implementation of equal employment opportunity and the affirmative action program by assigning responsibility and accountability to an official of the organization. Depending upon the size of the contractor, this may be the official’s sole responsibility. He or she must have the authority, resources, support of and access to top management to ensure the effective implementation of the affirmative action program.

Identification of problem areas. The contractor must perform in-depth analyses of its total employment process to determine whether and where impediments to equal employment opportunity exist. At a minimum the contractor must evaluate:

(1) The workforce by organizational unit and job group to determine whether there are problems of minority or female use (i.e., employment in the unit or group), or of minority or female distribution (i.e., placement in the different jobs within the unit or group);

(2) Personnel activity (applicant flow, hires, terminations, promotions, and other personnel actions) to determine whether there are selection disparities;

(3) Compensation systems to determine whether there are gender-, race-, ethnicity-based disparities;

(4) Selection, recruitment, referral, and other personnel procedures to determine whether they result in disparities in the employment or advancement of minorities or women; and

(5) Any other areas that might affect the success of the affirmative action program.

Action-Oriented Programs.

The contractor must develop and execute action-oriented programs designed to correct any problem areas identified under section 60-2.17(b) and to attain established goals and objectives.

For these action-oriented programs to be effective, the contractor must ensure that they consist of more than following the same procedures that have previously produced inadequate results. Furthermore, a contractor must demonstrate that it has made good faith efforts to remove identified barriers, expand employment opportunities, and produce measurable results.

Internal audit and reporting system.

The contractor must develop and implement an auditing system that periodically measures the effectiveness of its total affirmative action program. The actions listed below are key to a successful affirmative action program:

(1) Monitor records of all personnel activity, including referrals, placements, transfers, promotions, terminations, and compensation, at all levels to ensure the nondiscriminatory policy is carried out;

(2) Require internal reporting on a scheduled basis as to the degree to which equal employment opportunity and organizational are attained;

(3) Review report results with all levels of management; and

(4) Advise top management of program effectiveness and submit recommendations to improve unsatisfactory performance.

These look similar to, but are less extensive than, the old requirements formerly contained in the regulations at 41 C.F.R. §60-2.20 et seq.

Equal Opportunity Survey

The new regulations introduce the use of a new survey that the OFCCP has and will continue to send to selected contractors and require them to complete. 41 C.F.R. §60-2.18.
The current survey asks for such information as the highest and lowest salaries for non-minority males, women, and minorities in major job groups. These results will undoubtedly be used to select contractors for more detailed audits.

Glass Ceiling Audit

41 C.F.R. §60-2.30 recognizes the practice of conducting "Corporate Management Compliance Evaluations" to identify and eliminate barriers to advancement into mid-level and senior-level positions.

2005-07-26T02:08:00.000-05:00

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11,246

Affirmative action’s goal [in 1964] was to remove nonmerit barriers to upward social and economic mobility. At the federal level thris was accomplished through Executive Order 11,246 of Sept. 24, 1965, appear at 30 FR 12319, 12935, 3 CFR, 1964-1965 Comp., p.339, unless otherwise noted. This was

It is the policy of the Government of the United States [in 1965] to provide equal opportunity in Federal employment for all qualified persons, to prohibit discrimination in employment because of race, creed, color, or national origin, and to promote the full realization of equal employment opportunity through a positive, continuing program in each executive department and agency. The policy of equal opportunity applies to every aspect of Federal employment policy and practice.

Orginal Executive Order 11,246
http://www.eeoc.gov/abouteeoc/35th/thelaw/eo-11246.html

Executive Order 11,246 requires that a federal contractor "will take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

Exec. Order No. 11,256, C.F.R. 339 (1964-1965 Comp.), reprinted as amended in 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(g)(1) (1993). That means this September 24, 2005 is the 40th year celebration of when America recognized that since 1565 Americans of African decent needed to have past wrongs addressed. In case you don't know, in 1565 the colony of Saint Augustine in Florida became the first permanent settlement in North America, and included an unknown number of African slaves.

These requirements were implemented through regulations promulgated by the Nixon-Ford administration, found at 41 C.F.R. Part 60. That was less than 30 years ago. They have since been admended. E.O. 11246 and its regulations are administered and enforced by the Employment Standards Administration’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP).

Executive Order 11246, As Amended http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/statutes/ofccp/eo11246.htm

Affirmative action, or positive measures, must be taken by covered employers to recruit and advance qualified minorities and women for jobs in which they are underutilized relative to their availability. Affirmative actions include training programs, outreach efforts, and other positive steps. These procedures should be incorporated into the company’s written personnel policies. Employers with written affirmative action programs must implement them, keep them on file and update them annually.

Employers are also required to take all necessary actions to ensure that no one attempts to intimidate or discriminate against an individual for filing a complaint or participating in a proceeding under the Executive Order.

LIMITATION PERIOD & FILING REQUIREMENTS

Individuals may file complaints if they believe they have been discriminated against by federal contractors or subcontractors. Complaints also may be filed by organizations on behalf of the person or persons affected.

Complaints must be filed within 180 days from the date of the alleged discrimination, although filing time can be extended for a good reason.

If a complaint filed under Executive Order 11246 involves discrimination against only one person, OFCCP will normally refer it to the EEOC. Cases involving groups of people or indicating patterns of discrimination are generally investigated and resolved by OFCCP. Complaints may be filed directly with any of OFCCP's regional or district offices throughout the country, or with OFCCP in Washington, D.C.

REMEDIES

It is now well established that state and local initiatives that seek to employ "race conscious" measures of ensuring equal opportunity must satisfy the most exacting standards, in order to comply with prevailing interpretations of constitutional requirements. Even though the prevous 400 plus years of overt government enforced discrimination did not have to meet any standards except the color of your skin.

THE CROSON CASE

These standards were applied and closely examined by the Supreme Court in City of Richmond v. J.A. Croson Company, 488 U.S. 469 (1989), 709 S.Ct. 706, and their applicability extended in Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Pena, 515 U.S. 200, 115 S.Ct. 2097 (1995). In many respects the Supreme Court's 1989 decision, City of Richmond v. J.A. Croson Co., was the most significant civil rights case of the nineteen eighties. It set new standards of review in equal protection cases and quickly became a decisive precedent in the areas of public employment, higher education, and voting rights laws.

Reference on the Croson decision is at:
http://straylight.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0488_0469_ZS.html

The Croson decision represents the definitive legal precedent that established "strict scrutiny" as the standard of review by which state and local programs that grant or limit government opportunities on the basis of race are evaluated.

The Adarand decision subsequently extended the "strict scrutiny" standard of review to race conscious programs enacted by the federal government.

The Croson decision exempted federally administered programs, although many of them demanded that local governments create Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) requirements for locally administered, federally-funded programs. See, e.g., 49 C.F.R. § 23.45 (1996) (requiring recipients of Department of Transportation contracts to establish certain MBE procedures).

However, in Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Pena, 515 U.S. 200 (1995), the Supreme Court required that the same strict scrutiny standard be applied to federal programs as Croson applied to state and local programs.In view of the position taken by the Court in Croson, states, municipalities, and otherlocal governments must satisfy the narrow tailoring prong, and in doing so, the following factors must be analyzed:

Whether the MBE program covers minorities or women for which there is evidenceof discrimination (i.e. statistical disparity, anecdotal evidence, etc.),

1. Whether the size of the MBE participation goal is flexible and contains waiver provisions for prime contractors who make a "good faith" effort to satisfy MBE utilization goals, but are unsuccessful in finding any qualified, willing and able MBEs;

2. Whether there is a reasonable relationship between the numerical goals set and the relevant labor pool of MBEs capable of performing the work in the marketplace;

3. Whether race-neutral alternatives were considered before race-conscious remedies were enacted; and

4. Whether the MBE program contains sunset provisions or other mechanisms for periodic review to assess the program's continued need.