Reading, Writing and Publishing!

Sunday - February 13, 2011 - 3:00 PM EST

Black Teen Empowerment Radio welcomes Loretta Faith Harris to discuss the importance of not only getting our youth to read and write but introducing them to the world of publishing.

According to the website CH Publishing:

Loretta is the Founder and President of CHPublishing. CHPublishing aphorism is, Capturing the heart of the writer. Publications include seven young adult books that she coauthored with her middle and high school students and the award winning memoir, The Journey Less Traveled: Choose to Turn Your Tragedy into Triumph” which highlights Loretta’s personal story of overcoming death defying odds. This gifted author is also the publisher of CHPublishing in the Spotlight News and contributing writer for B.I.G. The Magazine, Signature Women Today, and The Florida Sun.

Do you think more teens would be interested in the fundamentals of reading and writing if they were informed about becoming published authors using desktop publishing tools, social media and distribution websites like Amazon? If Bristol Palin can write her memoirs despite her limited “accomplishments”, why can’t any young person? We are sure some of our youth have stories that are just as if not more interesting. Considering that youth are often credited with having vivid imaginations, with a little help many of them could be the next great fiction writer.

Loretta will also talk to us about her new book “101 Reasons To Live”!

In the news:

·         Student Athletes Accuse Basket Ball Coach of Using the N-Word

·         Consequences of Not Voting: School Re-Segregation

·         Lowering School Suspensions A Priority

Missing Child Spotlight of the Week:

Destinee Silva

Destinee Silva is 13 yrs-old and has been missing from Daly City, California since January 18, 2011. She is believed to be possibly be in the Oakland or San Francisco Area. If you have information concerning this case, 

Please Contact: Daly City Police Department - (650) 991-8092 or (650) 991-8147

The National Black TEEN Empowerment Expo: TEEN Hall III and A March For Our Children (NYC), G.L.O.W.

“We have all the required resources to improve the quality of life and learning for our young generation. Now, let’s prove it now.”

The National Black TEEN Empowerment Expo (NBTEE) is building a national youth movement, community by community, to collectively discuss, determine and deliver better ways to reach and teach today’s young generation. We believe our strength in numbers will also mean socioeconomic power that can help our children’s needs be a greater fulfilled priority.

Youth Movements are coalitions of concerned citizens and committed groups working together to improve the quality of life and learning for (and with) our children, teens and young adults. Our primary goal is to do a better job of collecting each community’s youth resources and better connecting these resources to our youth consistently. Youth movements are now underway in Detroit, Brooklyn, (NY), New Jersey and Baltimore. In 2011, we will form youth movements in other NYC boroughs, and in Atlanta, Texas and California.

Brooklyn TEEN Hall Meeting will be held Friday, December 10th, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., at Bethany Baptist Church. Every THM requires three essential ingredients: our powerful youth, valuable youth resources and YOU. If you are a youth resource, please RSVP, and / or if you’d like to help us with this monthly event, pray tell.

We’d like to give a special thanks to Dr. Jackie Cody (www.codycares.org) who’s building the first 24-hour youth resource center in Brooklyn, and Reverend Hampton, a great man uplifting good souls throughout the Bed-Stuy community, for organizing and hosting the Brooklyn THM’s so well.

The Better Brooklyn Youth Movement and the NBTEE, in association with Long Island University’s Liberty Partnership Program, is organizing “The March For Our Children” this spring in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NYC. The March will also include a “Youth Resource Rally” that will guide our young people to more opportunities, programs and resources during the summer months and beyond.

The Liberty Partnership Program is a free after-school program for Brooklyn high school juniors and seniors that offers basic and advanced academic skills tutoring, wellness and lifestyle management, educational, personal and family counseling, and career and college exploration activities.

The March For Our Children will lead up to a TEEN Summit to be held at LIU in late spring / early summer. If you’d like to be on the planning committee for these events, email
rgordon@betterbrooklynyouth.org, or call 734.395.3079.

G.L.O.W. (Girls Leaning On Women) is a Better Detroit Youth Movement program that provides positive role models, motivation and resources to young ladies so they grow every day, achieve their goals and shine throughout life. Call Jay at 248.961.6419, to learn more about G.L.O.W., and / or how the BDYM is building a better, brighter Detroit every day.

Better Baltimore Youth Movement TEEN Ambassador, Brielle Cunningham, is a 15-year-old sophomore at The Academy of College and Career Exploration High School. Brielle has earned the second highest GPA in her sophomore class. She’s also currently participating in the Encounter Program at Centre Stage Theatre, where she’s performing in her first play called “Post Re-Entry”.

Brielle is also an ambassador of HABESHA, and visited Africa this past summer as part of a cultural exchange program. She loves writing, acting and “just being a teenager”, and wants to attend The University of Southern California. She’ll also be a special guest host on Black TEEN Empowerment Radio, which airs Sundays at 3:PM EST. Brielle is passionate about helping others and learning more every day, which is just one reason we’re all very proud of her every day. Congratulations, Brielle !!

UniTee Design, a Black Youth enrichment enterprise, (www.uniteedesign.com) is proud to be a part of a new initiative called “INSPIRE! The Black History & Culture Youth Movement”, a collaborative of Black entrepreneurs with programs, products and resources to inform, educate and uplift today’s young generation. Together, we will ensure our children and TEENS are motivated by a greater understanding of Black history and culture, and the greatness that lives within each of them. To learn more about The INSPIRE! Project, email rgordon@uniteedesign.com, or call 734.395.3079.

Join us for live, lively conversation, special guests — and very special teens — on The Black TEEN Empowerment Radio Show every Sunday, 3:00 p.m EST. Listen in any time at www.blackteenempowerment.blogspot.com.

UniTee Design is a Black Youth Empowerment Enterprise with powerful programs and custom RBG tee-shirts that uplift our children and inspire all our souls.
www.betterdetroityouth.org

The Better Detroit Youth Movement is a volunteer-driven non-profit coalition of caring citizens and committed groups working together to improve the quality of learning and living for Detroit’s young generation.
www.nbtee.org

The National Black TEEN Empowerment Expo is actively applying the power of community and the spirit of collaboration to reinforce the values of living, learning and loving in our children.”

Finding Ways To Engage Our Youth

Parents and community leaders must do a better job to engage the youth and provide them with guidance and pathways to brighter futures.



Join us as R Lee and Scotty discuss some of the organizations and programs they are involved with that seek to engage youth and provide them with positive activities in which they can participate.

*The Black Talk Media Project needs your help to continue its work, become a supporter by becoming a "Friends of Black Talk Radio" subscriber for just $1 a month. Click Here!

Kamal Imani: You Got Next! Real Talk For the Hip Hop Generation

Author Kamal Imani joins Black Teen Empowerment Radio to discuss the subject matter of his book "You Got Next" which tackles the tough issues today's teens have to deal with from a hip hop perspective.

When Do Teens Get To Be Teens? Constitutional Argument

Today we will discuss whether or not a teen should be free to express his/her individuality. There are many stories reported through out the nation, where teens are sent home because of a haircut, hair style or some alleged clothing infraction. Many times the school’s policy is vague. Black teens are being targeted for being too “outside” of the cultural norms. Similarly, Muslim teens are discriminated against by what has become law in countries like France which bans head scarves and going after those who wear other cultural dress.



Recently a North Carolina student was told by a teacher that she had to put a pair of shorts on over her pants with no explanation but that her pants were inappropriate. The student handbook contained no section identifying “banned pants”. Are female students being punished for their body shape and made to feel like something is wrong with their bodies?

What do you do as a parent in these cases?

Generation Black, Educated, Focused & Yielded Seeks Award Nominees

S. Denice Newton joins the hosts of Black Teen Empowerment Radio to discuss the mission of Generation BEFY which is seeking youth nominees to award based on their academic achievement, community involvement, positive attitude, dedication, ministry work, etc.


Generation BEFY conducts workshops, seminars, summits, symposiums, meetings and conferences to brainstorm and reach out to the community. Additionally, we organize field trips, rallies, and marches to learn, network, and unify for the cause of peace and change. Learn more!

Moms Raising Sons w/ Drema Hymon

Mothers Raising Sons1 is a faith-based Education and Support Program of The Virginia Male Adolescent Network. It originally began over nineteen years ago to address the alarming grim statistical outlook for African American males to the point of "extinction". Children of all races and economic levels face dire challenges in today's society.

Many of our young boys/men have gained tremendous strides academically and professionally, yet the rates of incarceration, substance abuse, homicide, under or unemployment and teenage parenting are yet staggering.

Hope must become an absolute in raising sons. By faith, we redefine the way young men see themselves, each other and the world around them.

Drema Hymon, the founder and president of Mothers Raising Sons1 joins the hosts of Black Teen Empowerment Radio to discuss parenting and providing hope for our young Black males. Visit the website, Click Here!

Education and Youth Empowerment on the Move

Today we have open lines to discuss education as a civil rights issue of the 21st Century. Yesterday President Obama's Education Secretary Arne Duncan spoke at the MLK Reclaim the Dream March and Rally and stated, "We've been too satisfied with second-class schools."

R Lee Gordon will update us on some of the great things pertaining to youth empowerment movements across the country.



The National Black TEEN Empowerment Expo (NBTEE) is building a national youth movement, community by community. New youth movements are now underway in Brooklyn, NY, New Jersey and Baltimore. In 2011, we will form youth movements in other NYC boroughs, and in Atlanta, Texas and California.

InsideOut with Stephanie Humphrey

Stephanie Humphrey will join us on Black Teen Empowerment Radio. Stephanie has a long resume as it pertains to the media industry both entertainment and non entertainment.

She also has appeared in several movies like “The Dark Fields” starring Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro, where she played a reporter as she did in the the film “Law Abiding Citizen” starring Jamie Foxx.



Stephanie has a desire to work with youth through her workshop/seminar InsideOut which seeks to help women between the ages of 12 and 16 yrs old. She seeks to present InsideOut to a national and international audience of youth. According to her website, InsideOut seeks to help young women ages 12-16 develop and grow in two ways: Inside - focuses primarily on fitness and nutrition (another one of her passions), but will also encompass mental, spiritual, and emotional well-being; and Outside - focuses on appearance, grooming, hygiene, and the optimal way in which a young lady may present herself. All of these issues directly affect a young woman’s self-esteem, but in this image-obsessed society, are not being properly addressed. This workshop will be presented in schools, youth centers, churches, and at conferences across the country.

You can learn more about Stephanie Humphrey by visiting her website at http://www.stephaniehumphrey.com

Encourage Me I'm Young! Calvin Mann Discusses Good Fathers Only

Calvin Mann of EMIY Inc and Good Fathers Only joins us today to discuss his efforts to empower youth and fathers to be the best that they can be.



About: "Encourage Me I'm Young, Inc., (EMIY), is a non-profit, for-youth enrichment organization that equips and enhances today's youth with guidance, encouragement, and relative and achievable goals. Character development, empowerment, and literacy proficiency is emphasized through mentorship. The intention of EMIY is to embrace and uplift one another by enlisting society to focus on potential instead of aptitude." Visit EMIY INC.

Helping Africa By Establishing Schools at Home and Abroad - HABESHA

HABESHA, Inc. is an environmentally-conscious organization that cultivates leadership in youth through practical experiences in Pan-African cultural education, sustainable agriculture, entrepreneurship, holistic health, and technology.



Our Guest today will be Tre Subira who is the director of the HABESHA program operating in Baltimore, Maryland. He will discuss various topics related to the impact of the media upon our youth, building positive relationships between men & women, elders & youth and the the status of African-centered education. Visit HABESHA, Inc.

*The Black Talk Media Project needs your help to continue its work, become a supporter by becoming a "Friends of Black Talk Radio" subscriber for just $1 a month. Click Here!

Dr. Barbarin, Author Of Study Focusing On African American Males Pre-K to Prison

Oscar A. Barbarin, Ph.D. is a professor in the Psychology Department at Tulane University. He is a published author of several books including "Institutional Racism and Community Competence", "Mandela's Children: Growing Up in Post-Apartheid South Africa", and others. His research interests are examining educational interventions for achievement and social well-being, and the role of community and family in health risks and health threat.

He earned a Ph.D. in clinical psychology at Rutgers University in 1975 and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in social psychology at Stanford University in 1983. He is President of the American Orthopsychiatric Association and a Fellow in American Psychological Association's Division 27 Society for Community Research and Action.



Dr. Oscar A. Barbarin, III, Ph.D projected that by 2029, prisons will house almost 30,000 of the 600,000 four-year olds now living in America. Read More

All is not lost if we act now, Dr. Barbarian says the solution to this problem lies within families, schools and communities.

Black Teens More Optimistic and Cope Better With Family Adversity Than Peers

A couple of new reports are out on studies pertaining to youth that are positive signs for Black teens. Black youth are better able to cope with family breakups or big changes than their white counterparts and Black youth are more optimistic for the future than their counterparts.

What is the catalyst for this positive outlook by Black teens and why are they better able to cope with major family changes than other groups?

Have a thought or answer to share? Call in and make your opinion heard. Black Teen Empowerment Radio bringing you the topics that focus specifically on Black Youth and their empowerment!