Better Family Life opens cultural center BFL also receives charter from NeighborWorks America
Page B1
CAC Audited AUGUST 1 – 7, 2013
Vol. 84 No. 18
stlamerican.com
COMPLIMENTARY
NAACP tackles achievement gap
The St. Louis American Foundation’s 2013 Lifetime Achiever in Education, Lynn Beckwith Jr., spoke at the NAACP’s Leadership Summit on Excellence in Pre-K-12 on Saturday at the Better Family Life Cultural, Educational & Business Center.
‘It’s a collective community interest’ to improve urban education
We must “raise the achievement levels across all groups in the state’s population.”
By Bridjes O’Neil Of The St. Louis American
– Ronald Ferguson
The Missouri NAACP and St. Louis City NAACP plan to develop and implement a Missouri Civil Rights Initiative to close the academic achievement gap in every school district statewide. Their first step was to host a forum, with
The St. Louis American, where civic and religious leaders, parents, educators and other stakeholders could engage in open dialogue about how to address the challenges in urban education. The Leadership Summit on Excellence in Pre-K-12 was held Saturday at the Better Family Life Cultural, Educational & Business Center, 5415 Page Blvd. Facilitators included
Walle Amusa, chair of the Missouri NAACP Education Committee; Mary A. Ratliff, president of the Missouri NAACP; and Adolphus Pruitt, president of St. Louis City
NAACP. Ronald F. Ferguson, director of the Harvard University Academic Achievement
See NAACP, A7
Lifelong learner and teacher Lynn Beckwith Jr., 2013 Lifetime Achiever in Education By Bridjes O’Neil Of The St. Louis American
Photo by Wiley Price
Fast food workers rally On Tuesday fast food workers rallied in front of the Hardee’s in downtown St. Louis in support of a national call for a $15 hourly wage and the right to form unions without interference from employers. The rally was part of the STL Can’t Survive on $7.35 campaign, which is supported by a coalition of dozens of community, labor and faith-based groups.
Lynn Beckwith Jr., E. Desmond Lee Endowed Professor of Urban Education at the University of IN Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL) in conEDUCATION junction with St. Louis Public 2013 Schools (SLPS), said learning is a lifelong process. Teaching is a lifelong process for Beckwith as well, with 2013 marking his 52nd year in education. On Friday, September 13, he will receive the St. Louis American Foundation’s 2013 Lifetime Achiever in
See SALUTE, A6
Polluters will clean up Carter Carburetor EPA announces agreement to detoxify dormant site next to Boys & Girls Club “It means a safer neighborhood for kids, families and area businesses.” See story video at www.stlamerican.com By Rebecca S. Rivas Of The St. Louis American By the end of the summer, the long-awaited $40 million environmental cleanup of the former Carter Carburetor building in North St. Louis
– Flint Fowler, president of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis
will be underway, officials announced Monday at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis, 2901 North Grand Ave., which is adjacent to the building. For more than 25 years, the Carter Carburetor building has sat dormant. Drug trans-
actions and copper theft have “ruled the day,” said Flint Fowler, president of the Boys & Girls Clubs. “This building has been active in another way,” Flint said. “It has drained this community of hope, and it signals to this community that,
‘You don’t matter.’ It has systematically damaged the psyche of our young people.” EPA Region 7 announced Monday that it has reached settlement agreements with two corporations, ACF Industries, Inc. and Carter Building Incorporated (CBI), to pay for an estimated $30 to $40 million in cleanup costs, as mandated by the federal Superfund law. The 10-acre complex is a former gasoline and diesel carburetor manufacturing plant that
See CARTER, A6