Tickets going fast for Young Leaders Twenty awardees, including Harlan Hodge and Amber Simpson, will be honored at reception Feb. 23.
Vol. 83 No. 45
CAC Audited FEBRUARY 9 – 15, 2012
COMPLIMENTARY
stlamerican.com
MARCH 13, 1957 – FEBRUARY 1, 2012
David Peaston passes Beloved St. Louis singer gone at 54 By Kenya Vaughn Of The St. Louis American
Photo by Wiley Price
Nik Ray, an after-school coordinator for Youth and Family Center, helps Nehtia Hazelwood, 5, Michael White, 5, and Elijah Oden, 6, in the computer lab.
New sickle cell support center Youth and Family Center takes over United Way-funded program By Sandra Jordan Of The St. Louis American First the Youth and Family Center revived the old Cochran Community Center as a resource facility bathed in natural light and stabilization activities for children, teens and older adults. Now the center is set to revive an important community health component, sickle cell anemia education and awareness in the St. Louis region and across the state.
Rodney Francis, executive director of the Youth and Family Center, said the organization is assuming responsibilities for the United Way-funded program after sickle cell programs in St. Louis and Kansas City were dissolved. “We will continue to do the education component, the support group component and will continue the family support component as well,” Francis said. Sickle cell anemia is a group of inherited blood disorders
“We seek buy-in, but we don’t turn anyone away.” – Rodney Francis, Youth and Family Center
See CENTER, A6
See PEASTON, A7
Public forum on prison reform
MSD TO CONTRACT DISPARITY STUDY Minority inclusion goals at stake as $4.7B in work awaits By Rebecca S. Rivas Of The St. Louis American Minority participation goals must be reached deliberately and with agreement on all sides, said Claude Brown, who was hired as a facilitator last month by the Metropolitan Sewer District to broker a deal on minority workforce goals among minority, union and trade groups. However, the district has been “talking” about workforce goals among stakeholders for a long time, MSD Trustee James Buford said at the Feb. 7 MSD stakeholders rela-
“And this is amateur night. I’d hate to see it when the pros show up,” Bill Cosby said of David Peaston at the legendary Apollo Theatre following one of the St. Louis singer’s soul-stirring performances in the late 1980s. Cosby was visibly stunned by Peaston’s interpretation of the jazz standard “Everything Must Change.” He looked behind the curtain as Peaston headed backstage, then looked at the crowd in awe as they rose for a second standing ovation. Peaston’s instantly identifiable voice – his trademark falsetto scat vocal improvisations, in particular – had that effect on people. David He passed Wednesday, Peaston February 1, 2012 of complications from diabetes at the age of 54. His death was international news, covered by the Washington Post and the Hollywood Reporter and many other media. “He had the range, depth, soul, all of it wrapped up into one person,” said Marabeth E. Gentry, president of the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses. “He would sing you up out of your seat!” Gentry’s father (the late minister of music emeritus Joshua Gentry) recruited Peaston to sing a solo at Westside MB Church. They
Working Group on Sentencing and Corrections reports to community
“If we wait for everyone at this table to agree on what we’re proposing, then we’d be at this for 10 years.”
By Rebecca S. Rivas Of The St. Louis American People who make a wrong move during parole or probation are the major drivers of Missouri’s growing prison population. In the past 20 years, the state’s prison population has doubled, and corrections spending has tripled. And 71 percent of state prison admissions are people who break probation or parole,
– James Buford, president of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis
tions committee meeting. “They know their positions, they Photo by Wiley Price
See MSD, A6
MSD trustee James Buford
See REFORM, A7