‘From NFL to NFP’ Adrian Bracy of YWCA is 2013 Non-Profit Executive of the Year
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CAC Audited OCTOBER 10 – 16, 2013
Vol. 84 No. 28 COMPLIMENTARY
stlamerican.com
Teach For America boosts diversity
Doorways turns 25 Agency serves homeless people living with AIDS By Sandra Jordan Of The St. Louis American
Photo by Wiley Price
Teach For America corps member Chris Leatherwood taught class at Gateway Middle School in the St. Louis Public School District on Tuesday.
It’s been 25 years since Doorways made its entrance to offer housing for homeless persons living with HIV and AIDS in the St. Louis area. It now serves 1,000 households in the 15-county St. Louis metropolitan area, 62 counties in outstate Missouri and 55 counties in outstate Illinois. “You have to be homeless to qualify, so when clients come to us, they are dealing with a number of issues, from poverty to mental health, substance use, you name it,” said Opal M. Jones, president and CEO of Doorways. “This is, in Jones wants the black many ways, community to engage with our disease AIDS as an issue, because the days of it being a white, now.” gay, male disease are long – Opal M. Jones, over. “We need to know that Doorways this is affecting us in this community in higher rates than other communities,” Jones said. “This is, in many ways, our disease now, and we’ve got to take ownership of taking care of our own brothers and sisters.” According to February 2013 statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, African Americans have the most severe burden of HIV of all racial/ethnic groups in the United States. Compared with other races and ethnicities, African Americans account for a higher proportion of HIV
See JONES, A7
19 percent of new corps members in STL are African-American By Rebecca S. Rivas Of The St. Louis American Chris Leatherwood is a seventh-grade math teacher at Gateway Middle School, and he is part of the two percent of teachers nationwide who are African-American males.
He understands that there is a growing need for more black male teachers, he said. But that’s not why he chose to join Teach For America, a national organization that trains professionals to become teachers in lowincome communities. “I’m a product of the public schools, and I
know how underprepared I was to enter college,” said Leatherwood, a Washington University graduate in English literature who joined the organization this year. “I wanted to help kids to be better prepared than I was.” Just eight percent of children who grow up in low-income communities graduate college by age 24, according to the Postsecondary Education Opportunity research group. When
See TEACH, A6
F.I.R.E. IN THE PULPIT
Pastor on North, captain on South John Watson Jr. is a fire captain by profession and preacher by calling By Bridjes O’Neil Of The St. Louis American
John Watson Jr. is a fire captain at Engine House No. 23, at 6500 Michigan Ave. in South St. Louis, and co-pastor of Maple Temple Church of God in Christ, 5195 Maple Ave. in North St. Louis.
John Watson Jr. is a firefighter by training, but he inherited his religious mission as co-pastor of Maple Temple Church of God in Christ. His father, Elder John Watson Sr., is senior pastor of Maple Temple, located at 5195 Maple Ave. in North St. Louis. To honor his father’s influence in the church and community, 26th Ward Alderman Frank Williamson introduced an ordinance designating the 1200 block of Clarendon Avenue, at the intersection with Page
See WATSON, A7
No turning back on Obamacare Insurance exchanges busy as Affordable Care Act goes into effect By Eugene Robinson Washington Post While Republicans were throwing their silly tantrum, Obamacare became a fact. There is no turning back. The point of no return was reached when millions of people crashed the websites of the new Affordable Care Act exchanges trying to buy health insurance. Republicans can fight rear-guard battles if they want, but last Tuesday they lost the war. All they can do at this point is harm the nation – and their own political prospects. Someday, if the GOP captures the presidency and both houses of Congress, President Obama’s health care law could be altered or even repealed.
See ACA, A6 Photo by Wiley Price