Month: December 2017

Dallas, Texas — The Tom Joyner Foundation® announced the ‘Full Ride’ scholarship program that will cover all the expenses of one student planning to attend a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in the fall of 2018.

“Our full ride scholars are outstanding,” said Tom Joyner, chairman of his Foundation and host of the top-ranked nationally syndicated Tom Joyner Morning show. “We’re looking for another amazing young person who already is changing the world, and wants to go to an HBCU where they can pursue their dreams.”

Students will receive full tuition and stipends for up to 10 semesters to cover on-campus room and board and books. Students must meet the required academic standards each semester to renew the funds each year. Graduating high school seniors can apply for the scholarship at the Tom Joyner Foundation website: www.tomjoynerfoundation.org.

Students must have their school mail their transcripts and recommendations to the Foundation at P.O. Box 630495, Irving, TX 75063-0495.

To be eligible, students must meet the following criteria:

1) A United States Citizen

2) Current high school seniors attending school in the United States (applicant must be anticipating completion of high school degree in the spring of 2018)

3) Minimum high school grade point average of 3.50 (on a 4.00-grade scale, excluding home school studies) and Minimum SAT score of 1400 (combined math essay and verbal score) or ACT score of 30.

4) Applicants must apply and be accepted to an HBCU by July 1, 2018.

5) Applicants must have demonstrated leadership abilities through participation in community service, extracurricular, or other activities.

The applications must be postmarked no later than January 19, 2018. Interviews will occur in March 2018.

Past Full Ride Scholars have impressive backgrounds, including last year’s winner, Z’Kijah Fleming of DeSoto, Texas, who is attending Howard University where she is planning to major in sports business; Morgan Taylor Brown, of Fayetteville, Ga., who is attending Spelman College, pursuing her interests to become a psychiatrist. In 2015, JoAnna Jones of Ashville, North Carolina’s Buncombe County Early College High School is attending Winston-Salem State University, where she is pursuing a degree in nursing. Another winner is Titus Zeigler, who was a top student at Atlanta’s Henry W. Grady High School. The future trauma surgeon was a member of the Junior ROTC program, tutored kids at a local middle school and volunteered at the Atlanta Food Bank.

Blaine Robertson of Reserve, La. graduated from Howard University and he is pursuing his dream of teaching high school back home in Louisiana. Britney Wilson, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., also graduated from Howard University and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Wilson, who passed the New York Bar exam, is now a Bertha Justice Institute Fellow at the Center for Constitutional Rights. Another one of our Full Ride Scholars Cheyenne Boyce graduated from Spelman College, is completing her master’s degree in international peace and conflict resolution at the American University in Washington, D.C. The Detroit-native, who is fluent in Japanese, spent a year as a prestigious Fulbright scholar teaching English to families in Malaysia.

People often reflect on the way that music has the power to metaphorically “take them to another place.” For singers with abundant talent and ambition however, music really does transport them to many surprising settings. Baltimore native and recent The Voice contestant Davon Fleming is one such singer. His sonorous stylings, “ I like to call it soul fusion,” he says, “a little bit of this, a little bit of that, you know.”, have already taken him to such far-flung locales as Switzerland and Italy. In fact, Fleming had literally just landed in Los Angeles and gotten to his hotel, when we spoke.

Like many singers, Davon has a gospel background, singing from the age of three in church, He continued singing gospel in high school. Amazingly, he didn’t attend the famous Baltimore School of the Arts. “They didn’t choose me” he explains, his voice betraying no regret or resentment. “And I had nieces and nephews who went there, they shoulda got me when they coulda had me.” He says jokingly. Instead, Fleming attended Northwestern High School. They didn’t have a choir there so he would sneak to Milford Mill High School at the end of the day, jetting back and forth “leaving a little early just to get to their rehearsal.”

Trae Patton/NBC

THE VOICE — “Playoff Rounds” — Pictured: (l-r) ShiAnn Jones, Jennifer Hudson, Noah Mac, Davon Fleming.

Fleming just came off a whirlwind experience as a contestant on The Voice where he remained a so-called J Hud team member for the duration. It was almost immediately evident that Davon was going to be special. Eleven seconds into his first song, the judges had all turned their iconic red chairs around. Judge Adam Levine stood up during his entreaty to get Fleming on his team. However, Fleming was swayed by Jennifer Hudson’s soulful and creative use of a sartorial accessory. Deeply moved by his singing, “Jennifer Hudson threw her shoe at me.” He remembers, laughing. “She’s very genuine, very sweet, just pure-hearted.”

As to whether he holds any hard feelings about not winning the whole thing, Fleming expresses nothing but genuine gratitude for the experience. “This was a great ride. I ended up inspiring people not knowing that I would. I’ve gotten love and appreciation from people across the world.”

Fleming is still in his twenties but can teach people of all ages a lot about achieving their goals and dreams. He says, “All ages, no matter if you’re young or old, whatever you aspire to in life, never let fear and doubt stop you from what you want to do. You have to dream big, believe that you can do it and you have to know you’re worth it. Stay focused encourage yourself sometimes.”

One of the biggest perks of the experience was being mentored by singer and actress Jennifer Hudson. The five foot nine songstress got her own start on a program just like this one, American Idol and came in a stunning seventh place. Since then however, she has had a solid career that includes winning an Oscar. Fleming, who says “What I love about Jennifer is that conversations were geared toward me as a person. Before anything vocally, she was concerned about my well-being as a person.” Fleming not only appreciated Hudson’s caring nature but also her wisdom Hudson. Among the things he says he learned from her was, “Nobody can dictate your dreams but you. Never let anyone dictate what you want to do.”

Lately, Baltimore has achieved even greater levels of visibility and influence partly because of cultural powerhouses who have come from and/or worked in the city. Fleming has just joined the ranks of the city’s cultural ambassadors. He says, “I love my city because we are a city that’s on the rise and if I can help inspire and be the face of change for my city, absolutely.” He elaborates, “There’s nothing like coming home to love and Baltimore is a place of love. Now with this platform, I can inspire children. I never thought I would be traveling to Italy and Switzerland or chilling at Jennifer Hudson’s house, but here I am. The mayor of Baltimore wants to give me the key to the city. You know, a lot of stuff is transpiring all because I chose to believe and step out on faith.”

For many people, Christmas is a joyous time to celebrate the birth of Christ and to reconnect with family and friends. However, sometimes children whose stories begin in crisis situations are left hoping to build new traditions with loving adults who will claim them as their own.

According to The Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) 2015 Report, nearly 428,000 children in the United States live in foster care.

Miguel Coppedge is a 12-year-old sixth grader who defies those statistics. The honor roll student, author and philanthropist is already building a bright future with the help of his adoptive mother, Yolanda Coppedge.

Before entrepreneur Yolanda Coppedge who works with children in the fitness industry through her company called “No Obesity Family Fitness, LLC” took Miguel into her home, he was being cared for at the St. Ann’s Infant and Maternity Home, now called St. Ann’s Center for Children, Youth and Families.

Miguel now gives back to St. Ann’s Center for Children, Youth and Families (St. Ann’s), a faith-based organization in Hyattsville, Maryland, which operates transitional housing programs for pregnant and adolescent mothers, a high school and a day care facility.

On December 22, 2017, Miguel delivered coats that he collected for the place that was his homes since he was approximately a five-day old infant.

“I sometimes give them (St. Ann’s) checks or money, or I just give back to them,” Miguel said. “It is important to me because they really took care of me there. I just wanted to give back for everything they’ve done for me.”

Yolanda Coppedge was introduced to Miguel when a friend asked her to take care of the two-month old as a foster mother. Her friend was already taking care of Miguel’s older brother and she didn’t have any more room in her home.

Yolanda embraced the idea of caring for Miguel temporarily and became certified to legally be able to do it. Ironically, she found out that could not have her own biological children due to reproductive issues a few months before Miguel was born. A pre-school teacher at that time, Yolanda ultimately moved forward with a petition to adopt Miguel when he was six months old. Yolanda and Miguel have officially been a mother and son team ever since.

“I feel great because she (my mother) really takes care of me, and she really, really, really loves me,” Miguel said cheerfully.

Yolanda describes her son as a loving, caring child with a magnetic personality. She added that he does have issues—such as ADHD (attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder) and a mood disorder but none of that has stopped Miguel from earning recognition as a young philanthropist and the author of three books. Miguel began a self-published book journey when he was just nine years old. His favorite hobbies are playing video games, basketball and writing.

“I want to keep on writing when ideas come to me,” Miguel said, mentioning that it feels great to have books of his own.

In addition to “The Adventures of Fire Man” and “The Adventures of Fireman and the Case of the Stinger,” Miguel penned his third book, “Friendly Officers.” He heard children talking about being afraid of police officers, and he didn’t want them to be fearful.

Miguel crafted a plan to help St. Ann’s through selling his books. Yolanda added that St. Ann’s was ecstatic about Miguel’s idea to give back to the organization. They were happy and proud of how far he has come.

“When he wrote his first book, the first things he said is he wanted to give a portion of [the] proceeds to St. Ann’s. I never said anything about giving back. That is something that just came right out of his mouth,” Yolanda said. “I guess he kind of got that from me (giving back to causes and organizations), because I’m always giving to people.”

Yolanda and Miguel can be spotted sporting ugly sweaters, while enjoying Christmas fun with family and celebrating the time that they now have to treasure each holiday season together. Yolanda says she always saw something different in Miguel and she is glad that he ended up in her care. The nurturing mother would encourage other like-minded individuals to adopt children.

“If I had more room, I would adopt more kids,” Yolanda said with joyous laughter. There are a lot of kids out there who need a loving home, and a lot of them are good kids. They might come from rough backgrounds but a lot of them just really need love.”

To learn more about Miguel’s books, visit https://www.facebook.com/theadventuresoffireman.

Baltimore-born Nicole Webb provides a unique service to both men and women in business. She serves as a career coach helping her clients who are in the midst of changing careers or life changes.

Webb also assists those who may file complaints with the Equal Opportunity Commission and helps employees to successfully navigate challenges in the workplace with supervisors and co-workers.

The Coppin State and University of Baltimore graduate also contributes to Black Enterprise Magazine, writing career advice articles.

“I became a Career Coach after dealing with my own struggles and then I landed what I thought was my dream job in Human Resources as an HR Client Partner, but it turned out to be my worst nightmare,” Webb explained. “I was making great money, had the fancy job title but I was actually unhappy. All I did was work and had no time to live my life. Instead of continuing in a position that made me miserable and complaining about it, I decided to resign and take time to plan out my next career move.”

Undaunted and motivated, Webb developed a plan of action and executed it.

After landing an opportunity as an HR Compliance Office, she began planning the launch of her own company, NK Webb Group, which specializes in career coaching for individuals and HR Consulting Services for small to midsize companies.

“My background in business and HR has added true value to my company’s success, and it’s still growing four years later,” Webb said.

Additionally, Webb teaches HR courses to undergraduate students at the University of Baltimore.

“I love the work that I do because it’s truly my passion. I enjoy seeing my client’s success and when they reach out to me with updates on what they have accomplished, it motivates me to keep going,” she said.

Webb’s clients from places like Fresno, California; Columbia, South Carolina; Cleveland, Ohio; Dallas, Texas; the District of Columbia; and Baltimore include university deans and vice presidents, as well as everyday people.

Her friends and acquaintances say she is a natural leader with a strong determination to succeed. Recently, Webb appeared as an expert guest on the Roland Martin Show on TV One to provide insight on sexual harassment.

“I teach my clients about career ownership and why it’s in their best interest to make the decision to take full responsibility for their actions as it relates to their career pursuits,” Webb said. “Additionally, I teach them how to leverage their knowledge, skills and abilities to land career opportunities of their choice.”

Webb contends that the universe has aligned her with whom and what she needed at the right time.

“I have been able to connect with good people here in Baltimore, as well as out of state who are very supportive of my company and what I’m working to accomplish,” she said.

On February 3, 2018, Webb has scheduled a workshop titled, “Be the CEO of Your Career,” in Baltimore for full-time workers, business owners, entrepreneurs and the unemployed who might be in need of career guidance.

“My motto is, ‘Make your next career move your best career move’ whether you’re just starting out in your career, a mid-career professional or approaching retirement,” she said. “I encourage them to follow [their] instincts. It’s important to carve your own path so that you won’t have any regrets, never allow your admiration for someone else’s accomplishments to deter you from pursuing your own because you think you can’t be successful too.”

For more information or for tickets to the February 3 event, visit: www.eventbrite.com.