National Black Church Initiative

P.O. Box 65177

Washington DC 20035

202-744-0184

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

www.naltblackchurch.com

 

Contact:

Rev. Anthony Evans

202-744-0184

 

March 15, 2012

For Immediate Release 

National Black Church Initiative Supports Empowerment Temple’s Online Voter Registration Effort On Resurrection (Easter) Sunday April 8, 2012

1 million new voters is our goal

Washington, D.C.- The National Black Church Initiative declares its support for Pastor Jamal Bryant’s Empowerment Temple’s movement to register 1 million voters on Easter Sunday. We commend Pastor Jamal Bryant for his extraordinary leadership in representing the finest tradition of the black church to empower those of us whose backs are against the wall and need to be empowered to use our votes to change our communities.

Reverend Anthony Evans, President of NBCI says: “Pastor Bryant should be commended on this great effort and we intend to work with him until this goal is reached. I have authorized all of our churches to follow the leadership of Pastor Bryant on this issue.”

We keep being reminded that voting is not just essential, it is the essence of a democracy. One vote can count as a million votes when it is cast with power. All Black churches, all 150,000 of us, 34,000 of which are represented by NBCI, should register at least 20 members of their congregations who remain unregistered to vote. Our call as a church community is to make sure everyone is included in the voting process and empowered to make a difference. This voting registration program conforms to NBCI’s Civil Society Initiative.

About NBCI

The National Black Church Initiative (NBCI) is a coalition of 34,000 churches working to eradicate racial disparities in healthcare, technology, education, housing, and the environment. NBCI’s mission is to provide critical wellness information to all of its members, congregants, churches and the public. NBCI offers faith-based, out-of-the box and cutting edge solutions to stubborn economic and social issues. NBCI’s programs are governed by credible statistical analysis, science based strategies and techniques, and methods that work. Visit our website at www.naltblackchurch.com.

 

 

National Black Church Initiative
P.O. Box 65177
Washington, DC 20035
202-744-0184
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.naltblackchurch.com

                                                                                                                       
Contact:

Rev. Anthony Evans 

202-744-0184

 

January 30, 2012
For Immediate Release

The National Black Church Initiative
Launches National Boycott Against BB&T Bank

NBCI Investigating 35,000 Complaints Against BB&T

 Washington DC – The National Black Church Initiative, a coalition of 34,000 churches spanning 50 denominations and representing 15.7 million African Americans, is outraged at the lack of support that BB&T Bank has shown the African American community.  Therefore, we are declaring a national boycott against BB&T over the next seven years and we are going after 40% of their profits.

 

As of September 30, 2010, BB&T Corporation is the 10th largest U.S. financial services holding company, with $157.2 billion in assets.  As a leader in banking, their responsibilities are amplified – BB&T can and should address the issues American investors and customers are experiencing due the negligence and fraud financial institutions have committed.  BB&T has created a hostile service environment toward its customers. It seems to have directed some of that hostility toward ignoring the African American community totally. BB&T has demonstrated time and again that they are not a friend to the African American community.

 

President of NBCI Reverend Anthony Evans says “BB&T is getting away with murder in our community.  They are destroying our families, ignoring our businesses and have a program to undermine any Black economic development.  This can easily be understood when you look at the assets of BB&T Bank and the percentage of businesses that they engage in with the Black community.  They have never funded a Black development project over 50 million dollars.  They have foreclosed on more African American homeowners than White homeowners according to our internal statistics.  They are a heartless corporation who hates the Church.  They have foreclosed on hundreds of African American churches throughout the South such as the Higher Ground Employment Center among many others.  We consider BB&T’s banking practices to be racist and that is why we are going after 40% of their profits over the next seven years.  Our campaign will be systematic, hard hitting and without mercy.  But everything we do will be legal and non-violent.”

 

NBCI is an organization committed to eradicating the disparities so prevalent in the American economy and our current financial landscape and we intend to do something about it. This is why we are asking all of our members to not bank at BB&T, close your BB&T accounts and join the Black Church in this movement.

 

We exhaustively researched BB&T, reviewed online complaints against BB&T, engaged our membership, and reviewed company facts. We were truly dismayed at what we discovered.  While we acknowledge that any company of the size of BB&T will have complaints, we feel that our research indicates that BB&T has a higher than normal percentage of unhappy customers with numerous complaints that are outrageous, particularly within the African American community.

 

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/finance/bbt_bank.html

http://www.complaintsboard.com/bycompany/bbampt-a7979.html

BB&T has completely failed the Black community in every respect. They do not sponsor any major African American community events. This is systematic on their part. Ask BB&T to answer the following questions:

 

What percentage of loans do they give African American businesses?

What percentage of loans do they give Latino businesses?

What percentage of mortgages does BB&T hold in the Black community?

What technical assistance does BB&T offer the Black community?

How many Black developers use BB&T as their primary bank?

 

The answer to these questions is little or nothing because African Americans, no matter how well they do economically, are not a focus of their profit margin approach.  Given that the African American community has suffered disproportionately during this mortgage crisis we cannot partner with an organization with so many legitimate complaints of mortgage fraud – it simply goes against the basic teachings of what is morally right and wrong because lying and stealing are against the teachings of the Church. In addition, we will never partner with an organization that systematically targets our community for inappropriate business practices. BB&T simply tolerates us.  BB&T will never make a long term commitment to any Black developer, home owner or business. 

 

While we were in the process of completing our research, we analyzed the offers that BB&T made to NBCI in reply to our invitation to form a valuable relationship within the African American community. We consider their offer disrespectful and we are certain that they would not have made the same of $10,000 to a white financial literacy program that represents 15.7 million people.  This is a clear indication that BB&T lacks any commitment to the African American community and does not take either our institutional or consumer power seriously.

 

BB&T has shown exactly how banks should not treat minority organizations.  As of right now, we are informing the entirety of our membership plus the balance of our sister churches – 100,000 strong – that BB&T is not a friend of the Black Church.  NBCI has launched a nationwide boycott of BB&T banks and all of its related businesses to spur this giant organization to more fairly address the needs of the minority population and right the wrongs done to the African American community. It is clear that words alone will not work. We need action that impacts the only thing that matters to them more than their racism: money.

About NBCI

The National Black Church Initiative (NBCI) is a coalition of 34,000 African American and Latino churches working to eradicate racial disparities in healthcare, technology, education, housing, and the environment. NBCI’s mission is to provide critical wellness information to all of its members, congregants, churches and the public. The National Black Church Initiative’s methodology is utilizing faith and sound health science. The National Black Church Initiative's purpose is to partner with major organizations and officials whose main mission is to reduce racial disparities in the variety of areas cited above. NBCI offers faith-based, out-of-the-box and cutting edge solutions to stubborn economic and social issues. NBCI’s programs are governed by credible statistical analysis, science based strategies and techniques, and methods that work. Visit our website at www.naltblackchurch.com.           

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National Black Church Initiative
P.O. Box 65177
Washington DC 20035
202-744-0184
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.naltblackchurch.com

Contact:

Rev. Anthony Evans

202-744-0184

April 3, 2012

For Immediate Release

 

The National Black Church Initiative Demands Justice for Trayvon Martin and all of our black boys.
George Zimmerman must be arrested now for the sake of our democracy
 

Washington, DC – The National Black Church Initiative (NBCI), a faith-based coalition of 34,000 churches comprised of 15 denominations and 15.7 million African Americans morally pleads with Attorney General Eric Holder to bring justice to this egregious, racially motivated crime. The Black Church calls on those in power to recognize that a threat to American democracy is at hand unless George Zimmerman is arrested and prosecuted for murder. To not arrest George Zimmerman is to undermine the rule of law and to call Lady Justice a moral liar. Is justice blind or not?

 “America has to make a decision here – whether it is going to embrace justice and fight to erase the racial tensions that continue to divide our nation.” says Rev Anthony Evans, President of NBCI. "The government must decide or whether it will idly stand by while African Americans continue to be the targets of unjustified violence and profiling. Bring justice to Trayvon and his family.”

The Black community has risen up in outrage over the killing of Trayvon Martin, an innocent child who was shot down because he was simply a young black man in a hooded sweatshirt. Trayvon Martin was racially profiled, but no one saw or understood the righteousness of his soul. Trayvon Martin has exposed the dirty secret that we are not in a post racial America simply because we have elected Barack Obama to the presidency. Trayvon Martin is all of our 17 year old boys, whether black, white, Latino or other.

The legal community has not moved with alacrity to find justice for Trayvon Martin. George Zimmerman represents the worst of the American soul because he arbitrarily took a life when he had no authority to do so, thus undermining God’s intention for Trayvon Martin’s life, and lighting a powder keg of racial division not seen since the ‘60’s. He thought that he would be hailed as a hero for killing a young black thug, thus realizing his wicked and a sick notion of himself. There has never been a time in recent American history where our cities can go up in flames so easily because of the evil actions of one man where there is no presence of justice. The Black church condemns all violence to all people at any time, but we may be helpless if racial tensions all in this country erupt. As one of the greatest Black preachers - Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King said “Justice delayed is justice denied.” George Zimmerman is lying.

The law eloquently talks about getting down to the truth and honoring the rule of law. In this case and many others, the truth is obvious, but the will of those in power to pursue it is not. Holder claims that swift action will be taken. NBCI hopes that this is the truth, and will react with the full moral force of its 34,000 member churches if justice is not brought to Trayvon and his family soon. 

 About NBCI

The National Black Church Initiative (NBCI) is a coalition of 34,000 African American and Latino churches working to eradicate racial disparities in healthcare, technology, education, housing, and the environment. NBCI’s mission is to provide critical wellness information to all of its members, congregants, churches and the public. NBCI offers faith-based, out-of-the box and cutting edge solutions to stubborn economic and social issues. NBCI’s programs are governed by credible statistical analysis, science based strategies and techniques, and methods that work. Visit our website at www.naltblackchurch.com.

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Nov. 7, 2011

 

Contact

Hillary John, AARP

202.434.2560

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

AARP Joins Forces with Experience Corps

A national leader in pairing adult tutors with K-3 students, Experience Corps builds on AARP's legacy of service and offers AARP members a new way to give back

 

Washington, DC-AARP recently announced it is joining forces with Experience Corps, one of the nation's most highly-regarded service programs, which engages older adult volunteers to help improve K-3 literacy in underserved schools.

 

Experience Corps' proven success in African-American neighborhoods and its engagement of diverse volunteers will bolster AARP's commitment to reaching more multicultural communities across the country.

 

The new relationship supports the priorities of both organizations: AARP Experience Corps will be able to increase its ability to tap into the experience and dedication of older Americans who want to give back to their communities, and it will offer AARP members a new way to engage in one of their top service priorities - volunteering to tutor or mentor youth.

 

"AARP Experience Corps fits very naturally into the AARP family, by building upon the principles of service that our founder, Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus, set out for the organization," said Barb Quaintance, senior vice president for volunteer and civic engagement at AARP. "The group also has built an incredibly successful model, where kids and older adults thrive in a dynamic intergenerational exchange."

 

"Reading levels of young children in America are in crisis," said Lester Strong, CEO of Experience Corps. "Almost 70 percent of our nation's children reach the 4th grade unable to read at a proficient level. By joining forces with AARP, Experience Corps will be able to make an even bigger difference for our children, and at the same time, leverage the experience and dedication of AARP's millions of members."

 

Experience Corps has a track record of improving literacy among American youth: according to research from Washington University in St. Louis, students working with Experience Corps tutors gain more than a 60 percent boost in two critical literacy skills-sounding out new words and reading comprehension-over similar students not being served by Experience Corps.

 

Additionally, 84 percent of its volunteers reported the participation has changed their lives for the better - including increased motivation, knowledge, confidence and skills. Currently, 2,000  

Experience Corps volunteers serve 20,000 K-3 students in disadvantaged schools across the country.

 

For more information, go to www.aarp.org/experiencecorps.

 

 

AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization with a membership that helps people 50+ have independence, choice and control in ways that are beneficial and affordable to them and society as a whole. AARP does not endorse candidates for public office or make contributions to either political campaigns or candidates. We produce AARP The Magazine, the definitive voice for 50+ Americans and the world's largest-circulation magazine with over 35.1 million readers; AARP Bulletin, the go-to news source for AARP's millions of members and Americans 50+; AARP VIVA, the only bilingual U.S. publication dedicated exclusively to the 50+ Hispanic community; and our website, AARP.org. AARP Foundation is an affiliated charity that provides security, protection, and empowerment to older persons in need with support from thousands of volunteers, donors, and sponsors. We have staffed offices in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

 

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