Race & Ethnicity
Less stimulus money for minority firm
Mon, 03/08/2010 - 14:15 — Dave CulverLatinos and blacks own 6.8 and 5.2 percent of all businesses, respectively, according to census figures. Yet they have received only 1.7 percent and just 1.1 percent, respectively, of $46 billion in federal stimulus contracts.
Jesse Washington, Associated Press, in Greensboro News & Record | NC
AP Photo/Matt Rourke
Hispanic and black businesses are receiving a disproportionately small number of federal stimulus contracts, creating a rising chorus of demands for the Obama administration to be more inclusive and more closely track who receives government-financed work.
Latinos and blacks have faced obstacles to winning government contracts long before the stimulus. They own 6.8 and 5.2 percent of all businesses, respectively, according to census figures. Yet Latino-owned business have received only 1.7 percent of $46 billion in federal stimulus contracts recorded in U.S. government data, and black-owned businesses have received just 1.1 percent.
That pot of money is just a small fraction of the $862 billion economic stimulus law. Billions more have been given to states, which have used the money to award contracts of their own.
Ethnic Special Needs Children Face Longer Wait for Health Care
Wed, 03/03/2010 - 17:45 — Dave Culver- Children with special health care needs (CSHCN) are those who have, or are at increased risk for, a chronic physical, developmental, behavioral or emotional condition.
- They require health and related services of a type or amount beyond that required by children generally.
- CSHCN are those with conditions that include Down syndrome, autism, developmental delay, and other mental and physical disabilities.
Vivian Po, New America Media
Last week(Feb 21-27), Deborah Dalton, a 50-year-old African American mother, was ecstatic to receive the oxygen concentrator that finally arrived at her San Francisco residence. Her son suffers from Down syndrome and severe sleeping apnea, and he needed it desperately.
The oxygen concentrator, a device connected to a breathing machine to ensure unobstructed breathing during sleep, Dalton said, was supposed to arrive last November. She and her son had waited for four months to get it, despite frequent phone calls.
In fact, Dalton was not the only one who had to wait for medical assistance. Many parents with children with special health care needs also find themselves standing in longer lines, no matter whether it’s for medical devices or for getting an appointment with pediatric specialists.
Where's the diversity at the Winter Olympics?
Fri, 02/12/2010 - 09:03 — Dave CulverAfrican-Americans simply aren't participating in winter sports due largely to limited access and exposure to these sports, a lack of resources and opportunities to train, and the high costs associated with them.
David Brown, The Grio
Members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police pose in the 2010 Winter Olympic Games village in Vancouver, British Columbia, CANADA on February 10, 2010. The Winter Olympics begin Feb. 12. (Sipa via AP Images) 
As the Saints and the city of New Orleans celebrate an early Mardi Gras, our neighbors to the North have their own reason to be excited. The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics Games marks the first time in 22 years that Canada plays host to an Olympics. It also marks 22 years since a black Olympian first won an Olympic medal.
Debi Thomas' bronze in figure skating at the Calgary Games in 1988 was historic, signaling what, at the time, appeared to be an unofficial coronation of African-Americans into winter sports royalty. Having already made their presence known in Summer competitions, Thomas' mastery on ice allowed her to join the likes of Jesse Owens, Carl Lewis, and Florence Griffith-Joyner in the Pantheon of black Olympians as part of Olympic lore. It was the dawn of a new day.
Or at least it should have been.