Marvin Gaye’s classic 1971 record What’s Going On turns 50 this month, which means more people than ever will have occasion to note how timely it is. “He could have written What’s Going On yesterday,” poet Nikki Giovanni noted in an interview last autumn, explaining that the cover portrait of her 2020 collection, Make Me Rain, pays homage to Gaye’s album cover, picturing Giovanni in a raincoat, her collar upturned. The record’s endurance – most movingly displayed by Nelson Mandela, who, shortly after his release from prison in 1990, recited lines from the album at Tiger Stadium in Detroit – has practically become a cliche.

No one is wrong, of course, to say that Gaye’s album cuts as deeply today as it did in 1971. A divinely inspired work driven by social rage – one that braided doo-wop harmonies, jazz and the hymns Gaye had loved as a child – What’s Going On was also Gaye’s declaration of creative independence from Berry Gordy’s Motown machine. After a decade of polished pop hits, Gaye, now in his early 30s, revealed there was a lot on his mind: the outrage of the war in Vietnam (What’s Happening Brother?); the strangulation of the natural world (Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)); the strategic enforcement of urban poverty and police violence (Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)). The insurgent subject matter was accompanied by a change in Gaye’s personal style: he stopped wearing ties and grew a beard. “Black men weren’t supposed to look overtly masculine,” he told his biographer David Ritz: “I’d spent my entire career looking harmless, and the look no longer fit. I wasn’t harmless. I was pissed at America.”

What’s Going On remains vital, above all, for how it turns away from that “America” and instead addresses the title question to a closer-knit group – those people gathered at the house party Gaye stages in the album’s opening moments; the “mother, mother” and “father father” he calls out to (and that the party setting might embolden him to candidly address). “Are things getting better like the newspapers say?” the speaker asks in What’s Happening Brother?, checking the claims of those in power against the authority of everyday Black people.

It is one thing to celebrate Gaye’s enduring and prescient mode of creation; another to applaud the continued resonance of his album’s concerns. We should not be sanguine, for instance, that Gaye’s understated blues critique of “trigger-happy policing” has stayed so relevant; or that anti-Black violence has so persisted over the last 50 years that it remains necessary for Black artists and everyday people to approach the task of surviving and thriving in America with the energy, elegance and grace that Gaye modelled in this landmark work. He might have hoped it would be more occasional, that his efforts might by now appear more dated. This, in any case, is the impression I get when watching Gaye introduce the title track at the Montreux jazz festival in the summer of 1980. Maybe he was tired – it was the last song of a long set – but the 40-year-old Gaye, in his frilled white shirt and sequinned red suit jacket, appears to not just work the crowd but pander to it with some contempt: “This was our very first No 1 record ever in the world, ladies and gentlemen. We were so proud. Thanks to you – you made it so. Hope you still enjoy it!”

He would be dead just four years later, shot by his own father in his parents’ house in Los Angeles. In the decades since, Black artists have continued to treat the lasting relevance of What’s Going On as both problem and promise. “I’m tired of Marvin askin’ me what’s going on,” Janelle Monáe sings in her 2013 track QUEEN.

This is precisely the kind of galvanising work that Gaye was doing with What’s Going On, for his own people in his own time – a historical point that is often obscured when we fixate on the record’s timelessness. Gaye’s critique of the Vietnam war, for example, which was informed by his brother Frankie’s experiences of the conflict, was disarmingly distinctive. So, too, was Gaye’s growing maturity, in which Black fans heard both his commitment to Black life and their own potential. “Beyond the brilliance of the string arrangements and the improvised basslines by James Jamerson, he was making power moves to give us what we needed,” music historian Rickey Vincent recently told me. “It was motivation music. Because we could tell Marvin was motivated.”

Vincent sees Gaye’s actions as “the driving force” behind Stevie Wonder’s political turn at Motown, as well as the rigorous funk of Sly and the Family Stone and the righteous soul of Aretha Franklin’s 1972 album Young, Gifted and Black. These stars, along with countless session musicians, were “doing their best work ever at this crucial moment in time” – setting the standard, in the case of Gaye and his collaborator David Van De Pitte’s meticulous string, conga, bass and vocal arrangements – for what Vincent calls “soul music as high art”.

To be sure, What’s Going On is an impeccably composed suite. Sonic recurrences are choreographed across the course of the LP: “What’s happening, brother?” one man asks another in the opening moments – a query that becomes the title of the next track, where the first song’s background harmony emerges as the foreground melody. But there is also a sense in which the sounds remain jarring and strange. So-called “timely” music often arrives before you know you need it, and is in that sense quite untimely: outrageous, out of joint, ill-fitting. Listen to how Gaye cranks the volume back up just as the title track starts to fade out – a sign of resilience as well as a petty refusal to let a track that Gordy hated end without a fight. Or how one man in the opening party scene greets another and then asks, “What’s your name?” Here is a conviviality you make just by showing up, where you don’t have to know someone to be glad they came.

What I listen for now are moments like these, which, despite repeated plays, cover versions and samples of Gaye’s songs, still sound discordant and unresolved. There are the searching chromatics of Save the Children: “Live life for the children! (oh, for the children),” Gaye sings, making his way up a haunting and halting musical scale, as if toward a future just out of reach. In this portion of the record, timing and melody come unmoored, as Gaye makes room for hard, even despairing questions: is it possible to “save a world that is destined to die”?

Things snap into place with the up-tempo Right On, but I still don’t know what that song is about. If at first Gaye seems concerned with parsing good from bad actors, “those of us who simply like to socialise” v “those of us who tend the sick and heed the people’s cries,” he also gathers them all into an affirmative, right-on roll call that mellows out into an oblique paean to sex: “And my darling, one more thing / If you let me, I will take you to live where love is king.” The song seems to gather all of “us” into a broad sonic space (marked by cosmopolitan instruments ranging from guiro to flute), and to make everyone’s existence holy via the sanctification of sex.

But then there are the screams. The squawking tenor saxophone solo with which Wild Bill Moore tears through Mercy Mercy Me might be the most dramatic performance of the “holler” Gaye sings about in Inner City Blues – but which Gaye himself delivers, at the end of that song, as a stylised cry: “Owwww!” It often seems to me that that holler, the culmination of the growling tones Gaye sings on the track, should be fiercer, more unhinged. What Gaye performs instead is the virtuosic, militant control required, in the midst of panic, of Black people in America, no less than in that other war overseas.

These elements are not easily absorbed or conscripted into narratives about Gaye’s moment or our own; precisely because they are the record’s jagged edges, they keep reaching out to grab listeners through time. It’s not that they speak so clearly to this moment or what it requires, so much as they remind us of the unruly ways of grief, love, and revival. How those parts of yourself you thought you had processed can come roaring back; how the people you’d given up on might suddenly come through. The record bristles, for all its impossible beauty, with unmanageable, going-on life.

Emily Lordi is a professor at Vanderbilt University and the author of The Meaning of Soul: Black Music and Resilience Since the 1960s.

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MIAMI, FL (5/23/21) – Virgin Hotels, the lifestyle hotel brand by Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson, announces today that reservations are live for the brand's latest property: Virgin Hotels New Orleans. Reservations are currently being accepted for stays starting Labor Day weekend and can be made directly on the hotel's website virginhotels.com/new-orleans or by calling (833) 859-0044.

Situated in the city's Warehouse District, Virgin Hotels New Orleans will join the growing number of new restaurants, galleries and shops in the prospering area. Located at 550 Baronne Street near the Central Business District, the new-build hotel will feature 238 Chambers (guestrooms), including Grand Chamber Suites and two Penthouses. The 1,097-square foot, over-the-top Richard’s Flat Penthouse features floor-to-ceiling windows, one master bedroom, a kitchenette and stunning views of downtown New Orleans. The property will offer multiple dining and drinking outlets, including Commons Club, the brand's centerpiece restaurant, bar and lounge, a rooftop pool and lounge atop the 13th floor and Funny Library Coffee Shop.

"With Virgin Group's rich history in the music industry and our passion for food and culture, New Orleans is a natural fit for the expansion of the Virgin Hotels brand," said James Bermingham, CEO of Virgin Hotels. “Each of our hotels are rooted in the communities we serve, and Virgin Hotels New Orleans is no exception. We’re inspired by the city’s vibrant culture and have created a hotel that celebrates the local art, design and music in a uniquely Virgin way. We can't wait to open our doors this Labor Day and invite both locals and visitors to join us for a truly personalized experience in the special city of New Orleans."

Through neighborhood-centric influences, Virgin Hotels New Orleans tells the story of its locale. To spearhead the property’s interior design, Virgin Hotels tapped leading local design firm, Logan Killen Interiors, to bring an authentic New Orleans flair to the project. The property will incorporate a Southern residential feel while combining colorful, tropical architectural motifs with Virgin's signature style of fun and smart design.

Ranging from 294 to 592-square feet, the Chambers, including Grand Chamber Suites, a Penthouse Suite and Richard's Flat Penthouse, will be fresh and bright with local art, historical detailing and Art Deco-inspired elements woven throughout, evoking a sense of old-world meets modern luxury. The Chambers will feature Virgin Hotels' signature layout with two distinct spaces. The Dressing Room includes a full vanity, makeup desk with a well-lit mirror, an extra-large shower with a bench completed with Red Flower toiletries and a closet for two. The Lounge features the brand's patented ergonomically

designed lounge bed, complete with a bullion fringe trim, a red SMEG® mini-fridge stocked with street-priced comforts, a High-Definition TV, yoga mat, and a cafe worktable with rattan base and tempered glass placed in front of a cozy built-in window seating offering city views. Designed to make the best use of space and promote privacy for guests, each chamber is separated by a pair of paneled doors, a nod to French doors as commonly seen in New Orleans design and offering a more residential look and feel.

Ample outlets for smartphones, laptops, or other electronic devices are found in various areas of the Chambers. All feature custom lighting on sensors that automatically illuminate when guests move. Additional amenities for pets will be available in the Chambers. The Chambers have integrated tech capabilities, including controlling lighting, thermostats, TVs, and order room services directly via the mobile app, Lucy.

Commons Club will anchor the hotel's main entrance and is designed to feel like a "members only" experience that's open to all. Specially curated entertainment and music programming will add to the overall experience, which evokes the feeling of a modern social club where both travelers and locals can enjoy. Situated on the 13th floor, the rooftop pool and lounge will offer a haven overlooking the New Orleans skyline where guests can dine, drink and dance.

In addition, Virgin Hotels New Orleans will feature a Funny Library Coffee Shop located on the hotel's first level. The coffee shop is a communal workspace that will house an assortment of whimsical and funny books and games. The hotel will also feature a state-of-the-art fitness center, open 24 hours a day, and over 10,000-square feet of flexible meeting and event space. Guests can sign up for the brand-wide guest preferences and loyalty program, The Know, to unlock a personalized stay, member rate discounts, room

upgrades, exclusive dining and event offers, and a complimentary cocktail hour dubbed "The Spirit Hour."

The hotel is developed by Buccini/Pollin Group, who selected Mathes Brierre Architects, CallisonRTKL Architects and Broadmoor Construction to complete the hotel.

Virgin Hotels New Orleans joins Virgin Hotels’ rapidly expanding roster, including Virgin Hotels Chicago, Virgin Hotels Dallas, Virgin Hotels Nashville, and Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. It will be followed by Virgin Hotels New York later this year and Virgin Hotels Miami and two overseas projects in development in Edinburgh and Glasgow in 2022 and beyond. To learn more about Virgin Hotels, visit www.virginhotels.com. To learn more about future hotels, please visit https://development.virginhotels.com/.

NEW ORLEANS (05/14/21) - For too many years, young people in Old Algiers, a sliver of land nestled in the crescent of the Mississippi River on this city’s “west bank”, have often lacked access to training and good jobs, which resulted in few opportunities for sustainable futures and wealth building, according to Valerie Robinson, president of the Old Algiers Main Street Corporation. However, today, three entities announced a joint effort to bring equitable opportunities to the historic Old Algiers community. Old Algiers Main Street Corporation, Resilience Force and Advanced Nursing Training have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, which establishes a partnership to assist Old Algiers residents, aged 18-40 years-old, to improve their chances of success by training and placement in healthcare jobs.

Thanks to a $90,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, OAMSC’s Economic Development Committee, under the leadership of Linetta Gilbert, has developed #EquityRising, a program that ultimately will include other partnerships to build career and entrepreneurial opportunities in the Old Algiers community, comprised of the Algiers Point and Whitney and McDonogh (Algiers Riverview) neighborhoods of New Orleans. The program may be scaled and replicated for broader impact after being piloted in Old Algiers.

“We want our residents to stay in Old Algiers; we want to create opportunities so people can work here, raise families, own homes, become entrepreneurs and support a fledgling small business ecosystem,” said Robinson. “We continue to identify organizations and partners that want to work with us on our #EquityRising initiative designed to help our many under-served residents, thus benefiting the entire community.”

Resilience Force is a national initiative to transform America’s response to disaster by strengthening and securing America’s Resilience Workforce – the millions of people whose work, heart, and expertise make sustainable recovery from disaster possible. In partnership with the City of New Orleans Mayor's Office of Workforce Development, Resilience Force has created The New Orleans Resilience Corps, which is a new, diverse workforce development and jobs program created to help strengthen the city’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic while creating economic opportunity for those who have lost jobs over the last year.

"We are incredibly proud to be a part of this partnership that aims to strengthen our underserved neighborhoods of New Orleans," says LaTanja Silvester, Louisiana Director of Resilience Force. "It is through the investment of job training programs that we can continue to empower our communities by creating a secure pathway for workers to obtain the necessary skills they need to gain stable jobs and build their futures."

Advance Nursing Training, LLC’s goal is to provide opportunities for people to enter the healthcare industry by promoting professionalism and compassion and assisting students in preparing for careers in healthcare. The business is situated in Old Algiers on the Federal City campus and its programs are approved by the Louisiana Department of Health and the Louisiana Board of Regents.

"We are happy to be part of this partnership to achieve a mutual commitment to opportunities that will increase employment in the area. Advanced Nursing Training is committed to providing quality healthcare training to individuals seeking to enter the healthcare field,” said business owner Melanie McCrary, MSN, RN. “What makes

ANT unique is that we incorporate life skills and mentorship into our programs, such as homeownership training, credit literacy and entrepreneurship, while promoting our core mission ‘where compassion and professionalism meet.’”

All three groups are committed to ensuring that residents have equitable opportunities to learn, work and live in their own communities. The groups will work in concert to recruit, train, and place residents in healthcare positions, including Community Health Care Worker, Patient Care Technician, and Nurse Aide, as well as to provide pathways to advanced health care training and careers.

“This is an example of organizations and businesses working together intentionally to elevate the lives of residents in one small community,” Robinson said. “As this effort expands, our community will grow and thrive, and we will see “equity rising” in Old Algiers.

For more information about this program, visit https://oldalgiersmainstreet.org. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram. Registration information is available at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScoVFBeOptCE5pFbRv7xQyHclsj0t9Dd1Sv7IwPYG38nFjEGg/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1&flr=0&gxids=7628

Old Algiers Main Street Corporation is a 501 c3 non-profit organization founded in 1996 under the auspices of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Its core mission is to preserve and revitalize the historically commercial corridors of Old Algiers. Originally an affiliate of the Louisiana Main Street program, the organization became a full member in 2008 when the State of Louisiana established an Urban Main Street program in New Orleans as part of an effort to assist hard-hit areas of the city following Hurricane Katrina. OAMSC also manages a Louisiana Cultural District, which incentivizes development in the district with tax credits and supports the growth of cultural and creative jobs and businesses. OAMSC’s current program, #EquityRising, is designed to build economic equity for the Old Algiers community by engaging in mutually-beneficial partnerships with others who seek to enhance the vitality of this historic area. The organization recently received accreditation in Main Street America, the national Main Street organization.

Resilience Force is a national nonprofit focused on mobilizing and advocating for the workers who are essential to helping communities recover from disasters, from the construction workers who repair buildings and roads after hurricanes to the healthcare workers who are on the frontlines of the response to COVID-19. Resilience Force works with local municipalities and state governments to recruit, train, deploy, and protect these workers, providing quality employment opportunities to residents while meeting the urgent needs of communities facing natural disasters, public health emergencies, and other crises. The organization draws on these efforts to advocate for the creation of a national, federally funded resilience workforce that will ensure the country is prepared to respond to the increasing number of disasters we face. Resilience Force was founded by Saket Soni in 2019. To learn more about Resilience Force, visit resilienceforce.org or find them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

At Advance Nursing Training, LLC, located in Old Algiers, the goal is to provide quality and compassionate care to the community, which is accomplished by providing vocational training that focuses on promoting professional healthcare and nursing education. The Nurse Aide program requires a total of 133 hours with 77 hours of classroom instruction, 16 hours of laboratory training taught by licensed nurses, and 40 hours of clinical instruction in a skilled nursing facility. After completion, graduates are eligible to take a test for certification.

Our goal is lasting, transformational change for children. As a grant maker, we recognize that children live in families and families live in communities. Therefore, our three areas of focused work – Thriving Children, Working Families and Equitable Communities – are dynamic and always interconnected.

NEW ORLEANS (May 13, 2021) - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) has been chosen as one of nine Public Housing Authorities across the nation to participate in the new Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Mobility Demonstration program.

The Agency will receive an additional allocation of 74 vouchers with an estimated value of $1.1 million from HUD to provide low-income families with access to high-opportunity communities. HANO will also receive an additional $4 million to offer mobility-related services to families that encounter barriers in accessing housing choice.

 “Studies show that place matters, and access to educational opportunities and other resources create lasting impacts on life outcomes for children,” said Dominique Blom, General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing. “The Mobility Demonstration provides families the choice to live where they want to live to raise their children. We are thrilled to announce this new program, which will remove barriers to opportunity-rich communities for families across the country.”

“This demonstration grant will allow us to expand upon our current efforts to provide greater housing choice for families,” said HANO Executive Director Evette Hester. “HANO will continue to engage housing advocates and private property owners to aid in the removal of barriers faced by low-income families in search of affordable housing opportunities, connecting them with direct access to services and amenities needed to cultivate healthy communities.”

HUD awarded a total of $45.7 million in Housing Mobility Grant funding to increase the number of HCV families with children living in opportunity neighborhoods. The HCV Mobility Demonstration grant will assist participating PHAs in housing voucher recipients in low-poverty neighborhoods with high-performing schools and other community supportive services. In addition to providing mobility-related services, participating PHAs will partner with other housing agencies in their region to implement administrative policies that will promote housing mobility, increase landlord participation, and assist families in moving across PHA jurisdictions through portability.

For more information on HANO’s HCV program, visit www.hano.org/Housing/HCVP.

NEW ORLEANS (5/13/2021) – St. Mary’s Academy held their 61st Debutante Ball on Saturday, April 24, 2021 in which members of the Class of 2021 and a few members from the Class of 2020 were presented.

The Debutante Ball is a tradition at St. Mary’s Academy and these young ladies were officially introduced to society. Because in-person activities were derailed last year, we were faced with the first time in the history of this event to have three queens present. The 2019 Queen crowned our 2020 Queen in order for the succession to be completed. Our 61st Queen of 2020, Miss Rayne Theresa Williams was presented along with the court from last year.

Reigning as the 62nd Queen for this year’s ball was Miss Sydney Tamir Haynes, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Shannon Haynes of Slidell, LA. Sydney has been a student at St. Mary’s Academy since the fourth grade and she attends NOCCA for Dance Arts Instruction. She is the Student Council Chaplain, Captain of the SMA Majorettes, Pre-Alumnae Club, Student Ambassador, a member of the National Honor Society and Mu Alpha Theta National Math Honor Society. Sydney is involved in the community and at her church, St. Peter Claver Catholic Church.

Members of the 2021 Royal Court were First Maid Miss Nia Louise Jackson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Jackson; Second Maid Miss Alyssa Aaliyah Brown, daughter of Miss Camela Brown; and Third Maid Miss Shawntia LaShonda Mitchell, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Willard Pearson.

Also making their debuts that evening were Misses LaNaiya Calisa Bell, daughter of Mr. Calvin Bell and Mrs. Lazara Irving; Diamond Cache’ Blake, daughter of Miss Jamila Simmons; Symone Victoriah Bolds, daughter of Mr. Samuel Bolds and Mrs. Tatanisha Cline; MacKenzie Nicole Carter, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Milton Carter; Kyreionna Ja’Kia Clark, daughter of Mr. Charlie Moore and Ms. Nikkia Clark; Quiana Tinesha Clivens, daughter of Ms. Lynell Clivens; Maya Marie Giles, daughter of Ms. Micherrie Giles and Deanna Trufant; Aiyant’a Ny’asiah Haley, daughter of Ms. Nayanta Haley; Kerrione Alecia Hunter, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Hunter; Trinity Monique Jackson, daughter of Ms. Ronesha Jackson; Angel Danae Johnson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Johnson; Kinidy Lynn Jones, daughter of Mr. Mario Jones and Ms. Shannon Jones; Nya Dominique LaCabe, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gary LaCabe; Shannon Lynn Lockhart, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Tommie Lockhart; Jailan Kennedi Magee, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Roland

Magee; Selena Dashele Mason, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Willie Mason and Ms. Eugena Richardson; Kaiya’ Lameiyah Mitchell, daughter of Ms. Keiona White; Jamara Marie Smith, daughter of Mr. Desmond Johnson and Ms. Shandell Smith; Krysten Arrianne

Taylor, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lucius Taylor; Kyler Rayne Thomas, daughter of Mr. Franklin Thomas and Ms. Laniqua Sheppard; Tomyree Dorothy Lynn Thompson, daughter of Mr. Tommy Thompson and Mrs. Marisa Thompson; Zariya Erica Toomer, daughter

of Mr. Eric McDonald and Ms. Tamara Toomer; Kamryn Taylor Vance, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Eric Vance; Amaya LeAnn Weatherspoon, daughter of Mr. Gregory Weatherspoon; Kayla Brianna West, daughter of Ms. Christina Hall; and Demi Ashanti Youngblood, daughter of Mr. Derrick Youngblood and Ms. Rockell West.

The queen’s pages for the evening were Little Miss Meelah Leonard, daughter of Mr. Michael Leonard and Ms. Lakese Thomas and Little Miss Autumn Sykes, daughter of the Reverend Johnathan Smith and Mrs. Tanisha Sykes Smith. The Keeper of the Jewels was

Little Miss Johnae’ Schnyder, daughter of Ms. Stephanie Manchester.

St. Mary’s Academy is a private Catholic all-girl’s high school and co-educational elementary and middle school, founded by the Sisters of the Holy Family in 1867. In a family-oriented environment, St. Mary’s is committed to educating the whole student. Students are taught to think critically, give service and act responsibly in a global society. For more information, contact Pamela Rogers at progers@smano.org 504.245.0200 Ext. 121 or Tamiko Massey-Haynes at tmassey-haynes@smano.org 504.245.0200 Ext.

119. You may also visit www.smaneworleans.com

ST. MARTINVILLE, La. (5/11/2021) – Rev. Martha Orphe wants to help us pray for the world. She joined and quilted her prayers and hat wearing experiences with the prayers, poems, reflections and pictures of contributing friends and family, from three different countries, including England, Canada and the United States. This led her to release “Living through 2020: Covered by Prayers and Hats” (published by AuthorHouse).

This book serves as an invitation for readers to review and reflect on their experiences of the unprecedented year 2020 through a collection of original prayers, poems and nearly 100 photos in a message of gratitude that inspired, encouraged and connected them to God and their neighbors. Included in this book are some short prayers, long prayers, general prayers for all days, and some prayers that relate directly to the challenging events humanity endured during the year — global COVID-19 pandemic, racial divide and social unrest in the United States. Rev. Aaron DeGruy, Sr., pastor, Boynton United Methodist Church, Gretna, Louisiana, says, “I’m not surprised that Dr. Orphe turned the circumstances surrounding a pandemic into something that helps others. It’s who she is. Rev. Martha is a nurturer, warrior and confidante.” At the end of each chapter, readers are invited to reflect upon their 2020 year as they respond to this review. Their answers can remain as entries in their own personal prayer journal or can serve as discussion topics in a group setting.

An excerpt from the book reads:

“This book is filled with emotions, happy, sad, anger, gratitude, etc. that readers can relate to. I hope that this quilt of inspirational and encouraging prayers, poems, and pictures remind us that living through 2020, we were indeed covered by prayer and we continue to need prayer in 2021 and beyond,” Orphe says. When asked what she wants readers to take away from this book, she answers, “I want readers to take away a message of hope and gratitude.”

By Rev. Martha Orphe

Softcover | 8.5 x 11in | 172 pages | ISBN 9781665516952

E-Book | 174 pages | ISBN 9781665516969

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

Rev. Dr. Martha Orphe was born in St. Martinville, Louisiana, and was nurtured in the local Mallalieu United Methodist Church. Faith in God; a praying, supportive family and church; and determination helped her to overcome a debilitating speech impediment. She now helps others to overcome challenges. She graduated from St. Martinville Senior High School and Clark College in Atlanta, Georgia. She has a master of divinity from Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville, Tennessee, and a doctorate of ministry from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. She has traveled the world and one day wants to visit her two remaining continents on her list, South America and Antarctica. Orphe, an ordained United Methodist minister, is a confident community leader, advocate and preacher. She served three churches before becoming the executive director of the Ward Home for Children in Pittsburgh. In 1999, she was named the Pittsburgh district superintendent in the Western Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church. In 2006, she returned home to become the Louisiana Conference of the United Methodist Church Mission zone director, where she was charged with leading 47 churches damaged by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and three churches damaged by Hurricane Rita in Lake Charles. Through her leadership and guidance, 38 churches were reopened, six were merged, and six were closed. She pastored First Street Peck Wesley and Williams Ross United Methodist Churches in New Orleans until March 2017 when because of health reasons, she could no longer serve in active United Methodist Church ministry. She is a member of the Aurora Reading Club of Pittsburgh and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated, Alpha Gamma Zeta Chapter New Orleans. She is grateful that people pray for her, and she prays for and covers people with her prayers.

AuthorHouse, an Author Solutions, Inc. self-publishing imprint, is a leading provider of book publishing, marketing, and bookselling services for authors around the globe and offers the industry’s only suite of Hollywood book-to-film services. Committed to providing the highest level of customer service, AuthorHouse assigns each author personal publishing and marketing consultants who provide guidance throughout the process. Headquartered in Bloomington, Indiana, AuthorHouse celebrates over 23 years of service to authors. For more information or to publish a book visit authorhouse.com or call 833-262-8899.

NEW ORLEANS (5/11/2021) - The Federal Communications Commission has launched a temporary program to help families and households struggling to afford Internet service during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Emergency Broadband Benefit provides a discount of up to $50 per month toward broadband service for eligible households and up to $75 per month for households on qualifying Tribal lands. Eligible households can also receive a one-time discount of up to $100 to purchase a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet from participating providers.

Eligible households can enroll through a participating broadband provider or directly with the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) using an online or mail in application.

You can learn more about the benefit, including eligibility and enrollment information, by visiting www.fcc.gov/broadbandbenefit, or by calling 833-511-0311

NEW ORLEANS (Wednesday, May 5, 2021) – The HousingNOLA Semi-Annual Report, which tracks how many affordable housing opportunities are being created in New Orleans, shows city and state leaders are not delivering on their commitments to provide affordable housing. The report confirms city and state housing agencies are failing to abide by the HousingNOLA 10-Year Plan, which calls for 33,600 additional affordable units in the city by the year 2025.

The Semi-Annual Report is put together from data gathered from city and state housing agencies and is released mid-way through the HousingNOLA reporting cycle. This year, the Office of Community Development refused to comply with HousingNOLA’s public records request for “the number of housing opportunities created by the City of New Orleans.”

“We weren’t asking for anything new,” states Andreanecia Morris, HousingNOLA Executive Director. “We requested information we have been given in the past. However, this time, we were told that the City isn’t required to create a report in response to a public records request – which can only mean they are not tracking this information. Why isn’t this information readily available? How can the City not know how many new housing opportunities they’ve created? This tells us they’re not only not tracking it, they’re not trying, either.”

A few key takeaways from the Semi-Annual Report include:

HousingNOLA is a 10-year partnership between the community, leaders, and dozens of public, private, and nonprofit organizations working to solve New Orleans’ affordable housing crisis by implementing the 10-Year Strategy and Implementation Plan. Rather than just being a written document, HousingNOLA is an ongoing initiative to collectively remind New Orleans and its elected officials of the issues we face and our pledge to maintain a plan of action. Data indicates the need for 33,600 additional affordable units in the city by 2025 and the data clearly shows that wages have not come close to mirroring the dramatic rise in housing costs. It’s our job to hold our leaders accountable to the recommendations we make in HousingNOLA.

Learn more at www.HousingNOLA.org

February 9, 2021 (New York, NY) – ESSENCE, the leading and only 100% Black-owned media, technology and commerce company at scale dedicated to Black women and communities, today announced updates to its executive leadership team. These appointments are part of the final phases of the restructuring process aimed at positioning the company for continued growth and maximum impact following its acquisition from Time Inc. To date, this transformation has included, among other focus areas, building critical operational infrastructure across finance, human resources and technology; making significant investments across ESSENCE Magazine, digital, e-commerce and experiential platforms – resulting in the brand almost doubling its reach over three years; expanding platforms for other culturally-rooted entrepreneurs and businesses that create economic opportunities for Black communities; introducing heightened capabilities, technology, products and touch points that super-serve the interests of Black women locally and globally – including the launch of ESSENCE Studios streaming platform; refining organizational culture and accountability; and developing a new strategic framework and targeted partner engagement approach – with more to come. To continue the critical work that they have been leading, Essence Communications, Inc. (ESSENCE) has appointed the following to its C-suite and senior leadership team, effective immediately:

Caroline Wanga, Chief Executive Officer, ESSENCE (& Chief Growth Officer, Essence Ventures) – Wanga, who has served as Interim CEO of ESSENCE for seven months, has been officially appointed as Chief Executive Officer. She joined Essence Ventures, parent company of ESSENCE, as Chief Growth Officer in 2020 from Target Corporation, where she served as Chief Culture, Diversity and Inclusion Officer. Wanga began her Target career in supply chain, serving in a variety of transformational leadership roles, including modernizing Supply Chain, Business Intelligence, Digital and Strategy capabilities. Prior to that, she held several non-profit roles. Among other accolades, Wanga has been named Top Executive in Corporate Diversity by Black Enterprise and recognized at Savoy Most Powerful Women in Corporate America, as well as is a member of the Executive Leadership Council (ELC), the Talladega College Board of Trustees and the American Airlines Community Council. She previously served on the Intersectionality, Culture, and Diversity Advisory Board for Twitter and as co-chair of the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) Diversity & Inclusion Initiative. Wanga, who was born in Kenya, is an innovative and inspirational thought leader and public speaker and earned her bachelor’s degree from HBCU Texas College.

Latraviette D. Smith-Wilson, Chief Strategy & Engagement Officer – Smith-Wilson, who also serves as Chief Strategy Officer for Essence Ventures (parent company of ESSENCE), has joined ESSENCE as Chief Strategy & Engagement Officer. In this newly-created role, the following teams will report to her: Business Development/Sales, Marketing, Content, Creative, Experiential, Video, and Stakeholder Engagement (PR, talent, and strategic partnerships). With 20-plus years of global experience building brands through a lens of purpose, social impact and inclusion and a career spanning journalism, marketing & communications, DEI and business strategy, Smith-Wilson has worked and held senior leadership roles across newsrooms, agencies, Fortune 100 companies, and entrepreneurial ecosystems, including Sundial Brands/Unilever, American Express, Edelman, Deloitte and National Urban League. She has been recognized by Black Enterprise – Next Generation Women of Power, Café Mocha – Powerhouse Award/Outstanding Business Leadership, Ebony – Women Up, and Forbes – Black Women Leaders to Follow, among others. Smith-Wilson is a board member and the immediate past Chair of the Board of Harlem United and has previously served on the board of the PRSA Foundation and as the Diversity & Inclusion columnist for PRWeek. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and received her double-major bachelor's degree from Wake Forest University and her Master's Degree from New York University.

Avani Patel, Chief Operating Officer – Patel, who previously served as Chief of Staff & Vice President in the Office of the CEO, has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer. In this role, she will lead the Technology, Finance, and Human Resources functions. A veteran of the technology industry, her career spans product launch, management/operations and consulting across Fortune 500 companies and start-ups. Patel previously led technology at Sundial Brands/Unilever, as well as professional services at Verizon / Totality Corp. She has PMP and Six Sigma Black Belt certifications and received her bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University.

Cori Murray, Deputy Editor – Murray, who joined ESSENCE in 1999 and has held various editor roles across the organization, has been promoted to Deputy Editor. In this role, she will lead the brand’s editorial content team across print and digital, as well as magazine operations. Murray led the team behind the Jan/Feb 2021 Rihanna + Lorna Simpson cover, and most recently served as Entertainment and Talent Director, curating and editing the celebrity and culture content for ESSENCE’s editorial and digital platforms. She also cohosts the brand’s leading podcast – Yes, Girl! – which is a two-time Webby Award-nominated podcast and has received 5+ million downloads. Murray has served as a cultural critic for numerous outlets, including CNN, MSNBC, and Access Hollywood, had articles published in outlets including the Associated Press and Vibe, and been featured on Stoop Talks (Luminary) and Going Through It with Tracy Clayton (Mailchimp) podcasts. She was also featured in the OWN documentary, Light Girls, and contributed to the anthology, He Never Came Home: Interviews, Stories, and Essays from Daughters on Life Without Their Fathers (Agate Bolden). Murray received her bachelor’s degree from HBCU Hampton University.

Stephanie Hodges-Dunivan – Vice President, Experiential, Branded Content & Video – Hodges-Dunivan (aka NöNe), who most recently served as Executive Producer, has been promoted to Vice President, Experiential, Branded Content & Video. With nearly 20 years’ experience in television and digital production, she joined ESSENCE in 2017 to lead video production for ESSENCE Festival and events and took over ESSENCE Video in 2018, leading the team to develop programming that has since catapulted video performance to record-breaking levels in the company’s 50-year history, including a 145% increase in video views in 2020. Hodges-Dunivan also led the production charge for the first-ever virtual Essence Festival of Culture in 2020, which garnered 70 million views of Festival-related content, with more than 45 million full streams across all platforms. She has previously worked at Inside Edition and BET, where she was Senior Producer at 106 & Park and produced Red Carpet Specials for the BET Awards and Soul Train Awards. While there, she also produced the first-ever live game show in a mobile app. Hodges-Dunivan received her bachelor’s degree from Hunter College – The City University of New York.

Wanga said, “Since the beginning of time, Black women have been changing lives, changing communities, and changing the world – and most often have not been recognized for it. While we may still be fighting for the C-Suite in Corporate America, we have held practically every seat in the C-Suite of our lives – Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Communications Officer, Chief Wellness Officer, Chief Strategy Officer and the list goes on. It is what we do, and for the past 50 years, the evolution of Black women's history -- and thus, the evolution of the Black woman – has been captured and curated in one place and one place only – ESSENCE. I could not be more excited for the opportunity to serve this cornerstone of Black culture into its next phase of growth, innovation and impact alongside this incredible team of accomplished women. ESSENCE has at our disposal some of the most recognized, trusted and treasured assets through which to engage Black women and our communities in service to not just surviving, but thriving, and we are grateful for our broader teams across the organization who demonstrate commitment every day to ensuring that we are building our capabilities in service to that purpose. Moving forward, we will be bringing this to life through a three-pillar focus – Culture, Equity and Celebration—and are driving each of those through a prioritized set of goals that include engaging the global Black diaspora, leveraging an inclusive and multigenerational approach, optimizing our 360-integrated capability including virtual and live agility, capitalizing on our first-party data and research to uncover key insights and more.”

Smith-Wilson added, “When ESSENCE was founded 50 years ago, it had a very clear mandate – to show, empower and celebrate the many facets of Black women and to do so understanding the power of media images and the importance of controlling our own narrative. Today, in a season where almost everyone professes to care about the needs of Black women and particularly in this time of national and global reckoning on the systemic injustices that we face as Black women and as a Black community, this mandate is ever-more clear and critical as we put an even deeper stake in the ground that our culture is not a trend or a marketing opportunity. Today, more than 31 million Black women globally call ESSENCE home. Home is the place where we lay our heads, our hearts, our insecurities, our fears, our aspirations, and our dreams. It is where we return to be renewed and restored. That is ESSENCE – equipping her with what she needs to lead in all areas of her life. Black women are speaking. Black women are leading. Black women are continuing to change the world as we know it. We always have, and we always will.”

Essence Communications is the number one—and only 100% Black-owned—media, technology and commerce company at scale dedicated to Black women and communities. With a community of more than 31 million Black women, ESSENCE inspires a global audience through diverse storytelling and immersive original content rooted in Culture, Equity and Celebration. The brand's multi-platform presence in publishing, experiential and online encompasses its namesake magazine; digital, video and social platforms; television specials; books; and signature live events, including Black Women in Music, Black Women in Hollywood, Street Style and the ESSENCE Festival of Culture.

by Oscar Perry Abello, The Bottom Line

NEXT CITY (January 14, 2021) - If you’ve been one of 300,000 annual attendees at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival over the past decade or so, chances are you’ve heard Vance Vaucresson “barking,” — hawking his wares, in his case the famous Vaucresson Sausage. You may have been lucky enough to catch Vaucresson, also a jazz vocalist, performing the jingle he wrote about it.

And when folks take a sample, Vaucresson knows the product seals the deal just about every time. “For that little piece of sausage that might cost me ten cents, I’m making an $8 sale,” he says.

The founders of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival knew from the very beginning that food vendors had to be a part of the experience. The first vendor they invited was Vance’s father, Robert “Sonny” Vaucresson, the co-owner of Vaucresson’s Creole Cafe, the first Black-owned business on the city’s famous Bourbon Street. They were meeting at Vaucresson’s to brainstorm about the first festival, which took place in 1970.

Sonny Vaucresson sold the restaurant after nearly a decade. But, a bit of a gambler, he bought a corner building at 1800 St. Bernard Avenue, in New Orleans’ 7th Ward, and in 1983 he converted it into a sausage factory even before he had any clients. He did have a name to build from because his father, Robert Levinsky Vaucresson, had been a butcher serving the 7th Ward since 1899, getting his start as a vendor at what was then the St. Bernard Public Market.

Vaucresson Sausage would eventually come to be sold widely in local grocery stores, procured by local restaurateurs, and even served in the local public school system. The day before the business made its first direct delivery to public schools, in 1998, Sonny Vaucresson passed away, leaving the business in his son’s hands.

After Katrina wiped out the Vaucresson Sausage factory, the younger Vaucresson lost his primary source of income. When the festival resumed in 2007, he brokered a partnership with a local competitor to use their facility to produce his family’s famous sausage. Vaucresson has since expanded to other festivals, keeping the product name and reputation alive.

Meanwhile, Vaucresson has also been trying to revive the former sausage factory site. But over the past decade, Vaucresson has had one potential development partner unexpectedly die, and another broke a handshake promise to work with him on his site after working with him to advance a major affordable housing project across the street.

It took another child of the 7th Ward to finally make it happen. In December 2020, Vaucresson broke ground on the revitalization of the former Vaucresson Sausage Factory, with a plan to convert it into a sausage market and sit-down restaurant with a bar on the first floor and two permanently affordable apartments above. It won’t be a full factory because the building is too small to qualify under today’s USDA guidelines, but the current plan is to build the restaurant space around a central butcher station where Vaucresson can make sausage while he sings and talks about the history of the neighborhood. The co-developer on the project is Crescent City Community Land Trust, led by executive director Julius Kimbrough.

“I’ve been walking through this neighborhood my whole life, he’s been walking through this neighborhood his whole life. My father used to operate a pharmacy six blocks from where Vance’s father operated his meat production facility,” says Kimbrough. “They knew one another and crossed paths, but we as children never met. I knew his family name and he knew my family.”

Community Land Trusts are mostly known as a solution to produce permanently affordable housing. Most affordable housing produced across the country comes with an expiration date — after a certain point, the private developers who got a public subsidy to build units reserved for low-to-moderate income families can raise rents to market rate or sell the building, which can lead to a wave of evictions. It’s particularly feared in New Orleans because so much affordable housing was built around the same time, as the city recovered from Hurricane Katrina. Those expiration dates are already starting to come up, and it’s leading to tenants’ worst fears.

As a solution, a community land trust buys land while selling or renting the homes above to residents. Separating the land ownership from the structure on top reduces the amount of financing needed to buy a home, while also pulling the land itself out of the market, where it can fuel dangerous speculation — like what happened in the run-up to the financial crisis of 2007-2009.

There are an estimated 225 community land trusts active around the U.S., representing some 20,000 rental units and 15,000 homeownership units, according to Fannie Mae, the mortgage giant, which does finance mortgages for homeowners on community land trusts.

In addition to their real estate mechanics, community land trusts are also seen as vehicles for community power in real estate and development. It’s a standard practice for community land trust board members to include representatives of residents on the land trust, residents of the surrounding community, and trusted professionals with relevant backgrounds real estate lawyers, accountants, local developers or contractors. Some believe this governance structure can make community land trusts too slow to be successful in real estate, or challenging to work with as business partners.

There is commercial space among some other community land trusts, but it’s mostly been accidental or peripheral to the focus on housing.

Cooper Square Community Land Trust was until recently the only operating land trust in New York City. The land trust’s roots and focus have always been in residential tenant organizing and resistance to bulldozing the neighborhood in favor of Robert Moses-led Urban Renewal plans. It has 21 buildings with 328 residential units scattered across a few blocks of Manhattan’s East Village. But Manhattan is covered in mixed-use buildings, so Cooper Square Community Land Trust also happens to include 24 storefronts, whose rents generate more than a quarter of the land trust’s income.

Oakland Community Land Trust started out focusing on acquiring distressed or foreclosed homes in the wake of the financial crisis and preserving them as affordable, preferably for low- or moderate-income families who were already living in them. But over the past two years, Oakland Community Land Trust has acquired not one but two primarily commercial properties in partnership with commercial tenants at risk of being displaced by higher rents.

In Minneapolis and Pittsburgh, commercial community land trusts are emerging as part of broader efforts to revitalize historically Black commercial corridors.

Crescent City Community Land Trust has some typical residential properties in its portfolio, in the city’s Lower 9th Ward, but its pipeline of nine projects also includes The Pythian, a historic building in downtown New Orleans with 69 apartments (25 of which are permanently affordable) above a ground-floor food hall and more commercial space.

“When we talk about the CLT model to African Americans we have to be cognizant of the history of African Americans in this country,” says Kimbrough. “They’re thinking about redlining, they’re thinking about situations where African Americans have historically been deprived of the opportunity to gather capital, save capital, invest in real estate or own real estate. And that’s a very reasonable question. So we have come up with answers to those questions about why the model is applicable to African Americans and valuable to African Americans, why it’s important to create commercial spaces serving low- and moderate-income people for perpetuity in these gentrifying neighborhoods beyond affordable homeownership.”

For Crescent City Community Land Trust, protecting and advancing Black entrepreneurs and Black-owned businesses is a key component of preserving culture in New Orleans, a city that depends heavily on Black and indigenous culture to drive its main industry, tourism. The former sausage factory is just steps from the French Quarter, and despite the painful history of ramming highways through Black neighborhoods, including in this neighborhood, today there’s an offramp from the highway convenient to this location.

“We have this vision in our head of like a Coldstone Creamery for sausage where you get the story behind the food and a little show, with a little butcher station in the center of the restaurant area,” says Kimbrough. “He will be able to tout our culture while he’s talking about the product, and produce sausage the way it was historically produced at a very small scale.”

With its Black leadership and its focus beyond housing, Crescent City actually reflects the roots of the community land trust movement. The first community land trust in the country was New Communities Inc., organized by Black farmers to acquire and cultivate land near Albany, Georgia. It was about permanent economic self-determination, in addition to permanent ownership of the land.

“The community land trust model is again showing up the same way it showed up in Albany to provide Black people the opportunity to become self-sufficient, and to retain ownership of land,” says Nathaniel Smith, founder and chief equity officer of the Partnership for Southern Equity, based in Atlanta. Smith also serves on the board of Grounded Solutions, a national network of community land trusts and inclusionary housing advocates.

“We’re valuable regardless of what we own, but it is true that America was built on the idea of ownership, on land ownership,” Smith says. “You have a nation built on stolen land, cultivated by stolen labor, so to change that relationship for those same people who worked on that land to share ownership in that land in a way that is affordable, and also protected and maintained regardless of what happens to the market, is just a wonderful thing.”

Even for those relatively rare cases where Black families like Vaucresson’s have managed to hold onto land and buildings, the relative lack of liquid wealth among Black communities — meaning cash, or stocks and other investments that can be sold off easily — means that they have less “friends and family” wealth to call upon, leaving them more dependent than others on external debt to fund new businesses or major projects like revamping a 3,000-square foot former sausage factory into a restaurant with two permanently affordable apartments above.

It was the land trust that finally took the time to partner with Vaucresson and put in the resources to help put a plan together that made sense to larger funders. Vaucresson had previously come up with two possible scenarios for the former sausage factory and pitched them to the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority and the Louisiana Office of Community Development. Although both were open to funding something for the site, neither bit.

“[The redevelopment authority] was sold on it from the beginning, they were just like you gotta get your numbers right,” Vaucresson says. “The state said it fit their mission at the time, just gotta get your numbers right.”

The land trust has invested $150,000 so far to buy a share of ownership in the property, and those funds have ended up paying for architectural and other preliminary work to come up with a proposal that would pass muster — sausage-making to protect a former sausage factory. It took two years, but according to Kimbrough, the project finally got a collection of long-term, low-interest loans from NORA, the City of New Orleans and the state’s Office of Community Development, which the project is combining with Historic Preservation Tax Credits for a total of $2.1 million in development costs.

“Julius [Kimbrough] was the conduit,” says Vaucresson. “he is the true crafter, the ‘Merlin the magician’ in making this all happen.”

There was one more piece of funding needed. The NORA, city, and state loans don’t give the money up front. Borrowers have to spend the money and submit invoices, receipts and other documentation to verify the money was spent on work that actually happened. It’s meant to prevent fraud and waste. So some banks and other construction lenders have come to specialize in financing the up-front costs for projects like these.

Against the advice of many others around them, Vaucresson and Crescent City Community Land Trust insisted on getting their upfront financing from Liberty Bank and Trust, the only Black-owned bank in New Orleans. Kimbrough worked there for eleven years, eight of them post-Katrina. Liberty used to have a branch a few blocks from the site.

“My dad had done business with them since 1974, he was one of the earliest business depositors,” says Vaucresson. “Been working with them ever since. Done mortgages for us on other properties. Everybody was like don’t do it with them, don’t do it. I was like why? Because that’s just the perception of doing business with a Black bank. But I said if I’m going to have a Black business how hypocritical would I be to not give that opportunity to a Black bank.”

That said, all banks, even community banks and even Black-owned banks have a tendency to be conservative by default — there’s always a lingering fear, warranted or not, that bank regulators will view certain investments as riskier than they really might be, leading to negative consequences for the bank down the line.

“But I knew what I needed to do with them having done business with them for so long,” Vaucresson continues. “I said let’s go get some other term sheets from other people. So we got two other term sheets, from a bank and a [community development financial institution], and I presented it to them. I said look this is what’s on the table. I’m not begging you for shit. Can you match it? If you want the business you can match it or I’ma go elsewhere. And they were like no, we want to do it.”

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Metro Service Group, located in New Orleans, Louisiana is a multi-faceted corporation with specific expertise and certifications in the areas of Environmental Services, Construction/Demolition and Disaster Response and Recovery. Metro Service Group is a licensed Contractor, certified in Building Construction; Heavy Construction; Highway, Street and Bridge Construction; Municipal and Public Works Construction and Solid Waste Management.

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