Heritage Walk Commemorates Civil Rights Activists

William Larkins, FAMU Student Body President (wearing glasses in black shirt on far right), leads protesters downtown

Tallahassee FL- Two women’s refusals to do as they were told led to their arrests, a 10-month community-wide boycott and life-long repercussions. Those women were Wilhelmina Jakes and Carrie Patterson – two students who refused to go to the back of a bus nearly 60 years ago leading to the second major bus boycott in the United States. Their life-altering decision to reject the status quo is memorialized in an innovative and artistic sidewalk that allows citizens to take a walk back in time to a period that significantly altered not only Tallahassee but the entire country. The sidewalk specifically commemorates the 1956 bus boycott and the lunch counter sit-ins of the 1960s in Tallahassee and honors more than 50 civil rights activists, also known as foot soldiers.

For exclusive video narrated  by FHC President Vince Larkins, nephew of William Larkins and Wilhelmina Jakes, visit us on Facebook or click on the picture above to view this FULL STORY.

Westchester Loses $7.4 M in HUD Grants

WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N.Y. ━ Westchester has lost its prolonged tug-of-war with the federal government over $7.4 million in federal grants that fund programs for the needy.

The decision was made by a panel of judges for the U.S. Court of Appeals and will allow the Department of Housing and Urban Development to reallocate those funds to a community outside of Westchester, which it must do before Sept. 30, the end of the federal fiscal year. If the money is not reallocated by then, it would be sent back to the U.S. Treasury. Cilck on the icon above for FULL STORY.

Strong Outpouring Of Support For HUD’s New Fair Housing Rule

WASHINGTON DC/PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) received overwhelming support in comments regarding its proposed “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” (AFFH) regulation. The AFFH rule sets more specific guidelines on how state and local governments receiving federal housing funds incorporate fair housing policies.

The long-awaited rule has the potential to improve HUD’s enforcement of the Fair Housing Act’s mandate to address segregated housing patterns and promote diverse, inclusive communities. It implements the section of the Fair Housing Act (42 USC 3608) requiring that HUD and its state and local grantees act “affirmatively to further fair housing.” Recipients of HUD funding and grants already are required to comply with this mandate, but the new rule, if strongly implemented, could clarify state and local obligations and improve the regional planning process.

During the regulatory comment period that ended yesterday, an array of national civil rights and progressive policy organizations responded with strong support of the rule, including the NAACP, National Urban League, National Council of La Raza, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, National Fair Housing Alliance, Building One America, Applied Research Center, Demos, the Poverty & Race Research Action Council (PRRAC), and many others.  Click on the icon above to see full Press Release.

The Real Cost of Segregation—in 1 Big Chart

America is more diverse than it’s ever been. With whites projected to be a minority by 2043, the traditional racial geography of the American city—blacks and Hispanics in the inner city, whites in the suburbs—is eroding. Ever since the Fair Housing Act took effect in 1968, nationwide residential segregation between blacks and whites has been on the decline. But a closer look at who lives where shows that this story may be more complicated than it appears— and that a particular swath of urban Americans are actually more segregated than ever.