An essential read for Black History Month: Blavity explores the Civil Rights history of Black literacy and librarianship with UNC librarian and documentary producer Rodney Freeman. Stay tuned for Rodney's upcoming documentary, "Are You a Librarian? The Untold Story of Black Librarians," which will be released in Philadelphia this June.

In February, Bronzeville Winery, one of Chicago's most popular restaurants, and Polished Pebbles Girls Mentoring Program hosted a "Mommy & Me Etiquette Lunch" to help prepare young girls for professional success. On FOX32 Chicago, etiquette coach Rica Cuff shared some of the skills the girls would learn. 

On WVON/The Talk of Chicago, former IL State Rep. Ken Dunkin spoke with librarian and documentary producer Rodney Freeman about why we should celebrate Black librarianship in America. Check out the fun and important Black History Month interview here.

On Craig Melvin's first day as co-anchor of NBC's TODAY, he aired a story about NAFSI 1916, the first Black-owned restaurant to open in what used to be a whites-only country club.

On MLK Day, UNC Librarian Rodney Freeman writes that the current rise in book bans and threats against librarians is in direct conflict with our society’s commitment to honoring the life and legacy of MLK and other Civil Rights leaders. 

To kick off the New Year, Dion’s Chicago Dream Founder Dion Dawson publishedan op-ed in Newsweek about why Food is Medicine should be a national priority. Food is Medicine programs are a proven way to provide food security, improve health outcomes, and reduce healthcare costs for our country’s most vulnerable populations. Congresswoman Robin Kelly (D-IL) is a key leader on this issue. In November, she introduced the FOOD as Health Act, which would direct $20 million in grants to Food is Medicine programs. In addition to endorsing this legislation, Dion recently joined the advisory council of the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University.

What do we do now to effectively address the climate crisis? In The Chronicle of Philanthropy, The Solutions Project’s Mark Ruffalo, aka The Hulk, and Gloria Walton, an award-winning climate leader, urge their fellow philanthropists to recognize the need to invest in community-led climate solutions. This is no longer just a theory. It’s the proven reality reflected in new data and powerful examples of equitable, grassroots-powered climate action across the country. 

IMPEL is a woman-led, DOE-funded tech-to-market program accelerating equitable access to next-generation building decarbonization technologies for schools, homes, and commercial buildings. For Earth Day, Forbes published an exclusive on the program's remarkable success over the past five years. IMPEL innovators – over half of whom identify as women, non-binary, and/or people have color – have raised $90 million in funding, created 180 jobs, and won 167 awards, grants, and prizes.

For National Librarian Day (April 16), Rodney Freeman, librarian and producer of the documentary Are You a Librarian?, penned a Newsweek  essay celebrating librarians as heroes. He highlights librarians’ long history of promoting a healthy democracy and standing up for access to information, from Black librarians fighting  to end the segregation of libraries during the Jim Crow era, to present-day librarians pushing back against censorship and book bans. 

Our Southern forests are a national treasure. On President’s Day weekend, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution ran an op-ed by Treva Gear, PhD, founder of Concerned Citizens of Cook County, calling on Pres. Biden to address a blank spot in his environmental justice agenda: protecting Southern forests and communities from the dangerous and destructive wood pellet industry.