Nonprofit Thursday | BPA, TPC, Nigerians, One World Festival; East Cleveland Primary

BPA to hold annual gala at new convention center

The Black Professionals Association Charitable Foundation will hold one of the first civic events at Cleveland’s New Convention Center on October 19. That’s the date of BPACF’s annual fundraising scholarship gala, which this year will recognize Pastor R. A. Vernon of The Word Church as its Black Professional of the Year. For more information, visit www.bpacf.org or call 216.229.7110.

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Presidents Council Foundation seeking volunteers for golf outing fundraiser

The Presidents Council has put out a call for volunteers to assist in its 5th Annual Golf Outing Fundraiser, which is set for Monday, August 19th at Barrington Country Club. The Council is looking for volunteers to help with registration, raffle and auction sales, golf side games, as well as assorted other odds and ends around the course.

Morning and afternoon shifts are available.

TPC program and operations manager Athena Nimmer will be happy to answer your questions about volunteering. For more information, call or write her at 216.771.8702 x224 or Athena@thepresidentscouncil.com.

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Concerned Partners in Education host scholarship luncheon in Lee-Harvard this Saturday

Retired educator and CPE founder Gwendolyn Norfleet-Rogers has announced the 7th Annual Scholarship Fundraiser Luncheon twill be this Saturday, starting at 11AM,  at the Harvard Community Services Center, 18240 Harvard Ave.

For more information call 216.921.5130.

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Nigerian cultural festival and dinner at the Civic this Saturday

Northeast Ohioans of Nigerian heritage are inviting you to feast, dance and party with them this Saturday night at the Sixth Annual Iri-ji & Igbo Cultural Festival Dinner. The event will be held from 7PM until 1AM at the Civic, 3130 Mayfield Road in Cleveland Heights [just east of Lee Road].

The event sponsor is the group Nzuko Ndi Igbo of Northeast Ohio [NNINO] whose webpage says they were established in 2009 to promote and foster love, unity and progress among Ndi Igbo in Northeast, Ohio.

Well-known area businessman Michael Obi was elected the group’s president earlier this year. He emailed The Real Deal to say cultural dances and performances, a buffet style dinner [8PM], a dramatization of the Iri-ji Festival, and much dancing will be among the evening’s highlights.

Tickets are $30 for adults, and $20 for children 13-17; children under 13 may attend free of charge.

For more information: mobi@spectrum-global.com or 440.212.2567.

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Cleveland One World Festival debuts Aug. 25

Attending the Nigerian cultural festival and dinner sounds like a good way to get warmed up for Cleveland’s inaugural One World Festival, billed as a way to “celebrate the world’s diversity with a one day cornucopia of music, art, sports, and food”

Cleveland’s first One World Festival will take place Sunday, August 25 in the Cultural Gardens of Rockefeller Park, on either side of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

This free community event will offer a wide array of arts and activities for folks of all ages and ethnicities, and will feature continuous programming at a half dozen stages, dozens of artisans displaying their crafts, and various sports.

The one-day event will run from noon to 9PM along a strip stretching from the Irish Garden to the African American Garden. Ethnic food offerings will be available, as well as ethnic beer, wine and national specialty drinks.

The event will honor One World Day, the 66^th annual event celebrating the city’s diversity and will include the naturalization ceremony honoring new immigrants to the United States. Free shuttles will take attendees from Wade Oval and Gordon Park to the festival location throughout the day.

Visitors to the festival will be able to park for free at a large, secure new facility at East 105^th St & Magnolia Dr. Once parked, visitors can board one of the free UCI shuttles that will circle the gardens for the duration of the festival, dropping them off at a number of convenient locations along MLK Jr. Drive and East Boulevard.

A Parade of Nations down the main thoroughfare of Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, starting at 1PM, will feature a diverse range of participants, from flag-bearers and stilt-walkers to bagpipers and belly dancers. Highlights include the Shaw High School Marching Band, giant Follow the Fish sculptures, and accordionists from the Polka Hall of Fame. The parade will begin at the Irish Garden and conclude at the African American Garden, where the annual naturalization ceremony for newly minted United States citizens will occur.

Organizers of the One World Festival envision growing the event through 2016 — the 100th anniversary of the Cleveland Cultural Gardens — culminating in a spectacular weekend-long festival covering the entire 276 acres of Rockefeller Park from Lake Erie to Wade Lagoon.

For more information, call James Levin at 216-347-3499, email james@levinventures.com, or visit OWF’s website or Facebook page.

PUBLIC NOTICE FOR EAST CLEVELAND VOTERS

FOR OCTOBER 1, 2013 PRIMARY ELECTION

A viewing of ballots for the October 1, 2013 Primary Election, to be held in the City of East Cleveland, will be available for the public on Friday, August 9, 2013 (comments welcome). Ballots will be posted at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections at 2925 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44115 and on the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections website, boe.cuyahogacounty.us.

Comment by phone, (216) 443-3298 or e-mail, ElectionInfo@cuyahogacounty.us.

Nonprofit Thursdays: Phillis Wheatley, Ruby Dee, and more

Ruby Dee returns to Karamu tomorrow. Story below.

Phillis Wheatley annual meeting today; Phyllis to speak!

Once upon a time, the Phillis Wheatley Association was black Cleveland’s premier service organization, a centerpiece of community civic and social engagement. It has stood in midtown for nearly 80 years in a landmark building at 4450 Cedar Avenue.

The agency will hold its annual meeting today starting at 5:30PM featuring the aptly named Phyllis Cleveland, Ward 5 city councilwoman.

The visionary Jane Edna Hunter founded the agency in 1905 to meet challenges and struggles of prejudice that she and other African American women faced in housing and employment and housing. Today the agency’s services include daycare, musical training, programs for seniors, and environmental education/team building and experiential education programs. Phillis Wheatley owns and operates Camp Mueller, one of less than a handful of African-American owned and operated residential camps in the country.

Richard C. King, Jr. is the agency’s interim executive director.

Call Anissa Ali-Jackson at 391-4443, ext.12 and let her know you will be there.

Leadership training offered

Interested in improving your leadership skills and helping to create a better Cleveland? Consider signing up for the Neighborhood Leadership Development Program. Applications for the next cohort are being accepted until this Monday, July 29.

To apply, or for more information, visit the NLDP website at www.nldpcleveland.com or contact Yvonka Hall either by phone [216.776.6170] or email [yhall@NLDPCleveland.com].

Ruby Dee’s towering presence returns to stay at Karamu

The legendary Ruby Dee, star of stage and screen, who first performed at Cleveland’s Karamu House in the late 1940s, has returned as an iconic presence on Karamu’s west wall.

Tomorrow, local artists and the community are invited to attend the unveiling and installation of the Ruby Dee Mural at the corner of East 89 Street and Quincy Avenue in Cleveland’s Fairfax community.

The ceremony starts at 4PM and festivities will conclude at 7PM.

Sankofa Fine Arts Plus commissioned nationally renowned muralist Kent Twitchell to work with select local artists and community members to honor Dee as part of “Artovation” mural project.

Twitchell is a faculty member at the Fresco School in Los Angeles. His monumental murals have become tourist attractions in Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

The Ruby Dee installation will be forty feet tall and thirty-six feet wide.

Founded in 1999, Sankofa Fine Art Plus was founded in 1999 as a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing, educating and advocating for African American and other underrepresented visual artists through community collaboration. For more info, call 216.200.6737 or e-mail info@sankofafineartplus.org.

 

Interfaith Ramadan dinner this Sunday

Cleveland’s Council on American-Islamic Relations will host its annual interfaith Ramadan dinner this Sunday, July 28.

The event begins with registration at 6:30 p.m. at the Islamic Center of Greater Cleveland, 6055 W. 130th Street, Parma.

Deepa Kumar, a Rutgers University professor and author of Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, will be the featured speaker.

The event is open to the public and free to interfaith guests. Reservations are required and may be made by calling 216.830.2247.

Ramadan is an annual month-long period of prayer, fasting and reflection observed by Muslims.

Benefit Golf Outing this Monday

The Cleveland Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program [MOTTEP] and The Leonard C. Rosenberg Foundation will host the 8th Annual "Gift of Life" Golf Outing at StoneWater Golf Club in Highland Heights this Monday.

Proceeds from the day's events will support the programs and services of Cleveland MOTTEP. 

To participate call 216.229.2690.or email lindad.kimble@cdcare.org.

For more information about Cleveland MOTTEP and details regarding the upcoming golf event, please visit www.clevelandmottep.org

Hold these dates:

August 25: Cleveland’s One World Festival, featuring, among many: Nana B. Kool (Afro Pop from West Africa), the Kasthan Ukrainian Dance Ensemble, the Shaw High School Marching Band, belly dancers, and stilt walkers.

For early info, visit http://clevelandoneworldfestival.com/.

August 28: local commemoration on the 50^th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.