My Black History: Gorkie Balthazar

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Reblogged from NWtoSE:

I first met Gorkie back in the Fall of 2007 when I heard two women outside of Ross Hall (The School of Public Health and Medical School Building) at the George Washington University speaking French. I always like to pretend that my French skills that I worked so hard to learn from Madame Toelman’s 2nd-8th grade class would have made me fluent in French. . . but who am I kidding? I was just trying to make friends with Gorkie! I said hello before our Epidemiology class and then we hurried into class. It was …

2012 DC Summer Youth Employment- Start Applying Jan. 27th

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Please SHARE this with any youngins, parents, church groups, community leaders, on the street corner, or anyone you know- let’s get our kids involved!

Make sure you are at a computer this Friday, January 27th at 3:15 applications for the Mayor’s Summer Youth Employment Program will go live.

Make sure you have all the information you need to apply for the program.  Below are a few details about the program (quoted from the website):

The Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) is a locally funded initiative sponsored by the Department of Employment Services (DOES) that provides District youth ages 14 to 21 with enriching and constructive summer work experiences through subsidized placements in the private and government sectors.

Through SYEP, we strive to provide young people with the opportunity to:

  • Earn money and gain meaningful work experience;
  • Learn and develop the skills, attitudes, and commitment necessary to succeed in today’s world of work;
  • Gain exposure to various exciting career industries; and,
  • Interact with dynamic working professionals in a positive work environment.

Though SYEP is a short-term employment and training program, our goal is to introduce our youth to employers who will positively impact their futures.

Employers in the Washington, DC metropolitan area make this annual program possible by volunteering to serve as Host Employers and providing structured job opportunities for youth during the summer.

Program Dates

This year, SYEP will start on Monday, June 25, 2012 and will end on Friday, August 3, 2012.

The six-week program will consist of 29 days of work (Wednesday, July 4 is observed as a holiday and youth will not be paid for this day).

DC Summer Youth Employment Program 2012

…and you thought KSA’s were over! How to answer DC Gov Ranking Factors

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You may remember my post from a couple of weeks ago on the DC Department of Employment Services;  one of my suggestions was for DC Government to offer a training on “How to answer ranking factors for DC Government Jobs.” Luckily, an old classmate of mine posted the training on a listserv I belong to and I registered for the event.

I was originally scheduled to attend the training on Jan. 13th but, due to an “overwhelming interest” DCHR added a second training which was last Friday the 6th downtown.  DCHR will offer another FREE course for DC residents this Friday the 13th from 10-11 am at 441 4th Street (judiciary square metro)- and I think you can still register but click on this link to find out. (let me know what they say!)  At the training DCHR stated that they would continue to hold trainings in the future.

There were probably around 25 people in attendance.  The demographic breakdown was mostly black females over the age of 35 a few black males and me.  I was able to sneak a peek at the sign-in sheet as I was signing in and I noticed every single person in attendance were current DC Gov employee’s and about 3 citizens including myself.  Were the DC Gov employee’s getting paid to attend the training to learn how to apply for another job?  I am all about professional training especially if you were an agency that assists citizens getting jobs but, if you are just trying to apply for another job can you learn about it on your own time and dollar?

Mr. David Ramirez from DCHR lead the workshop and in my opinion did a great job.  He was very thorough and positive and I think that the handout is very informative. Each DC Government job posting typically has around 4 ranking factor questions each.  Mr. Ramirez mentioned that each ranking factor question answered should be no less than 3/4 of a page and no more than 1.5 pages, so that basically means you need to write around 4 pages for each DC Gov job you apply for.  I took the initiative to scan and post the handout from the training (below) because I was not able to find the document anywhere on the DCHR website.

  • What do you think about the handout?
  • Did you hear about the course?  Let me know what you think!

2012: A New Attitude, 7th & T, NW & more

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In the words of the diva Ms. Patti LaBelle, in 2012 “I’ve got a new attitude!” I would like to keep things simple on my blog! (and in life)

1.  I will continue to announce important events, provide info that I think will be helpful for DC residents.  If you know something you should share it!

“If you don’t know, you don’t know.” -famous quote heard on the street regularly.

2.  It’s an election year, I will be “taking sides.”  However, as a former election judge from the age of 18 I will always encourage folks to get out and vote! DC find out about voting here.

3.  7th & T, NW.  If you haven’t heard me discussing the blocks that surround the area on Twitter follow me @NWtoSE.  44 years– 44 YEARS after the 1968 riots (check out my neighbors blog- Left of LeDroit here and here) the surrounding blocks are still operating as an open air drug market, filled with trash, and on any given day you can find around 25-40 grown men over the age of 45 chillin, using, dealing, urinating, defecating or intimidating passers-by.  One of the corner stores on 7th street that sells chicken also sells Newport cigarettes for $6.00 a pack (pack with tax should total around $8.50).  After full support by MPD the DC Code does not allow for any kind of arrests.  These illegal sales only add to the increased traffic in the area.

So, I will be making every effort to take a pro-active, well planned and thought out approach to making a difference (don’t ask me what that is yet) around 7th & T.  I will first start with a survey.  If you see some white girl out on the block with pen to paper with “my peoples”- “Slim, Black, T, L,  Young Money (c’mon man you are 60!)” and company stop by and say hello and get involved.

4.  I will be sharing experiences, reviews, eye-witness accounts (sounds intense!) of various services in the District that I have ”experienced.”  The goal of the posts should be used to initiate improvement steps and to let agencies know they are doing a great job.  Who am I to judge?  I am just a woman who is logical and likes to see systems function to do the most good in the community.

5.  I will devote a lot of attention to information, advocacy, stories about “my people” (men who were incarcerated) and reentry.

6.  I will be employed well before 2013.  If you can help make that possible please contact me. (Facebook, Twitter and e-mail are on the right column- Thank you in advance!)

6.  Lastly, I will not be straightening my hair as much.  I’m spending
too much time under the flat-iron.  I just thought you should all know.

2011 in review via WordPress

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It is no shock to me that the most hits on my page were from my post about the Summer Youth Employment Program.  I am sure that as time goes on my post discussing the DC Department of Employment Services the post will also prove to be on the Top 40 countdown list.

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 7,200 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 6 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

DC Sober Ride- 1-800-200-TAXI FREE RIDE HOME

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Don’t drink and drive, don’t drive buzzed, high, (Just say no to drugs) don’t drive with an open container, and don’t drive drowsy either!  Consider your life and others.  Please don’t make me reference death rates from drinking and driving- I couldn’t help myself, WOW 11,000 deaths in the US from 2009 were as a result of alcohol related deaths. (CDC)

DC SoberRide 1-800-200-TAXI

DC on that “good stuff”

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Dear DC,

The mean muggin is really getting to me.  Call me corny (most people do anyway) but I really think we can be nicer to each other.  So I am challenging folks to GO AHEAD- be nice, and let me know about it.  I once had this guy around 7th and T, NW (my special attention area) tell me I was on that “good stuff.”  At first I was like “I HAVE NEVER USED DRUGS” and then he said to me “No, you just try and be nice to everyone? How come?”  Well, he had caught me on some good days that it for sure because if you have seen me in a “passionate” moment especially around 7th and T, NW well then you know how I can get when I really care about something.

Everyone likes to feel special or get a nice complement.  Here’s how it will work (I may tweak the process for next week)– Let me know if you saw someone doing something nice or if you did something nice and I will post a list every week! You can:

e-mail me @ nwtose at gmail.com

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