Newspaper Page Text
The Savannah Tribune • Wednesday, August 4, 2010 - 17
SOCIAL AND COMMUNITY NEWS
Louis Gossett, Jr. to Make Appearance
in Savannah/ Hilton Head Area
Step Up Sponsors Second Annual
Workplace Innovator Award
Louis Gossett, Jr.
OSCAR, EMMY, and
Golden Globe winning actor,
author and activist Louis
Gossett, Jr. will visit the
Savannah/Hilton Head area
the week of August 1-7,
2010. Mr. Gossett, who has
longtime friends in the area
and has visited several times,
is exploring the area as a
potential site for an interna
tional arts festival, and he is
also considering a
Distinguished Artist in
Residence appointment at
Savannah State University.
Mr. Gossett will be par
ticularly promoting the work
of his Eracism Foundation, a
501c3 Nonprofit Public
Benefit Corporation that he
founded in 2006. The
Foundation is engaged in an
all out, conscious offensive
against racism, violence, and
ignorance relative to the role
and significance of history in
positioning individuals and
collective communities for
the future.
He is also promoting
his new, LA Times best-sell
ing book, “An Actor & A
Gentlemen.” Not just another
Hollywood memoir, “An
Actor and A Gentlemen” is a
frank, revealing and full look
back at his fifty-five year
career in theater, film and tel
evision. The autobiography
is also a funny, fascinating,
and sometimes heartbreaking
tour through the last half-
century of American life,
which penetrates celebrity
glitz and glamour to offer an
honest portrayal of the
African American experience
both in Hollywood and the
New York theater world.
He will meet with lead
ing members of the civic and
cultural communities and
will host several events,
including: Wed., Aug. 4, 11
a.m. - The Savannah College
of Art and Design Film &
Television Department will
host a Master Class for
SCAD students at Hamilton
Hall (not open to the general
public). Thurs., Aug. 5, 10
a.m. - A Youth Group
Workshop & Book Signing
will be presented by The
Gator Ball Academy and
Harambe House at the Pius
Family Resource Center, 705
E. Anderson St., Savannah,
GA. Free and open to com
munity students and their
parents. For more informa
tion, contact Harambe
House, 912.233.0907.
Gossett will present an
interactive program that will
Overhauled SBA Website
to Go Live
in the Fall
The U.S. Small
Business Administration
announced today that a com
plete redesign of its website,
www.SBA.gov will launch
this fall.
The new SBA.gov will
make it easier for small busi
nesses, lending institutions,
small business counselors
and other members of the
small business community to
more quickly find the infor
mation they need through a
simplified navigation struc
ture. In addition, new fea
tures will allow users to tai
lor their experience to pro
vide information that is spe
cific to their needs and loca
tion.
The new website also
will offer a dedicated lender
area that helps banks and
other financial institutions
that partner with the SBA.
“Our goal as an agency
is to get information, tools
and services into the hands of
small business owners more
quickly so they can spend
more time doing what they
do best - creating the jobs
that will drive our economic
recovery,” said SBA
Administrator Karen Mills.
“Through a new, personal
ized and dynamic SBA.gov
we will be better able to sup
port job growth across the
country.”
The website redesign is
part of the SBA's goal to cre
ate a dynamic online pres
ence that delivers informa
tion to customers wherever
they are online. To achieve
this goal, the agency recently
began using social media to
reach constituents through a
variety of online channels
such as Facebook and
Twitter.
The agency also recent
ly launched an improved
search function on the cur
rent SBA.gov website which
vastly improves the speed at
which users can find the
information they are looking
for in advance of the launch
of the new site this fall.
The website redesign is
also the Flagship Initiative of
the SBA's Open Government
Plan and addresses all three
of the agency's Open
Government goals - trans
parency, participation and
collaboration - by providing
direct access to agency pro
grams and operations, allow
ing users to customize their
online experience, and,
beginning next year, incorpo
rating community features
such as discussion forums
and public feedback tools.
For more information
on the SBA's online expan
sion, please visit
www.sba.gov/next.
teach students about cultural
diversity, the relevance of
history, and the impact of
their culture and history rela
tive to their current endeavors
and future aspirations. Its
goal is to connect participants
to their history and a level of
diversity sensitivity that will
improve their interaction
with others and improve the
quality of life in their respec
tive communities in the
process. His book, “An Actor
& A Gentlemen” will also be
discussed and sold on-site.
Thurs., Aug. 5, 6 p.m.-
"An Intimate Conversation
w/Lou Gossett & Book
Signing," presented by
Harambee House, Second
Arnold Baptist Church, 1427
East 37th Street Savannah,
GA. Open to the public,
donation requested. For more
information, contact the
Harambee House,
912.233.0907. Sat., Aug. 7, 6
p.m. - "An Evening w/Lou
Gossett- Book Signing and
Screening of 'For Love of
Liberty: The Story of
America’s Black Patriots,"'
with special guest filmmaker,
Frank Martin. It is being pre
sented by the Native Island
Business and Community
Affairs Association (NIB-
CAA), Hilton Head Island,
SC, Eleventh Day
Entertainment, The Eracism
Foundation.
The event will be held at
Hilton Head High School, 70
Wilbom Road, HHI, SC. A
tax- deductible donation of
$20 is requested and can be
made in advance at the NIB-
CAA office at 21 Cardinal
Road, Suite 105, HHI, via
phone at (843) 689-9314 or at
the door on the night of the
event.
Step Up Savannah, Inc.
will recognize businesses that
have adopted creative work
place practices for their low-
wage employees with the
2010 Workplace Innovator
Award, to be presented at the
organization’s annual meet
ing on Oct. 14.
The selected business or
organization understands the
need and value in assisting
lower wage workers, and rec
ognizes the benefits to the
company
Nominations for the
Step Up Workplace Innovator
Award are due September 1.
The Workforce
Innovator Award, now in its
second year, is a distinction
conferred by Step Up
Savannah to showcase inno
vative and meaningful
employer practices that bene
fit that employer’s low-wage
workers. Recipients are pre
sented the award at the Step
Up Annual Meeting at a
breakfast on October 14.
In 2009, IKEA
Distribution Center was rec
ognized for its horizontal
management style, flexible
scheduling, on-site educa
tional opportunities, on-site
tax preparation for low-wage
workers and the integration
of public benefits eligibility
screening into the hiring
process.
Broadly speaking, the
award seeks to recognize
employers that are imple
menting a wide array of cre
ative processes or programs
to develop their low-wage
workforce as workers and as
individuals, ultimately pro
viding tools to increase their
income. These practices must
add value to the employer
and the employee.
To be considered for the
2010 Workplace Innovator
Award, an organization must
fill in a two-page nomination
form; organizations are
encouraged to self-nominate.
Nomination forms are due by
September 1 and will be
evaluated by a team of
judges from the City of
Savannah, Step Up
Savannah, the Savannah
Economic Development
Authority and last year’s
winner, IKEA.
The top two applica
tions will be selected for a
site visit from the team of
judges during the week of
September 20th, and the
2010 recipient will be
announced at Step Up
Savannah’s Annual Meeting
on the morning of October
14, at Savannah Technical
College.
The annual meeting
will also feature Michelle
Mapp, program director of
the Lowcountry Housing
Trust, based in Charleston,
S.C. Ms. Mapp will talk
about the economic develop
ment impacts of affordable
housing, and creative financ
ing to build and rehab hous
ing.
Nominations for the
Workplace Innovator Award
may be submitted online at:
http://stepupsavannah.org/w
orkplaceinnovator or call or
e-mail Shawnte Tyler, or
Garrison Marr, at (912) 232-
6747, styler@stepupsavan-
nah.org, to request a copy of
the nomination form.
For more information
about Step Up Savannah,
please visit its website at
stepup savannah. org.
To find out more about
the awards or Step Up’s
annual meeting, please call
Suzanne Donovan at (912)
232-6747.
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Supplier Diversity
Purchasing Conference
August 20,2010, S:3G a.m. ] Savannah Civic Center
Michael Lamb, Mayor of Pooler
Otis Johnson, Mayor of Savannah (unconfirmed)
Loren e Gregory, Georgia Minority Supplier Development Council (unconfirmed!
Rich Boukal, Director of Global Sourcing, MPSA
Lisa Gilkinson, Manager of Global Sourcing, SMW, MPSA
Rob Bennett, Operations Manager, SMW, MPSA
Brian Jorgesen, Materials Manager, MPSA
Wendi Wheeler, Host and Supplier Diversity Director, MPSA
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