Page 11 - Florida Sentinel 6-26-20

Local
According to reports, coali- tions on both sides of Tampa Bay are finalizing plans to honor the victims of racial lynchings.
Organizations in Tampa and St. Petersburg are working through the Equal Justice Initia- tive’s Community Remem- brance Project (EJI) to install markers.
Jacqueline Williams Hubbard, is the co-chair of the Community Remembrance Proj- ect Coalition in St. Petersburg.
According to Ms. Williams Hubbard, two markers will name lynchings that happened in Pinellas County.
Coalition members said their coalition agreement was ap- proved by EJI and that they’ve drafted language to go on a marker.
In Tampa, State Rep. Fen- trice Driskell, Tampa City Councilman, Luis Viera, histo- rian Fred Hearns, NAACP President Yvette Lewis, justice reform advocate Debbie Wells, businessman Stanley Gray, Attorney Ron Weaver, Attorney John Schifino, former Hillsborough NAACP president Carolyn Hepburn-Collins, and Allen Temple A. M. E. Church pastor, Glenn Dames are all members of the coalition that is working
Coalitions’ Efforts Have Been Approved To Install Lynching Markers In Tampa And St. Petersburg
with EJI to make sure people learn and remember the victims of racial lynchings during the Jim Crow era.
The project has been ap- proved, and they’re working on finalizing it.
Two lynching victims are known only as Adam and Gal- loway. The others are John Crooms, Lewis Jackson, Samuel Arline and Robert Johnson. Each man was a vic- tim of a racial lynching in Tampa from 1850 to the early 1900s.
The grassroots campaign will memorialize these men, as well as Robert Johnson, with two historical markers. One would be a marker relocated from a six- acre memorial park created by the nonprofit Equal Justice Ini- tiative in Montgomery, Ala- bama. The second would be a Hillsborough County initiative
for Johnson who was dragged from jail and murdered, proba- bly around 50th Street and Hillsborough Avenue in 1934.
EJI’s Community Remem- brance Project partners with community coalitions to memo- rialize documented victims of racial violence throughout his- tory and foster meaningful dia- logue about race and justice
today. These projects and the other engagement efforts that community coalitions develop, center the African American ex- perience of racial injustice, em- power African American community members who have directly borne this trauma, and invite the entire community to
use truth to give voice to those experiences and expose their legacies.
Hearns said no date has been set for the markers to go up. However, the committee will possibly discuss that when they meet virtually Wednesday evening (June 24th).
Lynching victims in Tampa.
Committee led by City Councilman Luis Viera and State Rep. Fentrice Driskell discuss the history and plans for the project.
Hillsborough County Small Businesses Can Apply For Grants
Small business owners across Hillsborough County who have been financially af- fected by the COVID-19 coron- avirus pandemic soon will be able to apply for $100 million in relief grants that aim to help get business back up and run- ning again.
Business can qualify for one of three different grants:
• Kickstart Small Business Grant - up to $10,000 in work- ing capital, for businesses with up to $3 million in annual rev- enue
•Back to Work Grant - up to $2,000 per employee in pay- roll incentives to hire or rehire workers, for businesses with up to $20 million in annual revenue
•SafeatWorkGrant-upto $10,000 matching reimburse- ment for the cost of qualifying workplace improvements di- rectly related to mitigating the spread of COVID-19, for busi- nesses with up to $20 million
in annual revenue
Beginning on Monday, June
22, business owners were able to review the grant details and set up a username and pass- word in the grant portal.
Hillsborough County’s Rapid Response Recovery Pro- gram (R3) is designed to max- imize the impact of the federal CARES Act funding. The ini- tiative aims to create programs that target communities in the greatest need, simplify the ap- plication process for busi- nesses, and quickly inject strategic funding that can do the most economic good in the fastest timeframe.
Application periods will be phased in to give a head start to the smallest and most eco- nomically vulnerable busi- nesses in our community. Business owners can use HCFLGov.net/R3Biz to look up their address to find out if they are in an economically distressed area.
FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 2020 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 11-A