Atlanta, GA

MLK Sr. Community Resources Collaborative awarded $4 million to address education disparities

Published

2 years ago

January 13, 2024

MLK Sr. Community Resources Collaborative awarded million to address education disparities

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – New money is now pouring into The Martin Luther King Sr. Community Resource Collaborative to help kids get a better education in Atlanta Public Schools.

The organization received the grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Education Innovation and Research Grant (EIR). The grant was given to organizations for educational innovation, research, and development of new solutions. The group will use a curriculum that is culturally responsive, which will address cultures, home languages, and more.

Shadeed Abdul-Salaam at Morehouse College said this is needed now more than ever, especially for underserved students.

“There’s been a lot of fall off that occurred in multiple communities because of access, because of tools, because of resources, teacher shortages,” Abdul-Salaam said. “Our goal is to design something that we know that has a special impact on our community,” he said.

According to a press release sent on the behalf of the organization, there will be a focus on students of color, English language learners, students with disabilities, students living in poverty and kids facing economic challenges or trauma.

Morehouse and Spelman College experts and students will provide teachers with training and support. They will also be co-developers of the curriculum.

“We’re actually going to be designing and creating a curriculum that’s based on social and emotional learning, that really is getting at the whole child. So, we’re looking at just engaging students to help them understand concept emotionally, socially, intellectually,” said Dr. Nicole Taylor, Associate Professor and Chair for the Education Department at Spelman College. “We’ll also be working with other partners such as CWK, which is Connect with Kids. They’re a top digital firm, educational organization and they really have mastered the art of storytelling through technology,” she said.

The project will be called, “Sankofa Chronicles: Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Curriculum from American Diasporas.”

“We’re really going to be looking at the diasporas, in the sense that we’re really going to be trying to connect students with things that they are familiar with—in terms of culturally, just looking at those who look like them, and just really trying to teach them through those lenses,” Taylor said.

It’s a multi-media curriculum that will include short-form documentaries and other text to help tell stories in the community that has a rich heritage.

“Looking at the stories of our people, looking at the stories of their people and really be able to grasp just concepts,” Taylor said. “Whether it’s humility or self-regulation, or emotional regulation or resilience through the people and their community,” she said.

Taylor said that through storytelling, students will be understanding the past and current history while moving towards the future.

“A lot of it goes back to if you don’t understand or roots, or foundation where you came from, then it’s hard to continue in the future to know what is needed, how to keep going, how to give, how to collaborate,” Taylor said. “So, the hope is for students to really understand, just the stories of the community, their own stories,” she said.

Taylor said throughout the next few months, they will be developing the curriculum while bringing in the college students. She said the next step after that will be to start engaging with the high school partners.

Leaders said students in Atlanta could start to see the curriculum next school year.

“We’re going to need to lean on all of APS, all of Fulton County Schools, and we want to identify students who are extremely strong or do well– as well as students who need help,” Abdul-Salaam said. “We’re going to go in and start off with a few schools here in APS and then we’re going to roll our programs out to the whole team eventually,” he added.

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Atlanta, GA

Bill Belichick takes in girlfriend Jordon Hudson’s Atlanta cheerleading competition

Published

7 hours ago

December 16, 2025

Press Room

Bill Belichick takes in girlfriend Jordon Hudson’s Atlanta cheerleading competition

She’s cheer captain, and he’s in the bleachers.

Bill Belichick was in Atlanta over the weekend to cheer on his 24-year-old girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, during a cheerleading competition, TMZ reported.

Hudson was competing for Code Black, which she cheered for in a Cheer Extreme All-Stars event in Raleigh, North Carolina, in November.

Belichick sported a button-down shirt, jeans and a Navy submarine cap, while Hudson donned the Code Black uniform, as did the rest of her teammates.

Jordon Hudson performed with Code Black in Atlanta over the week, with boyfriend Bill Belichick among the spectators. Instagram / milllies.camera

Photos published by the outlet showed the two all smiles as they stood next to one another.

Hudson had also posted a video of part of the routine Code Black performed during the first day of the competition.

Belichick has not been shy about supporting his younger paramour since their relationship became public over the summer of 2024.

The University of North Carolina football coach, and six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach, attended the cheer competition in November and was there to support Hudson at the Miss Maine USA pageant earlier this year.

Hudson has been there to support Belichick throughout his first season at the helm at UNC, which drew plenty of headlines off the field.

Bill Belichick and Jordon Hudson at the NFL Honors. — Bill Belichick and Jordon Hudson in 2025. AP

The relationship between the 73-year-old and Hudson has generated plenty of interest and drama, aside from Belichick going 4-8 in his first season at UNC and repeated questions about whether he would leave the football program. Belichick ended up making major staff changes after the season.

Hudson created waves earlier this year when she stepped in during a “CBS Sunday Morning” interview when Belichick was asked how the pair met, creating weeks of headlines.

More recently, she has been in a back-and-forth with investigative sports journalist Pablo Torre – at one point claiming she would sue him – and last month The Post reported that Jen Belichick, the daughter-in-law of Bill – went on a nearly hour-long rant in the coach’s office about Hudson and how she was “f–king twisting” Belichick’s brain.

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Atlanta, GA

Security tightened for Hanukkah celebrations across metro Atlanta after Sydney mass shooting

Published

19 hours ago

December 15, 2025

Press Room

Security tightened for Hanukkah celebrations across metro Atlanta after Sydney mass shooting

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — Dozens of Hanukkah celebrations across metro Atlanta will go on as scheduled this week.

Security is now top priority following the brutal shooting that killed 15 people at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia.

“Of course the minute the news came out from Australia we were in touch with our law enforcement partners,” said Renee Kutner, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta. “We went back through the plans. We amped them up where we needed to. People will see extra patrols around, not because there’s threats but because we just want to make sure everybody knows that they’re safe.”

The Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta says it spends millions of dollars every year securing its community against antisemitic attacks.

“We are so blessed to have really, really great relationships with law enforcement at every level across metro Atlanta and throughout Georgia,” Kutner said. “And we’ve been in contact with all of them. They are so supportive and they will be at our events – they will amp up the security.”

According to Kutner, the heightened security is out of an abundance of caution.

“We have no credible threats, no reason to believe that lone actors somewhere else will affect anything here, and we want to give our community the chance to celebrate,” Kutner said.

RELATED COVERAGE:

Australia to tighten gun laws after Bondi Beach Hanukkah massacre leaves 15 dead

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Father and son gunmen kill at least 15 people in attack on Hanukkah event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach

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Atlanta, GA

Atlanta Hawks and Philadelphia 76ers Announce Starting Lineups For Tonight’s Game

Published

1 day ago

December 15, 2025

Press Room

Atlanta Hawks and Philadelphia 76ers Announce Starting Lineups For Tonight’s Game

The Hawks would love to forget Friday’s embarrassing loss to the Detroit Pistons.

After an entertaining first quarter, Atlanta was dominated over the final three quarters and ended up losing by 27 points to the top team in the Eastern Conference. They are hoping for a quick bounce back today at home vs Philadelphia and will could use a win to get back on track.

The game is getting closer to tipoff and both teams have announced their starting lineups:

Hawks

G-Nickeil Alexander-Walker

G- Dyson Daniels

F- Zaccharie Risacher

F- Jalen Johnson

C- Onyeka Okongwu

76ers

G- Quentin Grimes

G- VJ Edgecombe

F- Paul George

F- Dominick Barlow

C- Joel Embiid

Deeper look at Atlanta

Dec 5, 2025; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks forward Zaccharie Risacher (10) shoots against the Denver Nuggets in the first quarter at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

When previewing the game this morning, our own Rohan Raman took a deeper look at the Hawks’ advanced numbers today:

“Atlanta’s offense has been surprisingly solid without Trae Young, but the Pistons game was a poor showing. The Hawks are 12th in points, 10th in FG%, 10th in 3P%, 17th in FT%, 25th in rebounds (24th in OREB, 22nd in DREB), 1st in assists, and 18th in turnovers per game. They’re 16th in offensive rating this year.

On a per-game basis, the Hawks’ defense rank 21st in points allowed, 18th in FG% allowed, 9th in 3P% allowed, 23rd in rebounds allowed, 4th in steals, and 12th in blocks. They’re 14th in defensive rating on the year, which puts them in a slightly above-average tier despite their recent run of poor performance on end.

Philadelphia is still figuring out how their offense operates when everyone is healthy, but Tyrese Maxey is always dangerous and they quietly have a reasonably deep roster. They’re 16th in points, 24th in FG%, 17th in 3P%, 6th in FT%, 9th in rebounds (10th in OREB, 9th in DREB), 20th in assists, and 11th in turnovers per game. They’re 15th in offensive rating this season.

After a difficult night against a tough Detroit defense, the matchup gets slightly easier against the 76ers. Even so, they’ve been playing good defense as of late – albeit against poor competition. They are 12th in points allowed, 8th in FG% allowed, 8th in 3P% allowed, 21st in rebounds allowed, 19th in steals, and 2nd in blocks. They’re 9th in defensive rating, so this would be the second straight game for the Hawks against a top-ten defense by defensive rating.”

Because they are at home and will have the best player on the floor, I like the Hawks to win this game. Quentin Grimes is someone who has given the Hawks trouble before, and rookie VJ Edgecombe has had a great start to his career. Still, I like Johnson and Onyeka Okongwu to lead the Hawks to a win today at home.